October 30, 2024 • 65 mins
Summary
In this episode of The Kathy Barnette Show, Kathy dives into the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, exploring its significance and the introduction of God. She discusses the concept of the 'ruler of this world' and the purpose of Revelation as an unveiling of future events. Kathy emphasizes the importance of living courageously amidst cultural pressures, the sovereignty of God, and the blessings that come from engaging with the Book of Revelation. She also highlights the role of the seven churches and the implications of Jesus' return, while encouraging listeners to stand firm in their faith and to understand their purpose as the lampstand in a dark world.
Takeaways
Revelation serves as an introduction to God's character and intentions.
The 'ruler of this world' has influence but not complete control.
Understanding Revelation helps us navigate current cultural challenges.
God's sovereignty remains intact despite chaos in the world.
The Book of Revelation is a promise of blessings for those who engage with it.
The seven churches represent both historical and contemporary believers.
Jesus' return will disrupt the status quo, affecting all people.
The Trinity is integral to understanding the message of Revelation.
Believers are called to be lampstands, shining light in darkness.
Standing firm in faith is essential in today's society.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Revelation and Its Significance
03:10 Understanding the Ruler of This World
05:49 The Purpose of Revelation: Unveiling the Future
09:06 Living in the Present: How to Respond to Cultural Pressures
11:47 The Sovereignty of God Amidst Chaos
14:59 The Revelation of Jesus Christ
17:49 The Blessings of Engaging with Revelation
21:05 The Role of the Seven Churches
23:55 The Return of Jesus and Its Implications
26:45 The Nature of the Trinity in Revelation
30:12 The Lampstand: Symbolism and Purpose
33:10 The Call to Stand Firm in Faith
36:05 Conclusion and Call to Action
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everyone, welcome back to yet another the Kathy Barnett show.
I'm so very grateful that you're here.
And today we're going to dive into chapter one of the book of Revelation.
Are you a racist?
We have to do more than just pretend.
If these people win, we are going to lose our country.
(00:23):
Enough Americans did this.
It would be a massive step forward.
Ask God to
Show me what it is I can do.
I'm now a red hat wearer and I'm proud Why won't you just criticize Donald Trump?
(00:45):
Now remember, as I said in the introduction, if you look in the show notes, there shouldbe a link there for you to go back and take a look at that.
We're talking about the revelation.
We have a tendency to say revelations, but it was not multiple revelations that John,Apostle John was given.
It was just one.
(01:06):
And here in chapter one, think of it as an introduction.
God is saying, hello, everyone.
This is who I am.
Let me introduce myself to you.
And in chapter one through three, as we move through it, we are looking at the view of thepast and the present.
(01:28):
Now, once we move past chapter three, we're looking into the future.
But right here in chapter one is an introduction.
Like most openings of any book, right?
You don't get right to the heart of things.
You start off with, hello.
My name is.
And that is what we're going to see here in chapter one.
(01:49):
So think of it, chapter one, as an introduction, God introducing himself to the rest ofus.
But the word revelation means apocalypse, the complete and final destruction of the world.
Is God really going to completely destroy the world or?
(02:12):
Will God completely destroy this world's system of leadership and influence?
Think about all the things that influence us, whether it is language or culture or what wewatch on television, where we go, what we do, our types of friends.
If you've spent any time in the Word of God, it is clear that He is not going to utterlyand completely destroy
(02:41):
this world.
Instead, there's going to be a shift in kingdoms and a shift in the world system ofleadership and influence.
That is what I believe the word apocalypse here is referring to.
But let's start off with the ruler of this world because I think the Bible is very clearabout the ruler of this world.
(03:05):
And we're going to make some distinctions as we move through.
Turn with me.
to 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse four.
And right here, the word of God says, the God, the little G God of things, the God of thisage has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel
(03:34):
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For the God of this world has blinded the unbeliever's mind that they should not discernthe truth.
They cannot discern the truth or know the truth even if they wanted to, even if you layout the truth of the matter in front of them.
(03:58):
And I think most of us can readily see this throughout our culture today.
Some things that should be, that seems so common.
isn't really common any longer.
And people are confused by what is clearly wrong.
(04:18):
The difference between right and wrong seems to be ambiguous to a lot of people today.
They cannot discern the truth.
They can't see it even if they wanted to see it.
And the word of God says here that the God, the little G God of this age
has blinded the minds of unbelievers.
(04:40):
Turn with me to John chapter 14.
Let's just look at that real quick and then we'll move right on.
But John chapter 14 verse 30, this is Jesus speaking.
He said, I will not speak with you much longer for the prince, the evil genius, the ruler.
(05:06):
of this world is coming and he has no claim on me.
He has nothing in common with me.
There is nothing in me that belongs to him and he has no power over me.
And yet Jesus here makes the distinction that over this age, over this time spacecontinuum, this
(05:34):
bubble we called Earth, that there is a God, a little G God, and that there is a prince,and that he's a genius, and that there are rulers.
He's making some distinctions right there.
So we have to ask the question, does Satan control over this world system mean he hascomplete control?
(05:59):
No.
I just read in John 14, 30, where Jesus tells us that this evil, that Satan has no hold,no sway, no power over him.
And yet he acknowledges that he exists and that he has some power.
but he is not the same.
(06:20):
know, most of us think that Satan is the opposite of God, right?
You have God and then you have his equal, but opposite Satan.
No, Satan is a created being.
And yet we cannot be oblivious in not recognizing that there is a little G God who hassome power over this earth.
(06:45):
All of revelation.
as well as throughout scripture, however, precludes, it prevents, it makes it impossiblefor Satan's complete control.
That's gonna be very important.
If we get to God introducing himself and how he introduces himself, and then it's gonna beequally important as we move throughout the book of Revelation, specifically as we get
(07:13):
past
Revelation chapter three, who's really in control of all things?
Because I think a lot of us, myself included, sometimes we forget that it has already beendecided.
It has already been determined that nothing is taking God by surprise.
So remember, Revelation is an unveiling, it is a pulling back of the curtains of things tocome in the future.
(07:41):
The study of Revelation, again, it's an uncovering, it's a revealing.
It is God allowing us to pull back the curtains just a little bit and peek into thefuture.
And how precious that is.
How precious that he would not leave us ignorant.
He said he would not do so.
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In fact, I'm gonna just read it to you.
You can turn to it on your own, but Romans 11,
Verse 25, the word of God says, do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, talkingabout the mystery of Israel so that you may not be conceited.
He said, Israel has experienced a heartening impart until the full number of the Gentileshas come in.
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And so all Israel will be saved.
So he said, don't want you to be ignorant about Israel, my chosen people.
So let me...
give you some insight.
Let me pull back the curtain for you.
Israel is still very relevant to God.
But then he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse one, I don't want you to be ignorantof this fact either, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
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passed through the sea.
What is he talking about?
What does he not want us to be ignorant about?
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about how he protected
all the Israelites who moved through the Red Sea, protected under his cloud of salvation.
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about that.
He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 1, now I don't want you to be ignorant aboutyour spiritual gifts either.
(09:24):
And here we have in the book of Revelation that he does not want to leave us ignorantabout what will happen next.
I find that to be very gracious of God.
all throughout Scripture.
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about the things that he believed are important for usto know.
(09:44):
And so he pulls back the curtains and gives us insight.
And here it is once more in the book of Revelation, he is pulling back, unveiling, pullingback the curtains so that you and I can look, take a peek to see what is gonna happen.
Why does he wanna do that?
(10:06):
so that we're not ignorant is one.
But here's the other.
It is to show us how we are to live in this space -time continuum.
Right here, right now, how are we supposed to live?
As literal hell begins to break loose, how are you supposed to live?
(10:30):
Throughout scripture, the word teaches us that what is to happen in this
time, space, continuum.
Continuum simply meaning how all events, places, moments in history and actions aredescribed in their location in space and time.
So right here, right now, here I sit, right here in this place at this time, here I am.
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How am I supposed to behave?
How am I supposed to think?
What am I supposed to believe?
He is pulling back the curtain.
so that as all hell breaks loose all around us, right where you stand, he wants you toknow how are you supposed to live right now?
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right here.
How do we live our lives today?
What are we supposed to be doing?
How are we supposed to be living?
What am I supposed to be spending my time doing?
Are we to live courageously or cowardly?
Because I'm sure you're feeling the pressures all around that would cause you to thinkmaybe you need to just bow out of the culture.
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Maybe you should stick your head in the sand because you you want to protect you and yourfamily.
Is it all about safety?
Is it all about comfort?
Am I living like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to King Nebuchadnezzar?
In fact, turn with me to Daniel chapter three, starting at verse eight, going to verse 18.
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I love this.
Listen.
At this time, some astrologers came forward
and denounce the Jews.
They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, King, live forever.
You have issued a decree, King, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute,lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold,
(12:41):
and that whoever does not fall down and worship
will be thrown into a blazing furnace.
