1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:13,760 OK, let's get into the word this morning. 6 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,960 My computer is not wanting to cooperate. 7 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:23,080 We are in a short, at least it, it, it may be short, a short 8 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:27,520 series on what we'll see how long this goes, but a short 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,840 series on Revelation, the Revelation, the Book of 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,200 Revelation. Really what I want to get to is 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,920 just chapters 4:00 and 5:00. But I've been just marinating in 12 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,960 this. I, I got, got a bug this week. 13 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,680 I got sick. We launched the school on 14 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,560 Thursday and it Yeah. And I, I manned Wednesday 15 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,920 morning or Wednesday afternoon. All of a sudden I realized, you 16 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,040 know what? I'm sick and I called Bill 17 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:55,760 Buyer. I said Bill, because Bill had 18 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:56,760 called me. He said he's going to be in 19 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:58,120 Nebraska. I said you still over there? 20 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,200 And he said yeah, so you're doing anything tonight? 21 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,720 No, I said do you want to come over and preach for me tonight 22 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,120 and tomorrow morning? So Bill got on his horse and 23 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,680 rode and he and it had to be like an 8 hour round trip, I 24 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,560 think and came over and taught Wednesday night and Thursday 25 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,320 morning. And I believe that that that was 26 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:19,760 orchestrated, not my sickness, but Bill's visit was 27 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,120 orchestrated by God for him to be here the first day of the 28 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,840 school. So, so I got time to make up, 29 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:29,040 but so I had, I had time to just lay around and read because I 30 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,240 wasn't feeling well. You know, there's an old saying 31 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:36,320 it says in on earth, Tis said laid aside by illness in heaven. 32 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:38,280 Tis said called aside for stillness. 33 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,480 Now I don't know if that's, I feel like that's been true of me 34 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,000 at times where the Lord just gets me to slow down. 35 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,680 And, and so I've been just reading the Book of Revelation 36 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,000 over and over again. And I'm not really taught on 37 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,080 this book a lot over the years, but I've been captured by it and 38 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,120 especially chapter 4 and 5. And so we want to get there. 39 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,200 But before we can get there, I want to look at a couple of 40 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,280 things. We talked about this a couple of 41 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,600 weeks ago. The the meaning the the word 42 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,240 revelation, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. 43 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,440 John had a prophetic revelation. He had he was caught up into an 44 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,760 encounter and God had him recorded. 45 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,600 In fact, let's look at verse one one listen to what it says. 46 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,720 The revelation of Jesus Christ. That word, the Greek word is a 47 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,520 compound word and it means it comes from 2 words to cover and 48 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,400 to, you know, to cover or conceal and then the other one 49 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,920 to remove. So a revelation is God removing 50 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:44,000 that which hides something or conceals or it's it's something 51 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,640 that keeps us from understanding. 52 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:49,520 So God gives a revelation. So John writes the revelation of 53 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:54,040 Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the 54 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,240 things that must soon take place. 55 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,040 He made it by sending. He made it known by sending his 56 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,280 Angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God 57 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,440 into the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 58 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:11,960 Now we could spend a month in chapter 1 or verse one, because 59 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,800 it really is a biblical cosmology. 60 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,880 It's the way that God operates. It's the way that God 61 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:24,000 administrates his Kingdom and there's a complexity to what God 62 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,400 reveals here that is very important for you and on to 63 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:28,680 understand. We have a tendency to think 64 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:30,000 that, well, God wants to do something. 65 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,200 He just wishes it done. He decides it done and it's 66 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,880 done. But here it's very clear God had 67 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,760 something that he longed to show his people. 68 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,600 So what did he do? He sent an Angel and then the 69 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,800 Angel went to a guy and they and named John and he, this Angel 70 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,200 ushered John into a couple of revelations or encounters. 71 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,800 And that there's a, a biblical history, a tradition of Jewish 72 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:56,760 prophets who would go into these encounters. 73 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,440 Ezekiel was one, Jeremiah was one. 74 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,840 They would have these encounters where they would experience 75 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,200 things, see things, but they were seeing and experiencing 76 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,840 them for others. So they would, they would record 77 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,640 those, they would write those down so that God could get it to 78 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,840 the people. So God wants something to get to 79 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,040 the churches. God wants something to get to 80 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:18,079 you and I. So what did he do? 81 00:04:18,399 --> 00:04:21,720 He sent an Angel and the Angel found a guy and ushered that guy 82 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,520 into an encounter, and then that guy went into an encounter and 83 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,920 then he recorded everything that he experienced, wrote it down, 84 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,600 did the hard work of writing it. They had to keep copying these 85 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,440 manuscripts and disseminate them to these seven churches that are 86 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,760 in chapters 3 and or two and three, and then multiply that 87 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,360 across the world so that you and I could get what God wanted us 88 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,040 to get. Now, I don't know about you. 89 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,200 That's a little more complex than I think of. 90 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,000 When God operates, I tend to think, well, God just wants 91 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,600 something to happen. He wills it so. 92 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,200 But what God does, he shows us in this verse. 93 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,200 There is always a partnership between heaven and earth, 94 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,960 between the angelic and the human, to accomplish God's will. 95 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,680 God has a family. They're sons of God in the 96 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,480 heavenly realms. They're angelic creatures, and 97 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,960 he has a family on earth, and he operates through both of them. 98 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,280 And there's this partnership between heaven and earth for 99 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:17,280 God's Kingdom to show up on the earth. 100 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,640 And so John has this encounter and he records this revelation. 101 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:27,320 Now, one of the things I was reading this week, laying in 102 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:33,360 bed, I was reading a, a summation of a book by Doctor 103 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,360 Craig Keener. Anybody ever heard of Craig 104 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,360 Keener? He, he's a theologian, past or 105 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:41,440 not, Pastors. He's a professor at Asbury 106 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,600 Seminary. Matter of fact, Rick Erewood, I 107 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,280 believe went to school with Craig. 