WEBVTT 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:06.559 John, the disciple, the one who was given this 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:09.160 vision by Jesus and recorded it and sent it out 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:13.060 to the seven churches, he had a brother. In the 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:15.339 12 disciples, there were a couple sets of brothers. 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.379 Simon Peter had his brother Andrew. John had 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:21.500 his brother James. And John and James were kind 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:23.780 of like bookends in a certain sense when you 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:26.839 look at all the apostles because most of the 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:29.929 apostles died a martyr's death. And the first 00:00:29.929 --> 00:00:33.829 one to die was John's brother James, his older 00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:35.950 brother. He was the first one, and I believe 00:00:35.950 --> 00:00:38.869 it's Acts chapter five. I had to check it out, 00:00:38.890 --> 00:00:43.869 but it's very soon. He ends up dying. But John, 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:47.570 he did not die a martyr's death if church tradition. 00:00:47.729 --> 00:00:50.390 What people from way back in the first century 00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:52.810 wrote and told us, if it's true, John did not 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:56.329 die a martyr's death. He may, however, have wished 00:00:56.329 --> 00:00:59.509 that he had, though. According to that same tradition, 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:02.350 the writings of some of the people who were alive 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:04.430 back then and knew John, or at least they said 00:01:04.430 --> 00:01:07.450 they did, according to that tradition, he was 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:11.390 boiled in oil by the emperor Domitian, who persecuted 00:01:11.390 --> 00:01:14.189 the church, because John and other Christians 00:01:14.189 --> 00:01:16.530 would not worship the emperor as God. That was 00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:19.269 a very common thing. That even happened all the 00:01:19.269 --> 00:01:21.810 way back in the time of Paul, that sort of thing 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:24.689 was going on. So he was boiled in oil by this 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:28.439 emperor. He didn't die. The emperor, persistent, 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:31.719 gave him poison and made him drink poison. He 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:35.439 didn't die. Now rather than the emperor could 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.500 have said, wow, that's pretty impressive. Maybe 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:39.739 there's something about you. But no, the emperor 00:01:39.739 --> 00:01:42.719 did not let him go. The emperor said, fine, we'll 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:45.260 just stick you on this little island out in the 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:48.230 Aegean Sea called Patmos. You can just. be there, 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:52.549 be out of my hair, stop causing trouble. So that's 00:01:52.549 --> 00:01:54.790 what happened to John. That's where we see him 00:01:54.790 --> 00:01:57.150 in this first chapter. He's on the island of 00:01:57.150 --> 00:02:02.810 Patmos because he was faithful in his testimony 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:06.469 of Christ. Alright, we don't know you can you 00:02:06.469 --> 00:02:09.349 can go to Patmos today out of those of you who 00:02:09.349 --> 00:02:11.610 are big kind of travelers You like travel might 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:13.509 say oh the Greek Islands. That's a pretty cool 00:02:13.509 --> 00:02:16.229 place. That's a really beautiful Whatever. It's 00:02:16.229 --> 00:02:19.430 like that's not so bad We don't know and so you 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:21.370 can go to Patmos today, and they have all kinds 00:02:21.370 --> 00:02:23.889 of things about John there There's a monastery 00:02:23.889 --> 00:02:25.590 and different things and it is a pretty nice 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:28.129 place these days We don't know how nice it might 00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:29.710 have been back then or how nasty it might have 00:02:29.710 --> 00:02:31.590 been some people said there was like mines that 00:02:31.590 --> 00:02:35.439 you had that the the exit it was common for the 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.699 Romans to exile people to this island. I have 00:02:37.699 --> 00:02:39.800 a feeling it probably wasn't all that nice, but 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.560 it would have made little difference to John. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:47.199 He was being taken away from being the last living 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:50.219 Apostle Christ, serving God's people as he was. 00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:53.240 He was doing all that. He was taken away from 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:59.599 that to kicking rocks on a lonely aisle. So he 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.560 might even be wondering, why did God save him? 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:05.259 from a martyr's death that all his brethren, 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.719 all the other apostles have already suffered 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:10.560 this. Peter crucified upside down. A bunch of 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:12.819 other ones have interesting stories related to 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:15.719 them. He could have joined them. But no, here 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:20.860 he was on an island doing nothing. Wouldn't it 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:23.099 be better to be dead? Isn't that in some ways 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:26.500 a fate worse than death? Being able to do nothing. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:30.289 It'd be better to be with Christ. We don't really 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:34.409 know what he thought about this or how long he 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:37.210 was there waiting for... He doesn't even know 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:41.750 what he's waiting for. We do know that God did 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:45.289 have a reason for sending him there. That's the 00:03:45.289 --> 00:03:49.030 key. The emperor may have ordered it, had it 00:03:49.030 --> 00:03:53.650 sent there, but God's hand was upon it the whole 00:03:53.650 --> 00:03:58.199 time because here we have... to reveal to John 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:02.780 in a series of visions from Jesus what the glorified 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:06.740 risen Lord Jesus had to say to the seven churches 00:04:06.740 --> 00:04:10.509 and to us today. There's a message there. So, 00:04:10.729 --> 00:04:13.870 it wasn't pointless that John was placed on this 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.009 island, however it may have seemed at the time. 00:04:16.230 --> 00:04:18.970 Something great was used by God for that. And 00:04:18.970 --> 00:04:20.930 so we have in this, and especially in this little 00:04:20.930 --> 00:04:24.569 first chapter here, a message that unpacks for 00:04:24.569 --> 00:04:28.029 us what Jesus' resurrection means for us today 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:32.250 and forever. Now, I know you, I would imagine, 00:04:32.750 --> 00:04:36.329 you guys know what last Sunday was. It was Easter. 