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December 23, 2024 13 mins

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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast on this podcast, our
preacher Mark Roberts will helpyou get your week started
right. With look back atyesterday's sermon so that we
can think through it furtherand better work the
applications into our dailylives . Mark will then look

(00:28):
forward into this week's Biblereading so that we can know
what to expect and watch for.
And, he may have some extrabonus thoughts from time to
time. So grab a cup of coffeeas we start the week together
on Monday Morning Coffee withMark.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday
Morning Coffee podcast forMonday, December the 23rd. I'm
Mark. I've got a cup of coffee.
I've got my Bible open to thebook of Revelation, and I'm
gonna try to keep it short andsweet. There's an awful lot
happening this week. All kindsof things going on. Of course,
with the Christmas holiday. Wewant to keep up with our
spiritual disciplines. We wantto keep in our Bible reading.
This is great Bible reading.

(01:13):
I'm not sure that there's a lothere that you're not gonna
understand or that I need tosmooth out or try to work with
here. This is wonderfulmaterial. It's straightforward
material. So I'll try to keepthese episodes every day's
chapter very short. We'll getto the point and we'll just
enjoy our Bible reading in themiddle of a time when there's a
whole lot of other things thatare going on. Of course, I'm

(01:34):
not gonna talk about thepreaching yesterday at West
Side because, because I was notat West Side yesterday, Dean
and I were in Conway. We'recelebrating Christmas with
Sarah and Garrett and Jane andour granddaughter to come in
January. So lots of good familytime. We actually are home by
the time you're listening tothis that came home yesterday.
So we are home. But no, nonotes on the sermon yesterday.

(01:55):
I'm sure everything at WestSide was wonderful, but no
notes on the sermon. We justneed to get our coffee. We need
to get ready. We need to getset. And yep , we just need to
go. Let's go. Let's get readyto think about the book of
Revelation. So it is Monday andtoday our reading is Revelation
21, 15 to 27. This is theamazing continued description

(02:16):
of the city of God, the newJerusalem, it's heaven, the
place where we will go and livewith God for all time. One of
my favorite scholars who dealsso well with the book of
Revelation is helped me somuch, a fellow named Kester .
He notes here that John reallyhas written a book that could
be called A Tale of Two Cities.
It's the Tale of Babylon andthe Tale of the New Jerusalem.

(02:39):
And the new Jerusalem is wherewe want to be. New Jerusalem is
the winner because, becauseit's God's city. And what we
note here then is that the citylies Foursquare, and it's just
huge. He measures it out. Verse16, 1200 stadia to be roughly
1500 miles. Clearly this is nota a literal city. It would be

(03:01):
gigantic. It would take up mostthe half of the United States
and stretch 1500 miles out intospace. That is not a literal
description. Nobody in heavenwill be walking around with a
tape measure and say, oh , Ilook at this 11,998 Stadia . I
thought it was supposed to be12. No, no, no. That's not how,
this is. What's important isthat the city is a square. It's

(03:23):
a perfect cube, which remindsus, of course, of the holy of
Holies, the place where onlythe high priest could go once a
year to commune with God and tosprinkle the blood, to make
atonement and propitiation forthe sins of the people instead
of the sanctuary being theplace where only one person can
go. All of us are there. Welive there in the presence of

(03:44):
God. And what is notable aboutthat, verse 22, is that there
is no temple that would havejust shocked the hearers in the
first century because everycity had a temple or many
temples. Temples are a hugepart, a big landmark in ancient
cities. But there is no temple.
The whole city is the temple.
We are with God. And of course,someone will ask you about the

(04:07):
kings of the Earth, verse 24and and , and the healing of
the nations in our reading inchapter 22. But, but John isn't
presenting a timeline of eventshere and, and we can sequence
things out. He's just sayingthat God is doing everything
that he can to bring salvationto everyone and, and I think
the kings of the earth bringingtheir glory into it, its gates
will never shut by day. Noticehere the idea of God promising

(04:30):
salvation to everyone , butnothing unclean. Verse 27 will
ever enter into it. This is aperfect place and there will be
no sin there of any kind as faras the precious gems that are
described, Jasper Sapphire. Allof that is to say it's just an
incredible city. The last timewe saw the people of the Lamb

