SPEAKER_00: Ruthie and I are uh so grateful to have been a part of what God is doing over the last six months here at the orchard.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful to the elders for inviting me to preach from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: Grateful for uh the pastor that God has called, and the church has recognized that call in Cody being here.
SPEAKER_00: The church is 15 years old.
SPEAKER_00: September the 12th, 2010, we had our very first worship service of the Orchard Church.
SPEAKER_00: It was over in St.
SPEAKER_00: George's Chapel over on Poplar, and uh I was five minutes into my sermon when the fire alarm went off.
SPEAKER_00: And the the fire department came and they we had to vacate the building, and I'm thinking, what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: And uh they said, Well, there's some kind of electrical short, some some problem.
SPEAKER_00: They left, I went outside, and there were people standing everywhere in the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Come on back in.
SPEAKER_00: So everybody came on back in, and uh, and we had that first worship service, and we took up an offering, and there was$11,000 in the offering, and we divided it four ways.
SPEAKER_00: One third went to a Hispanic church in Memphis, one third went to a new church start down in Midtown, one third went to a new church start in New Orleans, and we kept one one-fourth, rather.
SPEAKER_00: I'm public school educated, I can't get all this right.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, did we need that offering.
SPEAKER_00: But God was God was so gracious to us in in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I decided, what if you're starting a new church and you're 59, what what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: And I took some training, and I decided to preach a series on the book of Revelation as the very first series in that church.
SPEAKER_00: My pastor friends thought I was nuts, and uh they're they're probably right.
SPEAKER_00: And this last week, uh several weeks ago, as I was thinking, talking with uh James and Andrew about today, it just seemed like the Lord was saying, I want you to go back and revisit that first part of that series in Revelation chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: So that's where we're going to be.
SPEAKER_00: Take a Bible and open it to Revelation chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: It felt like the Lord was just saying, give it a fresh look and uh and speak to the heart of the orchard church, 15 years old.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, just I I didn't mean to say this, but James encouraged me to do so.
SPEAKER_00: Friday morning, I was walking across a parking lot, and uh a car backed into me and knocked me down, and this ring finger was bent.
SPEAKER_00: And I got up, I said, I'm okay, I'm okay.
SPEAKER_00: And and I looked at like you'd see on television in a movie, it just bent, and I thought, I wonder if I could bend it back.
SPEAKER_00: So I bend it back, snapped it back into place.
SPEAKER_00: I told Ruthie about it, and she said, You're my hero.
SPEAKER_00: So all of that to say, if I shake your hand today, I'm shaking it with two fingers.
SPEAKER_00: Because this finger does hurt, and I apologize for that.
SPEAKER_00: So, Revelation chapter 1, look at the first three verses.
SPEAKER_00: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a blessing in hearing it and reading it.
SPEAKER_00: This was originally meant to be read aloud.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a blessing that God promises, and we'll see what that is in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But he begins by saying the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Greek word apocalypsis.
SPEAKER_00: We've got our word apocalyptic from it.
SPEAKER_00: It means to disclose or to make known or to reveal or to unveil.
SPEAKER_00: What's unveiled in this book?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus himself is unveiled.
SPEAKER_00: He's like every other part of the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: This is about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's about the future and it's about the present, but it's primarily about the Lord Jesus, who he is.
SPEAKER_00: All of the Bible is.
SPEAKER_00: You read the Bible and you see him in his coming the first time as the kind of suffering servant, the incarnation, in his humility.
SPEAKER_00: We read that he's going to come again, maybe today, maybe tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: He will come again in power and glory.
SPEAKER_00: But what is he like right now?
SPEAKER_00: How does Jesus want to be known right now?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're going to find out here.
SPEAKER_00: And it says this revelation was made to John, the last surviving apostle.
SPEAKER_00: History says he's maybe 90 years old.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who was nicknamed the one Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Jesus' best friend on earth.
SPEAKER_00: He's an old man by this time, probably up in his 90s.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many scholars say this was written toward the end of the first century.
