November 3, 2025 • 21 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_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee Podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think of eachother and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's album reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusclouds from time to time.
So we have a cup of coffee andwe start the week together on
Monday morning coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
November the 3rd.
I'm Mark.
I'm holding a great cup ofcoffee.
Yes, this is a really good cupof coffee.
This is an Americano right outof the espresso machine.
Rolling this morning already.
Got some coffee.
Got some thoughts aboutyesterday's sermon.
Looking forward to a differentkind of weekend Bible reading,
(01:14):
kind of moving around a littlebit in the Word of God.
That's a challenge and that'sexciting as we see how important
David is all through thescriptures.
Lots going on that keeps thatenergy we had yesterday on
Sunday pushing into the weekstarting on Monday.
So grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee, let's grow together.
(01:37):
Yesterday was the second in thisseries, Five Toughest Questions
about Salvation, that I startedlast week by talking about
faith.
And yesterday we talked aboutrepentance.
I must tell you, I am, I'm justloving the response this series
is getting.
So many people have talked to meabout it and have encouraged me
with that.
Just some really good commentsyesterday about how this is
(01:59):
fitting into people's lives andhelping people.
So let's think for a momentfurther about repentance.
I picked this quote up fromsomewhere.
Let's work on this.
Repentance is not just a privatething, it's meant to be lived
out in community.
James 5.16 reminds us that wecan confess our sins to each
other so we can be healed.
Surrounding ourselves withothers who love God helps us see
(02:21):
our blind spots, resisttemptation, and celebrate
progress.
Our turning from sin isn't onlyfor us, it can encourage others
and point them to God's grace.
Find someone you trust.
Be honest, and let your ongoingrepentance inspire both your
walk and theirs.
That's a great thought to startthe week.
(02:41):
James 5, 16.
Therefore confess your sins toone another and pray for one
another that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous personhas great power as it is
working.
Repentance.
It's a huge part of thebeginning of our Christianity,
and it is an ongoing part of ourChristianity.
Hope those thoughts onrepentance helped you yesterday.
(03:03):
And now, time for some dailyBible reading.
Find your Bible, find Isaiah.
We're in Isaiah chapter 11.
(03:31):
Isaiah 11, the whole chapter, isthe reading for today.
This is a beautiful and powerfulmessianic prophecy, one of the
best in all of Scripture, Ithink.
The first several verses, verses1 to 5, discuss the character of
the Messiah's rule.
And then I think you get verses6 to 9, the idea behind the
character of the Messiah or theking's subjects.
(03:53):
And this is very much about theMessiah coming from the fallen
tree of the house of David.
You get that in this business ofthere shall come forth a sheep
from the stump of Jesse, verse1.
The idea of the house of Davidbeing cut off, think about there
not being a king on the throneduring the time of the
Babylonian captivity, forexample.
And so there will be a uniqueand special ruler of rulers who
(04:16):
will come from the lineage ofDavid.
The sprout will come from thatcut-off stump, if you will.
God is still working there.
But it's not just his lineagethat makes him special.
Verse 2, the Spirit of the Lordwill be upon him, giving him all
that he needs to be the idealking.
He does not judge by appearance.
Verse 3, he helps the oppressed,verse 4, and that means his
(04:38):
kingdom is marked, verses 6, 7,8, and 9, with security.
There is security and peace inhis kingdom.
Please don't make verse 6, thewolf dwelling with the lamb and
so forth.
Don't make that any more literalthan you would make verse 4,
that he shall strike the earthwith the rod of his mouth.
Does the Messiah literally havea sword or rod coming out of his
(04:59):
mouth?
No, that's a figure.
And in the same way, we do notexpect the cow and the bear,
verse 7, to graze together.
The maybe in more contemporaryterms, the dog and the cat to
sit down together.
That's not going to happen,although these verses are often
misused to refer to some kind ofliteral paradise on earth during
the millennium or something.
(05:19):
No, the king is reigning now.
The king is reigning now.
And Paul identifies that.
Verse 10, in that day the rootof Jesse, that's quoted in
Romans 15, 12 as being part ofthe gospel age.
This is going on right now.
God is calling all people, Jewand Gentile, to himself.
And unfortunately, not all willcome.
(05:40):
Verses 14 and 15 tell us thatnot all want to come to the
Lord.
Our reading on Monday, Isaiahchapter 11.
It is Tuesday.
It's Tuesday, and today ourreading is Revelation, the fifth
chapter.
This is one of my favoritechapters in the book of
Revelation.