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:39.790 Well, you know what? This is Easter also. There 00:04:39.790 --> 00:04:44.290 are seven Sundays to Easter because there's so 00:04:44.290 --> 00:04:48.129 much great stuff in the resurrection of Jesus 00:04:48.129 --> 00:04:50.189 Christ that it takes a while to unpack it all. 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:55.750 As a matter of fact, every Sunday is a celebration 00:04:55.750 --> 00:04:58.649 of Easter. And that's why, for those of you who 00:04:58.649 --> 00:05:00.509 know, you know, have been a Lutheran a long time 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:04.149 or get into this sort of thing, that's why the 00:05:04.149 --> 00:05:07.680 time of Lent... It's supposed to be 40 days, 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:09.620 but if you actually counted out from Ash Wednesday 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:11.879 to Easter, it's a lot longer than 40 days because 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:15.060 the Sundays didn't count. The Sundays are a celebration 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:17.399 of the resurrection, so whatever, fast or whatever 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:19.199 you were doing those other days, you didn't do 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:23.019 it on Sunday because Sunday always still is about 00:05:23.019 --> 00:05:25.779 the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we'll unpack 00:05:25.779 --> 00:05:31.420 that some more today. As a kid... My grandparents 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:33.420 were wonderful Christian people, just awesome. 00:05:33.579 --> 00:05:35.800 And when it was my confirmation time, they gave 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:39.379 me a kid's Bible to have. And this Bible had 00:05:39.379 --> 00:05:42.680 pictures in it and so forth. And so, as a junior 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.980 high kid, considering the text we're looking 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:48.360 at, guess which book of the Bible was the first 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:52.160 one I went to? Revelation, right to the back, 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:55.319 boom, right to the back. And if you know much 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:57.519 about Revelation, especially what would be shown 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:01.100 on the pictures, the drawings or whatever, as 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:03.639 a kid, oh, that'd be, it's like a comic book, 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:06.279 Revelation is. I mean, oh, it's nice, Jesus talking 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:07.920 to people and doing stuff, that's all nice and 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:11.540 everything, but man, a dragon, frogs coming out 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:14.319 of somebody's mouth, these are all visions in 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.579 Revelation. A giant locust, an angel throwing 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:19.620 a mountain, it's just like, boy, this is like, 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.139 comic book hero stuff. So I read through the 00:06:22.139 --> 00:06:24.120 book of Revelation several times, looking at 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.319 the pictures and really getting into it before 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:29.759 I moved on to other things. And so some people 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:32.279 have that kind of fascination with the book of 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:35.199 Revelation. A church I served many years ago, 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.800 one of the members, her husband didn't come to 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:40.660 church, but he liked on Sunday to tune in the 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:43.019 TV preachers that talked about Revelation, that 00:06:43.019 --> 00:06:44.959 talked about the end times. He wasn't really 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:46.779 all that interested in the church stuff. He just 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:48.800 liked to hear about all the things that were 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:51.730 going on. going on at the time, back in the 90s, 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:54.529 we have somehow had something to do with God's 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:57.620 plan. And I guess in some ways he wasn't totally 00:06:57.620 --> 00:07:00.600 wrong there You know it generally if pastors 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:02.180 especially when they're new to a kind of they 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.639 kind of put a little survey What would you like 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:06.579 to study? What Bible studies would you like to 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:08.360 do? There'll always be a group of people that 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:11.180 say let's do revelation and because there might 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:13.639 be various motivations Sometimes people want 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:15.759 to know what the future is you know because that's 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.379 the kind of thing revelation talks about they 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:21.240 has these visions others Want to understand current 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.339 event? What's going on right now? And how does 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:25.339 that relate to what God's doing? And you know, 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:27.560 can we figure out when Jesus is gonna come back 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.620 again? And the simple answer to that is, no. 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:34.259 You cannot figure out. Guess who else doesn't 00:07:34.259 --> 00:07:37.639 know when Jesus is coming back again? Jesus. 