108 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:48,600 He was already parsing Greek when he arrived at Bible 109 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,840 college. He's a brilliant guy, but he's 110 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,440 also spirit filled, believes in the gifts of the Spirit. 111 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,640 He just came out with a huge, I've got a, I've got a set of 112 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,640 commentaries by him just on the book of Acts is almost 5000 113 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,480 pages. He's got a big old book on 114 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,000 miracles that he wrote. And then he's got a little thin 115 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,360 one for the layman and it records, it's documenting 116 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,200 miracles today. And it's one of the 117 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,080 groundbreaking work that has just come out. 118 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,080 But I, I appreciate him because he's so brilliant. 119 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:24,080 He's, he's just puts out all kinds of material, but he also 120 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:25,520 believes in the life and the spirit. 121 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,480 And what I really appreciate about him is what I'm about to 122 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:30,920 read to you. And I read this and I thought 123 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,360 this guy is brilliant because he's saying just what I said, 124 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,520 just better. When I said two weeks ago, I 125 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,400 knew he was brilliant because he agrees with me. 126 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,640 And so listen to what he said. This is the introduction or a 127 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,760 summation of his book. This book is called, I love the 128 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:49,520 title, A spirit hermeneutic or spirit hermeneutics is what it's 129 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:51,360 called. Reading Scripture in light of 130 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,320 Pentecost. Spirit hermeneutics. 131 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,800 Hermeneutics is the science of literary interpretation and 132 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,120 especially Bible. So there are rules to interpret 133 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:03,440 writing. You can't just make things up 134 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,200 and just decide while this is what it means, there are strict 135 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,080 rules to interpret literature, especially the Bible, and that's 136 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,600 called hermeneutics. And it's a very boring class if 137 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,040 you take it. But he talks about a spirit 138 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:17,880 hermeneutic, and this is what he means by this. 139 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,280 The experience of the Spirit that empowered the church on the 140 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,200 day of Pentecost can and should dynamically shape our reading of 141 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,920 Scripture. All Christians should read 142 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,920 Scripture as people who are living in the biblical 143 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,680 experience, not in terms of ancient culture, but as people 144 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,480 living by the same Spirit who guided God's people in 145 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,760 Scripture. This means that we are 146 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,240 interested in biblical texts, not simply for what they teach 147 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,440 us about ancient history ideas, intriguing as that is. 148 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,880 He was one of the contributors to the Cultural Background Study 149 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,880 Bible. So he says, yeah, that that's 150 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,160 intriguing ancient history and ideas, but we should be 151 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:02,280 interested in it because we expect to share the kind of 152 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,200 spiritual experience and relationship with God that we 153 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:11,600 discover in those Scriptures. Jesus resurrection is not a mere 154 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:13,760 historical datum. Datum. 155 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,040 It declares, I believe that's how you say it. 156 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,640 I looked it up. It declares that the Jesus we 157 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,640 learn about in the Gospels is now the exalted Lord who has 158 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,200 sent his Spirit so that we may continue to experience his 159 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:29,080 presence. Throughout Scripture, we read 160 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,840 about people hearing from God, prophesying, experiencing 161 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,159 miracles. Though we may not all experience 162 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:37,600 all of these activities and of the Spirit daily biblical 163 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,520 pattern leads us to expect that the God who empowered these 164 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,840 activities throughout Scripture is the God who still empowers 165 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:49,520 them today and that'll preach this morning. 166 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:54,120 Matter of fact, it's So what we need to understand is when John 167 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,240 is receiving this revelation. It's very clear from verse one 168 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:02,000 that the reason John had these encounters was not for him 169 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 solely. It was so that he could get him 170 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,040 to the people of God. And here's the idea that this is 171 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,840 not just a revelation or an encounter, because when we talk 172 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,840 about revelation, especially when we read this book, we think 173 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,040 of, oh, a revelation of end time events. 174 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,000 That's not what John's saying. He said it's a revelation of 175 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,880 Jesus Christ that God wanted to get to the people so that they 176 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:26,720 would know what soon must take place. 177 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,080 Now, what is soon? That's for another time. 178 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,040 OK. But the point is, is that it's 179 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,560 not just so that we can read about this encounter. 180 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:37,480 John hadn't think, Oh, that's cool. 181 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:42,280 John had this encounter, but it's to record his his encounter 182 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,880 and to leave the breadcrumb trail for you and I to enter 183 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:50,160 into the same that there are secrets and Nuggets and Kingdom 184 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,960 protocol principles that we can cooperate with in order that we 185 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,320 can experience the same things. And that is what Keener is 186 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,360 talking about, that we're not just to read the Bible and say, 187 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,720 oh, those are great, the things that God did in the past, that 188 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,400 these things are for us today and we should expect 189 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:10,720 revelations. We shouldn't. 190 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,560 And that revelations is not just having insight of an idea, but 191 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:19,880 revelation in the biblical sense of the word often included 192 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:24,200 dreams and visions where people would have encounters with God. 193 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,200 You know the old phrase, a picture is worth 1000 words. 194 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,880 Well, a vision is worth a million because there are layers 195 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:34,560 to that. We've talked about this before. 196 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,520 There was a brilliant lady. She's with the Lord now, Leanne 197 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,160 Payne, she said that God, she had this phrase. 198 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:47,320 She said reality is so vast, it's too great to be summed up 199 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,600 in mere words. That's why God gave us symbols 200 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,120 and the prophetic is full of symbols and full of pictures 201 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,040 and, and moving pictures and all of that so that we can learn 202 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,560 about God. And we lean in and we ask for a 203 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,880 spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we can interpret the 204 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,920 revelations that God gives us. And God wants all of us to 205 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,040 experience him. It's not just something we read 206 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,640 and think, oh, that's neat. Wish I could have been back that 207 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,200 time. Jesus himself said, it's better 208 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,320 that I leave because I'm giving you a spirit like unto myself. 