I love Revelation chapter 5.
I'm currently writing my nextbook on the book of Revelation,
(06:00):
and I'm just soaking deeply inRevelation.
It's coming out of every pore,so I was really excited to see
that we're going to read thattoday.
I should pass along toWestsiders.
There's no Zoom call tonightbecause the elders meet on
Tuesday.
I'm meeting with them tonight,so there'll be no Zoom call, but
there's lots to think about herein Revelation, the fifth
chapter.
Maybe we'll talk about that someon Facebook or in other options
(06:20):
and so forth.
But this is the place where thewhere the action really gets
ramped up here.
The focus moves from God theFather enthroned in heaven to
what is God doing?
What is happening here upon thisearth?
What what is the effect of theevents in heaven upon the
inhabitants of the earth?
And that begins with John seeinga sealed scroll in verse one.
(06:43):
And this is a great place tonotice that you can't take the
book of Revelation literally.
How can John see that the scrollis written within and on the
back sealed?
How does he know it's writteninside if it's all sealed up?
This is this is again, like Isaid, a great place to see.
You don't overthink the book ofRevelation.
(07:03):
You can't do that.
It'll just make a huge mess.
He just knows.
He just sees these things and hejust knows these things.
And then the mighty angel says,Who can do this?
Who can open the scroll?
Which of course John would, hey,what's in there?
I want to see it open.
What's going on?
The scroll seems to represent,there are lots of options given
by various scholars and writers,but it seems to represent the
(07:24):
plan of God, what God is doing.
And the call here, is thereanyone worthy to execute the
plan of God?
And the answer to that is thelion of the tribe of Judah, the
root of David.
That, the lion of the tribe ofDavid, is from Genesis chapter
49, verses 9 to 12, where Jacobprophesies about Judah's
supremacy among his brothers.
And then, of course, the root ofDavid.
(07:45):
That's from yesterday's reading.
Isaiah 11, chapter, uh, chapmore coffee.
More coffee.
Isaiah 11 and verse 10.
Why is that so difficult to say?
And you should know that thereare several apocalyptic texts
that are circulating during thetime of the book of Revelation
that identify Genesis 49 andIsaiah 11 as being very
(08:07):
messianic.
And let me just say this aboutapocalyptic text.
There's a lot of material in theNew Testament world that sounds
like the book of Revelation.
It does not claim to beinspired, it's not trying to be
inspired, but it does serve togive us a lot of clues as to how
to deal with this kind ofmaterial.
We don't do a great jobsometimes dealing with the book
of Revelation.
We're just not familiar with thesort of material the book of
(08:30):
Revelation is.
People do overthink it and tryto make something out of every
detail.
But here comes the lion, thetribe of Judah from the root of
David, and he is between verse6, the throne, and the four
living creatures, and thebetween there.
That's some difficult text therein the Greek.
And what you need to see is thatthe lamb is in the center of the
(08:51):
praise scene that's going on.
In Revelation 4, the throne isin the center, and God the
Father is being praised.
Now the lamb is in the center,he is being praised.
And I keep saying lamb, you maybe thinking, I thought it was a
lion.
But he turns and looks, verse 6,and sees a lamb.
And this is this is classicRevelation.
I I heard that it was going tobe a lion, but when I turned and
(09:15):
looked, it was a lamb.
And it's not any lamb, it is alamb standing as though it had
been slain.
Slain here is the word forslaughtered in the Greek.
And it is the word that's usedin the Greek translation of the
Old Testament in Isaiah 53 forthe slaughtered lamb.
So this lamb has beensacrificed, his throat would be
cut.
This is the lamb of God, this isthe lion.
(09:37):
And notice here, the text neversays it's Jesus.
And we all know it's Jesus,don't we?
That's a great, great clue tousing the book of Revelation.
People try to discern all thesedetails, and like I said,
they're overthinking it and soforth.
When you need to know whatsomething stands for, you'll
(09:58):
know.
You'll know.
John will make sure that youknow.
He doesn't even have to say,hey, look at his name tag.
It's Jesus.
We know this is Jesus.
He takes the scroll, and theneverybody worships him.
The host of heavens in verse 8,every tribe and language and
people and nation, which is abig emphasis in the book of
Revelation, they all worshiphim.
(10:19):
And what one writer says here isso helpful, what is implicit
now, what has been implicit nowbecomes explicit.
God on the throne and the Lambare inextricably joined together
as the objects of Christianworship.
The Lamb and the Father areequal.
They are both to be worshipped.