00:07:37.980 --> 00:07:39.779 He doesn't even know when he's coming back. The 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:42.639 Father knows, not him. So if Jesus doesn't know, 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:44.839 you think we're gonna figure it out? I don't 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:47.620 think so. So we don't want to disappoint anybody 00:07:47.620 --> 00:07:49.660 about the study of Revelation. As a matter of 00:07:49.660 --> 00:07:51.639 fact, this morning we're going to have a little 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.199 teeny -weeny Bible study on Revelation right 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.120 now. Basically giving you a spoiler. This is 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:02.959 what the book, the point of the book... is really 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.819 about. You know, it can be the visions and who 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:07.660 the antichrist, all these things can be very 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:09.720 difficult, a lot of different opinions. Nope, 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.459 don't worry about that. What's the basic gist, 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:15.079 the basic message? And it's a very important 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:20.720 one. It is God has a plan. from eternity he before 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.319 the world was even made he has a plan that he's 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.199 already got laid out and Everything that happens 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:29.180 is to him working through that plan to get to 00:08:29.180 --> 00:08:31.600 the end And so that's the one that God has a 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.580 plan. The second thing is God is Almighty. There's 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:38.500 nobody else like him the devil the dragon. There's 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:41.580 that dragon again He's in there. He's powerful 00:08:41.580 --> 00:08:45.039 compared to you and me but compared to God nothing 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.580 zero, less than zero. You know, God is in control. 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:52.379 That's a big theme in the book of Revelation 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:55.679 because this was written to Christians in the 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:58.379 days of Rome who were going through persecution. 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:00.539 And the church has already been around, like, 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.940 about 60 years after Jesus was ascended and went 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:05.840 back to heaven. Church has been around for 60 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:07.480 years. Well, it's kind of like, what's going 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:09.620 on? Why, you know, we're going through all these 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:12.210 tough times. What's this all about? You know, 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:14.049 what does it mean to be a Christian? Do I want 00:09:14.049 --> 00:09:16.350 this? You know, what's what's God's plan? Jesus 00:09:16.350 --> 00:09:19.389 left and here we are and it's kind of bad So 00:09:19.389 --> 00:09:23.029 it's kind of him his way of saying I know I've 00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:26.490 got a plan. We're working it out You know everything 00:09:26.490 --> 00:09:28.570 that that's a hard thing for us to understand 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:31.529 and I'm not gonna say I can explain if God has 00:09:31.529 --> 00:09:34.929 control over Everything then why do things bad 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:38.350 things happen? You know if God has absolute control 00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:42.029 Do I even do anything, or am I just a robot doing 00:09:42.029 --> 00:09:45.190 whatever God wants? That's without getting too 00:09:45.190 --> 00:09:49.169 deep into that, because God is so incredibly 00:09:49.169 --> 00:09:53.350 smart, wise, and almighty. We can do what we 00:09:53.350 --> 00:09:55.549 do in our lives. The devil can do what he does. 00:09:55.950 --> 00:09:57.850 You know, all those things. God allows a lot 00:09:57.850 --> 00:09:59.830 of things to happen, things that we probably 00:09:59.830 --> 00:10:04.379 don't like, and yet... God is able to use those 00:10:04.379 --> 00:10:07.379 in His plan. When it's all over at the end, we'll 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.360 see how it all worked together. Whether it's 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.720 things in our life that we don't like, things 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:14.559 in people's lives that we love. Why did God let 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:18.000 this happen to them? Why does this... The Book 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.620 of Revelation doesn't have an answer to that 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:23.000 either, other than God has a plan and He's working 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:27.110 it out. He's always moving things. step -by -step 00:10:27.110 --> 00:10:29.509 towards the return of His Son, Jesus Christ, 00:10:29.789 --> 00:10:31.990 for the final total redemption of His people. 00:10:32.350 --> 00:10:36.429 No matter how crazy things are, He guides them. 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:40.929 He's involved. He's in the middle of it. So that 00:10:40.929 --> 00:10:44.639 is the basic gist. It's a comfort. It isn't about 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.139 weird things that it's hard to understand why 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:49.440 this, what's this all about, but just the fact 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:52.179 that God's going. He's in control. He's involved. 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:54.340 He's in the middle. He's not just way up there 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:56.519 looking down and going, wow, that's kind of crazy. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.620 You know, wow, that's a shame. You know, that 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:00.659 kind of thing. You know, He's involved with it. 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:03.879 He allows things to, just a side point on that, 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:05.779 there's something for our personal life, because 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:08.360 God lets us do things. But I've experienced in 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:10.519 my life, sometimes I'll try to do something. 