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Chapter 1 verse 3, we're picking up where we left off last week.

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We'll see how far we can get last week.

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We're supposed to get through verse 8.

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We got through verse 2.

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So we'll see how it goes this week.

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But you remember we're in this beginning part of Revelation where we're seeing that it is

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God's plan being unveiled to God's people in order that it would strengthen our hearts

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and help us to endure the trials and circumstances of life.

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And we talked about this unveiling process, how when the plan is unveiled, we're supposed

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to be encouraged and happy and joyful.

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But we're beginning to see, as we did last week, that this unveiling isn't necessarily

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the way that we would choose it because God chose to reveal it through pictures and symbols

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and stuff and not just a straightforward, here's how it's going to happen and when the

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dates are and how it's going to take place.

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But we can still rejoice because he gave us this awesome picture book to behold his wonderful

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story of redemptive history.

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And so we're going to pick up in verse 3 where this is continuing.

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All right, so notice what it says, verse 3,

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Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who

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hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near.

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And as we've said this a couple times now, Revelation is literally the only book in the

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Bible that promises blessing for the one who reads it and hears it and does what it says.

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And it's really interesting that we have a blessing here, it's the first of seven blessings

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throughout Revelation.

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Is that significant for some reason?

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Is that an accident or significant?

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Yeah, it's probably significant, right?

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What does seven represent?

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The symbol of perfection, completion, fullness.

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And so what do you think it communicates to us that we have seven blessings throughout

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Revelation?

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It's a complete blessing.

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It's the fullness of God's blessing to us who are in Christ.

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And so we can rejoice in that.

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It's kind of like the Beatitudes that we just talked about in the Sermon on the Mount.

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We just covered these in Matthew.

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And if you remember the Beatitudes, we said about them, those blessings, they were not

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a list for you to go and do in order to be blessed, right?

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The Bible was not saying, hey, do these things in order to be blessed, but it was a description

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of the one who is blessed, right?

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And so that was talking about a description of who the blessed one is in the eyes of God.

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Most of the blessings in Revelation, the other six, they deal with what's called eschatological

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blessings, meaning to the one who endures, to the end, the one who perseveres.

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Here's what you have to look forward to in the future.

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Here's the blessing that's promised to you in the future.

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But what's interesting is this first one, when is the blessing promised?

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Now, the one who reads the book now, the one who hears this book now, the one who does

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it now, he is blessed.

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And there's this really interesting idea of how this blessing begins to transform the

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way we think and see the world.

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Because, I mean, if we talk about just being real Christians, when you think about blessing,

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don't we sometimes kind of make it like a mystical, almost like a magical type thing?

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We don't even really know how to describe it.

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You call someone blessed.

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What does that mean, really?

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I mean, you might have material blessings and stuff, or you might say, God bless that

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person.

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What do you mean by that?

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You know, it almost becomes this mystical, magical thing.

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But I think it's much more practical when you're talking about the blessings of Revelation.

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Because when you think about this, right?

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Think about an unbeliever who works in the government.

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Okay?

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An unbeliever who works in the government.

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That's our scene.

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And he's just going about his life, thinking primarily of himself and what he has going

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on.

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He wakes up, he goes to work, he comes home, he eats dinner, goes to bed.

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That's his routine.

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Maybe he has some hobbies, but he primarily views his life in terms of his routine and

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his responsibilities.

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Do you think that describes a large portion of unbelievers today?

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I'd say so.

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Okay?

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But let's say that this person has been attending a Bible study.

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What book do you think they're studying?

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Revelation, right?

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At least for this hypothetical.

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They're studying Revelation.

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And he finds that Revelation has been impacting him, and it's beginning to change how he sees

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the world and views his life.

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So when he goes to work on Monday, he looks around at all the ungodliness surrounding

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him.

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And he sees all the secret deals.

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Remember, he works in government, so there are a lot of secret deals.

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He sees the secret deals, he hears the lies, and he knows the true motivations behind certain

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moves that are being made between the power players.

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He's familiar with many of the evil agendas, but here's something that's interesting.

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As he's looking out on his workplace, which he's become so familiar with, he begins to

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recall the words of Revelation.

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And as he looks out at where he works and what's going on, he thinks of Babylon.

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He's been reading Revelation, been studying Revelation, and now here he is at work and

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all of a sudden, because of what he's observing around him, he starts thinking of Babylon,

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that he read about in Revelation.

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He starts thinking about dragons and serpents and angels on horseback.