And verse 10 says, and there's ahost of reasons here why the
(10:41):
Lamb can be worshipped, but partof that is you have made them a
kingdom and priest to our God,and they shall reign upon the
earth.
One of the big keys in the bookof Revelation is not just that
the Lamb is victorious, but thatif you stand with the Lamb, you
will be victorious.
Those who are on the lion lambside, they win.
They are kingdoms and priests,and they shall reign upon the
(11:03):
earth.
The book of Revelation iswritten, I believe, primarily to
assure the saints, you will win.
You will be victorious if youstand with Jesus.
Stand with the Lamb.
In fact, the name Jesus is notused that much in the book of
Revelation.
He's almost always referred toas the Lamb.
Everyone says, verse 13, to himwho sits on the throne and to
(11:26):
the Lamb be blessing and honorand glory and might forever and
ever.
What a scene.
What a scene that you and I wantto be part of.
We want to be victorious withthe Lamb.
Our reading for Tuesday.
Revelation chapter 5.
Welcome to Wednesday.
(11:47):
Welcome to Wednesday.
And we are starting a newsection of our daily Bible
reading schedule.
For the next several weeks, wewill be exclusively in the
Psalms.
In the Psalms.
And on Sunday in the 9 a.m., Italked about savoring the
Psalms, how to enjoy the Psalms.
If you were not there in the 9,maybe you'd want to review that
lesson.
It will really help you.
(12:08):
The Psalms are amazing andthey're wonderful, but they're
they're not like anything thatyou're going to read on
Facebook.
So need maybe a few pointers andsome ideas here, but this really
is a great place to connect withDavid because in the Psalms,
David shares his heart.
We just get a great look at theinner man, who David really is,
or depending upon who thepsalmist is, who that psalmist
(12:29):
is.
But they all have that flavor ofDavid, and they all sound like
David, and they're all moving inthat same kind of direction.
So let's work on Psalm 63 today.
The reading for Wednesday isPsalm 63, O God, you are my God.
Earnestly I seek you, and mysoul thirst for you, my flesh
faints for you as in a dry andweary land where there is no
(12:51):
water.
I think this is a lament psalm.
It is a cry for God's help.
We see a little bit of that atthe end where there is some
discussion of enemies in verse9, for example.
But mostly this is about thedepth of relationship that David
has with God.
David is not content at all withcheckbox religion.
I'm going to go do my religiousthing, and then I get back to my
regular life, do what I want todo.
(13:13):
No.
David is interested in doingwhat God wants him to do.
And you get some of thatimmediately, verse 2, when he
starts thinking about improvinghis relationship with God.
He thinks about worship in verse2, the power and the glory of
God.
That's a verse that I have ingreen.
I mark in the Psalms in greenpencil.
The verses that are justbeautiful.
(13:34):
Sometimes I can just pagethrough the Psalms, get a cup of
coffee, and just page throughthe Psalms and just note green
verses, and it just lifts up mywhole soul.
Verse 5, my soul will besatisfied is with rich and fat
food.
Now, wow, nutritionally that's adisaster for health conscious
Americans in 2025.
We all you're supposed to watchyour intake of saturated fat.
(13:56):
The imagery here is just superabundance, more than enough.
And one translation has richfeast, another one has the
riches of foods.
I suppose the Mark RobertsInternational East Texas version
would say, My soul will besatisfied with barbecue and
peach cobbler with a side ofbanana pudding.
And you understand then themetaphor, just the idea that God
(14:18):
fills my life up and makes itgood.
You have been my help, verse 7.
The whole concept here is of thegoodness of God.
God is good, and he has beengood to David.
And in fact, then David turnshis attention to his enemies,
beginning in verse 10.
And he says, verse 9, and thenin verse 10, he says, They shall
(14:38):
be given over to the power ofthe sword.
God will take care of myenemies.
God will take care of those whoare seeking my life.
I'm going to trust in Godbecause he's so good to me, the
king, verse 11, shall rejoice inGod.
This is about the depth ofrelationship that David has with
God, his joy in God, hishappiness in God, because God is
(15:03):
good.
A reading for Wednesday, Psalm63.
It is Thursday.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading the 64th Psalm.
Full disclosure here, lots goingon this morning, and I let my
coffee get cold, and then I dida terrible thing.
I put it in the microwave.
Don't microwave your coffee.
It never tastes as good, doesit?
Do you know why that is?
(15:24):
That's because all that greatcoffee smell, that's actually
little molecules of coffeejumping out of the cup and
flying around in the atmosphere.
They're being vaporized.