209 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,160 He'll lead you into all truth and that's for you and I too. 210 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:30,400 So let's look at chapter turn with me to chapter 4. 211 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:34,800 While we're going there, chapter one kind of gives the backdrop 212 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,720 of what's going on with John before he launches into this 213 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,480 vision. Chapters 2 and three, he 214 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:45,360 addresses these seven churches that God gives him an encounter 215 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:49,760 for revelation for seven churches, and he begins to 216 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,160 unpack them. And let me caution you, a lot of 217 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:54,440 people read that as 7 church ages. 218 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,840 And if that's what you believe, that's fine. 219 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,240 Just don't. Here's the problem. 220 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:05,120 Don't overlook the fact that these were 7 literal churches, 221 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:10,160 many of whom John knew, with people with very real problems 222 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,440 that John is addressing. And this book was written 223 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,000 initially to them and secondarily to us. 224 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,840 And we can't know what it says to us until we know what it said 225 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,040 to them. And there's a tendency for us to 226 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,120 kind of skip the hard work of Scripture and just look at it 227 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,480 and try to figure out what he's saying to us by looking at the 228 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,880 newspaper. And we need to do the hard work 229 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:33,800 of Scripture. There's some principles that 230 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,560 that the Lord is giving to these churches, and they were little 231 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:40,160 churches. And they are those principles 232 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,920 apply to us. But we first have to understand 233 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,200 what those principles worth in an ancient culture and then 234 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,920 apply them to our modern world. And there's some work that needs 235 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,280 to take place for that to happen. 236 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,840 And God rewards us when we do that hard work of study. 237 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,160 So he has these seven churches and the last church he speaks to 238 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:07,360 is the Church of Laodicea. And you know, many look at that 239 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,560 as the Laodicean age. I personally don't adhere to 240 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:11,040 that. I'm not going to arm wrestle 241 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,000 you. You know, if you believe that, 242 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,440 that's fine. Just understand, there was 243 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,480 really a place called Laodicea that had a Laodicean church that 244 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:25,680 was in a backslidden state. It was they were apathetic. 245 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,000 Their passion was gone. The Lord rebukes them and says 246 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,200 you are neither hot nor cold. I knew a preacher down in 247 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,480 Missouri many, many years ago. He could quote much of the Bible 248 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,280 and he had this message he used to preach all over about God 249 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:44,280 wants you to be a fireball, but if you're not a fireball, he'd 250 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,040 rather have you be a snowball. But if you're neither, he'll 251 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,080 make you a spitball. And it was a good preach. 252 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:52,520 It was a good sermon. I'm telling you. 253 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,640 The guy could preach. Yeah, So. 254 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,400 And with that as the backdrop, look at verse 19. 255 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:06,880 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline so as to be zealous 256 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:14,720 and so be zealous and repent. And so we know from Hebrews 12 257 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:20,480 that the Lord, one of the marks of sonship, is the correction of 258 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,800 the Lord in our life. If God never corrects you, you 259 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:30,400 really do need to question whether you're saved, because 260 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:35,000 the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he corrects everyone 261 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,640 he treats as a son. And if you're never disciplined, 262 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,240 then you are an illegitimate son, the writer of Hebrews says. 263 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,360 And so one of the marks, you know, we talk about the father 264 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,600 heart of God and, and there is this whole intimacy element to 265 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,640 the father heart of God and God's affections. 266 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,160 But the flip side is it's the discipline of God that is a 267 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,000 manifestation of the father heart of God. 268 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:02,040 And it's coming to us as it's, he says, don't, don't lose heart 269 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:07,160 and don't treat it lightly, but understand the weight of what's 270 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:11,000 going on and take it as the loving correction of the Father. 271 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:12,720 We can go to 2 ends of the pendulum. 272 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,440 We take it lightly. Ah, it's not a big deal. 273 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,880 Yes, it is the Lord's dealing with us. 274 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:19,800 But don't lose heart. When God corrects you, it is 275 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,440 actually an expression of his love and affection for you. 276 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,760 So he says, those who whom I love, I reprove and discipline. 277 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,480 So be zealous and repent. And then he says this, This is 278 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:35,520 fascinating. Behold, I stand at the door and 279 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,600 knock. If anyone hears my voice and 280 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,280 opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he 281 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,200 with me, the one who conquers, I will grant to him to sit with me 282 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,360 in my throne, as I will also as I also conquered and sat down 283 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,360 with my Father on his throne. He was ears. 284 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,360 Let him hear what the Spirit would say to the churches. 285 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,960 And then the next verse after this, I looked and behold the 286 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,840 door standing open in heaven. And so John goes from one 287 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,280 encounter to another, and we see this word showing up. 288 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:10,080 Behold, behold, behold. And it has this abruptness to it 289 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,760 that all of a sudden John is thrust into another encounter. 290 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,600 And it's kind of the connecting word to transition from one 291 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,280 encounter to another. Now we read this in chapters and 292 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:21,920 verses, and I'm grateful for that. 293 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,040 It's hard enough to keep track of this massive book called the 294 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:30,360 Bible without chapter and verse or with chapter and verse, but 295 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,920 so I'm grateful. But the the danger is, is that 296 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,640 we just kind of stop and we separate. 297 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,120 We turn our mind off and then we turn it back on and we go into 298 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:43,200 the next passage and miss the fact that John talks about two 299 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,760 doors. And that's what I want to talk 300 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:53,160 about this morning. When I was raising our babies, 301 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:56,440 my wife and I, we had a lot of kids and so when we were on the 302 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,240 road, sometimes we'd have to get 2H rooms. 