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And right before his very eyes, he begins to see the book of Revelation unfolding before

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him.

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And he finds that it seems like his eyes are truly open for the first time.

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It's like he's seeing this unseen realm for the first time.

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And he begins to become convinced that what he's been reading and studying in Revelation

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is true and that it's happening right now all around him.

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Now here's my question to you.

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Would you say that that man, that unbeliever, has been blessed by reading and studying the

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book of Revelation?

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Yeah, I would say so.

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He was just there going about his normal everyday life, not thinking two things about all the

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stuff that he saw going on around him, but because he had been reading the words aloud

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and listening to them and seeking to do them, his perspective begins to change.

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And it's like he's seeing things new for the very first time.

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When we think about blessing, it doesn't have to be some mystical thing.

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It's very tangible and practical, and it can come about in many different ways, but I think

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one of the most common ways that we're blessed through reading and hearing and doing the book

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of Revelation is that it gives us a framework through which to view the world.

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You begin to read Revelation and you see all these things happening.

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You read about all these symbols and these pictures, and what you actually get is this

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framework through which you can view the world around you.

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It teaches us to view the world with storybook eyes.

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Stop thinking about it in terms of these black and white, boring characters.

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Get some storybook eyes.

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It begins to tell us how to recognize dragons and serpents, how to recognize bulls and trumpets.

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It teaches us how to recognize the ongoing, unfolding story of God and our place in that

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story because you understand as a Christian, you have a part in that story, right?

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As a Christian, you are a part of the story.

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Now the story is about who?

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Jesus.

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We're us.

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I feel bad even saying a side character.

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We're not even a side character.

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We're like that character that shows up for one episode and then they're never seen again.

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That's awesome.

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We had a guest spot.

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We're part of the story, but it's not about us.

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The story is about Jesus, but he invites us to be part of it, which is really cool that

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he would take someone who was an enemy who rejected him and says, hey, come be part of

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my story and that we actually get to play a part in it.

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Revelation gives us these storybook eyes and a framework to view the world, and it promises

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us blessing now, and it's good that it's now because notice what it said there in verse

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3.

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It said the time is near.

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So once again, we see that Revelation isn't here to tickle our fancies.

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It's here to awaken us and strengthen us, and John's going to prove that again in verses

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4 and 5.

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So look what he says next.

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So remember, his goal is to strengthen us, to awaken us, to encourage us.

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He says, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him

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who is, who was, who is to come.

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From the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful

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witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth.

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To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.

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So notice, he's extending grace and peace to the churches.

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Who is the grace and peace coming from?

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This isn't trivial.

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Okay, I'm not just saying this so we can take up time.

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You know I don't need to take up time.

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Okay, I can do that fine on my own.

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Who is the grace and peace coming from?

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Okay, who's up?

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Okay, care to elaborate?

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Okay, sure, absolutely.

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Yup, from the seven spirits.

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So we have three different phrases here, right?

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We have the one who was, who is, who is to come.

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We have the seven spirits.

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And then also, Jesus, right?

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Why mention three phrases like that?

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There might be some theological significance here, right?

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Potentially?

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What do you think that signifies?

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The trinity, right?

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Here's an important part of Christian doctrine.

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From the very beginning of Revelation, we have John laying out the trinity for us.

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We have God the Father, we have God the Spirit, we have God the Son.

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There's a reason he divided this the way that he did.

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Yeah, there you go, right.

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The Clover, right, I like it.

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And so you have the trinity coming here and this is John laying out an important point

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for us saying that we serve a triune God, one God in three persons.

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There's not one God who's the Father, one God who's the Son, one God who's the Holy

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Spirit.

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There's not three different gods.

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You have the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God and they exist separate

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from each other.

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That's heresy as well.

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And there's also not modalism where it says that God sometimes appears in the mode of

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the Father and other times he appears in the mode of the Son and other times he appears

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in the mode of the Spirit.

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You have God, one God in three persons.

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One divine nature, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

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The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, Spirit is not the Son, Spirit

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is not the Father.

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All of that, one God in three persons.

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Now let me compare the trinity to something.

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You can't, right?

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This is why it's so hard to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and anybody else who

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rejects the trinity because there is literally nothing you can compare the trinity to and

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have it make sense.

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Like some people go, well it's like water.

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Water can appear as liquid or as ice or as gas, right?

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Sure, but not all at the same time.

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And not all share the same molecules and stuff.

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There's just nothing to compare the trinity to.

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And so let me just ease your burden, Christian.

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You don't have to find an example and say, oh the trinity is like this.