I I think the actual chemistryterm for that is sublimating.
I need to ask my dad about that.
But the coffee is not the same.
It is not the same as it coolsand coffee escapes out of the
mug.
So then you honk it in themicrowave, you nuke it, and it
(15:47):
tastes kind of burned and gross.
But you know what?
It's better than no coffee atall.
So let's have some coffee.
There we go.
And wow, not as good as fresh.
And now we're thinking about the64th Psalm.
We are certain what kind ofpsalm this is.
This is a lament.
Hear my voice, O God, in mycomplaint, verse 1.
So now you know, yes, this is alament, a cry to God for help,
(16:09):
but it is a brighter lament.
There is unwavering faith thatGod will respond, and that does
make it a little bit moreoptimistic than some laments
that are in the Psalms.
One scholar said he wouldclassify this as a protective
psalm.
Protective psalms containprayers to Jehovah against an
imminent danger and arepositioned before the fuel, full
(16:32):
fury of the distress comes.
And the tone of these psalms ismore optimistic than other
laments.
So notice here we get the ideaof suddenly and unexpectedly or
quickly.
Verse 4, the enemies attacksuddenly, but then verse 7, God
answers just as suddenly.
(16:54):
So the breakdown here is there'sa cry for help, verse 1.
Then evil men suddenly attack,verses 2 to 6.
And you'll notice here verses 5and 6 really step up the
description.
They're not just opposed to theinnocent, but they are crafty.
They are dangerous.
They foolishly believe, verse 5,that they can commit the perfect
crime, that they are accountableto no one, no one will see.
(17:16):
But God goes to work, verses 7,8, 9, and 10.
God rescues just as suddenly asthese evil men have attacked,
and God shoots his arrows.
One writer said, A greaterarcher than they shall take sure
aim.
Isn't that so?
And so their sin justboomeranges right back onto
them.
What they had planned to do, Goddoes to them.
(17:38):
The punishment fits the crime.
Psalm 64, a lament with a strongnote of confidence.
Our reading for Thursday, Psalm64.
It is Friday.
It is Friday.
And today we're reading the 69thPsalm.
Now, we read the 69th Psalm twoweeks ago in connection with
Acts chapter 1, givingparticular attention to verse 25
(18:02):
that mentions Judas Iscariot.
May there can't be a desolation.
Let no one dwell in their tents.
Peter makes use of that andapplies it to Judas Iscariot.
We talked about that then.
In fact, I worked through thisentire Psalm in that week.
So I hope you have some notesthere from Psalm 69.
This is a lament, but is aspecial lament because this is
suffering because I amrighteous.
(18:23):
And so here's the breakdown.
There's the plea and complaint,verses 1 to 4.
The reason for troubles, verses5 to 13.
Verse 7 is the key idea.
You want to make note of that,for it is for your sake that I
have borne reproach thatdishonor has covered my face.
And then in the second stanza,the complaint is renewed, verses
14 to 21, starting over again.
(18:45):
And then there is thisimprecation section, a section
that asks for a curse upon theenemies, verses 22 to 28.
And then finally an expressionof confidence, verses 29 to 36.
It is a classic lament, containsall the features of a good
lament.
There's prayer and plea forhelp.
There's a clear discussion ofwhat's going on, the complaint.
(19:07):
There's some confession notesthere.
And we talked a little bit hereon the Zoom call when we talked
about Psalm 69 about maybe thesepeople are hacking on David
because of his publicrepentance, maybe because of the
sin with Bathsheba.
And so maybe his repentance isbeing mocked and made fun of.
That may be working here, thatmay be part of what's going on.
(19:29):
Work down through this psalm andespecially enjoy this part where
there's this expression ofconfidence.
The Lord hears the needy, doesnot despise his own people who
are prisoners.
Let the heavens and earth praisehim.
Verse 33 and verse 34.
Wonderful, wonderful praise ofGod who hears and answers our
laments, our pleas for help.
(19:50):
The reading for Friday, Psalm69.
Well, there you go.
That's the podcast for the week.
I appreciate you listening.
Don't heat your coffee in themicrowave.
That's the big takeaway fromthis week's podcast.
Oh, I hope that's not the bigtakeaway from this week's
podcast.
I certainly do appreciate yourlistening.
I appreciate your help andencouragement about the podcast.
(20:11):
If you have questions aboutdaily Bible reading, remember to
turn those in for QA.
You can email those to me orFacebook message them to me, put
them on my desk.
Good questions make for good QA.
We're starting the month.
We'll be working all through thePsalms all this month.