303 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,680 You ever rented or, you know, paid for two adjoining hotel 304 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:05,240 rooms? Some of you people with large 305 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,040 families, I can see you been out in your head and what's 306 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,960 interesting is that you have two hotel rooms. 307 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,760 You got family staying in both of them and it's always divided 308 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,280 by two doors because what they don't want to do if they don't 309 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,440 have one family renting 2 rooms, they don't want to have some 310 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,960 weirdo in one room thinking, hey, I think I'll visit our 311 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,480 neighbors and open the door and look at, hey, how you doing 312 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:28,800 tonight? That would be disconcerting. 313 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:32,560 So there's 2 doors. It has to be opened from both 314 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:39,200 sides in order for the occupants of both rooms to have 315 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,280 fellowship. There's 2 doors and both doors 316 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,840 have to be open in order for them to have fellowship, in 317 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,240 order for them to access each other's environments. 318 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:52,360 And I would propose to you that John is Speaking of a similar 319 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:55,640 thing. There's two different doors John 320 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,360 mentions here, and there's two different dynamics to these 321 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:04,880 doors. A number of years ago, I ended 322 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,920 up stumbling into this principle and started looking up about the 323 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,520 windows of heaven. You know, there's three times in 324 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,960 scripture it talks about the windows of heaven, and it talks 325 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,880 about the abundance of heaven breaking into our realm of 326 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,840 things. The windows of heaven. 327 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:25,240 Twice it's a blessing and one it was judgment, but it's heaven's 328 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,400 environment, atmosphere breaking into ours. 329 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,160 So we have this idea of the windows of heaven, then we have 330 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:36,040 this idea of doors we have here, and then we have gates, and all 331 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,720 of those speak of access points between dimensions. 332 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,840 And again, we need to be very, very careful that we don't just 333 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,360 kind of water this down, oh, that's nice poetry and move on. 334 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,880 There's a reason that the biblical writers used this type 335 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,360 of type of terminology. They're trying to communicate 336 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:02,400 something to us and we can just blow past it and think, oh, 337 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,240 that's nice imagery and fail to ask ourselves why. 338 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:11,480 What's going on with that? Windows are not something you 339 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,840 climb through. You're not supposed to at least 340 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,520 teenagers. You're you know, windows are not 341 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,480 something you, you don't act, but what you do, is it like in 342 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,200 this weather, I'm enjoying this weather. 343 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:23,840 You open the window, you turn off the air. 344 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:25,200 Hallelujah. I'm a cheapskate. 345 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:27,680 I love this man. I have to run my air and the 346 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,280 environment, the, the climate, the, the, the atmospheric 347 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,280 conditions outside come into my, where I'm where I'm living and 348 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,600 I, I, it cools it down. I'm experiencing the atmosphere 349 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,080 outside of me and the windows of heaven are very similar. 350 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,040 There's there are dynamics where windows open up. 351 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:48,800 I had John Kilpatrick tell me one time. 352 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:53,640 He said I believe that every service in, every time the 353 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,280 people of God get together, a window opens. 354 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,680 And if you'll give way to that, that thing will become a door 355 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,880 and God will enter in. But we've got to give way to it. 356 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:03,880 We've got to be discerning what is God doing. 357 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,680 So there's windows and then there's doors, and there's 358 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,080 gates. What's the difference between a 359 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,360 gate and a door? They're both something you gain 360 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:14,840 access to from one environment to another. 361 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,960 Doors are for individual access and gates are for corporate 362 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:24,480 access. We read things like Psalm 24, 363 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,000 Swing wide, ye heavenly gates be lifted up you ancient doors. 364 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:35,120 So these gates are for corporate access and they're that's a 365 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:37,600 sermon for another time, but that's talking about regional 366 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,040 access. So there are gates and regions, 367 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,960 there are doors of access in the Spirit. 368 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:49,000 And in this passage, John has a very real experience by the 369 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,040 Spirit of God. An Angel actually ushers him 370 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,800 into this encounter and he gets this word for the the Church of 371 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,560 Laodicea. He said, listen, you guys have 372 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,480 been apathetic. You've lost your first love. 373 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,200 Behold, he stands at the door and knocks. 374 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:11,120 If any man hears his voice and opens the door, he will come in 375 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,480 and you will. The King James Version said Sup 376 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,920 with you. You ever saw someone say Sup? 377 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,000 He's going to Sup with you. He's going to, you're going to 378 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,720 have fellowship with the Lord that that's a powerful thing, He 379 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,280 said. If any man hears my voice, I 380 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,160 would propose to you that anytime God speaks to you, 381 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,240 there's more than just what he's speaking in the moment. 382 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,840 It's actually an invitation. It's a knock on your heart's 383 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,400 door. And if you'll open yourself up, 384 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:41,880 there's more that he wants to give you. 385 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,200 There's actually a feast waiting for you. 386 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,280 And the danger is is that we we get so you know God spoke to me. 387 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:55,760 I remember when when we hosted one time, Kara's father, Randy 388 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,480 Bixby was was running a House of prayer in Des Moines, Cahop and 389 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,120 they had John and Carol Arnot in and John and Carol were the the 390 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,000 leaders of the Toronto outpouring up there. 391 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,240 And he was going to have him. And he said we need a place to 392 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:09,320 meet. Can we meet at your place? 393 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:10,400 I said, let me pray about it. I meant. 394 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:15,280 And so we met here and I remember Carol Arnot praying for 395 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,640 a young evangelist. This guy had a touch of God on 396 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,920 his life and she laid hands on him. 397 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,720 He got blasted and she gave him a word. 398 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,720 And I thought you're exactly right. 