PASTOR DEAN P THOMPSON'S WORD OF HOPE PODCAST MINISTRY
This Podcast is for daily devotions, spiritual enlightenment and inspiration, to encourage the child of God unto faithfulness and transformation.In these times of distress, desperation and fearfulness, it is my utmost desire to share words of hope and consolation to the hurting, the depressed, and to those who are feeling hopeless and lost.
PASTOR DEAN P THOMPSON'S WORD OF HOPE PODCAST MINISTRY
HE LOVES US - PRESENT TENSE
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Hello everyone. This is Pastor Dean Thompson with the word of hope. He loves us present tense. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation chapter one verses five and six. Before Revelation shows us a single seal or trumpet, it stops to sing. The opening doxology names Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, and then tells us what such a cosmic figure is doing with all that authority loving us. The grammar matters more than we usually notice. All the translations read Who loved us, a finished act in the past, but the better Greek text reads Agaponti, a present participle to him who loves us. The cross was a once for all event. The love is a never ending tense. This is the heartbeat under the whole book. Everything that follows the judgments, the cosmic warfare, the long endurance of the saints unfolds inside a love that does not lapse. Whatever you are reading in your circumstances this week, the present tense of heaven over you is loves. Not loved when you were younger and more devout, not will love if you can clean yourself up. Love's now as you are. And this love is not sentimental. It costs blood and it does real work. Freed us from our sins by his blood. John writes The Verb is one of liberation, a setting loose of those who are bound. Love that merely feels warmly toward you, leaves you in your chains. The love of the lamb breaks them. It does not admire you from a distance, it reaches into the prison and opens the door. Then comes the staggering result. He made us a kingdom, priests to God, to his God and Father. Rome had its priesthoods and its imperial cult, its careful hierarchies of access to the sacred. Revelation says the freed slaves of Jesus are themselves priests, every one of them with direct access to God. Every one of them a small a small outpost of his kingdom. The love that frees you also dignifies you. You are not merely forgiven, you are commissioned. Consider how this reframes your sense of worth. Our culture measures us by output, by beauty, by usefulness, and the measuring never stops. Revelation hands you an identity that no performance review can touch. Loved by the ruler of the kings of the earth, freed at the price of his own blood, made a priest in his kingdom. That is who you are before you accomplish anything today. Let the present tense settle into you. When the accusing voice says you are too far gone, the answer is a verb He loves us. When the day leaves you feeling small and irre small and replaceable, the answer is a verb He loves us. The book that ends with a wedding begins with a love song, and you are the one being sung over. Live today inside that tent, not striving to earn a love that is already yours, but moving through your hours as one who is right now loved and freed and crowned. O Jesus, you who are the faithful witness and our risen Lord, thank you that you love us in the present tense. Free us again and let us walk today as one you have crowned. Help us to walk in the light of your grace. Amen. God bless you, brothers and sisters.