SPEAKER_00: So, verse 4, John to the seven churches that are in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: So this was written to seven regional churches in Asia Minor, which is today modern-day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: Uh seven real churches, and they kind of represent all kinds of churches.
SPEAKER_00: So that fits us.
SPEAKER_00: We're a local church, regional church.
SPEAKER_00: People come from all over to this church.
SPEAKER_00: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne.
SPEAKER_00: That probably refers to the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And from Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So you've got the Trinity here, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of kings on earth.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll come back to that in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives us three reasons why we declare today in music, you are worthy.
SPEAKER_00: Three reasons to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: He loves us, he frees us, he makes us to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins, the biggest problem that we have, the source of all of our challenges and difficulties by his blood, and made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care what your experience is, the deepest thing about you is that Jesus loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He truly did.
SPEAKER_00: He loved you before time began.
SPEAKER_00: He loved you into existence.
SPEAKER_00: He's loved you all of your life, and he will love you forever and demonstrated that love by his blood.
SPEAKER_00: He frees us from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: The past you can't change does not define you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus has freed you.
SPEAKER_00: The thoughts that you don't like and you can't control, he frees you from those.
SPEAKER_00: And he makes you his priest.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Who am I?
SPEAKER_00: I'm a nobody.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's lifted you to the highest place of all.
SPEAKER_00: You represent Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And in the in the Old Testament, a priest helped people know about God and took people to God in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And you're part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to turn to the person beside you on either side and just say, You're a priest.
SPEAKER_00: You're a priest.
SPEAKER_00: That's who we are.
SPEAKER_00: That's who he has made us.
SPEAKER_00: He loves us, he makes us, and he frees us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to begin, I want to just read verse seven right on to the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And then I want to give you three truths that are that you will hopefully never forget.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
SPEAKER_00: Even so, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen means yes.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamon, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: And then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe, with a golden sash around his chest.
SPEAKER_00: The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.
SPEAKER_00: His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
SPEAKER_00: In his right hand he held seven stars.
SPEAKER_00: With his mouth came a sharp, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
SPEAKER_00: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
SPEAKER_00: But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the first and the last, and the living one.
SPEAKER_00: I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I had the keys of death and Hades right there for the things you've seen.
SPEAKER_00: Those that are, those that are to take place after this.
SPEAKER_00: As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
SPEAKER_00: So three truths.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first truth following Jesus will get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: If you follow Jesus, it will get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that in verse 9?
SPEAKER_00: I, John, your brother and fellow sufferer in tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Greek word philipsis, which means pressure.
SPEAKER_00: Pressure.
SPEAKER_00: This is written to Christians who live with pressure, under persecution, little churches.
SPEAKER_00: And if you follow Jesus, you get pressure.
SPEAKER_00: It's a package deal.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm so appreciate about the Lord Jesus is that he tells us up front what it means to follow him, both the cost and riches beyond anything we could imagine, how he enriches us.
SPEAKER_00: But you get pressure.
SPEAKER_00: You follow Jesus, you will get trouble.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_00: All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 1, it's granted to you on behalf of Christ to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Church history, as I mentioned, says that John was probably 90 years old.
SPEAKER_00: An old man, a prisoner on an island called Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not a uh, this at that time this was not a stop on a Mediterranean cruise.
SPEAKER_00: It's a prison island like Alcatraz was in San Francisco Bay.
SPEAKER_00: So he's an old man, a prisoner.
SPEAKER_00: You say, why was why was he a prisoner?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he tells us.
SPEAKER_00: He says, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine what it was like for John sitting there in Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his nickname?
SPEAKER_00: The one Jesus loved?
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who saw Jesus do all the miracles, even raise the dead.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who heard all the teaching of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He saw the resurrected Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He was there at Pentecost when the Spirit fell.
SPEAKER_00: He had started churches, he had preached the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He was widely known, so loved all over the Christian world.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he get him?
SPEAKER_00: Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Prison.
SPEAKER_00: He can't lead a church.