But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon,Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These people, the astrologers telling the king, they pay no attention to you, O King.
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They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true thatyou do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up?
(13:31):
Now, when you hear the sound of the horn, when you hear the sound of the flute, the lyre,the harp, the pipes, and all kinds of music.
If you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good.
But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace.
(13:54):
Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need todefend ourselves before you in this matter.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us and he willrescue us from your hand, O King.
(14:21):
But even if he does not, but even if he does not, we want you to know, you can see theattitude.
They must've been black.
They said.
But even if our God does not come and rescue us from the fire you're about to throw us in,they said, I want you to know this, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of
(14:52):
gold you have set up.
Wow.
If you are willing to say that to those in our culture who have created gods with theirown hands, and now they require you to bow down to the very things their fingers have
(15:14):
created.
What am I talking about?
Climate change.
Climate change comes with its own set of catechisms of instructions.
of what you are to say, what you are to recite the virtues signaling that you must do inorder to not be canceled and shunned and fired and ridiculed.
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What are you going to do?
The LGBTQAI plus and all their other chevrons, what are you going to do when they say bowdown and applaud?
and join in with us as we corrupt your children with grown men coming in and reading storytime.
(16:05):
Or when we're having a parade with men either completely nude or in their underwears,gyrating their hips in front of your children.
You better not look away.
You better applaud.
You better say, girl.
What are you gonna do?
Because they have a fire that they're ready to throw you in.
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What are you gonna do with the God of Wars?
We call them neocons on the right, on the left, they call them Black Lives Matter andAntifa.
But the purpose is the same, division, to sow confusion and chaos.
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna bow down to those gods?
I remember a lot of people bowing down to Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
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even the neo -cons, you either do as we say, or we're gonna shun you, we're going to throwyou in jail maybe.
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna be a Shadrach, Meshach, and a Bindi go and say, let me tell you something.
You may throw us in the fire.
My God is able to save me, but even if he's not, I'm still not gonna bow down.
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You know, the Greeks had Diana, the goddess of fertility.
Today we have Planned Parenthood, the goddess of abortions and vasectomies.
You remember the DNC?
They brought a little truck to hand out abortions and vasectomies right there on thisspot.
Are you gonna bow down to that?
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The Greeks also had the god Apollo.
He was the god of science.
Today we have Dr.
Fauci.
Remember when he said, I am science.
Close the church doors.
shutter your businesses and schools, shut down the economy, do as I say.
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What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna cower?
Are you gonna bow down?
What should we be busy doing now more than ever?
The book of Revelation points out our purpose.
It gives us hope in spite of what's happening all around us.
It reaffirms that
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Although there is a little G God running around all over this earth, he is not sovereign.
God is sovereign.
It instructs us on what we should be doing now more than ever.
Here's the other purpose.
The first purpose, as I said, the book of Revelation teaches us how we are to live now asthese little G gods create other gods with their own hands and then tell us.
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to bow down and worship the things their fingers have created.
But the book of Revelation also teaches us what to expect after this time -spacecontinuum.
As of right now, there's a one -to -one correlation for all those who are born, they willdie.
Once we've taken our last breath on this side of heaven, every single human has stepped.
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into eternity.
You take your last breath on this side and then you immediately step into eternity.
What awaits us on the other side?
What is this whole thing called life is about?
What am I supposed to be doing?
Why is what I do today so important for what happens once I take my last breath?
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Why?
What happens?
What should we expect?
We're going to find that out here in the Book of Revelation.
And lastly, the purpose of the book of Revelation, as I said at the very beginning, is todispel ignorance.
God does not want us to be ignorant.
We don't talk like this any longer, not in churches anyway.
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I know what I've said so far is heavy.
We don't talk like this in the church, much less outside the church.
Not even in the church do we have.
these types of conversations any longer, just putting it out there and you grapple withit, with the Holy Spirit.
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We don't.
We tend to qualify and modify, soften what we have to say.
But I believe now is the time.
We must speak truth.
Let's get into chapter one.
The revelation of Jesus.
This is a revelation.
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that belongs to Jesus.
It was given to Jesus by the Father.
And now Jesus is coming and sharing it with John.
So the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soontake place.
He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who testifies to everything hesaw.
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That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear itand take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.
The Book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible that comes with a specific promise.
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No other book in the Bible
has a promise attached to it.
I just read it.
You will be blessed if you read slash study this book.
You will be blessed if you hear the words of this book.
What happens when you hear something?
You begin to consider it.
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Like you hear it and then you begin to think about it, consider it.
So blessed is the one who reads this book.
Blessed is the one who
hear or think, contemplate what is being said in this book.
And blessed is the one who takes it to heart, meaning you respond to it with your wholeself, meaning you react towards it like you believe it.
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You live like you believe it.
If you heard the person, you begin to consider or think about what the person just said.
They said, come here.
Do they really want me to come here?
Did he want me to stay right here?
Do I really need to go to where they are?
Why did they say, come here?
You're thinking about it.
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But then once you've considered what they've said to you, now you have to decide withaction or inaction, but that is you taking it to heart.
You have to respond.
Even if you decide not to move your refusal,
is a response.
If you decide to move, your whole self moves from one place to the other.
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And the word of God says there is no other book in the Bible that has this promise.
That if you pick up this book, this particular book, the book of Revelation, and if youread it, I'm gonna bless you.
If you really listen, I'm gonna bless you.
And if you...
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Respond to it, take it to heart.
Let it change how you think, behave, talk.
He said, I'm gonna bless you.
Meaning I'm gonna make you the envy of others.
I'm gonna make you happy.
You're gonna be happy.
I mean, there's a lot of people buying a lot of stuff to make them happy.
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It doesn't work for long.
That dopamine hit.
doesn't work for long.
You go to Twitter, you get a like, you get a lot of likes, boom, you're happy.
But then there's a peak and then there's a drop.
The word of God says, I will make you happy.
I will make you envied among others.
So chapter one, starting at verse four, here is the opening of the letter.
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This is a letter.
call it the ultimate love story.
And when I say that, talking about the book of Revelation, calling the book of Revelation,the ultimate love story, people are like, what?
There's like literal hell breaking loose everywhere.
How is this a love story?
You will see what I mean.
But this book is intimate and it is personal.
(24:40):
It is global and on an individual level.
It is the ultimate love story all the way throughout.
You will hear Jesus will say, let me tell you what's coming.
I got to tell you what's coming.
I'm pulling back the curtain so you can see what is about to happen.
And it is frightening.
It is literal hell.
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I keep saying that word, that phrase for a reason, literal hell breaking loose on earth.
But then right before you will see this, right before he gets to the next opening of theletter, the sounding of a trumpet, you will see him pause and say, wait,
Okay, it's about to get bad again.
It's about to go from bad to worse.
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But before it does, I want you to know I love you.
I am sovereign.
None of this is happening by accident.
It has all been decided, but I'm drawing all things back to me.
It is so intimate.
It is so personal.
It is for you and it is for all of us all at the same time.
Revelation 1, chapter one, verse four, apostle John.
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So every letter has a to and a from.
The to is going to the seven churches in the province of Asia.
I'll get back to that.
Let's start with the from.
Grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come.
And from the seven spirits before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithfulwitness, the firstborn from the dead.
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and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Let's stop there.
The word Trinity is nowhere in the Bible and yet I just read it.
The letter is going to, but the letter is coming from the Trinity.
God the Father, right here.
Grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was and who is to come.
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Meaning everything happens within the confines of me.
I am right here in the present.
I'm in the past.
I'm in the future.
I am the Father.
It's kind of like how God introduced himself in Genesis chapter 1 in the beginning God.
He doesn't give you a whole lot of explanation about who he is.
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He just, here it is.
I am God and this is what I'm about to do.
So you have this letter coming from God the Father and you see it's coming from God theHoly Spirit.
Well, what do you see the Holy Spirit?
Right here.
It's coming from
the who is, the who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits before his throne.
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You're really going to see the seven spirits before the throne of God when we get toRevelation chapter four.
But turn with me real quick.
Isaiah chapter 11, verse two, the Holy Spirit, the sevenfold spirit.
All of it means the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
(27:41):
There are seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.
Let's read it right here.
The Spirit of the Lord.
Lord means owner.
So the spirit of the owner will rest on him.
The spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit ofpower, the spirit of knowledge and the reverential fear of the Lord.
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These are the seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.
This is who he is.
You read about
the role, the job of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, John chapter 16, and many otherplaces.
But here in Isaiah chapter 11, the Word of God tells us who the Spirit is.
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There are seven different characteristics that identifies the Holy Spirit.
And really it tells us what do we need because Jesus said, I am leaving.
because I'm going to be crucified and I'm going to go to the Father and I'm going to sitdown at the right hand of the Father.
I'm leaving, but I'm going to send another, a comforter.
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And he begins to describe the Holy Spirit.
And he said, he will live in you.
So what do you need?