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You just stand on the Word of God.

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Here's what I know.

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The Bible says that the Father is God.

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Everything the Bible says about God, it also says about the Son, also says about the Spirit.

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And yet the Bible also says there is only one God.

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But all that together might not make sense to our human minds because we're fallible.

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The Bible teaches one God in three persons, eternally existing that way.

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But here's my question too.

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There's not just theology here.

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There's a lot of application here.

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So notice it says first and foremost, from him who is and who was and who was to come.

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Now here's my question.

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If John's purpose is to strengthen the churches who are being persecuted, who are endearing

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hardship, who are facing trial after trial, he's going to describe it as a tribulation

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in chapter two.

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If his purpose here is to encourage them and strengthen their hearts.

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And he says, here's grace and peace to you from him who was and who is and who is to

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come.

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Here's my question.

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How might that comfort believers and strengthen their hearts and their resolve?

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God's always winning.

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Explain that a little bit.

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Yes, ever present.

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I think that's a good way to say it.

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I think if you're just going to put it in layman's terms, here's what you're dealing

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with, right?

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You've got trials and tribulations going on.

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John's saying to the churches, listen, God was before all this.

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And God is in it now.

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And God is going to be long after this all passes, right?

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Because I mean, I think everybody in here has experienced tragedy at some point, right?

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Haven't we all?

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And when you experience tragedy, doesn't it feel like the entire world is ending?

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The entire world is crumbling.

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You don't know how you personally are going to make it another day.

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And the comfort that the Bible is saying here is, listen, God was before this.

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God is in it now.

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And God is going to be long after this passes.

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And so you don't have to worry.

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God is ever present.

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He's always there.

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And God is bigger than our circumstances.

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That's a comfort.

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Is it not?

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And so you're going through persecution and trials and tribulations.

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You're hearing this is going to pass, but God never will.

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God will always be there.

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And that's a big comfort for Christians.

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But then notice he also says from the seven spirits who were before his throne.

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And again, we've talked about this, the seven spirits before his throne, talking about the

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full presence of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the spirit of God is right there.

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And so again, here's my question.

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How might this strengthen believers in the midst of their situation to hear this?

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This grace and peace is coming not just from the Father, but also from the fullness of the

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spirit.

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So how might that be a comfort?

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No, you're kidding.

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Hey, at least you're thinking, throwing some stuff out there.

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I like it.

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But think about why we need the Holy Spirit.

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All right.

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That's that's what got me thinking about this.

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You mentioned all three.

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It's not just theological.

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God is always theological with orthopraxy orthodoxy with orthopraxy.

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He wants you to apply things rightly.

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So it's not just a theological point.

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And so I started thinking, well, why do we need the Holy Spirit?

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I think John is saying that the spirit we need to strengthen us in times of hardship

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and persecution, the spirit we need to grow us as Christians, the spirit that we need

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to convict us of indwelling sin in our lives and all the ways that we still fail to be

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like Christ, the spirit we need to conform us to the image of Christ, the spirit that

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we need to build our resolve in the midst of trying in difficult circumstances.

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The spirit we need to enlighten us into illuminous has not abandoned us.

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He is right there before the throne of God and he indwells all of us.

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If you're a believer, the same spirit who raised Christ from the dead, that same power, the

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same spirit is within each and every one of us.

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And so the spirit we need as Christians has not abandoned us.

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He knows what we're going through even better than we do, right?

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Because you remember, there's that comforting passage in the Bible where it talks about

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there are going to be times when you know you need to pray and you are so miserable

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and you are so distraught and fearful and full of anxiety, you don't even know what

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to say.

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What does the Bible say that happens?

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The spirit calls out for us.

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It means too deep for words.

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Now isn't that a comfort?

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That the Holy Spirit, when you are unable to go to God in prayer because you belong to

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God because you've been blood-bought by Jesus himself, that Holy Spirit who indwells you

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calls out on your behalf.

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So the spirit we need has an abandon.

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He's right there with us equipping us to endure all that we face.

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And then finally it says here, and from Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the

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dead and the ruler of the kings of earth.

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So again, here's my question.

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If you're a Christian in the first century, how might that phrase comfort you and strengthen

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you?

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That's right.

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It tells us that it's a reminder that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

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His faithful witness, it's worth living for and it's worth dying for.

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It reminds us not to fear death.

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You're being persecuted, right?

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The Roman government's coming after you.

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They're killing Christians left and right.

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The Bible's saying here, hey, don't be afraid of death.