SPEAKER_00: He can't fellowship with other believers.
SPEAKER_00: All the things, the worship, all the things that we enjoy here, they've been taken from him.
SPEAKER_00: It's tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone ends on Patmos one time or another.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where you lose what you love the most.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place of disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: It's a place where it looks like Satan is actually winning.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where you're confused.
SPEAKER_00: Why are things happening?
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where your dreams are not fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you are there right now.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe because of sickness or a divorce or you've lost your job or financial challenges or relational issues or health things, depression.
SPEAKER_00: I know what it's like to be in Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: My prayer is God, get me out of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: Send me a boat.
SPEAKER_00: Get me off of this place.
SPEAKER_00: Get me out of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: But God's plan was not to take John out of Patmos because Patmos was the place where Jesus revealed himself to John.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, Patmos will be the place where Jesus reveals himself to you.
SPEAKER_00: Like never before.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
SPEAKER_00: I imagine he was the only one on this prison island who knew it was the Lord's day.
SPEAKER_00: I imagine they woke him up, old man, 90 years old, gave him a shovel, said, Start digging.
SPEAKER_00: But in his mind, he's worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where Jesus meets him.
SPEAKER_00: While he's worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: So in the worst day of your life, if you will turn your eyes toward Jesus, you are likely to meet him and see him.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I was in the Lord's day, I was in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where he learned about what it means to patiently endure on Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: We learned about the love, the freeing power, and the creating ability of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So make no mistake, you follow Jesus, it will get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second truth Jesus is bigger and better than we think.
SPEAKER_00: He is bigger and better than we think.
SPEAKER_00: Here in the South, we have a lot of what's called Bible belt religion.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of religion, not a lot of spiritual power.
SPEAKER_00: You say, why?
SPEAKER_00: I think A.W.
SPEAKER_00: Tozer put his finger on it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, the essence of idolatry is things, is thoughts about God that are not worthy of him.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about worshiping false gods.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about not having thoughts of God that are big enough that he's worthy of those thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is, how big is your Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How good is your Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And John gives us this clear picture of Jesus using symbols.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's not a literal sword coming out of his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: That's that doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: But there's symbols to try to describe what's almost undescribable.
SPEAKER_00: For example, he says his clothing is a long robe reaching to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: It's the robe of a king, of a high priest.
SPEAKER_00: It's the robe of a judge.
SPEAKER_00: And he says he has a sash or a belt around his chest.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a working man of that day wore a belt around his waist, like many of us do, because he could tuck his tunic into it when he was working and it didn't get all tangled up in his tunic.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus wears a sash around his chest because his work is done.
SPEAKER_00: Finished on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's finished.
SPEAKER_00: He tells us that his hair is white.
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of us would like to avoid white hair.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's kind of a sign of age or infirmity.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with white hair.
SPEAKER_00: But Daniel 7, 9 describes God, the Father, as having white hair, symbol of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: So here's Jesus, white hair, and in Daniel, God is called the Ancient of Days.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Jesus is called the Ancient of Days.
SPEAKER_00: He has all the wisdom that we associate with age, only He is eternal.
SPEAKER_00: He knows every detail about everything.
SPEAKER_00: He is never surprised.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in verse 8, he's called the Alpha and the Omega.
SPEAKER_00: Alpha is the Alpha is the first word in the Greek alphabet.
SPEAKER_00: Omega is the last word.
SPEAKER_00: And the idea is Jesus saying, I was there in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I will be there when the lights of the universe go out.
SPEAKER_00: I was there when you were born.
SPEAKER_00: I was there before you were born, and I will be there when your life ends.
SPEAKER_00: I know everything about everything from A to Z.
SPEAKER_00: He knows who will be president in November 2028.
SPEAKER_00: He knows when the war in Ukraine will end and the hostages will be returned.
SPEAKER_00: He knew Memphis would beat Arkansas yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody here need wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here not sure what to do?
SPEAKER_00: What to say?