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:13.929 and it doesn't work. It's like resistance. This 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:16.490 is, I can't get this to work. That's sometimes 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:19.830 a cue. It's like, maybe God doesn't want me to 00:11:19.830 --> 00:11:22.090 be doing that. But if I push hard enough, I can 00:11:22.090 --> 00:11:25.850 definitely tell you for myself, if I push hard 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:29.590 enough, eventually I'll get to do it. And usually, 00:11:29.950 --> 00:11:33.889 almost every time, I wish I hadn't. So that's 00:11:33.889 --> 00:11:37.649 the thing. Sadly, I'm still not smart enough 00:11:37.649 --> 00:11:40.460 to get that all the time. Sometimes I still do 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:44.220 that and push and push and then find out, yep, 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.019 God was trying to help me there and I wasn't 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:49.100 paying attention. So, yes. So, no matter how 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:51.279 crazy things are, He's involved. There's also, 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:55.220 lastly, and this is, I still to this day enjoy 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:57.720 reading the book of Revelation, but now I'm not 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.080 that interested in the frogs or the mountains 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.159 being thrown into the sea or things like that, 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.740 all that kind of comic book stuff. I like this 00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:07.159 other thing. In the book of Revelation, there 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.970 are several visions. of the people of God all 00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:13.529 together from every tribe of every nation all 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:15.450 together before the throne of God singing and 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:18.090 glorifying God just that joy of all you know 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:20.070 all the things that don't work in this world 00:12:20.070 --> 00:12:23.250 all finally together working in harmony in God 00:12:23.250 --> 00:12:25.669 before his throne and there's a lot we even have 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:28.220 songs in our worship that I can't remember the 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:30.299 names of at the moment, but that come from, there's 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:32.320 a lot of songs in the book of Revelation and 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.740 even Christian music today even will pull on 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:37.080 them. I can hear, I'll hear a little chorus where 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:38.740 it's like, oh yeah, I know where that comes from 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:42.740 because Revelation is a book of worship also. 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.259 And so it's a great and wonderful book. Just 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.100 don't get too bogged down into some of the highly 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:51.559 symbolic parts that probably nobody really knows 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.820 exactly what they mean right now. So few things 00:12:55.820 --> 00:12:58.600 to help unpack the resurrection of Jesus Christ 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:01.139 that come from this reading first of all we see 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:04.899 Jesus Standing among the lampstands and okay 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.740 this vision again the lampstands as we are told 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:10.179 are the churches these seven churches that are 00:13:10.179 --> 00:13:13.779 were listed off see standing this shows that 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:19.480 Jesus is present among his people, actively involved 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:21.559 with his people. He's not just sitting up in 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:23.639 heaven and looking back and says, okay, guys, 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:25.659 hope it goes good for you. No, he's down here. 00:13:25.659 --> 00:13:28.659 He's a part of it. He's in it. It's easy for 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:30.820 us to forget that, that we're going through life, 00:13:31.179 --> 00:13:35.379 that Jesus desires to be involved, included in 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:38.159 every part of our lives. And he has an involvement 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:41.240 in it. If something's allowed to happen to us, 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:43.740 somehow, someway, it can be used for our good 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.940 by him. So it's easy for us to get busy distracted 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:50.720 into our daily groove like I do and that we kind 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.240 of lose sight of him Although he's always there 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:56.419 always a part of that Sometimes it can take an 00:13:56.419 --> 00:13:59.809 issue of life or death or even a solid hit to 00:13:59.809 --> 00:14:02.389 our pocketbook to get our attention and then 00:14:02.389 --> 00:14:04.669 one of those little smaller hits to my pocketbook 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.029 just happened recently the fans going out of 00:14:07.029 --> 00:14:09.529 our course always happens on a weekend our refrigerator 00:14:09.529 --> 00:14:11.850 the fans gone out so now you know got to move 00:14:11.850 --> 00:14:14.549 things around and to get this that's a an example 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:17.460 of crazy little things that happen in life that 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.480 are annoying, you know, and it's like, you know, 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.039 what purpose could that possibly solve? Well, 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:24.539 I mean, I guess it makes a sermon illustration 00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:26.980 for one thing, but it does other things, you 00:14:26.980 --> 00:14:29.059 know. What are we going to do? How is this going 00:14:29.059 --> 00:14:32.000 to happen? So, God, how are you using this little 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.820 thing in our lives? And if nothing else, just 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:37.690 help us not to freak out about it. but just kind 00:14:37.690 --> 00:14:39.809 of say, okay, God will help us through this. 00:14:39.870 --> 00:14:42.409 He'll help us find somebody to fix the refrigerator. 00:14:43.350 --> 00:14:46.090 But yeah, one of my cousins who lives in Arizona, 00:14:46.509 --> 00:14:48.549 he wasn't really walking with the Lord too much. 00:14:48.730 --> 00:14:51.570 He married to a wonderful woman and had two beautiful 00:14:51.570 --> 00:14:55.289 little daughters, but he wasn't really walking 00:14:55.289 --> 00:14:59.000 with God too much. He got a rare liver condition. 