So it's been a joy to be in theWord of God with you this week.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven and Iwant you to come too.
(20:34):
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(21:08):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee Podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think of eachother and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's album reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusclouds from time to time.
So we have a cup of coffee andwe start the week together on
Monday morning coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
November the 3rd.
I'm Mark.
I'm holding a great cup ofcoffee.
Yes, this is a really good cupof coffee.
This is an Americano right outof the espresso machine.
Rolling this morning already.
Got some coffee.
Got some thoughts aboutyesterday's sermon.
Looking forward to a differentkind of weekend Bible reading,
(01:14):
kind of moving around a littlebit in the Word of God.
That's a challenge and that'sexciting as we see how important
David is all through thescriptures.
Lots going on that keeps thatenergy we had yesterday on
Sunday pushing into the weekstarting on Monday.
So grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee, let's grow together.
(01:37):
Yesterday was the second in thisseries, Five Toughest Questions
about Salvation, that I startedlast week by talking about
faith.
And yesterday we talked aboutrepentance.
I must tell you, I am, I'm justloving the response this series
is getting.
So many people have talked to meabout it and have encouraged me
with that.
Just some really good commentsyesterday about how this is
(01:59):
fitting into people's lives andhelping people.
So let's think for a momentfurther about repentance.
I picked this quote up fromsomewhere.
Let's work on this.
Repentance is not just a privatething, it's meant to be lived
out in community.
James 5.16 reminds us that wecan confess our sins to each
other so we can be healed.
Surrounding ourselves withothers who love God helps us see
(02:21):
our blind spots, resisttemptation, and celebrate
progress.
Our turning from sin isn't onlyfor us, it can encourage others
and point them to God's grace.
Find someone you trust.
Be honest, and let your ongoingrepentance inspire both your
walk and theirs.
That's a great thought to startthe week.
(02:41):
James 5, 16.
Therefore confess your sins toone another and pray for one
another that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous personhas great power as it is
working.
Repentance.
It's a huge part of thebeginning of our Christianity,
and it is an ongoing part of ourChristianity.
Hope those thoughts onrepentance helped you yesterday.
(03:03):
And now, time for some dailyBible reading.
Find your Bible, find Isaiah.
We're in Isaiah chapter 11.
(03:31):
Isaiah 11, the whole chapter, isthe reading for today.
This is a beautiful and powerfulmessianic prophecy, one of the
best in all of Scripture, Ithink.
The first several verses, verses1 to 5, discuss the character of
the Messiah's rule.
And then I think you get verses6 to 9, the idea behind the
character of the Messiah or theking's subjects.
(03:53):
And this is very much about theMessiah coming from the fallen
tree of the house of David.
You get that in this business ofthere shall come forth a sheep
from the stump of Jesse, verse1.
The idea of the house of Davidbeing cut off, think about there
not being a king on the throneduring the time of the
Babylonian captivity, forexample.
And so there will be a uniqueand special ruler of rulers who
(04:16):
will come from the lineage ofDavid.
The sprout will come from thatcut-off stump, if you will.
God is still working there.
But it's not just his lineagethat makes him special.
Verse 2, the Spirit of the Lordwill be upon him, giving him all
that he needs to be the idealking.
He does not judge by appearance.
Verse 3, he helps the oppressed,verse 4, and that means his
(04:38):
kingdom is marked, verses 6, 7,8, and 9, with security.
There is security and peace inhis kingdom.
Please don't make verse 6, thewolf dwelling with the lamb and
so forth.
Don't make that any more literalthan you would make verse 4,
that he shall strike the earthwith the rod of his mouth.
Does the Messiah literally havea sword or rod coming out of his
(04:59):
mouth?
No, that's a figure.
And in the same way, we do notexpect the cow and the bear,
verse 7, to graze together.
The maybe in more contemporaryterms, the dog and the cat to
sit down together.
That's not going to happen,although these verses are often
misused to refer to some kind ofliteral paradise on earth during
the millennium or something.
(05:19):
No, the king is reigning now.
The king is reigning now.
And Paul identifies that.
Verse 10, in that day the rootof Jesse, that's quoted in
Romans 15, 12 as being part ofthe gospel age.
This is going on right now.
God is calling all people, Jewand Gentile, to himself.
And unfortunately, not all willcome.
(05:40):
Verses 14 and 15 tell us thatnot all want to come to the
Lord.
Our reading on Monday, Isaiahchapter 11.
It is Tuesday.
It's Tuesday, and today ourreading is Revelation, the fifth
chapter.