SPEAKER_00: John says, the Alpha and the Omega, the ancient of days, who knows all that has happened, is not only containing all wisdom, having all wisdom, he freely gives wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: James 1, 5, does any man lack wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Let him ask of God, who gives generously to all who ask, without reproach.
SPEAKER_00: So this next week, when you don't know what to do, when you don't know what to say, you're in some situation and you're just not sure.
SPEAKER_00: Turn your mind to the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_00: Turn your mind to the Alpha and Omega and say, Lord, would you give me wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Give me wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: I just hope you get this vision.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus with all wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: He's the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_00: His eyes were like a flame of fire.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are certain eyes that when they lock with you, when they meet you, it changes how you behave.
SPEAKER_00: You're pulling up to a stop sign, stop light, and a police cruiser pulls up right beside you, and that policeman turns and looks at you, and you look at him.
SPEAKER_00: Does that affect how you drive from that point?
SPEAKER_00: Sure it does.
SPEAKER_00: We say this about mothers.
SPEAKER_00: We say mothers have eyes where?
SPEAKER_00: Not literally, I mean that's creepy, but what we mean is mothers know what you don't think they know, what you don't want them to know.
SPEAKER_00: Mothers know that.
SPEAKER_00: They know what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: And when her eyes are on you, it changes the way that you behave.
SPEAKER_00: And John says the eyes of Jesus see everything, they don't miss anything, and they're like blazing fire.
SPEAKER_00: It's an image of purity.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible uses fire as an image of purity.
SPEAKER_00: Malachi talks about the refiner who refines gold.
SPEAKER_00: They tell us that in the ancient days they would take gold and they would put it in a pot and turn a fire up underneath it and uh and melt the gold, and the dross would come up and they would scoop it all out.
SPEAKER_00: And they said a goldsmith could actually look in and see his reflection there in the gold.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God wants to do with us.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to purify all the junk in our life so that our character is such that it reflects Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: His eyes are like fire.
SPEAKER_00: When uh when our boys were small, in the summertime, I would fire up the grill and and cook, and the boys not only wanted to watch that, they wanted to be the one to fire up the grill.
SPEAKER_00: There is something about fire that little boys like.
SPEAKER_00: And that fascination lasts until you're about 90 or so.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're in a fire.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we grill meat?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we put it on a fire on a grill?
SPEAKER_00: Because it purifies.
SPEAKER_00: It destroys stuff that that would take our health away.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how you live under the purifying gaze of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Often he will use other people to purify us, to correct us.
SPEAKER_00: And so when someone criticizes you or someone calls you out on something, how do you respond?
SPEAKER_00: It could very well be Jesus using that person to help purify your character, make you more like him.
SPEAKER_00: It says his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace.
SPEAKER_00: And in the Old Testament, Daniel had this in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar the king had this dream of this mighty statue, this statue made of all this metal, but the feet were made of clay.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was shaken on, standing on, built on shaky ground.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about someone that got their feet finally firmly planted on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: We mean that they're stable.
SPEAKER_00: Anything built on anything other than the kingdom of God is on shaky ground.
SPEAKER_00: You build your life on money, you build your life on success, you build your life on being known or having fun or whatever, and one day the wind's going to blow over it and it's gone, and there's no trace of it.
SPEAKER_00: But his feet is a picture of stability made of bronze.
SPEAKER_00: Bronze is an interesting metal.
SPEAKER_00: It's a combination of copper and iron.
SPEAKER_00: Iron is strong, but it rusts.
SPEAKER_00: Copper doesn't rust, but it's pliable.
SPEAKER_00: And so you put the two together, and bronze has the strength of iron and the durability of copper, and that's the picture of the stability, the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the old hymn on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask this question anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Here, ever anxious?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody, any nail biters here?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here and you can't sleep at night because of just the things running through your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Does bad news talk knock you off your feet?
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you to go to the ancient of days, go to the Alpha and Omega, go to the one whose feet will never be moved, and put that in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: Here's John sits on a patmos, his feet in chains, most likely barefoot, barefoot feet in chains, but he's not anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, he's patiently enduring.