Whatever you need, the Holy Spirit has it.
We have everything we need.
We are complete.
Do you need wisdom?
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Do you need understanding?
Do you need a good counsel?
Like a lawyer advocating, do you need a good counsel?
Do you need power?
Revelation chapter three, when we get there, you hear Jesus say, I see you, you havelittle power.
Do you have little power?
Do you need more power?
Go to, it's the Holy Spirit, He dwells within us.
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Do you need knowledge?
I love the one,
the spirit of the Lord, the spirit Lord, meaning owner.
I often say in the world of politics that, you know, being free is hard work.
It takes a lot of work to be free, right?
You got to read, you got to study, you got to stay vigilant.
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You got to show up.
You got to take personal responsibility.
And that's a lot for people.
Hence the reason why socialism and communism
is so alluring.
Freedom is such hard work.
We naturally gravitate towards someone to take ownership of us.
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And here we have a good God, a good owner, a good Lord whose yoke is light.
His burden is not heavy on us.
He is faithful.
He is true.
He is good.
Right?
This is the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit, all seven aspects of Him dwells richly ineach and every one of us.
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Wrap your mind around that and pray about that.
I think that is so powerful.
Now, how do we tap into that fullness?
Reading your Bible and praying.
Now, so that's the from.
This is God introducing Himself in chapter one.
to those he is giving this revelation to.
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This is who I am.
I am a triune God.
This is the aspect of who I am, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
These are the different aspects of the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in each and every oneof you.
Now, who is this letter going to?
Well, it's going to...
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the seven churches in the province of Asia, Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
All the seven cities stand on this circular road.
And you will see a map that comes up for you right now.
These seven churches were in these seven cities.
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That was this circular kind of road that bound together the most populous, the mostwealthy and influential part
of the province.
So planted at these seven centers, the apocalypse was spread, the book of Revelation wasspread through their neighborhoods and from there to the rest of the province.
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So we're going to look at these seven churches from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamos,Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
They're all in this kind of circular road in modern day Turkey.
And the letter was addressed to these seven churches that were planted and these sevenvery influential, wealthy, highly populated, densely populated cities.
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And so if the revelation went to them, then it would go all around the world because thesewere people that were traveling and doing business and this revelation will go to them and
they will begin to spread it across.
the world.
So ingenious.
Let's look at verse seven.
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So everyone, when Jesus returned, here's the thing to note.
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Every tear will not be tears of joy.
Everyone will not be happy that Jesus is returning.
Everyone, even in the church, will not be happy that Jesus is returning.
But Jesus will return.
He will reign supreme over all the earth.
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He will disrupt some people's way of doing things.
Hence the reason why
People, whether in the church or outside of the church, everyone is not gonna be happythat Jesus has returned.
But he is.
And again, he is saying to us, throw off those things that so easily beset you, that soeasily trip you up.
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As Christians, we can see some things are shifting all around, even now, in the culture,in our nations, around the world.
Policies are being crafted and brought into law that moves us closer and closer.
towards the realization of a one world government.
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You can see that globalization.
We're talking not just about one nation, but all nations, right?
Look at the WHO and the authority that even our nation is trying to hand over to the WHO,the World Health Organization, so that they can rule over us under the next pandemic of
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some sort.
We are challenged as never before in world history to let go of the trivial and thetransient and to yield unreservedly to Him who is coming back to yield our whole self to
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God.
Turn with me to Daniel chapter seven, verse 13 and 14.
In my vision at night, I look.
And there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds.
We just read that in Revelation chapter one, coming with the clouds of heaven.
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He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.
All peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away.
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And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Apostle John sees Jesus coming back with all authority.
He is not coming back as a baby.
He is not coming back as a lamb to be slain, but he is coming back as the ultimateauthority, the supreme.
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authority over all nations, all leaders, all authority, all policies.
He is supreme.
That is how he will come back in the second coming.
Not as a baby, not little sweet baby Jesus, no.
Lying in a manger, no.
Not as a lamb being led to the slaughter, no.
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He will be coming back as king, as sovereign king, as the supreme
King.
All of these things are very important as we read through all of this, because as we seein verse eight, it tells us who Jesus is.
Jesus said, let me introduce myself.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega.
I am the Who Is, the Who Was, and the Who Is to come.
I am the Almighty.
I'm the Who Was, I'm the Who Is.
I'm the who is to come.
Everything that happens, happens within the confines of me.
Nothing that happens, happens outside of my yay or my nay.
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This is gonna be very important as we move through the book of Revelation.
I believe it's important even right now for where you and I are, because again, if you'repaying attention,
to what's going on all around us.
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I feel pressed on all sides.
I want, there's so much I want to do and yet I see doors closing on every side.
And yet I stand here saying, what would you have me to do Lord?
You see the things that are happening, the policies that are just wicked, the uneven,
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appropriation of justice in our country.
Lady law is no longer blind.
She's peeking.
In fact, she's taken off the blindfold altogether.
And she's looking and you see justice being rendered to some but not others.
You see what's going on around the world, the oppression, the wars, the wars, the rumor ofwars, the senselessness of things that are happening all around us.
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And here Jesus says, I am soft.
I'm above all else.
It must be understood that he is sovereign.
Nothing that happens, happens outside of the confines of Jesus.
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And as he opens this letter to John and for us.
He opens it up, informing us that he is above all, before all, after all.
Listen, although I'm talking about the Bible, yes, I will interject politics as well.
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will interject my own, my, my, the whole me is what I am telling you I'm going to bring toyou.
The whole me, good, bad and different.
I will no longer compartmentalize myself.
And I remember back in 2008, right before the 2008 elections.
And as we approached that, it seemed more and more likely that Obama was going to win thefirst election in 2008.
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I did not vote for Obama.
I've been very clear about that either time.
But I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, he's going to win, he's going towin.
My husband would wake up all startled, looking at me like, what in the world is going on?
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I did that.
I did that a number of times, actually, just in the middle of the night.
We're asleep.
And I would just wake up in the middle of the night and I would catch myself sitting up inthe middle of the bed screaming, he's going to win.
He's going to win.
He's going to win.
I guess I did that one too many times for God.
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I remember vividly sitting up in the bed and waking my own self up as I screamed, he'sgoing to win.
He's going to win.
Talking about Obama was going to win the 2008 election.
At that moment, as I was waking up, I could hear the voice of God.
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It wasn't an audible voice, but it was so clear in my mind.
And he said, why are you stressing out?
It has already been decided.
This is what I heard.
He said, I have already determined who the next president of the United States will be.
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I tell you no lie.
That is what I heard.
And I remember saying, as I'm sitting up in bed, I said, okay.
And I laid back down, went right back to sleep.
And I never woke up again in panic after that.
Never woke up again in panic.
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And as we know, Obama won.
But nothing takes God by surprise.
Either he is who he says he is.
Either he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Either he is the author and the finisher.
Either he is the who was, the who is, the who is to come.
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or he's not, you're gonna have to decide.
Either he is who he says he is or he's a liar.
There's no gray.
God does not give us any gray area.
We make up gray matter for God so that we can feel more comfortable, but there is no gray.
Either he is who he says he is or all of this is a lie because he is very definitive.
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He is not confused about who he is.
And so I submit we too should not be confused with who he is.
Either he is who he says he is, or he's not.
Either I can trust him with my family, with my finances, with my purpose, with the doorshe's going to open for me, or I cannot.
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That's where we fall.
Let's go towards the end of this.
Let's start with verse nine.
John says, I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patientendurance or hope, the patient hope, it's an endurance that ours is Jesus, was on the
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Island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
On the Lord's day, I was in the Spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,which said, write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus,
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Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
I turned around, John said, to see the voice that was speaking to me.
And when I turned,
I saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of mandressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with the golden sash around his chest, his
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head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes were like blazing fire.
Drop down to verse 16.
In his right hand, he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double edgedsword.
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His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last.
I am the living one.
I was dead and behold, I am alive forever and ever.
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And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Write therefore what you have seen, which is what we're gonna talk about in chapters one,what you have seen, write it down, what is now, that will be in chapter two and three, and
what will take place later, that is from chapter four on.
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The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven goldenlampstands is this.
The seven stars are the seven angels.
Some believe that that literal angels, others believe to the pastors of those sevenchurches.
I don't think it matters which way you want to believe it.
I tend to believe it's the seven angels, but who knows?
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The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
And the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
We read that again, the latter part of that.
The seven lampstands are the seven churches.
And go back to verse 12.
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John said, I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.
And when I turned, I saw seven, you see this right here?
The seven golden lamp.
He said, I saw seven.
golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man.
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Dressed in a robe.
among the seven lampstands was Jesus, the son of man, standing and walking among the sevenlampstands.
Who's the seven lampstand?
Go back to verse 20, that last sentence.
And the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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Now, yes, Jesus in the book of Revelation, chapter two and three, these are literalphysical churches that existed.