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:00.879 I don't know what it's called. I remember. I 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.659 remember getting tested to see if my liver could 00:15:02.659 --> 00:15:05.559 be donated to him, you know, a piece of it to 00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:08.639 help him out. You know, but he did. He got his 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:10.899 attention and brought him closer to God. And 00:15:10.899 --> 00:15:12.940 to this day, he is still walking closer to God. 00:15:13.179 --> 00:15:15.399 Now, that's the thing. His sister is married 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:18.419 is and even was at that time married to a pastor, 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:19.980 but that wasn't enough to get his attention. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:22.919 But hey, get this liver. The problem? That got 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.620 his attention. And so, you know, it seems to 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:28.720 be something that God has used in his life to 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.419 help him. And I know it's been a blessing to 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:33.679 his wife and his daughters as he's more walking 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.539 with the Lord and being a godly man in his family. 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:40.360 God uses a lot of things, big and small, to get 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:43.399 our attention, to grow us, and to remind us that 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:46.700 he's involved in our lives. And, you know, I 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:49.460 try, when things happen in my life, to see that. 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:52.409 Like yesterday, as I was still writing this sermon, 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:54.509 even though Pastor Jason gave me all month's 00:15:54.509 --> 00:15:56.710 notice, here I was on Saturday, still grinding 00:15:56.710 --> 00:15:59.789 away at it. There's all kinds of stories and 00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:02.090 angles you can go there on that. Believe me, 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:05.129 my wife was not thrilled that it's like, when 00:16:05.129 --> 00:16:08.309 did you find out about this? A month ago? So 00:16:08.309 --> 00:16:10.669 we were going to a show, we already had a busy, 00:16:10.889 --> 00:16:14.009 we're going to a little play, like junior high 00:16:14.009 --> 00:16:16.909 kids or whatever, like she knows from homeschooling 00:16:16.909 --> 00:16:18.870 or whatever. They have this group that has a 00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:21.710 theater. goodness, an hour and a half play on 00:16:21.710 --> 00:16:24.330 a Saturday, I got things to do, you know, fine, 00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:26.129 I go, because that's, you know, that is again, 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:28.309 you know, God put this in here, so I'm gonna 00:16:28.309 --> 00:16:29.850 walk through it and I'm gonna do this for my 00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:32.389 wife, be a blessing to her, spend time with her, 00:16:33.169 --> 00:16:34.909 and so in the middle of this play, of course, 00:16:35.049 --> 00:16:38.720 it's amateur production, all of a sudden, somebody 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.639 forgot to bring a cord for the apple computer 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.539 that was running everything and it died in the 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:45.740 middle of the play and so here we got a half 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:47.659 an hour so i'm like i'm already kind of tight 00:16:47.659 --> 00:16:50.220 on time here god and now a half an hour that 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:51.820 i get to just sit here while they're running 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:54.470 around scurrying you know obviously i I used 00:16:54.470 --> 00:16:56.490 that time to get my phone out, looked up the 00:16:56.490 --> 00:16:58.330 Bible passages. I was thinking about it and everything. 00:16:58.629 --> 00:17:00.330 I didn't have anything to write on, but yeah, 00:17:00.450 --> 00:17:02.809 so it's like, why? I mean, that's a small nothing. 00:17:03.090 --> 00:17:06.349 It's a small nothing, but I mean, it did, because 00:17:06.349 --> 00:17:08.690 I was working, I was like, oh yeah, I don't know 00:17:08.690 --> 00:17:12.670 what God had this happen, but it has an irrelevance 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:15.680 in my life. And so... When I get home from this, 00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:19.500 okay fine now I can get to work. Oh my son who's 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:23.400 still at home He's going to a HTC spring branched 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:25.980 in the engineering academy He need me to proofread 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:28.660 a paper that he has to turn in for his engineering 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:32.839 and so it's like Okay, yeah, I could just kind 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:35.180 of say to him dude Why did you have to wait till 00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:37.140 the day to do this really and you can not do 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:38.900 this tomorrow? You know, whatever but I could 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:41.180 tell it was important to him and that's part 00:17:41.180 --> 00:17:45.650 of being a dad is Yeah This is not a great time 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:48.849 or place for this, but again, God, you know, 00:17:49.029 --> 00:17:51.150 I can be a blessing to my son. I could just kind 00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:52.970 of kick him down, you know, and I'll do this 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:55.289 tomorrow, but I took the half an hour to review 00:17:55.289 --> 00:17:57.150 it and everything and he was very thankful. So 00:17:57.150 --> 00:17:59.910 just, yeah, again, I guess writing this kind 00:17:59.910 --> 00:18:01.930 of made me a little more aware of the little 00:18:01.930 --> 00:18:05.089 things that go on in life and how God uses them 00:18:05.089 --> 00:18:08.640 even in small ways. to touch our lives and to 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.700 touch other people's lives. So that's the thing. 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.660 Jesus is here among us. He doesn't sit up in 00:18:14.660 --> 00:18:17.039 heaven. He's here with us and He is involved 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.799 and desires to be involved in our lives. And, 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:23.339 last takeaway, the more we're aware of that and 00:18:23.339 --> 00:18:25.539 see the things in life, especially the things 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:28.150 that... we don't like, but even the things that 00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:30.950 are positive, and from a God perspective, or 00:18:30.950 --> 00:18:34.730 even people's needs, it's like, okay, it's inconvenient 00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:38.509 to have to deal with this other person, but God 00:18:38.509 --> 00:18:41.029 doesn't really... One thing God really doesn't 00:18:41.029 --> 00:18:44.710 care about is our inconvenience. He just cares 00:18:44.710 --> 00:18:47.750 nothing about that. He cares about our character. 