SPEAKER_00: How can an old man barefoot in chains on a prison island at the end of his life, how can he patiently endure?
SPEAKER_00: It's because the foundation of his life is not the fact that he's in charge.
SPEAKER_00: And Rome is not in charge.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know it yet, but they're not in charge.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus is in charge, someone far stronger.
SPEAKER_00: And John has put himself at the feet of someone who cannot be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: The next image is really striking to me.
SPEAKER_00: It says his voice is like the roar of many waters.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have been to Niagara Falls?
SPEAKER_00: May I see your hands?
SPEAKER_00: Did you ever try to talk to someone standing next to Niagara Falls?
SPEAKER_00: You can't hear each other.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you've been to the you've been to the ocean and the waves are crashing.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of those stormy days, and you and you just can't hear yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Think because of the noise of the water.
SPEAKER_00: Same idea.
SPEAKER_00: Parents know and remind kids that they have two kinds of voices.
SPEAKER_00: What are those?
SPEAKER_00: Inside voice and outside voice.
SPEAKER_00: And God has an inside voice.
SPEAKER_00: God can whisper, God can prompt, and many of us know what that is like.
SPEAKER_00: But he has an outside voice too.
SPEAKER_00: And one day you and I will hear the loudest sound we have ever heard or that anyone can hear.
SPEAKER_00: We will hear the voice of the Lord Himself.
SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of authority.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks with authority.
SPEAKER_00: And then that wonderful phrase he's I want to go back to, he's ruler of the kings on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 8, he's called the Almighty, he's omnipotence, a word that was claimed by Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: You offer incense at a little shrine to Caesar, or you pay the consequences, and most people believe that John is in prison because he refused to worship Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: He worshipped only the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, there is one who is ruler of the kings of earth.
SPEAKER_00: Caesar thought he was Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: He is not the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: In those days, kings held all the power.
SPEAKER_00: So think for a moment, think for a moment of the movers and shakers of our time.
SPEAKER_00: Who are the molders of opinion of our time in every field?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is ruler over them all.
SPEAKER_00: He is ruler over Donald Trump and J.D.
SPEAKER_00: Vance.
SPEAKER_00: He is ruler over the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
SPEAKER_00: He is ruler over Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Tucker Carlson.
SPEAKER_00: He is ruler over Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift and Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Lionel Messi and Xin Jiangping and Vladimir Putin.
SPEAKER_00: And they don't know it.
SPEAKER_00: They may not know it, but he is ruler.
SPEAKER_00: And one day, one day, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, every knee will bow, even stubborn, proud knees, and every voice will proclaim, even resistant voices, that he is the ruler of the kings of earth.
SPEAKER_00: It will happen.
SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of authority.
SPEAKER_00: And before you get all excited about that, he intends to rule over you.
SPEAKER_00: He is ruler whether you recognize it or not, over the place where you live.
SPEAKER_00: So question, are you fully submitted to Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Is there any area of your life that is resistant to him that's not fully submitted to him?
SPEAKER_00: When he speaks in his still small voice, do you obey?
SPEAKER_00: It's a voice like many waters.
SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful voice, and someday we're going to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16 says, In his right hand he yelled, seven stars.
SPEAKER_00: He wears them like rings.
SPEAKER_00: A star is the largest thing in existence, as far as we know.
SPEAKER_00: Our sun is kind of a medium-sized star.
SPEAKER_00: I went online this last week.
SPEAKER_00: I got a picture from the observatory in Europe.
SPEAKER_00: If you could throw that slide up if you would.
SPEAKER_00: Observatory in Europe, it's one-third of the sky.
SPEAKER_00: Those larger points of lights are galaxies.
SPEAKER_00: And we're told that every galaxy has between a hundred and four hundred billion stars.
SPEAKER_00: So I go to Google and I say, how many stars are there?
SPEAKER_00: Throw that next slide up if you can.