But as we will talk, and if you have spent any time in the Bible, the church does not justrefer to the four walls at the church you attend every Sunday.
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You and I,
are the church.
I'm the church.
You're the church.
And I think this is so powerful that John says, I hear a voice and when I turn around tosee who's speaking, I see seven golden lampstands.
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I see the church and in the midst of the church is Jesus walking.
I don't know about you, but I can almost pause.
almost pause and shout for joy, that in the midst of me right now, Jesus is here and he isstanding and he is walking in the midst of his people.
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That is so powerful.
That is so powerful.
Allow your mind to just pause and think on that for just a moment.
This lamp stand.
represents me and in the midst of me even now I am not alone you are not alone there isone who is standing even in the midst of you and me right now I know I'm so amazing
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Hello everyone, this is Cathy Barnett.
Thank you so much for listening.
I'm gonna need you guys to partner with what it is that I'm doing.
How do you do that, you ask?
By clicking the subscribe button right now.
Follow by, hit that notification button.
Follow by sharing this with your friends, with your family, to your social media, as wellas I wanna hear what you're thinking.
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Who do you want me to bring on?
What do you want me to talk about?
What are your thoughts?
This is a partnership.
This is a conversation.
It's not just one way.
So thank you all so much.
I'm so very grateful for each and every one of you.
Blessings.
I that for myself.
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We are not alone, although it can feel very lonely at times.
And that we're the only one who's trying to do the will of God.
We are not, or we're the only one.
We are not alone.
There is one who is standing in the midst of us, the faithful one, the true one, thesovereign, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.
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is standing in the midst of us.
Turn with me to Zachariah chapter four.
I'm gonna read this out of the Amplified Bible.
I wanna double click a little bit on this lamp stand.
When I first read this and saw this, my heart was just arrested.
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I was detained on the thought of this lamp stand representing me.
and what the word of God says.
But Zachariah chapter four, starting at verse two, and said to me, what do you see?
I said, I see and behold a lamp stand, all of gold.
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Remember the lamp stand is you and me is the church.
Zachariah said, I see a lamp stand, all of gold with this bowl for oil.
on the top of it and it's seven lamps on it.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven lamps on it.
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And there are seven pipes to each of the seven lamps, seven pipes.
And there are two olive trees by it.
One upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it.
Beating it continuously with oil.
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So here you have the lamp stand.
And on the right hand side is an olive tree, on the left hand side is an olive tree, andright above this lamp stand is a bowl.
And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the otherupon the left side of it, beating it continuously with oil.
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oil going through the bowl from the olive trees and putting the fuel into the seven lampshere.
And I asked the angel who talked with me, what are these my lord?
Then the angel who talked with me answered me, do you not know what these are?
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And I said, no, my lord.
Then he said to me, this addition of the bowl to the candlestick,
causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive tree is the word of the Lordto Zerubbabel.
You have the two olive trees, which we will find out is the spirit of God pouring theenergy, the energy into the bowl, which is the word of God, which then feels you and I,
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the church with
the energy that we need, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit of whom the oil is asymbol, says the Lord of hosts.
I tell you no lie, my heart has been detained on looking at this lampstand.
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Let's start there.
What is this lampstand doing right now?
What is it doing?
I was just mesmerized with it because I know the lampstand represents me.
It represents the people of God.
We are called the light of the world.
Jesus says the lampstand represents
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the church, I just read that, Revelation chapter one.
We are the church.
What is this lamp stand doing?
I'll tell you what it's doing.
It ain't doing nothing but standing.
All it's doing is just standing here.
It's not strategizing, it's not politicking, it's not working itself to death, it's notsweating from exhaustion.
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After we have done all we know to do, the word of God says in Ephesians chapter six, weare called to do what?
To stand.
Where does the power come from?
We are standing here and I'm not gonna put oil in this and put light to it, but if I did,imagine if you can, if you will, that I placed oil, that I have
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two olive trees on the side of this lamp stand with a bowl here and the oil from the olivetree is pouring into the bowl and the bowl is pouring the oil, continuously pouring the
oil causing the fire to never go out because I continuously have oil filling up and theoil is the energy.
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Now I'm the lamp stand.
Am I making the oil pour into me?
Am I giving myself the energy to produce the light for the world?
To produce light and darkness?
Our culture, there's a lot of darkness in our culture and we want to be the light.
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This lamp stand is doing nothing but standing after you've done all you know to do, stand,the word of God says.
This lamp stand is just standing.
You are the lamp stand.
I am the lamp stand.
This lamp stand is doing nothing but standing.
And according to Zaruba Bell, there are two olive trees upon the right side of the bowland the left side of the bowl that is feeding the bowl continuously with the oil, with the
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energy that allows you and I to produce the light.
to be effective in this world.
And I am, again, I'm talking to myself because I am an A type personality through andthrough.
I will knock down the door.
God gives me a plan.
I say, thank you, I got it from here.
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That's my personality.
I have learned to relax, but I am a worker and I wanna see change.
and I will pull out my phone and start making phone calls and politicking andstrategizing.
That is what I do.
And I am not saying that we are not to do it, but not by, what did he say?
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Not by might nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.
The change we're going to see in our world is not going to come because I outworkedsomebody or because I out politicked somebody.
The change that is really going to pull our country and this world from the precipice isgoing to be by the Spirit of God, which is flowing through all of us, giving us the energy
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to be a light, to walk into rooms and effect real change.
That's what I want you to see.
I thought this was interesting.
I was studying in the Vines Expository Dictionary.
Did you know there is no mention of the word candle throughout the Old Testament or theNew Testament?
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That figure, the candle, which feeds upon its own substance to provide its light isnowhere in the Bible.
It would be utterly inappropriate and incompatible.
Think about it.
A candle provides its own source of energy and it just burns, burns, burns until it burnsitself out.
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That's how most of us walk around here today.
We do everything by our own power, by our own strength, by our own knowledge, by our ownwisdom, by our own contact, by our own strategizing.
And we burn the candle on both ends.
and we burn ourselves out.
The mention of the word candle or anything that feeds upon itself, like an autoimmunedeficiency is nowhere in the Bible.
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But you know what is?
A lampstand.
The lampstand does not have power of its own.
It has to get its power from an oil source.
And the Holy Spirit is that oil source, not just a little oil.
but it's continuous, two olive trees on both sides, feeding it continuously.
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It will never run out.
Are you feeding off your own substance?
Relying on your own intellect, on your own wealth, on your own list of friends, networks,contacts, your own ability to roll up your sleeves and get her done?
I've already said, that is me.
I have done that more times than not.
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And every single time after a while, I'm left frustrated and exhausted.
We say, God, I'll talk to you in a minute.
You know, Lord, you understand these phone calls aren't gonna make them sell these papers,need grading.
I have to run these errands, study this analysis, fold these clothes, spend time with thefamily, clean fellowship, read something, network, prepare this presentation.
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Lord, you know tomorrow, Lord, I pray.
Tomorrow, Lord, I study.
I'm so tired right now.
I'm just sleepy.
I can't keep my eyes open.
We've all been there and I am not judging you.
I've been there a lot.
There's so much we feel we're called to do and so little time to do it all in.
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So many are counting on us.
But let me tell you, this lamp stand right here is not sweating and yet it...
produces light.
I poured oil into this, it will produce light.
It's working.
It's not exhausted.
Like I said, it's not sweating.
This lamp stand is relying on an outside source to provide whatever it needs to continuedoing what it is designed to do.
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What are you designed to do?
You're designed to do the exact same thing I'm designed to do.
That is to stand and to just shine.
shine bright like a diamond.
I don't know, can I say that?
Well, I did.
You are to shine bright like the sun.
That is what you're called to do, but not by your own effort.
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Are you a candlestick or a lamp stand?
You can answer that.
What are you called to do?
What is your purpose?
What is the calling of the believer?
We're called to stand.
What does this lamp stand doing?
It is standing.
Who have God called you to be and what has he called you to do to stand?
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It's not as difficult as we make it out to be.
I am not judging you.
I am speaking to myself right now.
It is not as difficult.
Let us assume we all agree that we are called to stand.
How does this translate over into our day -to -day lives?
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What does it look like to stand?
What does standing look like in our culture today?
As you will see, the Bible interprets itself and God does not want us to be ignorant.
We've already talked about that.
The last chapter, the last passage we're gonna read, Ephesians chapter six, starting withverse 14 going to 18.
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Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate ofrighteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all theflaming arrows of the evil one.
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Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God andpray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
This is what we're to do.
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Stand firm with the belt of truth.
Be truthful.
Don't tell a lie.
Everything unravels with that lie.
with the breastplate of righteousness, be in right standing with the Lord, repent, turnaway from sin, whether it's pornography, whether it's stealing, whatever your sin may be,
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lying, backbiting, just being angry, pride, arrogance, you know you.
And if you don't know, ask God, He'll show it to you.
And with your feet
Fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Stop tearing people down.
Seek out peace.