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:50.650 I care about my convenience and my comfort. God 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:52.769 cares about my character, and that's how He's 00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:55.480 always going to operate. whether I like it or 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:57.420 not, you know, but he does. And I know it's for 00:18:57.420 --> 00:19:00.839 my best and all of our best. So, okay, next thing. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:04.710 Eyes like fire. This is a description. Jesus 00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:06.950 that John is seeing you know the hair that's 00:19:06.950 --> 00:19:09.089 white not like mine is is really white because 00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:12.750 he's he's you know basically Shining like a star 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:15.289 Because he's glorified through his death and 00:19:15.289 --> 00:19:18.029 resurrection, but he's got these eyes of fire 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:21.890 now This is not like in superhero movies You 00:19:21.890 --> 00:19:23.630 know like sometimes you'll see the who's somebody 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:26.269 bad guy good guy their eyes glow like oh There's 00:19:26.269 --> 00:19:28.029 something going on with this person, and it could 00:19:28.029 --> 00:19:31.130 be kind of freaky Yeah, that their eyes glow, 00:19:31.130 --> 00:19:33.430 but this means of course everything in A lot 00:19:33.430 --> 00:19:37.990 of things are symbolic. In the Bible, fire is 00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:41.470 oftentimes used of judgment, discernment. And 00:19:41.470 --> 00:19:46.190 so the glowing fire means that he can see through 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:51.730 all of people's junk, deceptions, facades, all 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:54.710 of our fakes that we can fake other people out. 00:19:54.809 --> 00:19:58.430 He can see right into the core of who and what 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:01.769 we are. You can't hide anything from him at all. 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:08.160 He sees the real deal. We can BS a lot of people, 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:12.480 but we cannot BS Jesus. Sometimes people who 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:14.660 know us, well, we might be able to sneak something 00:20:14.660 --> 00:20:18.099 by them. They might not notice. I've been married 00:20:18.099 --> 00:20:20.819 to my wife for 26 years, and sometimes I think 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:23.579 I can do that, but I think I get away with it. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.980 Anyway, maybe I'll eat the last cookie, and I 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:28.930 know she's going to be kind of upset. and then 00:20:28.930 --> 00:20:31.750 try to hide it so she doesn't see it or or make 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:34.069 a mess and then okay just to sweep it under the 00:20:34.069 --> 00:20:36.329 rug or just that kind of stupid little stuff 00:20:36.329 --> 00:20:38.289 uh try to try to do that maybe it's like a little 00:20:38.289 --> 00:20:40.750 game or something like haha dear i got i got 00:20:40.750 --> 00:20:44.750 one past you my guess is i probably didn't she 00:20:44.750 --> 00:20:47.089 saw it and she just kind of rolled her eyes and 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:50.710 went whatever you know uh but but even if i can't 00:20:50.710 --> 00:20:53.970 get it past her i cannot do so with jesus not 00:20:53.970 --> 00:20:56.250 so i could i could sneak things past a lot of 00:20:56.250 --> 00:20:59.859 people because Sadly, that's been a character 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:02.220 trait of mine, is I'm a sneaky person, I'm a 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.720 two -face. You know, I've always been the good 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.660 kid in my neighborhood. Now, my friend, he was 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:10.480 the bad kid in the neighborhood. There should 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:14.319 be some sort of a guilt by association, but somehow 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.299 I managed to dodge that, or at least I thought 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:19.779 so. But I've always been, that's really not a 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:21.880 great character trait. And it's to be sneaky. 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:24.539 So I'm always, God busts me on that from time 00:21:24.539 --> 00:21:27.200 to time, and I'm thankful that he does. So, but 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:29.299 anyway, not so with Jesus. I can't be sneaky 00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:34.640 with him. In the end, it's really comforting 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:39.680 to know that Jesus sees us as we really are. 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:42.839 This is no hiding, none, no place to hide, no 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:44.920 part of ourselves that's gonna be hiding. He 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.130 sees us as we are, and yet he's still... loves 00:21:48.130 --> 00:21:51.069 us and frees us from our sins. We don't have 00:21:51.069 --> 00:21:54.390 to worry. I think there's a thing called imposter 00:21:54.390 --> 00:21:57.109 syndrome, like celebrities get this word. You 00:21:57.109 --> 00:21:59.130 kind of know, if somebody really discovers the 00:21:59.130 --> 00:22:03.509 real me, I am really going to get busted. Bad 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:05.589 things are going to happen if people really knew 00:22:05.589 --> 00:22:10.329 the real me. God knows the real me. God knows 00:22:10.329 --> 00:22:13.170 the real you. You don't have to worry that that's 00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:15.509 going to come out, that He's going to discover 00:22:15.509 --> 00:22:17.940 that, and yet He still loves you. and yet you 00:22:17.940 --> 00:22:19.960 are still His child, you are still forgiven. 00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:23.279 That's a wonderful thing. I mean, it's a little 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:25.960 fearful thing to know that, you know, whatever 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:28.460 I did or whatever, Jesus sees it, but I know 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:33.160 that He forgives it, and He is totally and completely 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.700 unconditional. We never have to worry that we'll 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:39.660 ever fall short of Him. So that's a great thing. 