(04:55):
was in chapter 19, and they arein fine linen in chapter 19,
verse eight, the righteousdeeds of the saints. But when
you actually see where thepeople of God are and and where
they're going to live, it's farbetter than we could have
imagined. It's maybe it's kindalike the Wizard of Oz, the
Emerald City. Have you seen themovies and seen how it glistens

(05:15):
and it's just breathtaking.
It's greater than even thatwhich leads us to tomorrow's
reading in chapter 22, wherethis continues to be described.
But Monday's reading for us,revelation 21, 15 to 27, it's
Tuesday. It is Tuesday. And Ihope that you're not running
around crazily trying to doyour last minute shopping and
get everything in place. But itis . Yeah, it , it's the

(05:39):
holiday season and Christmas ison, but we still wanna stay
with our Bible reading. SoRevelation chapter 22 is our
reading for Tuesday, revelation22, 1 to five. And here we see
some of the best things aboutheaven, the river of the water
of life. Think about Jesus andhis discussion in John four
with a woman about eternal lifecoming from. If you drink from
this water that I give you,Jesus says, it'll flow from

(06:02):
within you. He can bringeternal life. You'll never
thirst again. And then ofcourse we see the tree of life.
Verse two, we're back to thegarden of Eden , back to
fellowship with God. Andthere's no sin here. The throne
of God and the lamb is there.
Servants are serving him,worshiping him. They see his
face. They see his face. That'swhat we want. That's what we

(06:28):
want. And we reign thereforever and ever . Notice
again. Verse five, the emphasisin revelation is not just that
God wins the in the emphasis isyou win, I win. We reign
forever with Christ in heaven.
What a joyous vision. That isour reading for Tuesday.

(06:48):
Revelation 22, 1 to five.
Welcome to Wednesday. Today'sreading is Revelation chapter
22 verses six to 11. Again, nota long reading and not a
difficult reading at all, butthe main themes of Revelation
being summarized again, blessed. It is the one who keeps the
words of the prophecy of thisbook. Verse seven, I am coming
soon. These things must soontake place. This book is not

(07:12):
about events in 1948 or in2024. This book is about the
things that would affect thelives of the people in the
seven churches of Asia. Andthen of course the thousand
years here in, in chapter 20,project further and forward
into eternity. You would talkedabout all of that. But the main
emphasis, verse 10, is don'tseal up the words of this
prophecy because the time isnear. And in fact, Jesus goes

(07:35):
on to say, I am coming soon inverse 12. That's a coming in
judgment. That's a coming tosave those and deliver those
who are standing with the lamb.
Notice the major emphasis,worship God. Verse nine, true
prophecy. Verse seven talksabout words of prophecy.
Remember, prophecy is not justtelling the future in the main
prophecy is speaking for God.

(07:57):
And true prophecy brings peopleto God so that they worship
God, not the beast, worshipGod, not the beast. And then
there's all this discussionabout things that are outside
that are evil. The sorcerers,the sexually immorals, that
that's Babylon. That's all theways of the beast. That's all
the ways of the Red dragon.

(08:18):
Don't be part of that. Washyour robes so that you can have
a right to the Tree of life.
Verse 14, stand with the Lamb.
That's our reading forWednesday. Revelation 22, 6, 2
11. It's Thursday. And ourreading today is Revelation 22,

(08:39):
12 to 21. I think I driftedinto some of this material
yesterday. It's just very hardto stop the readings here in
Revelation. You're just pulledforward by these wonderful
images and the wonderful ideaof being with the Lamb and
being with God. All that goeswith serving the Lord. Behold,
I'm coming soon, verse 12, andI'm the Alpha and the Omega.