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In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all theflaming arrows of the evil one.
Faith is hard, but faith is the evidence of things not seen, the proof of things we hopefor.
Take up that hope and endure.
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Beat back sadness, timidity, lack of courage and stand.
Take the helmet of salvation, your mind.
The word of God says, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Grab your mind and turn it towards God.
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Grab every thought, every thought, grab it.
And the sword of the spirit, take the word of God and read it.
And then he says, pray, pray all the time, pray in the spirit for all occasions, all kindsof prayers and requests and all be on the alert.
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Always keep on praying for all the saints.
This is how we stand in the culture we find ourselves in.
All right.
This is Revelation chapter one.
Go back through it.
Share this.
Please hit the subscribe button, like it, hit the notification button, leave a comment,talk to me.
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We're in this together, truly we are, blessing.
Hello everyone, welcome back to yet another the Kathy Barnett show.
I'm so very grateful that you're here.
And today we're going to dive into chapter one of the book of Revelation.
Are you a racist?
We have to do more than just pretend.
If these people win, we are going to lose our country.
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Enough Americans did this.
It would be a massive step forward.
Ask God to
Show me what it is I can do.
I'm now a red hat wearer and I'm proud Why won't you just criticize Donald Trump?
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Now remember, as I said in the introduction, if you look in the show notes, there shouldbe a link there for you to go back and take a look at that.
We're talking about the revelation.
We have a tendency to say revelations, but it was not multiple revelations that John,Apostle John was given.
It was just one.
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And here in chapter one, think of it as an introduction.
God is saying, hello, everyone.
This is who I am.
Let me introduce myself to you.
And in chapter one through three, as we move through it, we are looking at the view of thepast and the present.
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Now, once we move past chapter three, we're looking into the future.
But right here in chapter one is an introduction.
Like most openings of any book, right?
You don't get right to the heart of things.
You start off with, hello.
My name is.
And that is what we're going to see here in chapter one.
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So think of it, chapter one, as an introduction, God introducing himself to the rest ofus.
But the word revelation means apocalypse, the complete and final destruction of the world.
Is God really going to completely destroy the world or?
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Will God completely destroy this world's system of leadership and influence?
Think about all the things that influence us, whether it is language or culture or what wewatch on television, where we go, what we do, our types of friends.
If you've spent any time in the Word of God, it is clear that He is not going to utterlyand completely destroy
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this world.
Instead, there's going to be a shift in kingdoms and a shift in the world system ofleadership and influence.
That is what I believe the word apocalypse here is referring to.
But let's start off with the ruler of this world because I think the Bible is very clearabout the ruler of this world.
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And we're going to make some distinctions as we move through.
Turn with me.
to 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse four.
And right here, the word of God says, the God, the little G God of things, the God of thisage has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel
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of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For the God of this world has blinded the unbeliever's mind that they should not discernthe truth.
They cannot discern the truth or know the truth even if they wanted to, even if you layout the truth of the matter in front of them.
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And I think most of us can readily see this throughout our culture today.
Some things that should be, that seems so common.
isn't really common any longer.
And people are confused by what is clearly wrong.
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The difference between right and wrong seems to be ambiguous to a lot of people today.
They cannot discern the truth.
They can't see it even if they wanted to see it.
And the word of God says here that the God, the little G God of this age
has blinded the minds of unbelievers.
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Turn with me to John chapter 14.
Let's just look at that real quick and then we'll move right on.
But John chapter 14 verse 30, this is Jesus speaking.
He said, I will not speak with you much longer for the prince, the evil genius, the ruler.
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of this world is coming and he has no claim on me.
He has nothing in common with me.
There is nothing in me that belongs to him and he has no power over me.
And yet Jesus here makes the distinction that over this age, over this time spacecontinuum, this
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bubble we called Earth, that there is a God, a little G God, and that there is a prince,and that he's a genius, and that there are rulers.
He's making some distinctions right there.
So we have to ask the question, does Satan control over this world system mean he hascomplete control?
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No.
I just read in John 14, 30, where Jesus tells us that this evil, that Satan has no hold,no sway, no power over him.
And yet he acknowledges that he exists and that he has some power.
but he is not the same.
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know, most of us think that Satan is the opposite of God, right?
You have God and then you have his equal, but opposite Satan.
No, Satan is a created being.
And yet we cannot be oblivious in not recognizing that there is a little G God who hassome power over this earth.
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All of revelation.
as well as throughout scripture, however, precludes, it prevents, it makes it impossiblefor Satan's complete control.
That's gonna be very important.
If we get to God introducing himself and how he introduces himself, and then it's gonna beequally important as we move throughout the book of Revelation, specifically as we get
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past
Revelation chapter three, who's really in control of all things?
Because I think a lot of us, myself included, sometimes we forget that it has already beendecided.
It has already been determined that nothing is taking God by surprise.
So remember, Revelation is an unveiling, it is a pulling back of the curtains of things tocome in the future.
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The study of Revelation, again, it's an uncovering, it's a revealing.
It is God allowing us to pull back the curtains just a little bit and peek into thefuture.
And how precious that is.
How precious that he would not leave us ignorant.
He said he would not do so.
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In fact, I'm gonna just read it to you.
You can turn to it on your own, but Romans 11,
Verse 25, the word of God says, do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, talkingabout the mystery of Israel so that you may not be conceited.
He said, Israel has experienced a heartening impart until the full number of the Gentileshas come in.
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And so all Israel will be saved.
So he said, don't want you to be ignorant about Israel, my chosen people.
So let me...
give you some insight.
Let me pull back the curtain for you.
Israel is still very relevant to God.
But then he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse one, I don't want you to be ignorantof this fact either, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
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passed through the sea.
What is he talking about?
What does he not want us to be ignorant about?
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about how he protected
all the Israelites who moved through the Red Sea, protected under his cloud of salvation.
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about that.
He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 1, now I don't want you to be ignorant aboutyour spiritual gifts either.
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And here we have in the book of Revelation that he does not want to leave us ignorantabout what will happen next.
I find that to be very gracious of God.
all throughout Scripture.
He doesn't want us to be ignorant about the things that he believed are important for usto know.
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And so he pulls back the curtains and gives us insight.
And here it is once more in the book of Revelation, he is pulling back, unveiling, pullingback the curtains so that you and I can look, take a peek to see what is gonna happen.
Why does he wanna do that?
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so that we're not ignorant is one.
But here's the other.
It is to show us how we are to live in this space -time continuum.
Right here, right now, how are we supposed to live?
As literal hell begins to break loose, how are you supposed to live?
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Throughout scripture, the word teaches us that what is to happen in this
time, space, continuum.
Continuum simply meaning how all events, places, moments in history and actions aredescribed in their location in space and time.
So right here, right now, here I sit, right here in this place at this time, here I am.
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How am I supposed to behave?
How am I supposed to think?
What am I supposed to believe?
He is pulling back the curtain.
so that as all hell breaks loose all around us, right where you stand, he wants you toknow how are you supposed to live right now?
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right here.
How do we live our lives today?
What are we supposed to be doing?
How are we supposed to be living?
What am I supposed to be spending my time doing?
Are we to live courageously or cowardly?
Because I'm sure you're feeling the pressures all around that would cause you to thinkmaybe you need to just bow out of the culture.
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Maybe you should stick your head in the sand because you you want to protect you and yourfamily.
Is it all about safety?
Is it all about comfort?
Am I living like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to King Nebuchadnezzar?
In fact, turn with me to Daniel chapter three, starting at verse eight, going to verse 18.
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I love this.
Listen.
At this time, some astrologers came forward
and denounce the Jews.
They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, King, live forever.
You have issued a decree, King, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute,lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold,
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and that whoever does not fall down and worship
will be thrown into a blazing furnace.
But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon,Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These people, the astrologers telling the king, they pay no attention to you, O King.
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They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
So these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true thatyou do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up?
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Now, when you hear the sound of the horn, when you hear the sound of the flute, the lyre,the harp, the pipes, and all kinds of music.
If you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good.
But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace.
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Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need todefend ourselves before you in this matter.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us and he willrescue us from your hand, O King.
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But even if he does not, but even if he does not, we want you to know, you can see theattitude.
They must've been black.
They said.
But even if our God does not come and rescue us from the fire you're about to throw us in,they said, I want you to know this, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of
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gold you have set up.
Wow.
If you are willing to say that to those in our culture who have created gods with theirown hands, and now they require you to bow down to the very things their fingers have
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created.
What am I talking about?
Climate change.
Climate change comes with its own set of catechisms of instructions.
of what you are to say, what you are to recite the virtues signaling that you must do inorder to not be canceled and shunned and fired and ridiculed.
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What are you going to do?
The LGBTQAI plus and all their other chevrons, what are you going to do when they say bowdown and applaud?
and join in with us as we corrupt your children with grown men coming in and reading storytime.
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Or when we're having a parade with men either completely nude or in their underwears,gyrating their hips in front of your children.