399 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,240 I never recognized that about him until she said it. 400 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,760 But what she said is she said you are so zealous for a touch 401 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,520 from God that as soon as he touches you, rather than, rather 402 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,120 than soak in it and get everything you can, you're off 403 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:38,840 running with that little that little touch. 404 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,200 And you you don't get everything out of it that you could. 405 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,960 That thing kind of bounced off of him and got on me. 406 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:57,160 If any man hears my voice and opens the door, when God speaks 407 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,360 to you, anytime he speaks to you, it's an invitation for 408 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:04,480 more. There's an entire feast waiting 409 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,080 if you'll just pause and open the door. 410 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:15,480 There's always so much more than what we initially understand 411 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,680 when God speaks to us. When you're reading the Word and 412 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,600 you have a flash of insight and our tendency is to rush on and 413 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,400 go on to something else, when if we'll stop and we'll begin to 414 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,680 just dig into that. There's 3060 and a hundredfold 415 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,800 harvest that we can get. And too often we get excited. 416 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,080 We get the thirtyfold and we run off, not realizing we've left so 417 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,160 much on the table. And so he says, if any man 418 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,120 would, I stand at the door and knock. 419 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,040 If any man would hear my voice and open the door, I would come 420 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,360 in to him. I can't read this passage 421 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:53,080 without thinking of Song of Solomon chapter 5. 422 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,240 Turn there with me real quick. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, and 423 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,280 some of you know where I'm going with this. 424 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:04,040 It's verse 2. Verse 2. 425 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,280 I slept, but my heart was awake. This is the bride, and she's, 426 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,080 she's already gotten ready for bed. 427 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,480 She's in bed. I slept, but my heart was awake. 428 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,280 A sound. My beloved is knocking open to 429 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,040 me. He's speaking to open to me, my 430 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,760 sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. 431 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,120 For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the 432 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:28,440 night. So what it is is the bridegroom 433 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,800 has made him, made his way through the night. 434 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,080 He's now drenched. He's he's gotten himself all wet 435 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,520 in the dew of the night because he wants to see his bride. 436 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,480 He's knocking on the door. He's wanting to he was wanting 437 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,360 to hold her. He's wanting that encounter with 438 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:44,920 her. He's hungry for her affection, 439 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:49,800 that intimacy with her. And verse 3, I had put, this is 440 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:51,920 what she says. I had put off my garment. 441 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,880 How could I put it on? I had bathed my feet. 442 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,960 How could I soil them? She said, man, I'm already ready 443 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,360 for bed. This is inconvenient. 444 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:06,200 I mean, I love them, but man, I, I, I'm already in bed and, you 445 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,960 know, in that culture, you know, Dyson's hadn't been invented 446 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:10,600 yet. You know, her feet she had, she 447 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,560 would get her feet dirty and her feet were clean. 448 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,520 Verse 4 My beloved put his hand on the latch. 449 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,760 The bridegroom begins to shake the latch, and my heart was 450 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,760 thrilled within me, so I rose to open to my beloved. 451 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,880 My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid murrh on the 452 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,280 handles of the bolt. I opened to my beloved, but my 453 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:36,600 beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. 454 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,000 It's an interesting phrase. My soul failed me when he spoke. 455 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,880 What does she mean by that? What she's saying is that her 456 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,880 affections she didn't arouse her to the point where she could 457 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,800 overcome her own apathy. She wanted comfort and slumber 458 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,680 more than she wanted another encounter with the bridegroom. 459 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,960 Jesus himself talked over Jerusalem, he said Jerusalem, 460 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,760 Jerusalem. I long to bring you to myself as 461 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:08,840 a mother hen with her chicks. But you would not. 462 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:14,280 You have missed the hour of your visitation, he says. 463 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,600 There was an hour of visitation. There was a beginning and there 464 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,240 was an end and they missed it. And when the Lord's dealing with 465 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,640 us, when the Lord comes to us, and I have found the Lord will 466 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,120 often come at inconvenient times because he wants to give us 467 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:34,680 something of great value. And if we'll respond, there's 468 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,080 there's those intimate moments we have with the Lord. 469 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:43,600 But if our soul fails us, if our our desire is for slumber more 470 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,400 than that encounter, we can miss those opportunities. 471 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,520 And she went out in the streets and she's looking for her love. 472 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,800 And I don't know about you, but there have been times where the 473 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,760 Lord has woken me up in the middle of the night. 474 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,480 There's times I've responded and there's times I haven't 475 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,360 responded quick enough. And there's times I've turned 476 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:07,760 over and went to sleep. My soul failed me, my affections 477 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:14,280 for Him were not strong enough, and we forfeit these encounters. 478 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,520 I was thinking this morning as I was reading over that I remember 479 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:25,600 it would have been 1980, would have been 1986. 480 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,000 I remember I was hanging out with a bunch of guys. 481 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,600 We were heading to this camp and we were just hanging out and all 482 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,880 of a sudden I felt the Lord calling me. 483 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:37,880 I just knew I got to go over to the church. 484 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,880 So I kind of snuck out of there and went into the church and all 485 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,720 of heaven opened up in this church sanctuary across the 486 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,200 street. I will never forget that 487 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:52,040 encounter with God, but it came at a really inconvenient time. 488 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:57,480 And because I responded, there was this encounter. 489 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,040 And I guarantee you there's other times that I've missed it. 490 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:07,200 And what I'm saying is, if any man hears my voice and opens the 491 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,560 door, listen, the Lord comes to us. 492 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,840 And this particular door that he's talking to the Laodicean 493 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,360 church about was a door of intimacy that the Lord wants to 494 00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:23,400 build that with us. And we need to learn to respond 495 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:28,200 to him and go away with him. Now, I don't know what you think 496 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,960 about Benny Hinn, but I know a guy that was having dinner with 497 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,400 Benny Hinn and a bunch of important people. 