SPEAKER_00: It may be there.
SPEAKER_00: No, not there.
SPEAKER_00: They're, according to Google, septilian, ten followed by twenty-five zeros.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just the part of the universe we can see that we know about.
SPEAKER_00: And what's amazing to me is the Bible says Jesus has named every single one of those septilian, ten followed by twenty-five zeros.
SPEAKER_00: Every star he is named and knows.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even keep the names of my kids straight.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is named them all.
SPEAKER_00: And he holds seven of them in his hand.
SPEAKER_00: Now, once again, it's a symbol, it's a picture.
SPEAKER_00: And we're told at the end of the chapter, those are the angels of the churches.
SPEAKER_00: We're not sure what that means.
SPEAKER_00: Some people believe it means the word angel means messenger.
SPEAKER_00: It's the leaders of the church, the pastors, the elders, perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: Or that every church has an angel.
SPEAKER_00: We just don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But he holds them in his hand, which is a picture of security.
SPEAKER_00: He has the orchard church firmly in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here ever feel insecure?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone ever act like you have it more together than you really do?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone put up a real confident front, but you're not?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what is it that makes you feel secure?
SPEAKER_00: Security is knowing you are in the right hand of Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot be more safe or more secure.
SPEAKER_00: So here's John.
SPEAKER_00: He's on an island.
SPEAKER_00: He's lost all the stuff we consider important: relationships, worth, title, position, alone on an island, all he has is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he's discovering that Jesus is enough, and he is saying, You are absolutely secure in my hands, John.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing can touch you, nothing can touch your eternal well-being.
SPEAKER_00: So let go of other means of security.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him.
SPEAKER_00: From his mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_00: If you look a couple of chapters later, he says to one church, repent, or I'm coming to you, and I'll make a war against them with the sword of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he says, I will protect my church.
SPEAKER_00: I'll use my sword if I have to.
SPEAKER_00: I will build my church.
SPEAKER_00: The gates of Hades cannot prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: So here he is, face shining like the sun.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking last week, when people go to a wedding, there's a word that they use of brides.
SPEAKER_00: They say she looks absolutely radiant.
SPEAKER_00: They never say that about the groom.
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody cares how the groom looks.
SPEAKER_00: But she is absolutely radiant.
SPEAKER_00: That's a picture of Jesus with his face shining like the sun.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely radiant.
SPEAKER_00: John was there on the Mount of Transfiguration, Matthew 17, when he saw like the blinds were pulled on Jesus, and the glory of God shines out.
SPEAKER_00: And it says there his face was shining like the sun.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Moses saw God up on the mountain, came down, and his face was shining at it, put a veil on it because people just couldn't look at him.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where it gets really serious.
SPEAKER_00: God is so holy.
SPEAKER_00: And when human beings come into the presence of God, the response tends to be startling.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah sees God high and lifted up.
SPEAKER_00: And he sees himself and he says, Woe is me, I'm undone.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.
SPEAKER_00: Mouth service.
SPEAKER_00: Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 5, been fishing all night, caught nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stands on the shore, gives him guidance, he finds fish.
SPEAKER_00: Peter gets back into shore and falls down in front of Jesus and says, Depart from me, man.
SPEAKER_00: Depart from me, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I am an unworthy man.
SPEAKER_00: And John, the best friend of Jesus on earth, the one he loved, the one he walked with and talked with and spent three years with, falls down on his face before Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When I saw him, verse 17, I fell at his feet as though dead.
SPEAKER_00: All the righteousness, all the goodness, all the majesty of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And not only him, back in verse 7, he's coming with clouds.
SPEAKER_00: Every eye will see him.
SPEAKER_00: Those who pierced him, all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
SPEAKER_00: All of those who caused his death, all of those who said, He's finished, it's over.
SPEAKER_00: Be the worst day of their life as they fall before him.
SPEAKER_00: But for you and me, be the greatest experience of our life.
SPEAKER_00: Because when I saw, verse 17, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
SPEAKER_00: But he laid his right hand on me.