You better not look away.
You better applaud.
You better say, girl.
What are you gonna do?
Because they have a fire that they're ready to throw you in.
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What are you gonna do with the God of Wars?
We call them neocons on the right, on the left, they call them Black Lives Matter andAntifa.
But the purpose is the same, division, to sow confusion and chaos.
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna bow down to those gods?
I remember a lot of people bowing down to Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
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even the neo -cons, you either do as we say, or we're gonna shun you, we're going to throwyou in jail maybe.
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna be a Shadrach, Meshach, and a Bindi go and say, let me tell you something.
You may throw us in the fire.
My God is able to save me, but even if he's not, I'm still not gonna bow down.
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You know, the Greeks had Diana, the goddess of fertility.
Today we have Planned Parenthood, the goddess of abortions and vasectomies.
You remember the DNC?
They brought a little truck to hand out abortions and vasectomies right there on thisspot.
Are you gonna bow down to that?
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The Greeks also had the god Apollo.
He was the god of science.
Today we have Dr.
Fauci.
Remember when he said, I am science.
Close the church doors.
shutter your businesses and schools, shut down the economy, do as I say.
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What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna cower?
Are you gonna bow down?
What should we be busy doing now more than ever?
The book of Revelation points out our purpose.
It gives us hope in spite of what's happening all around us.
It reaffirms that
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Although there is a little G God running around all over this earth, he is not sovereign.
God is sovereign.
It instructs us on what we should be doing now more than ever.
Here's the other purpose.
The first purpose, as I said, the book of Revelation teaches us how we are to live now asthese little G gods create other gods with their own hands and then tell us.
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to bow down and worship the things their fingers have created.
But the book of Revelation also teaches us what to expect after this time -spacecontinuum.
As of right now, there's a one -to -one correlation for all those who are born, they willdie.
Once we've taken our last breath on this side of heaven, every single human has stepped.
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into eternity.
You take your last breath on this side and then you immediately step into eternity.
What awaits us on the other side?
What is this whole thing called life is about?
What am I supposed to be doing?
Why is what I do today so important for what happens once I take my last breath?
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Why?
What happens?
What should we expect?
We're going to find that out here in the Book of Revelation.
And lastly, the purpose of the book of Revelation, as I said at the very beginning, is todispel ignorance.
God does not want us to be ignorant.
We don't talk like this any longer, not in churches anyway.
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I know what I've said so far is heavy.
We don't talk like this in the church, much less outside the church.
Not even in the church do we have.
these types of conversations any longer, just putting it out there and you grapple withit, with the Holy Spirit.
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We don't.
We tend to qualify and modify, soften what we have to say.
But I believe now is the time.
We must speak truth.
Let's get into chapter one.
The revelation of Jesus.
This is a revelation.
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that belongs to Jesus.
It was given to Jesus by the Father.
And now Jesus is coming and sharing it with John.
So the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soontake place.
He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who testifies to everything hesaw.
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That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear itand take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.
The Book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible that comes with a specific promise.
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No other book in the Bible
has a promise attached to it.
I just read it.
You will be blessed if you read slash study this book.
You will be blessed if you hear the words of this book.
What happens when you hear something?
You begin to consider it.
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Like you hear it and then you begin to think about it, consider it.
So blessed is the one who reads this book.
Blessed is the one who
hear or think, contemplate what is being said in this book.
And blessed is the one who takes it to heart, meaning you respond to it with your wholeself, meaning you react towards it like you believe it.
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You live like you believe it.
If you heard the person, you begin to consider or think about what the person just said.
They said, come here.
Do they really want me to come here?
Did he want me to stay right here?
Do I really need to go to where they are?
Why did they say, come here?
You're thinking about it.
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But then once you've considered what they've said to you, now you have to decide withaction or inaction, but that is you taking it to heart.
You have to respond.
Even if you decide not to move your refusal,
is a response.
If you decide to move, your whole self moves from one place to the other.
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And the word of God says there is no other book in the Bible that has this promise.
That if you pick up this book, this particular book, the book of Revelation, and if youread it, I'm gonna bless you.
If you really listen, I'm gonna bless you.
And if you...
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Respond to it, take it to heart.
Let it change how you think, behave, talk.
He said, I'm gonna bless you.
Meaning I'm gonna make you the envy of others.
I'm gonna make you happy.
You're gonna be happy.
I mean, there's a lot of people buying a lot of stuff to make them happy.
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It doesn't work for long.
That dopamine hit.
doesn't work for long.
You go to Twitter, you get a like, you get a lot of likes, boom, you're happy.
But then there's a peak and then there's a drop.
The word of God says, I will make you happy.
I will make you envied among others.
So chapter one, starting at verse four, here is the opening of the letter.
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This is a letter.
call it the ultimate love story.
And when I say that, talking about the book of Revelation, calling the book of Revelation,the ultimate love story, people are like, what?
There's like literal hell breaking loose everywhere.
How is this a love story?
You will see what I mean.
But this book is intimate and it is personal.
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It is global and on an individual level.
It is the ultimate love story all the way throughout.
You will hear Jesus will say, let me tell you what's coming.
I got to tell you what's coming.
I'm pulling back the curtain so you can see what is about to happen.
And it is frightening.
It is literal hell.
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I keep saying that word, that phrase for a reason, literal hell breaking loose on earth.
But then right before you will see this, right before he gets to the next opening of theletter, the sounding of a trumpet, you will see him pause and say, wait,
Okay, it's about to get bad again.
It's about to go from bad to worse.
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But before it does, I want you to know I love you.
I am sovereign.
None of this is happening by accident.
It has all been decided, but I'm drawing all things back to me.
It is so intimate.
It is so personal.
It is for you and it is for all of us all at the same time.
Revelation 1, chapter one, verse four, apostle John.
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So every letter has a to and a from.
The to is going to the seven churches in the province of Asia.
I'll get back to that.
Let's start with the from.
Grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come.
And from the seven spirits before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithfulwitness, the firstborn from the dead.
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and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Let's stop there.
The word Trinity is nowhere in the Bible and yet I just read it.
The letter is going to, but the letter is coming from the Trinity.
God the Father, right here.
Grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was and who is to come.
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Meaning everything happens within the confines of me.
I am right here in the present.
I'm in the past.
I'm in the future.
I am the Father.
It's kind of like how God introduced himself in Genesis chapter 1 in the beginning God.
He doesn't give you a whole lot of explanation about who he is.
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He just, here it is.
I am God and this is what I'm about to do.
So you have this letter coming from God the Father and you see it's coming from God theHoly Spirit.
Well, what do you see the Holy Spirit?
Right here.
It's coming from
the who is, the who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits before his throne.
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You're really going to see the seven spirits before the throne of God when we get toRevelation chapter four.
But turn with me real quick.
Isaiah chapter 11, verse two, the Holy Spirit, the sevenfold spirit.
All of it means the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
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There are seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.
Let's read it right here.
The Spirit of the Lord.
Lord means owner.
So the spirit of the owner will rest on him.
The spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit ofpower, the spirit of knowledge and the reverential fear of the Lord.
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These are the seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.
This is who he is.
You read about
the role, the job of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, John chapter 16, and many otherplaces.
But here in Isaiah chapter 11, the Word of God tells us who the Spirit is.
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There are seven different characteristics that identifies the Holy Spirit.
And really it tells us what do we need because Jesus said, I am leaving.
because I'm going to be crucified and I'm going to go to the Father and I'm going to sitdown at the right hand of the Father.
I'm leaving, but I'm going to send another, a comforter.
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And he begins to describe the Holy Spirit.
And he said, he will live in you.
So what do you need?
Whatever you need, the Holy Spirit has it.
We have everything we need.
We are complete.
Do you need wisdom?
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Do you need understanding?
Do you need a good counsel?
Like a lawyer advocating, do you need a good counsel?
Do you need power?
Revelation chapter three, when we get there, you hear Jesus say, I see you, you havelittle power.
Do you have little power?
Do you need more power?
Go to, it's the Holy Spirit, He dwells within us.
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Do you need knowledge?
I love the one,
the spirit of the Lord, the spirit Lord, meaning owner.
I often say in the world of politics that, you know, being free is hard work.
It takes a lot of work to be free, right?
You got to read, you got to study, you got to stay vigilant.
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You got to show up.
You got to take personal responsibility.
And that's a lot for people.
Hence the reason why socialism and communism
is so alluring.
Freedom is such hard work.
We naturally gravitate towards someone to take ownership of us.
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And here we have a good God, a good owner, a good Lord whose yoke is light.
His burden is not heavy on us.
He is faithful.
He is true.
He is good.
Right?
This is the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit, all seven aspects of Him dwells richly ineach and every one of us.
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Wrap your mind around that and pray about that.
I think that is so powerful.
Now, how do we tap into that fullness?
Reading your Bible and praying.
Now, so that's the from.