498 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,880 And all of a sudden Benny stood up and he said, I've got to go. 499 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,520 They had just ordered the food. The food was still there. 500 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,280 And he, he said, I got to go. The Lord's telling me he he went 501 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,920 and just disappeared. And that's the way he's lived 502 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,040 his life for many years. And I've known people. 503 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,960 Hey, he's got a lot of flamboyant ways and you know, 504 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,600 the, the, the outfits and all that. 505 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,800 Hey, that's his style. That's that's between him and 506 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,240 Jesus. But I would be careful listening 507 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,734 to others reports about him. I knew a pastor, my mother in 508 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,000 He went down there and he was standing in the in the in the 509 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,720 group and Benny was preaching and Benny whipped his hand like 510 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,080 this and the whole section fell out, including him. 511 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,560 He got back up, drove home, got in the pulp. 512 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,960 He said, I don't understand it, but it was God and I'm never 513 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:40,200 talking about him again. There's a reason he carries what 514 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:46,080 he carries. Listen, man, the Lord and during 515 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,880 worship, Rebecca came up to me. Rebecca, where you at? 516 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:50,880 Wave at me. There she is. 517 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,320 And Rebecca came up to me and she was just crying, she said. 518 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,560 I just feel the Lord. He's longing for people and 519 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,400 people are having a hard time surrendering themselves. 520 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,720 And I'm telling you, man, God longs for you. 521 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,080 He's knocking at the door of your heart. 522 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,800 This first door is a door of intimacy. 523 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:16,560 It's the door that you and I control, and we have to open it. 524 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,040 He won't break the door down. He jiggled the lock and it 525 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,440 awakened the heart of his bride, but she waited too long. 526 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,120 And I'm just telling you that there are times where the Lord 527 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,560 comes to you and you need to respond. 528 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,280 Learn to respond. And if you will find, if you 529 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,920 will begin to steal away. There's this old phrase that 530 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,280 says secrets bind hearts together. 531 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:40,880 Something about husbands and wives. 532 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,080 There's little things they know about each other and little 533 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,360 words they say and they know what they mean and no one else 534 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,200 does. Those looks that they have at 535 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:48,720 each other and they know what that means. 536 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,800 And those secrets actually bind their hearts together. 537 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,120 And the Lord wants to have that with you. 538 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,720 Those little trysts where you steal away with him and, and I 539 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,320 remember back in Bible school, I'd be studying in the Lord 540 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,920 would just, I'd feel the stirring and I'd go off into an 541 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,720 empty room and God's glory would just come down. 542 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:18,160 I just, I long for that again. I long for those times where the 543 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,520 Lord would just visit me in that way. 544 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:28,920 If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. 545 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,040 That's the door on your side of the hotel room. 546 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,560 You want to get into his room and him into your room. 547 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,080 Then you've got to unlock your side. 548 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,120 And then we see. Look at, look at here at what 549 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,400 John says in chapter 4. After this, I looked and behold, 550 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,360 a door standing open in heaven. There's another door. 551 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,840 This door is already open. It's what Jace was saying here 552 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,840 during transition, that there's God. 553 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:04,720 God's heart is already open. The door is already open, but it 554 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:09,280 required something of John. He says, Behold a door standing 555 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,520 open in heaven. Of the first voice which I had 556 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,560 heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here and I 557 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,560 will show you what must take place after this. 558 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:22,160 At once I was in the spirit. And behold, a throne stood in 559 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,160 heaven. Once seated on the throne, and 560 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,280 he came and and he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and 561 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,320 carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the 562 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,280 appearance of emerald. And around the throne were 24 563 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,120 Thrones. And seated on the Thrones were 564 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,600 24 elders clothed in white garments and golden crowns in 565 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:45,040 their heads of this extravagant throne room scene that John is 566 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:49,280 ushered into as he comes through this open door that he was 567 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,920 ushered up into. And all of a sudden, he's seeing 568 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:58,080 things that there would, he would have had no understanding 569 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,920 of had he not been thrust into this revelation. 570 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,560 And he left it for you and I. And some of what he saw was 571 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:10,400 Kingdom protocol principles that you and I can learn. 572 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,080 If we'll, we'll, we'll begin to look at what happened here so 573 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,320 that we can have these types of encounters. 574 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,480 Listen, these this isn't off limits to us. 575 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:24,240 This isn't for the special people, OK? 576 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:29,320 This is for the believer. John was ushered into this so 577 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,840 that he could bring it back for the entire church. 578 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,120 But it wasn't just to tease us and say, don't you wish you were 579 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:40,720 like John? God will often baptize someone 580 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,240 in something so that he can then use that that person to release 581 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:45,920 it on the rest of the body of Christ. 582 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,160 And it's accessible to all of us. 583 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:52,120 But you got to have your faith. Your faith has to rise. 584 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,800 And John heard the voice come up here. 585 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,320 He saw and he heard. And immediately he was there 586 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:04,160 because his heart responded. This is Speaking of ascension, 587 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,880 Psalm 15 or Psalm 24. Who can ascend the hill of the 588 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,199 Lord? Who can stand in His holy place? 589 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:21,280 Again, that's not mere poetry. David was asking this question 590 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,920 because he longed to get into God's presence. 591 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:27,760 Who? Who can ascend? 592 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,239 Who can stand? How does this thing work? 593 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:34,199 And David didn't side with consensus theology and say you 594 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,360 had to be a Levite. David understood. 