SPEAKER_00: What's he having his right hand?
SPEAKER_00: All those stars.
SPEAKER_00: Picture power, greatness.
SPEAKER_00: Tenderly lays his right hand on John and says, Fear not, I'm the first and the last and the living one.
SPEAKER_00: And John sees the one like a son of man, the ancient of days, the Alpha and the Omega, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the beginning and the end, falls at his feet as though dead, and knows his next heartbeat is only going to happen by the express will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: Your next heartbeat only happens at the express will of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus reaches and touches him on the shoulder and says, Hey John, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus, the one you knew, the one you loved with.
SPEAKER_00: We laughed together and fished together and ate together and sailed together.
SPEAKER_00: And one day, God, the Lord Jesus, in all of his glory, the Son of Man, the ancient of days, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the ruler of the kings of the earth, most of all the one who went to the cross, someday we're going to hear those words.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You met me in a car, you met me in a prison, you met me on a couch somewhere, you met me in a church.
SPEAKER_00: We know each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: It's me.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the ultimate enemy of humankind?
SPEAKER_00: Death.
SPEAKER_00: I've got the keys of death.
SPEAKER_00: My father gave them to me.
SPEAKER_00: And death cannot hold you.
SPEAKER_00: I went through death.
SPEAKER_00: I'm alive.
SPEAKER_00: I will take you through that as well.
SPEAKER_00: Following Jesus will get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, Jesus is bigger and better than we think.
SPEAKER_00: And let me end this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is with us.
SPEAKER_00: Because when John saw Jesus, where was he?
SPEAKER_00: He was standing in the midst of lampstands, and we're told the lampstands represent churches.
SPEAKER_00: He is standing right, not my remote control, giving orders, not way above them, looking down.
SPEAKER_00: He is standing right there with them, which tells me that Jesus stands with us as the orchard church.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we're critical of church, and sometimes churches deserve to be criticized.
SPEAKER_00: You read Revelation 2 and 3, and of those seven churches, five of them had some very serious problems going on.
SPEAKER_00: But John calls and Jesus calls churches two things gold.
SPEAKER_00: Gold.
SPEAKER_00: Precious.
SPEAKER_00: Precious to him.
SPEAKER_00: And lampstands.
SPEAKER_00: What's the function of a lampstand?
SPEAKER_00: It's not to light.
SPEAKER_00: The lampstand itself doesn't have the light.
SPEAKER_00: It's to hold up the light.
SPEAKER_00: It's to lift up a candle or a lamp.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the picture.
SPEAKER_00: That we make Jesus visible to people around us.
SPEAKER_00: So that when they see us, when they hear us, they see something of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're the priest who represents him.
SPEAKER_00: We're gold to him.
SPEAKER_00: We are as lampstands.
SPEAKER_00: And he's walking among the lampstands.
SPEAKER_00: So this last word to John.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says to him, So now, John, get to work.
SPEAKER_00: You've got a book to write.
SPEAKER_00: And what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: Just because you're 90 years old and trapped on a rock oppressed by the most government powerful government on earth, you're going to get a vacation?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, not a chance.
SPEAKER_00: I've got work for you to do, so grab a pen and let's get going because there's no question about his victory.
SPEAKER_00: All this is happening according to plan.
SPEAKER_00: I'll end with these two comments.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the future belongs to us.
SPEAKER_00: It really does.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Oh, how bad our country is, how terrible.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man, the ancient of days, says to you, don't be afraid, it's me, it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I got work for you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I got people for you to love.
SPEAKER_00: I got prayers for you to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I've got people who need to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: I have work for you to do all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: I have worship to be offered to me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: And one day, not too long, maybe for some of us today, maybe tomorrow, we're gonna feel a hand on our shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna hear the voice that created the galaxies say something like this Hey, it's me.
SPEAKER_00: You met me.
SPEAKER_00: Remember?
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I have the keys of life and death.
SPEAKER_00: So now it's time to get up.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to get the word out.