This is God introducing Himself in chapter one.
to those he is giving this revelation to.
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This is who I am.
I am a triune God.
This is the aspect of who I am, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
These are the different aspects of the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in each and every oneof you.
Now, who is this letter going to?
Well, it's going to...
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the seven churches in the province of Asia, Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
All the seven cities stand on this circular road.
And you will see a map that comes up for you right now.
These seven churches were in these seven cities.
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That was this circular kind of road that bound together the most populous, the mostwealthy and influential part
of the province.
So planted at these seven centers, the apocalypse was spread, the book of Revelation wasspread through their neighborhoods and from there to the rest of the province.
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So we're going to look at these seven churches from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamos,Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
They're all in this kind of circular road in modern day Turkey.
And the letter was addressed to these seven churches that were planted and these sevenvery influential, wealthy, highly populated, densely populated cities.
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And so if the revelation went to them, then it would go all around the world because thesewere people that were traveling and doing business and this revelation will go to them and
they will begin to spread it across.
the world.
So ingenious.
Let's look at verse seven.
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So everyone, when Jesus returned, here's the thing to note.
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Every tear will not be tears of joy.
Everyone will not be happy that Jesus is returning.
Everyone, even in the church, will not be happy that Jesus is returning.
But Jesus will return.
He will reign supreme over all the earth.
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He will disrupt some people's way of doing things.
Hence the reason why
People, whether in the church or outside of the church, everyone is not gonna be happythat Jesus has returned.
But he is.
And again, he is saying to us, throw off those things that so easily beset you, that soeasily trip you up.
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As Christians, we can see some things are shifting all around, even now, in the culture,in our nations, around the world.
Policies are being crafted and brought into law that moves us closer and closer.
towards the realization of a one world government.
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You can see that globalization.
We're talking not just about one nation, but all nations, right?
Look at the WHO and the authority that even our nation is trying to hand over to the WHO,the World Health Organization, so that they can rule over us under the next pandemic of
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some sort.
We are challenged as never before in world history to let go of the trivial and thetransient and to yield unreservedly to Him who is coming back to yield our whole self to
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God.
Turn with me to Daniel chapter seven, verse 13 and 14.
In my vision at night, I look.
And there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds.
We just read that in Revelation chapter one, coming with the clouds of heaven.
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He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.
All peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away.
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And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Apostle John sees Jesus coming back with all authority.
He is not coming back as a baby.
He is not coming back as a lamb to be slain, but he is coming back as the ultimateauthority, the supreme.
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authority over all nations, all leaders, all authority, all policies.
He is supreme.
That is how he will come back in the second coming.
Not as a baby, not little sweet baby Jesus, no.
Lying in a manger, no.
Not as a lamb being led to the slaughter, no.
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He will be coming back as king, as sovereign king, as the supreme
King.
All of these things are very important as we read through all of this, because as we seein verse eight, it tells us who Jesus is.
Jesus said, let me introduce myself.
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I am the Alpha and the Omega.
I am the Who Is, the Who Was, and the Who Is to come.
I am the Almighty.
I'm the Who Was, I'm the Who Is.
I'm the who is to come.
Everything that happens, happens within the confines of me.
Nothing that happens, happens outside of my yay or my nay.
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This is gonna be very important as we move through the book of Revelation.
I believe it's important even right now for where you and I are, because again, if you'repaying attention,
to what's going on all around us.
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I feel pressed on all sides.
I want, there's so much I want to do and yet I see doors closing on every side.
And yet I stand here saying, what would you have me to do Lord?
You see the things that are happening, the policies that are just wicked, the uneven,
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appropriation of justice in our country.
Lady law is no longer blind.
She's peeking.
In fact, she's taken off the blindfold altogether.
And she's looking and you see justice being rendered to some but not others.
You see what's going on around the world, the oppression, the wars, the wars, the rumor ofwars, the senselessness of things that are happening all around us.
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And here Jesus says, I am soft.
I'm above all else.
It must be understood that he is sovereign.
Nothing that happens, happens outside of the confines of Jesus.
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And as he opens this letter to John and for us.
He opens it up, informing us that he is above all, before all, after all.
Listen, although I'm talking about the Bible, yes, I will interject politics as well.
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will interject my own, my, my, the whole me is what I am telling you I'm going to bring toyou.
The whole me, good, bad and different.
I will no longer compartmentalize myself.
And I remember back in 2008, right before the 2008 elections.
And as we approached that, it seemed more and more likely that Obama was going to win thefirst election in 2008.
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I did not vote for Obama.
I've been very clear about that either time.
But I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, he's going to win, he's going towin.
My husband would wake up all startled, looking at me like, what in the world is going on?
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I did that.
I did that a number of times, actually, just in the middle of the night.
We're asleep.
And I would just wake up in the middle of the night and I would catch myself sitting up inthe middle of the bed screaming, he's going to win.
He's going to win.
He's going to win.
I guess I did that one too many times for God.
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I remember vividly sitting up in the bed and waking my own self up as I screamed, he'sgoing to win.
He's going to win.
Talking about Obama was going to win the 2008 election.
At that moment, as I was waking up, I could hear the voice of God.
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It wasn't an audible voice, but it was so clear in my mind.
And he said, why are you stressing out?
It has already been decided.
This is what I heard.
He said, I have already determined who the next president of the United States will be.
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I tell you no lie.
That is what I heard.
And I remember saying, as I'm sitting up in bed, I said, okay.
And I laid back down, went right back to sleep.
And I never woke up again in panic after that.
Never woke up again in panic.
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And as we know, Obama won.
But nothing takes God by surprise.
Either he is who he says he is.
Either he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Either he is the author and the finisher.
Either he is the who was, the who is, the who is to come.
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or he's not, you're gonna have to decide.
Either he is who he says he is or he's a liar.
There's no gray.
God does not give us any gray area.
We make up gray matter for God so that we can feel more comfortable, but there is no gray.
Either he is who he says he is or all of this is a lie because he is very definitive.
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He is not confused about who he is.
And so I submit we too should not be confused with who he is.
Either he is who he says he is, or he's not.
Either I can trust him with my family, with my finances, with my purpose, with the doorshe's going to open for me, or I cannot.
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That's where we fall.
Let's go towards the end of this.
Let's start with verse nine.
John says, I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patientendurance or hope, the patient hope, it's an endurance that ours is Jesus, was on the
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Island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
On the Lord's day, I was in the Spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,which said, write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus,
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Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
I turned around, John said, to see the voice that was speaking to me.
And when I turned,
I saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of mandressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with the golden sash around his chest, his
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head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes were like blazing fire.
Drop down to verse 16.
In his right hand, he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double edgedsword.
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His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last.
I am the living one.
I was dead and behold, I am alive forever and ever.
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And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Write therefore what you have seen, which is what we're gonna talk about in chapters one,what you have seen, write it down, what is now, that will be in chapter two and three, and
what will take place later, that is from chapter four on.
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The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven goldenlampstands is this.
The seven stars are the seven angels.
Some believe that that literal angels, others believe to the pastors of those sevenchurches.
I don't think it matters which way you want to believe it.
I tend to believe it's the seven angels, but who knows?
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The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
And the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
We read that again, the latter part of that.
The seven lampstands are the seven churches.
And go back to verse 12.
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John said, I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.
And when I turned, I saw seven, you see this right here?
The seven golden lamp.
He said, I saw seven.
golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man.
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Dressed in a robe.
among the seven lampstands was Jesus, the son of man, standing and walking among the sevenlampstands.
Who's the seven lampstand?
Go back to verse 20, that last sentence.
And the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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Now, yes, Jesus in the book of Revelation, chapter two and three, these are literalphysical churches that existed.
But as we will talk, and if you have spent any time in the Bible, the church does not justrefer to the four walls at the church you attend every Sunday.
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You and I,
are the church.
I'm the church.
You're the church.
And I think this is so powerful that John says, I hear a voice and when I turn around tosee who's speaking, I see seven golden lampstands.
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I see the church and in the midst of the church is Jesus walking.
I don't know about you, but I can almost pause.
almost pause and shout for joy, that in the midst of me right now, Jesus is here and he isstanding and he is walking in the midst of his people.
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That is so powerful.
That is so powerful.
Allow your mind to just pause and think on that for just a moment.
This lamp stand.
represents me and in the midst of me even now I am not alone you are not alone there isone who is standing even in the midst of you and me right now I know I'm so amazing
(49:01):
Hello everyone, this is Cathy Barnett.
Thank you so much for listening.
I'm gonna need you guys to partner with what it is that I'm doing.
How do you do that, you ask?
By clicking the subscribe button right now.
Follow by, hit that notification button.
Follow by sharing this with your friends, with your family, to your social media, as wellas I wanna hear what you're thinking.
(49:27):
Who do you want me to bring on?
What do you want me to talk about?
What are your thoughts?
This is a partnership.
This is a conversation.
It's not just one way.
So thank you all so much.