This is one of my favoritechapters in the book of
Revelation.
I love Revelation chapter 5.
I'm currently writing my nextbook on the book of Revelation,
(06:00):
and I'm just soaking deeply inRevelation.
It's coming out of every pore,so I was really excited to see
that we're going to read thattoday.
I should pass along toWestsiders.
There's no Zoom call tonightbecause the elders meet on
Tuesday.
I'm meeting with them tonight,so there'll be no Zoom call, but
there's lots to think about herein Revelation, the fifth
chapter.
Maybe we'll talk about that someon Facebook or in other options
(06:20):
and so forth.
But this is the place where thewhere the action really gets
ramped up here.
The focus moves from God theFather enthroned in heaven to
what is God doing?
What is happening here upon thisearth?
What what is the effect of theevents in heaven upon the
inhabitants of the earth?
And that begins with John seeinga sealed scroll in verse one.
(06:43):
And this is a great place tonotice that you can't take the
book of Revelation literally.
How can John see that the scrollis written within and on the
back sealed?
How does he know it's writteninside if it's all sealed up?
This is this is again, like Isaid, a great place to see.
You don't overthink the book ofRevelation.
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You can't do that.
It'll just make a huge mess.
He just knows.
He just sees these things and hejust knows these things.
And then the mighty angel says,Who can do this?
Who can open the scroll?
Which of course John would, hey,what's in there?
I want to see it open.
What's going on?
The scroll seems to represent,there are lots of options given
by various scholars and writers,but it seems to represent the
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plan of God, what God is doing.
And the call here, is thereanyone worthy to execute the
plan of God?
And the answer to that is thelion of the tribe of Judah, the
root of David.
That, the lion of the tribe ofDavid, is from Genesis chapter
49, verses 9 to 12, where Jacobprophesies about Judah's
supremacy among his brothers.
And then, of course, the root ofDavid.
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That's from yesterday's reading.
Isaiah 11, chapter, uh, chapmore coffee.
More coffee.
Isaiah 11 and verse 10.
Why is that so difficult to say?
And you should know that thereare several apocalyptic texts
that are circulating during thetime of the book of Revelation
that identify Genesis 49 andIsaiah 11 as being very
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messianic.
And let me just say this aboutapocalyptic text.
There's a lot of material in theNew Testament world that sounds
like the book of Revelation.
It does not claim to beinspired, it's not trying to be
inspired, but it does serve togive us a lot of clues as to how
to deal with this kind ofmaterial.
We don't do a great jobsometimes dealing with the book
of Revelation.
We're just not familiar with thesort of material the book of
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Revelation is.
People do overthink it and tryto make something out of every
detail.
But here comes the lion, thetribe of Judah from the root of
David, and he is between verse6, the throne, and the four
living creatures, and thebetween there.
That's some difficult text therein the Greek.
And what you need to see is thatthe lamb is in the center of the
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praise scene that's going on.
In Revelation 4, the throne isin the center, and God the
Father is being praised.
Now the lamb is in the center,he is being praised.
And I keep saying lamb, you maybe thinking, I thought it was a
lion.
But he turns and looks, verse 6,and sees a lamb.
And this is this is classicRevelation.
I I heard that it was going tobe a lion, but when I turned and
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looked, it was a lamb.
And it's not any lamb, it is alamb standing as though it had
been slain.
Slain here is the word forslaughtered in the Greek.
And it is the word that's usedin the Greek translation of the
Old Testament in Isaiah 53 forthe slaughtered lamb.
So this lamb has beensacrificed, his throat would be
cut.
This is the lamb of God, this isthe lion.
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And notice here, the text neversays it's Jesus.
And we all know it's Jesus,don't we?
That's a great, great clue tousing the book of Revelation.
People try to discern all thesedetails, and like I said,
they're overthinking it and soforth.
When you need to know whatsomething stands for, you'll
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know.
You'll know.
John will make sure that youknow.
He doesn't even have to say,hey, look at his name tag.
It's Jesus.
We know this is Jesus.
He takes the scroll, and theneverybody worships him.
The host of heavens in verse 8,every tribe and language and
people and nation, which is abig emphasis in the book of
Revelation, they all worshiphim.
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And what one writer says here isso helpful, what is implicit
now, what has been implicit nowbecomes explicit.
God on the throne and the Lambare inextricably joined together
as the objects of Christianworship.
The Lamb and the Father areequal.
They are both to be worshipped.