595 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,199 He discovered something. He discovered a way in that he 596 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:44,679 left for you and I, that we're a Kingdom of priests, that we can 597 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:48,679 all go up. But there was a criteria who can 598 00:34:48,679 --> 00:34:51,080 ascend? He has clean hands, a pure 599 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,000 heart, doesn't lift his soul to an idol or swear by what is 600 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,120 false. There's a heart posture that it 601 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:02,000 requires of us, and God longs to release those things to us. 602 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:08,800 And so we have this second door, the first door we have to open. 603 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,760 The second door already is. It's like we have these two 604 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:17,000 adjoining rooms, heaven and earth, and we long to get in 605 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,720 there. And he longs to get in here. 606 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:24,240 There's a longing for that, that fellowship that needs to happen. 607 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,680 His door is already open. Ours has to be open from our 608 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,600 side. And there's an intimacy to the 609 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:35,720 first door that will lead to an ascension in the second door. 610 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,320 And then what we see, look at with me here. 611 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,280 Oh my goodness, look at Chapter 5. 612 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:48,120 This is where we need to go. So he's talking about all that 613 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,600 he saw in this encounter, and it's amazing. 614 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:53,480 And you need to read it. You need to soak in it and ask 615 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,960 God for insight because there's so much going on. 616 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,360 It's an amazing thing. And then in chapter 5, then I 617 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,400 saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a 618 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:05,480 scroll written within and on the back. 619 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,040 So there's this scroll sealed with 7 seals. 620 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,960 So they were, they were a scroll that were written on both sides. 621 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,280 And then they would wrap these twins run and they would put a 622 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:21,360 wax seal over that tightly round wound string so that it, it 623 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,200 would hold it together and it would be, it would make sure 624 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,520 that it wasn't tampered with. And this particular one had 625 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,640 seven. That's the way wills were 626 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,760 transferred. They were, they were, they 627 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,800 couldn't be broken until the death of the benefactor. 628 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,000 And then the executor of the will would break it. 629 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:42,360 And then they would enact the, the legalities of that will. 630 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,920 So it's probably not a coincidence that the one that 631 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,200 opens it was also the one that died to enact it. 632 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:54,360 He was both the executor and the benefactor. 633 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,840 He's the one that left us our inheritance. 634 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,520 But John says he sees this. And I saw a mighty Angel 635 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:03,880 proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll 636 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,560 and break its seals and listen to verse 3. 637 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,640 This is so intriguing. And no one in heaven or on earth 638 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:15,600 or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into 639 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,120 it. It's like this evaluation was 640 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,800 made of all, of all the beings in heaven and earth and even 641 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,840 hell and heaven and on earth. And he went through all of it 642 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,640 and looked into hell and nobody was worthy. 643 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:32,440 And then what happens is this? And I began to weep loudly 644 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:36,440 because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into 645 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:40,000 it. John, this grief erupts in him 646 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,680 because John intuitively knows this is a significant scroll. 647 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,880 Something is written in this scroll that needs to be released 648 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,680 upon the earth for God's purposes to be manifest. 649 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,560 And John is so grieved. There's nobody there. 650 00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,240 And I always get a kick out of this verse five. 651 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,080 And one of the elders said to me, it's like even in heaven, 652 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,000 the elders are up there working. One of the elders comes and 653 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,160 says, weep no more. Behold the lion of the tribe of 654 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,440 Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open 655 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:16,560 the scroll and it's 7 seals. Man. 656 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:22,360 When I when I was gripped with this was about 3 weeks ago. 657 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,160 And then the next week we sing it again, that song that comes 658 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:29,080 out of here. And I looked around the room and 659 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:33,280 people are just going after it, screaming open the scroll, open 660 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,040 the scroll. There's only one worthy and 661 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:40,080 we're all crying outbreak the seal and open the scroll. 662 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,640 And I them to my hair was standing up. 663 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,520 This is awesome. And then I realized, Oh my 664 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,200 goodness, I know where that comes from. 665 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,760 Do we know what we're praying? Do we realize what we're really 666 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:57,360 saying here? Because these 7 seals released 667 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,080 the judgments of God on the earth. 668 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,760 They what? Regardless of what your 669 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,720 interpretation of the Book of Revelation is, virtually 670 00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:09,520 everybody agrees with this, that the breaking of those seals were 671 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,240 the release of the judgments of God to everything that opposed 672 00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:17,560 His purposes in human history. And so God was releasing some 673 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:21,160 whoop em into the earth and he was judging principalities and 674 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,960 powers, wiping out opposition. And there was some pretty 675 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,760 drastic things that were happening with the opening of 676 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,360 these seals. And we're down here. 677 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,720 Open the scrolls, open the scrolls. 678 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:36,520 And I'm like, whoo. So I thought I got a circle back 679 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,840 around and read this. And the more I read it, the more 680 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:44,280 I want to sing it. This is powerful and I would 681 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:48,400 propose to you that God has purposes, scrolls, things 682 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,600 written from the foundation of the earth that will not be 683 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,440 released without the weeping of his Saints. 684 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,680 That there are things that God, just like in the 1st chapter 685 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,000 here, the verse one, God longed to get some revelation to the 686 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:02,760 people. What did he do? 687 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:07,640 He he said to this Angel. You go and usher that guy into 688 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,000 an encounter. And then that guy is going to 689 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,680 write it down. He's going to do some hard 690 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:13,800 physical work. He's going to stay up late 691 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,960 writing scrolls. And then he's going to wrap and 692 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,400 he's going to go and we're going to deliver him to the churches. 693 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,720 And if I was John, I'd have been thinking, isn't there an easier 694 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:23,600 way? Couldn't you just do one of 695 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,160 these? Lord, we all have our own. 696 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,480 But no, that's not how God operates. 