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Why?

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Jesus is the firstborn of the dead.

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And you know what he promises all who follow him?

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Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so will you be.

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He's the firstfruits, meaning here's what you have to expect coming.

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He's the first fruit of the harvest of God, the firstborn of the dead, and everybody who

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trusts in Christ and puts their faith in him, they too will be raised from the dead.

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So why would you fear death?

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The worst the world can do is kill you, and even that doesn't really take, does it?

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We have eternal life now, so if they kill us, I have to sit from the body at home with

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the Lord.

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Why would you fear death when it is just a blink into glory?

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Now that's not saying just go put yourself in danger situations, but it is a comfort

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when you know that they're threatening you with death.

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What kind of a threat is that to a Christian?

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You're going to send me home to be with Jesus?

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I'm not going to stop preaching.

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You could kill me if you won't, but that's not going to stop this message from going

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out.

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This is a message worth dying for, and even if you kill me, Jesus is the firstborn of

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the dead.

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And then look at this, no matter how chaotic this world gets, no matter how evil it might

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seem, no matter how much it looks as if evil is a triumphing, notice what it says here,

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Jesus is sovereign over all things.

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He's sovereign over all things.

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He is in control at all times.

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He is the ruler of the kings of earth.

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So in the end, who gets the victory?

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Jesus.

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And it's not even close.

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I mean, it's not, it's like the world is doing their absolute best to try to wage war against

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the kingdom of God.

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And I've used this example before, but I think it's great.

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It's like one of my favorite musicians said, it's like a kid with a super soaker trying

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to conquer Spain.

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You got no chance.

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It's real cute.

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You've got your little water gun there, but this is a major country.

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Well, that's what the kingdoms of this world look like when they're trying to conquer the

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kingdom of God.

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It's just no match.

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And so the world might persecute Christians.

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They might come after us.

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They are coming after us.

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They're hunting us down.

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We have Christian martyrs all the time.

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The church around the world is highly persecuted.

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You hear about Christian deaths all the time.

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It looks like the world is winning.

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And yet the Bible says Jesus is the ruler of the kings of earth.

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He is the only one who is getting the victory because this whole world is his.

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He's sovereign over it.

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So the world can do what they want.

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But the kingdom of God, it will go forward.

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The gospel will continue to go forward.

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The word of God is not going anywhere.

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The heavens will pass away before the word of God fades away.

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It's not going anywhere.

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The church isn't going anywhere because we know Jesus said that he's building his church.

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Gates of hell are not going to prevail against it.

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And so we have nothing to fear.

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Even when it looks like we're losing, we're winning because Jesus is sovereign.

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He's the ruler of all things and he protects his bride.

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And he makes sure that his mission goes forward.

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He gets the final victory.

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And so that's probably a good place for us to end tonight.

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Thought we'd get through verse eight.

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We'll look there next week.

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But it's a good word to end on because you just want to think back to the situation of

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those early Christians.

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And you see that it's not really different for the church at large today.

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I'd say it's quite different from the church in America.

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We have it pretty easy here in America.

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Even the things that we don't like, it's still very light compared to other places

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in the world.

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But when you look at the world at large, it really does look a lot like what was going

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on in the first century here.

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And you begin to wonder, what do we do with a world like this?

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How is God going to do anything with this?

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If you're a believer in those countries, you're probably getting discouraged and fearful,

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full of anxiety.

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You might know that your death is imminent.

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You might have heard reports that they're coming.

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How are you going to be strengthened?

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How are you going to be comforted?

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And you read these verses here in Revelation.

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It says, hey, God was here way before this.

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He's here in the midst of it.

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And he's going to be here long after this is over.

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It tells us that the spirit we need for times like that, the spirit we need to comfort us,

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encourage us, embolden us, enlighten us, illumin us, strengthen us, conform us, convict

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us.

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He has an abandonment.

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He's sending grace and peace from the throne of God.

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It tells us that Jesus is worth living for and dying for.

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He's a faithful witness.

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And at the end of all things, he's still standing.

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He's the ruler of the kings of earth and he will have the victory.

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Now, if that doesn't light a fire under the church, I don't know what will.

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I mean, it means that we cannot fail.

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Isn't that good news?

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Because I'm prone to fail.

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I don't know about you.

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I mess up all the time.

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I make mistakes all the time.

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We're human, right?

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That's what we're going to do.

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And yet the church cannot fail because Jesus cannot fail.

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He will have the victory.

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All right.

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Mr. McKinney, word of wisdom, please.