And verse 10 says, and there's ahost of reasons here why the
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Lamb can be worshipped, but partof that is you have made them a
kingdom and priest to our God,and they shall reign upon the
earth.
One of the big keys in the bookof Revelation is not just that
the Lamb is victorious, but thatif you stand with the Lamb, you
will be victorious.
Those who are on the lion lambside, they win.
They are kingdoms and priests,and they shall reign upon the
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earth.
The book of Revelation iswritten, I believe, primarily to
assure the saints, you will win.
You will be victorious if youstand with Jesus.
Stand with the Lamb.
In fact, the name Jesus is notused that much in the book of
Revelation.
He's almost always referred toas the Lamb.
Everyone says, verse 13, to himwho sits on the throne and to
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the Lamb be blessing and honorand glory and might forever and
ever.
What a scene.
What a scene that you and I wantto be part of.
We want to be victorious withthe Lamb.
Our reading for Tuesday.
Revelation chapter 5.
Welcome to Wednesday.
(11:47):
Welcome to Wednesday.
And we are starting a newsection of our daily Bible
reading schedule.
For the next several weeks, wewill be exclusively in the
Psalms.
In the Psalms.
And on Sunday in the 9 a.m., Italked about savoring the
Psalms, how to enjoy the Psalms.
If you were not there in the 9,maybe you'd want to review that
lesson.
It will really help you.
(12:08):
The Psalms are amazing andthey're wonderful, but they're
they're not like anything thatyou're going to read on
Facebook.
So need maybe a few pointers andsome ideas here, but this really
is a great place to connect withDavid because in the Psalms,
David shares his heart.
We just get a great look at theinner man, who David really is,
or depending upon who thepsalmist is, who that psalmist
(12:29):
is.
But they all have that flavor ofDavid, and they all sound like
David, and they're all moving inthat same kind of direction.
So let's work on Psalm 63 today.
The reading for Wednesday isPsalm 63, O God, you are my God.
Earnestly I seek you, and mysoul thirst for you, my flesh
faints for you as in a dry andweary land where there is no
(12:51):
water.
I think this is a lament psalm.
It is a cry for God's help.
We see a little bit of that atthe end where there is some
discussion of enemies in verse9, for example.
But mostly this is about thedepth of relationship that David
has with God.
David is not content at all withcheckbox religion.
I'm going to go do my religiousthing, and then I get back to my
regular life, do what I want todo.
(13:13):
No.
David is interested in doingwhat God wants him to do.
And you get some of thatimmediately, verse 2, when he
starts thinking about improvinghis relationship with God.
He thinks about worship in verse2, the power and the glory of
God.
That's a verse that I have ingreen.
I mark in the Psalms in greenpencil.
The verses that are justbeautiful.
(13:34):
Sometimes I can just pagethrough the Psalms, get a cup of
coffee, and just page throughthe Psalms and just note green
verses, and it just lifts up mywhole soul.
Verse 5, my soul will besatisfied is with rich and fat
food.
Now, wow, nutritionally that's adisaster for health conscious
Americans in 2025.
We all you're supposed to watchyour intake of saturated fat.
(13:56):
The imagery here is just superabundance, more than enough.
And one translation has richfeast, another one has the
riches of foods.
I suppose the Mark RobertsInternational East Texas version
would say, My soul will besatisfied with barbecue and
peach cobbler with a side ofbanana pudding.
And you understand then themetaphor, just the idea that God
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fills my life up and makes itgood.
You have been my help, verse 7.
The whole concept here is of thegoodness of God.
God is good, and he has beengood to David.
And in fact, then David turnshis attention to his enemies,
beginning in verse 10.
And he says, verse 9, and thenin verse 10, he says, They shall
(14:38):
be given over to the power ofthe sword.
God will take care of myenemies.
God will take care of those whoare seeking my life.
I'm going to trust in Godbecause he's so good to me, the
king, verse 11, shall rejoice inGod.
This is about the depth ofrelationship that David has with
God, his joy in God, hishappiness in God, because God is
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good.
A reading for Wednesday, Psalm63.
It is Thursday.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading the 64th Psalm.
Full disclosure here, lots goingon this morning, and I let my
coffee get cold, and then I dida terrible thing.
I put it in the microwave.
Don't microwave your coffee.
It never tastes as good, doesit?
Do you know why that is?
(15:24):
That's because all that greatcoffee smell, that's actually
little molecules of coffeejumping out of the cup and
flying around in the atmosphere.
They're being vaporized.
I I think the actual chemistryterm for that is sublimating.
I need to ask my dad about that.
But the coffee is not the same.