697 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:33,160 And just like chapter 1 shows us to get revelation to us, chapter 698 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:37,080 5 shows us the purposes of God are not released on the earth 699 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,280 without the weeping of the Saints. 700 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:41,640 We've got to enter into this thing. 701 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:44,840 God is looking for a people that realize God. 702 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,360 Your purposes are so valuable that there's a grief in us that 703 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,120 it's not being manifest, Lord, that what you want to do in this 704 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:56,160 hour of human history is so important and we feel grief. 705 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,960 There's a weeping and a wailing and an intercession that breaks 706 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:02,920 forth. And it was then that the elder 707 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,200 came up and said, hey, weep no more. 708 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:08,480 He didn't say you shouldn't have wept before. 709 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,720 He just says, you can stop now because there's one worthy. 710 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:18,240 And it was then that the lamb stepped forward, the lion of the 711 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:21,280 tribe of Judah. And he steps forward as a lamb, 712 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,320 and everybody freaks out and bows. 713 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,920 And the rest of the book is God releasing his purposes into 714 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,280 human history. And I'm telling you, we've been 715 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,920 talking about Psalm chapter 2 and Psalm 149. 716 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,120 Psalm chapter 2 says, why did the kings rage? 717 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,920 And the rulers of this age imagine a vain thing in vain. 718 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:46,600 The Lord sits in heavens and laughs at them. 719 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,840 And he he, he mentions these four people, rulers, kings, 720 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:53,520 nations and peoples. And he says they're trying to 721 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,800 conspire against the Lord in his anointed 1 And they're saying 722 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,280 we're going to throw off his yoke. 723 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,720 We're not going to, we're not going to listen to what God is 724 00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:05,400 saying. Then that's the second Psalm of 725 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,240 the book. The second to the last Psalm 726 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,160 mentions those four same groups of people. 727 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:16,360 But now it says you and I as the Saints gather together in the 728 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,320 assembly. The the Greek version of the Old 729 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,360 Testament, the Septuagint, translates that word assembly as 730 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:25,360 eklesia. When we worship him in the 731 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,440 eklesia and with the high praise of God in our mouths and a AA 732 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,240 double edged sword in our hand. One translation Espi said, I 733 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:38,120 think it says the praise of God in our throats just sounds more 734 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,920 manly. And he says, and it's, it's the 735 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:47,160 glory of all the Saints to bind their kings with fetters and 736 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,360 their rulers with shackles of iron. 737 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,960 Yes, yes, Hallelujah. And then he says to carry out 738 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:55,840 the sentence written against them. 739 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,320 I would propose to you that this scroll was one of the things 740 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,520 written against the kings of the earth that oppose God. 741 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,880 I'm not talking about having some some anger against human 742 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,160 beings. I'm talking about binding rulers 743 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,760 and principalities in heavenly realms through high praise, high 744 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,400 worship. When we do that, when we begin 745 00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,960 to release the high praise, there comes a point, there's an 746 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:25,440 ascension that happens where we reach a platform of authority 747 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:28,320 and there are times where we release things and we make 748 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:32,200 declarations that will change and shape history and that is 749 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:39,840 the glory of all the Saints. Psalm 149 says go ahead and 750 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:40,800 stand. So you know, I'm going to quit. 751 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,720 Many of you remember Bob, Bob, Bob Phillips, many of you don't 752 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:50,880 know Bob. Bob was with us for one year on 753 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:54,080 staff. Wonderful man of God, a general 754 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,560 in the faith, a long history in the things of God. 755 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:03,000 The first time we ever had Bob come and visit to preach, we had 756 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,640 this amazing weekend. We got done Sunday morning and I 757 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:09,360 felt like we're standing here. I felt like a tornado had just 758 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,640 gone through. And I'm standing, my hair 759 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:15,200 whipped out, my half my shirt ripped off and looking around 760 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:18,640 the aftermath and people just, you know, all touched and and 761 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,160 I'm standing there looking at Bob and Bob said, Dave, I'm 762 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:26,280 telling you, he said, there's going to be declarations that 763 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,480 are going to be released from this house in worship, that 764 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,400 you'll declare them on Sunday and read about them in the 765 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:34,320 papers on Monday and the week to come. 766 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,960 It's that's this dynamic. It's this thing. 767 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:44,560 When Dean Briggs, the first time he came, he's he he looked at me 768 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,280 during worship. He said, Oh, my goodness, what 769 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,040 did this? And he said it the last time he 770 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:50,480 said, Oh my goodness, it's here again. 771 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:53,280 He said, this is high praise. And if some of you remember, 772 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,480 because Ben would share that recording at the front end of 773 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:58,960 worship. And what Dean said, he said it 774 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:01,040 so eloquently. I wish I could say it just like 775 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:05,160 he said it, but he was talking about high praise is the war 776 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:09,320 College in the spirit. It's where the children of God 777 00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:15,960 learned to make war, where we impose the will of our God into 778 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:20,120 human history. It's it's it's not this angry 779 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:23,400 thing against people. People are the trophy we're 780 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,200 fighting for. They are they are the they're 781 00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:28,120 the Pearl of great price. They're the thing that we're 782 00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,000 going after. But we're binding kings with 783 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,480 fetters, with our praise. There's a place where worship 784 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,520 becomes intercession, where that weeping breaks forth into joy 785 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:41,480 and that authority to release things. 786 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,640 And this is a thoroughly biblical thing. 787 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:51,320 And that's what John was breaking into in Revelation four 788 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,280 and five. Thanks for listening to our 789 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:55,000 podcast. If you'd like to help more 790 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,600 people hear this message, you can get the word out by 791 00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:59,920 subscribing and sharing it on social media. 792 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:02,760 If you'd like to support the ministries of Heartland Church, 793 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:06,520 you can do so at Heartland Church online.com/give.