00:22:40.579 --> 00:22:44.990 Finally, last one. He is the Living One. He died 00:22:44.990 --> 00:22:48.650 and now is forevermore alive. He has the keys 00:22:48.650 --> 00:22:51.829 of death and Hades. And so for those of you who 00:22:51.829 --> 00:22:54.490 are studying the classics or whatever, Hades, 00:22:55.009 --> 00:22:58.789 that's basically figuratively like the place. 00:22:59.049 --> 00:23:03.329 There's two words in the Bible for life after 00:23:03.329 --> 00:23:06.950 death and before the ending resurrection. One's 00:23:06.950 --> 00:23:10.299 Hades and the other is the abyss. You might be 00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:12.400 able to see the tonal difference between those 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.940 two. Hades is just kind of this idea, like, my 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:17.200 dear mother passed away in February. You know, 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:19.900 where is mom now? I know she loved the Lord, 00:23:20.180 --> 00:23:22.839 she's with the Lord, and really, kind of, that's 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:24.700 done. You know, we say, with the Lord, you're 00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:27.019 done. Anything more you do, you're kind of getting 00:23:27.019 --> 00:23:30.900 off. But anyway, so she's with the Lord, and 00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:35.140 so that's the idea. The abyss is where the... 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:37.299 demons are that's where the devil and his people 00:23:37.299 --> 00:23:39.680 go so you don't want any part of that so anyway 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:42.819 he has he has the keys of death in hades our 00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:45.640 life and our death and what happens after our 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.180 death always have been are now and always will 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:53.940 be in his nail scarred And again, that's a symbol. 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:56.579 When he says he has the keys, that means he's 00:23:56.579 --> 00:23:59.079 got the authority. He's got the full and complete 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:02.640 authority over death and Hades. So, yes, they're 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:07.160 always there. And so, our life is not our own. 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:10.660 It's not now our own. It never has been, and 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:13.220 it never will be. It's been bought with a price. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.539 The life, suffering, and death of our Lord and 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:18.970 Savior Jesus Christ. All our lives. Every second 00:24:18.970 --> 00:24:23.109 of them all the way to eternity belong to him 00:24:23.109 --> 00:24:27.710 period the end Yes, and are freely given to us 00:24:27.710 --> 00:24:30.750 He gives us that gift of our lives our minutes 00:24:30.750 --> 00:24:35.059 our seconds our days to serve with him in his 00:24:35.059 --> 00:24:38.500 kingdom as priests. All of us are priests. You 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:41.200 know, that is, we are all a connection between 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.220 God and the people around us. That's what a priest 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:48.359 is, basically. And just as Jesus is our high 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:51.680 priest, he is our connection with God, the Father. 00:24:51.940 --> 00:24:54.880 And so also, we are priests to those around us. 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:56.839 You know, people who don't know Jesus yet, or 00:24:56.839 --> 00:24:58.880 even people who do, we are, you know, all can 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.319 be a blessing to each other as he has been a 00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:03.880 blessing. That sounds wonderful, that we are 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.559 priests, that we are God's blessings to people, 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:09.460 and it is, it is very nice. It can also be a 00:25:09.460 --> 00:25:12.539 little intimidating if you really think about 00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:18.150 what it means to be like. Jesus never never be 00:25:18.150 --> 00:25:20.089 perfect about it. This is about but what does 00:25:20.089 --> 00:25:23.230 that really look like in our life? It means we 00:25:23.230 --> 00:25:26.710 have been blessed beyond measure By a God who 00:25:26.710 --> 00:25:30.170 loves us so much that we can be like him and 00:25:30.170 --> 00:25:32.910 be a blessing to those who are around us That's 00:25:32.910 --> 00:25:34.670 what it means to be a Christian. Guess what? 00:25:34.710 --> 00:25:37.329 That's why we're still in this world once I mean 00:25:37.329 --> 00:25:39.630 people want you know, once you're once God has 00:25:39.630 --> 00:25:42.730 redeemed you in Christ What's left? Well, I mean, 00:25:42.730 --> 00:25:45.930 we're still here. We're still around why? Just 00:25:45.930 --> 00:25:49.470 to kind of hang around? No. To be a blessing. 00:25:49.650 --> 00:25:52.769 Now we are part of God's work in this world. 00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:55.430 We get to be a part of God's team, and so we 00:25:55.430 --> 00:25:58.609 have things for us. And so this applies both 00:25:58.609 --> 00:26:00.730 to the parts of our life that we have to do, 00:26:01.029 --> 00:26:03.769 our work, our school, our responsibilities. We 00:26:03.769 --> 00:26:06.390 can be a blessing in those places, and to the 00:26:06.390 --> 00:26:08.730 parts that we get to do. And that goes back to 00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:10.690 some of the things I mentioned, like my son needing 00:26:10.690 --> 00:26:14.069 me to do his paper. We're not like when I'm at 00:26:14.069 --> 00:26:17.039 work. You know, I got my job to do and everything. 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:18.880 There's always busy and whatever kind of thing. 00:26:19.099 --> 00:26:21.700 But it's also like, how can I be a blessing to 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.660 people? A, I'm doing a good job. I don't sit 00:26:24.660 --> 00:26:26.460 around my work and read the Bible all day. I 00:26:26.460 --> 00:26:28.000 mean, it's good to read the Bible, but that's 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.500 not why I'm there. I don't go and pigeon people 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:32.500 in a corner. Do you know Jesus is your savior? 00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:36.819 That's not what you do at work. But you live 00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:40.579 a life. That a is a blessing to people and man 00:26:40.579 --> 00:26:42.819 can lead people to ask questions like I even 00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:45.200 had that in the break room I may have related 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.019 this and one other time I've been here where 00:26:47.019 --> 00:26:50.119 some girl said why are you so happy all the time? 