I'm so very grateful for each and every one of you.
Blessings.
I that for myself.
(49:49):
We are not alone, although it can feel very lonely at times.
And that we're the only one who's trying to do the will of God.
We are not, or we're the only one.
We are not alone.
There is one who is standing in the midst of us, the faithful one, the true one, thesovereign, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.
(50:18):
is standing in the midst of us.
Turn with me to Zachariah chapter four.
I'm gonna read this out of the Amplified Bible.
I wanna double click a little bit on this lamp stand.
When I first read this and saw this, my heart was just arrested.
(50:40):
I was detained on the thought of this lamp stand representing me.
and what the word of God says.
But Zachariah chapter four, starting at verse two, and said to me, what do you see?
I said, I see and behold a lamp stand, all of gold.
(51:06):
Remember the lamp stand is you and me is the church.
Zachariah said, I see a lamp stand, all of gold with this bowl for oil.
on the top of it and it's seven lamps on it.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven lamps on it.
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And there are seven pipes to each of the seven lamps, seven pipes.
And there are two olive trees by it.
One upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it.
Beating it continuously with oil.
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So here you have the lamp stand.
And on the right hand side is an olive tree, on the left hand side is an olive tree, andright above this lamp stand is a bowl.
And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the otherupon the left side of it, beating it continuously with oil.
(52:15):
oil going through the bowl from the olive trees and putting the fuel into the seven lampshere.
And I asked the angel who talked with me, what are these my lord?
Then the angel who talked with me answered me, do you not know what these are?
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And I said, no, my lord.
Then he said to me, this addition of the bowl to the candlestick,
causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive tree is the word of the Lordto Zerubbabel.
You have the two olive trees, which we will find out is the spirit of God pouring theenergy, the energy into the bowl, which is the word of God, which then feels you and I,
(53:12):
the church with
the energy that we need, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit of whom the oil is asymbol, says the Lord of hosts.
I tell you no lie, my heart has been detained on looking at this lampstand.
(53:33):
Let's start there.
What is this lampstand doing right now?
What is it doing?
I was just mesmerized with it because I know the lampstand represents me.
It represents the people of God.
We are called the light of the world.
Jesus says the lampstand represents
(53:54):
the church, I just read that, Revelation chapter one.
We are the church.
What is this lamp stand doing?
I'll tell you what it's doing.
It ain't doing nothing but standing.
All it's doing is just standing here.
It's not strategizing, it's not politicking, it's not working itself to death, it's notsweating from exhaustion.
(54:19):
After we have done all we know to do, the word of God says in Ephesians chapter six, weare called to do what?
To stand.
Where does the power come from?
We are standing here and I'm not gonna put oil in this and put light to it, but if I did,imagine if you can, if you will, that I placed oil, that I have
(54:48):
two olive trees on the side of this lamp stand with a bowl here and the oil from the olivetree is pouring into the bowl and the bowl is pouring the oil, continuously pouring the
oil causing the fire to never go out because I continuously have oil filling up and theoil is the energy.
(55:15):
Now I'm the lamp stand.
Am I making the oil pour into me?
Am I giving myself the energy to produce the light for the world?
To produce light and darkness?
Our culture, there's a lot of darkness in our culture and we want to be the light.
(55:37):
This lamp stand is doing nothing but standing after you've done all you know to do, stand,the word of God says.
This lamp stand is just standing.
You are the lamp stand.
I am the lamp stand.
This lamp stand is doing nothing but standing.
And according to Zaruba Bell, there are two olive trees upon the right side of the bowland the left side of the bowl that is feeding the bowl continuously with the oil, with the
(56:11):
energy that allows you and I to produce the light.
to be effective in this world.
And I am, again, I'm talking to myself because I am an A type personality through andthrough.
I will knock down the door.
God gives me a plan.
I say, thank you, I got it from here.
(56:33):
That's my personality.
I have learned to relax, but I am a worker and I wanna see change.
and I will pull out my phone and start making phone calls and politicking andstrategizing.
That is what I do.
And I am not saying that we are not to do it, but not by, what did he say?
(56:54):
Not by might nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.
The change we're going to see in our world is not going to come because I outworkedsomebody or because I out politicked somebody.
The change that is really going to pull our country and this world from the precipice isgoing to be by the Spirit of God, which is flowing through all of us, giving us the energy
(57:28):
to be a light, to walk into rooms and effect real change.
That's what I want you to see.
I thought this was interesting.
I was studying in the Vines Expository Dictionary.
Did you know there is no mention of the word candle throughout the Old Testament or theNew Testament?
(57:52):
That figure, the candle, which feeds upon its own substance to provide its light isnowhere in the Bible.
It would be utterly inappropriate and incompatible.
Think about it.
A candle provides its own source of energy and it just burns, burns, burns until it burnsitself out.
(58:17):
That's how most of us walk around here today.
We do everything by our own power, by our own strength, by our own knowledge, by our ownwisdom, by our own contact, by our own strategizing.
And we burn the candle on both ends.
and we burn ourselves out.
The mention of the word candle or anything that feeds upon itself, like an autoimmunedeficiency is nowhere in the Bible.
(58:45):
But you know what is?
A lampstand.
The lampstand does not have power of its own.
It has to get its power from an oil source.
And the Holy Spirit is that oil source, not just a little oil.
but it's continuous, two olive trees on both sides, feeding it continuously.
(59:06):
It will never run out.
Are you feeding off your own substance?
Relying on your own intellect, on your own wealth, on your own list of friends, networks,contacts, your own ability to roll up your sleeves and get her done?
I've already said, that is me.
I have done that more times than not.
(59:28):
And every single time after a while, I'm left frustrated and exhausted.
We say, God, I'll talk to you in a minute.
You know, Lord, you understand these phone calls aren't gonna make them sell these papers,need grading.
I have to run these errands, study this analysis, fold these clothes, spend time with thefamily, clean fellowship, read something, network, prepare this presentation.
(59:54):
Lord, you know tomorrow, Lord, I pray.
Tomorrow, Lord, I study.
I'm so tired right now.
I'm just sleepy.
I can't keep my eyes open.
We've all been there and I am not judging you.
I've been there a lot.
There's so much we feel we're called to do and so little time to do it all in.
(01:00:17):
So many are counting on us.
But let me tell you, this lamp stand right here is not sweating and yet it...
produces light.
I poured oil into this, it will produce light.
It's working.
It's not exhausted.
Like I said, it's not sweating.
This lamp stand is relying on an outside source to provide whatever it needs to continuedoing what it is designed to do.
(01:00:45):
What are you designed to do?
You're designed to do the exact same thing I'm designed to do.
That is to stand and to just shine.
shine bright like a diamond.
I don't know, can I say that?
Well, I did.
You are to shine bright like the sun.
That is what you're called to do, but not by your own effort.
(01:01:09):
Are you a candlestick or a lamp stand?
You can answer that.
What are you called to do?
What is your purpose?
What is the calling of the believer?
We're called to stand.
What does this lamp stand doing?
It is standing.
Who have God called you to be and what has he called you to do to stand?
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It's not as difficult as we make it out to be.
I am not judging you.
I am speaking to myself right now.
It is not as difficult.
Let us assume we all agree that we are called to stand.
How does this translate over into our day -to -day lives?
(01:01:53):
What does it look like to stand?
What does standing look like in our culture today?
As you will see, the Bible interprets itself and God does not want us to be ignorant.
We've already talked about that.
The last chapter, the last passage we're gonna read, Ephesians chapter six, starting withverse 14 going to 18.
(01:02:20):
Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate ofrighteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all theflaming arrows of the evil one.
(01:02:47):
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God andpray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
This is what we're to do.
(01:03:08):
Stand firm with the belt of truth.
Be truthful.
Don't tell a lie.
Everything unravels with that lie.
with the breastplate of righteousness, be in right standing with the Lord, repent, turnaway from sin, whether it's pornography, whether it's stealing, whatever your sin may be,
(01:03:32):
lying, backbiting, just being angry, pride, arrogance, you know you.
And if you don't know, ask God, He'll show it to you.
And with your feet
Fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Stop tearing people down.
Seek out peace.
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In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all theflaming arrows of the evil one.
Faith is hard, but faith is the evidence of things not seen, the proof of things we hopefor.
Take up that hope and endure.
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Beat back sadness, timidity, lack of courage and stand.
Take the helmet of salvation, your mind.
The word of God says, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Grab your mind and turn it towards God.
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Grab every thought, every thought, grab it.
And the sword of the spirit, take the word of God and read it.
And then he says, pray, pray all the time, pray in the spirit for all occasions, all kindsof prayers and requests and all be on the alert.
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Always keep on praying for all the saints.
This is how we stand in the culture we find ourselves in.
All right.
This is Revelation chapter one.
Go back through it.
Share this.
Please hit the subscribe button, like it, hit the notification button, leave a comment,talk to me.
(01:05:19):
We're in this together, truly we are, blessing.
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