It is not the same as it coolsand coffee escapes out of the
mug.
So then you honk it in themicrowave, you nuke it, and it
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tastes kind of burned and gross.
But you know what?
It's better than no coffee atall.
So let's have some coffee.
There we go.
And wow, not as good as fresh.
And now we're thinking about the64th Psalm.
We are certain what kind ofpsalm this is.
This is a lament.
Hear my voice, O God, in mycomplaint, verse 1.
So now you know, yes, this is alament, a cry to God for help,
(16:09):
but it is a brighter lament.
There is unwavering faith thatGod will respond, and that does
make it a little bit moreoptimistic than some laments
that are in the Psalms.
One scholar said he wouldclassify this as a protective
psalm.
Protective psalms containprayers to Jehovah against an
imminent danger and arepositioned before the fuel, full
(16:32):
fury of the distress comes.
And the tone of these psalms ismore optimistic than other
laments.
So notice here we get the ideaof suddenly and unexpectedly or
quickly.
Verse 4, the enemies attacksuddenly, but then verse 7, God
answers just as suddenly.
(16:54):
So the breakdown here is there'sa cry for help, verse 1.
Then evil men suddenly attack,verses 2 to 6.
And you'll notice here verses 5and 6 really step up the
description.
They're not just opposed to theinnocent, but they are crafty.
They are dangerous.
They foolishly believe, verse 5,that they can commit the perfect
crime, that they are accountableto no one, no one will see.
(17:16):
But God goes to work, verses 7,8, 9, and 10.
God rescues just as suddenly asthese evil men have attacked,
and God shoots his arrows.
One writer said, A greaterarcher than they shall take sure
aim.
Isn't that so?
And so their sin justboomeranges right back onto
them.
What they had planned to do, Goddoes to them.
(17:38):
The punishment fits the crime.
Psalm 64, a lament with a strongnote of confidence.
Our reading for Thursday, Psalm64.
It is Friday.
It is Friday.
And today we're reading the 69thPsalm.
Now, we read the 69th Psalm twoweeks ago in connection with
Acts chapter 1, givingparticular attention to verse 25
(18:02):
that mentions Judas Iscariot.
May there can't be a desolation.
Let no one dwell in their tents.
Peter makes use of that andapplies it to Judas Iscariot.
We talked about that then.
In fact, I worked through thisentire Psalm in that week.
So I hope you have some notesthere from Psalm 69.
This is a lament, but is aspecial lament because this is
suffering because I amrighteous.
(18:23):
And so here's the breakdown.
There's the plea and complaint,verses 1 to 4.
The reason for troubles, verses5 to 13.
Verse 7 is the key idea.
You want to make note of that,for it is for your sake that I
have borne reproach thatdishonor has covered my face.
And then in the second stanza,the complaint is renewed, verses
14 to 21, starting over again.
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And then there is thisimprecation section, a section
that asks for a curse upon theenemies, verses 22 to 28.
And then finally an expressionof confidence, verses 29 to 36.
It is a classic lament, containsall the features of a good
lament.
There's prayer and plea forhelp.
There's a clear discussion ofwhat's going on, the complaint.
(19:07):
There's some confession notesthere.
And we talked a little bit hereon the Zoom call when we talked
about Psalm 69 about maybe thesepeople are hacking on David
because of his publicrepentance, maybe because of the
sin with Bathsheba.
And so maybe his repentance isbeing mocked and made fun of.
That may be working here, thatmay be part of what's going on.
(19:29):
Work down through this psalm andespecially enjoy this part where
there's this expression ofconfidence.
The Lord hears the needy, doesnot despise his own people who
are prisoners.
Let the heavens and earth praisehim.
Verse 33 and verse 34.
Wonderful, wonderful praise ofGod who hears and answers our
laments, our pleas for help.
(19:50):
The reading for Friday, Psalm69.
Well, there you go.
That's the podcast for the week.
I appreciate you listening.
Don't heat your coffee in themicrowave.
That's the big takeaway fromthis week's podcast.
Oh, I hope that's not the bigtakeaway from this week's
podcast.
I certainly do appreciate yourlistening.
I appreciate your help andencouragement about the podcast.
(20:11):
If you have questions aboutdaily Bible reading, remember to
turn those in for QA.
You can email those to me orFacebook message them to me, put
them on my desk.
Good questions make for good QA.
We're starting the month.
We'll be working all through thePsalms all this month.
So it's been a joy to be in theWord of God with you this week.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven and Iwant you to come too.
(20:34):
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
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can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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