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:54.480 And it's like well, and I told her you know because 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:56.460 like we don't talk about religion at work but 00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:58.240 you asked me a direct question and we're in the 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.460 break room so we're on time out right now so 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:02.880 i just told her in no uncertain terms nicely 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.500 and and so i i would talk to you sadly with covet 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:09.539 i really haven't seen her much since then um 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:11.039 but yeah we took you know so that's the kind 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:14.380 of thing and i've related to somebody you know 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:16.859 what a friend of mine who's a good christian 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:19.319 at work and we talk about stuff and he just says 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:22.720 A little odd, because he says, yeah, I had a 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:24.400 dream the other night. When you're in somebody 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.779 else's dream, that's always a little hmm. But 00:27:26.779 --> 00:27:29.519 he says, yeah, it was in the, if you've ever 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.980 seen the show, Amazing Race. And I was doing 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:35.019 really well. And he says, but you were so nice 00:27:35.019 --> 00:27:36.880 that people were giving you random shortcuts 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:38.839 and you were beating me. I got so upset I fell 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:42.359 out of bed. And I'm like, whoa, there's a lot 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:45.759 of things to say about all that. But it's kind 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:48.269 of like, in the end. that the person would think, 00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:51.990 you know, and even my supervisor said, you're 00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:54.089 a very amiable, you know, that means, you know, 00:27:54.269 --> 00:27:58.470 friendly whatever person. And so, you know, that's 00:27:58.470 --> 00:28:01.230 just, you know, Christ reflecting in our lives. 00:28:01.450 --> 00:28:03.950 You know, the best we can ever be is a reflection 00:28:03.950 --> 00:28:07.990 of Jesus. But that's a great thing. And so that's 00:28:07.990 --> 00:28:10.390 what I have to think about when I go through 00:28:10.390 --> 00:28:12.970 my day. I got my stuff I want to do, I got my 00:28:12.970 --> 00:28:15.289 stuff I want to be, whatever, whatever, but it's 00:28:15.289 --> 00:28:19.670 not really all that important. But being a reflection 00:28:19.670 --> 00:28:22.750 of Jesus, being a blessing, does get in the way 00:28:22.750 --> 00:28:25.210 of what I want to do. and what I have planned 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:27.170 for the day. And so that's important. That's 00:28:27.170 --> 00:28:30.029 again, thinking of what God is doing in our lives 00:28:30.029 --> 00:28:32.529 and keeping that and how God wants to evolve 00:28:32.529 --> 00:28:34.569 us in our lives. It's a challenge. Boy, I tell 00:28:34.569 --> 00:28:37.390 you, I don't remember all the time. Sometimes 00:28:37.390 --> 00:28:41.509 I'll look back and go, oh, that was an opportunity 00:28:41.509 --> 00:28:43.849 and I kind of blew it because I was focused on 00:28:43.849 --> 00:28:46.190 what I wanted to do. I had my own ideas and I 00:28:46.190 --> 00:28:49.190 missed it. God still loves us. God forgives us. 00:28:49.269 --> 00:28:51.089 And you just kind of put that in the pocket and 00:28:51.089 --> 00:28:53.130 kind of say, next time God help me to remember. 00:28:54.089 --> 00:29:00.430 All right, John saw in his first vision of Patmos 00:29:00.430 --> 00:29:05.369 how much different Jesus is after his death, 00:29:05.710 --> 00:29:09.309 resurrection, and ascension. This same John... 00:29:09.339 --> 00:29:13.319 This would have been like 60 years before. Here 00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:15.299 he is on the island. About 60 years earlier, 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:17.359 that's when Jesus was doing his ministry. He 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.599 was with Jesus for like four years. He spent 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:23.599 four years with Jesus. He was the disciple that 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:27.759 Jesus loved. He was kind of the favorite disciple, 00:29:27.819 --> 00:29:30.839 at least by the other disciples' way of thinking. 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:33.440 It's thought that John was the youngest disciple, 00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:35.460 and he probably was, for what that's worth. But 00:29:35.460 --> 00:29:38.789 anyway, he was with Jesus for four years. Even 00:29:38.789 --> 00:29:41.269 at the Last Supper, he was the one that was right 00:29:41.269 --> 00:29:44.589 next to Jesus. And so when Jesus said, somebody's 00:29:44.589 --> 00:29:46.269 going to betray me, the other guy's going, hey, 00:29:46.430 --> 00:29:49.250 John, ask him what he means by that. Because 00:29:49.250 --> 00:29:51.329 A, you're sitting right next to him. And B, you 00:29:51.329 --> 00:29:54.289 have a little more in on Jesus than we do. So 00:29:54.289 --> 00:30:00.400 this is that John. And John. even saw him, his 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:02.720 brother James, and Peter, the only three who 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.400 saw Jesus glorified in the Mount of Triumphs. 00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:08.039 They saw Jesus as he really was. That is a great 00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:11.180 vision. And yet, even having seen that, he's 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:14.460 totally and completely blown away by what he 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:16.839 sees here in this vision, such that he said he 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.119 fell over like he was dead in the presence. He 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:21.660 was so overwhelmed by the resurrected glory of 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:24.420 Christ. Jesus has said that his father would 00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:27.279 glorify him through his suffering and death for 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:30.460 our forgiveness and eternal life John saw how 00:30:30.460 --> 00:30:32.940 true that really was I pray that we would see 00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:36.059 how the death and resurrection of Jesus Changes 00:30:36.059 --> 00:30:40.539 our lives and celebrate Easter all year round 00:30:40.539 --> 00:30:43.839 and be a Easter blessing to people all year round 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:47.079 Now the peace of God that passes all understanding 00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:49.940 keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our 00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:51.519 Lord amen