(08:59):
You just feel this book comingfull circle back to where we
start. I am the root anddescendant of David, verse 16,
right outta two Samuel seven,the promise to David, the King
of kings and the Lord of Lords.
In verse 17, the spirit of thebride say, come , let anyone
who's thirsty come. I thinkI've not paid enough attention
to how evangelistic the book ofRevelation is, how much it's

(09:21):
about repenting turning back toGod. Come stand with the lamb.
God does not want to destroy.
Sometimes that imagery of Jesusand the devil gets in a fight,
and Jesus whips the devil.
Sometimes that sounds likeJesus just wants to beat up the
devil and just smash him down.
And all the people who standwith the devil, they're all
just gonna get, no, no, no, no,no, no. Jesus wants everyone to

(09:42):
come and be safe . That's whyit says verse 18. I warn
everyone who hears the words ofthe prophecy of this book. And
if anyone, if, if you takeaway, if you warp or twist the
words of the prophecy of thisbook, verse 19, then you're in
real trouble. Come stand withthe land. Judgment is coming
soon. Verse 20. And what weneed is the grace of Jesus in

(10:06):
some ways. In some ways, it'shard to to end the Book of
Revelation, isn't it? It's sucha beautiful and powerful book.
I thank you so much for readingit with me this year. I , I
don't think I've had nearly theappreciation for the book of
Revelation that I needed andparticularly preparing for this
podcast and getting to talk toyou about it every day has
helped me so very, very much.

(10:27):
I've written a couple of books, uh, where I've tried to take
Romans and then the Sermon onthe Mount and make that
material accessible toeveryone. And I'm really
excited about the Book ofRevelation 'cause the next book
that I'm gonna write in thatseries, the Coffee and Bible
series, will be the book ofRevelation for everyone. And
your feedback from this podcastand the Zoom calls on Tuesday
night and the discussions thatwe've had in , in , in the

(10:48):
foyer and and , and things thatpeople have emailed me and
talked with me about, you'vehelped me so much with the Book
of Revelation. I appreciate youso much. Our reading for
Thursday is the last chapter,the last verses in the New
Testament, revelation 22, 12 to21. I'll see you tomorrow.
We're gonna finish the year byreading Psalm eight . Welcome

(11:10):
to Friday. Today, our readingis the eighth Psalm, and that
is a very appropriate way toend this year, thinking about
the eyewitnesses Peter andJohn, and thinking about what
they have taught us and shownus about Jesus, Lord of Lord,
and king of Kings. And spoileralert reading. And Psalm eight
prepares us well for wherewe're headed in our daily Bible

(11:30):
reading next year. Don't wannagive everything away, but I
love reading the Psalms andPsalm eight is gonna help us be
ready for next year. This is aneasy Psalm to read. It is a
Psalm of praise . We always askwhat kind of Psalm this is.
When we're reading the Psalms,it is a Psalm of praise.
Sometimes people think this isabout man. No, it's about God.

(11:51):
And there are three greatcontrast in the Psalm, the
expansive sky contrasted withtiny babies, the expansive
heavens contrasted with thelittleness of man and the
quality of man and the rest ofcreation. From all of these
contrasts, we learned who weare and who God is. This Psalm
is about worshiping andexalting God. What an

(12:16):
appropriate place for us toread as we conclude the Book of
Revelation, as we conclude ayear spent exalting and
honoring Jesus Christ, king ofkings, Lord of Lords who saves
us and delivers us, oh Lord,our Lord, how majestic is your
name in all the earth? That'sthe podcast for the week. In

(12:39):
fact, that wraps up the podcastfor the year, doesn't it? Thank
you so much for listeningalong. Hope that you're getting
good value out of your timewith the podcast, that you're
telling others about it. You'velead a rating, you've left a
rating or review so that morepeople will find the podcast.
So until next Monday, yes,we'll continue the podcast,
Lord willing, into 2025. Sountil next Monday when we'll

(13:02):
open our Bibles together.
Again, I'm Mark Roberts and Iwant to go to heaven. I want
you to come to see you Mondaywith a cup of coffee.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Thanks for listening to the Westside church of
Christ podcast. Monday morningcoffee with mark . For more
information about Westside ,you can connect with us through
our website, justchristians.com and our Facebook
page. Our music is fromupbeat.is that's upbeat with
two P'S UPP , B E A T , wherecreators can get free music.

(13:46):
Please share our podcast withothers. And we look forward to
seeing you again with a companycoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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