Saturday, August 17,
2013, 7:08 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
My Jesus, My Savior / Michael W. Smith
My Jesus, My Saviour,
Lord there is no one like you,
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You…
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Revelation 1:1-8 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%201&version=NIV
Take it to Heart
The
revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must
soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who
testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy,
and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it,
because the time is near.
The book of Revelation is a message from God to the true
church - to Christ’s true servants and witnesses, i.e. his special
representatives to the people of this world. God the Father gave Jesus the
message. Jesus then gave it to the angel to give to John, and then John shared
it with the church – specifically with the seven named churches in Asia. Seven
is the number of completeness (wholeness). I believe these seven churches are
representative of the whole church throughout all ages and throughout the whole
world. These seven churches exemplified a vast array of qualities and
characteristic traits - righteous and unrighteous, godly and ungodly, holy and
unholy, and obedient and disobedient. So, this message to the churches still
serves today to encourage, counsel, teach, rebuke, bless, honor, chastise,
promise hope, and warn of strong disciplinary action for unrepentant hearts,
because this is the living and active word of God to us still today.
We are blessed (made holy; consecrated to God; sanctified; and/or
joyous), i.e. we reap many such spiritual benefits from God if we read the word
of God written to the church, if we listen (pay attention and act on what we
hear; obey), and if we take it to heart (take it seriously; consider it
significant; and are impacted and affected by it). The Bible says we are not to
be just hearers of the word, but we are to be doers (we are to obey what we
hear). Jesus often called his hearers to “listen” to what they were hearing,
and to understand what was being taught. And, he also called upon them to obey
what they heard him teach. He said that whoever obeys his word will never see
death (spiritually speaking), i.e. they will live with him for eternity. He
said if we love him, we will obey his teachings. And, he commanded us to go and
to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all of Christ’s
commands. In light of the end of time and the judgments that will come, it is
critical that we understand this and we take it to heart.
The Faithful Witness
John,
To
the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace
and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the
seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Jesus Christ is God the Son. The Father sent him to the
earth to suffer and to die for us so that we could go free from slavery to sin;
free from eternal damnation; and free to walk in Christ’s righteousness and
holiness while we still walk the face of this earth. He was faithful in all
that he did – in obedience to the Father, in fulfilling his mission and
calling, in teaching the truth of God’s word, i.e. the gospel of our salvation,
in ministering to the hurts, pain, sufferings and sins of the people of this
world, and in dying on the cross for our sins, so we could go free. He was
faithful even to the point of suffering and dying at the hands of those who
were of his own race and nationality, of his own town, his own family, and his
own faith. It was the religious-political leaders of his day who instigated the
crowd against him and who called for him to be crucified. And, we, as his
followers, servants, and witnesses must also remain faithful to the calling we
have received, even to the point of death, and perhaps even at the hands of our
present religious-political system, the institutional church.
Who Has Freed Us
To
him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us
to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and
power for ever and ever! Amen.
Amen! I am so thankful for God’s love for me! And, I am
eternally grateful that he loved me enough to tell me the truth, and to be
willing to go to the cross so I could be free from slavery to sin. I know what
it is like to be enslaved to the passions and desires of my sinful flesh, and I
know what it is to be free, and I never want to go back! Jesus Christ did not
die that horrible death, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world just
so we could go to heaven one day, as wonderful as that will be. He died to free
us from the control of sin over our lives while we still live on the face of
this earth, and day-to-day. That is awesome! That is good news! If we believe
we have come to faith in Jesus Christ and yet we have not repented (turned
from) our sins, and we have not turned to walk in obedience to Christ, in his
righteousness and holiness, then what we have believed is not the good news.
The good news is that Jesus came to set us free! And, that means death to sin!
He has also made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his
God and Father. We are a spiritual nation of people, no longer a physical
nation of the people of God, as was the nation of Israel. And, we are all
priests, i.e. we are all ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ – to proclaim
the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make disciples of all nations, and to comfort,
bring healing, encourage, counsel, instruct and assist our fellow believers in
Christ to spiritual maturity in Christ. We are all given spiritual gifts to use
for the building up of the body of Christ, and Christ has assigned each one of
us a role (part) in the body of Christ which we are to fill. He has given each
one of us an assignment (or a task) to fulfill. So, as ministers of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and as his servants, we are to be about following him in
obedience wherever he leads us in doing whatever he has called us to do.
He is Coming!
“Look,
he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even
those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn
because of him.”
So
shall it be! Amen.
“I
am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who
is to come, the Almighty.”
One day Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the world and
to take his own to be with him forever. I know I am looking forward to that
day! Yet, many will face eternity, not only without Christ/God, but in eternal
torment, because they did not trust Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord of their
lives. So, we must be diligent in getting out the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ to as many as possible before Christ returns, so that they, too, can
hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” instead of “Depart from me. I
never knew you.”
Fully
Surrendered /
Alfred C. Snead / George C. Stebbins
Fully
surrendered—Lord, I would be,
Fully
surrendered, dear Lord, to Thee.
All on the
altar laid,
Surrender fully
made,
Thou hast my
ransom paid;
I yield to
Thee.
Fully
surrendered—life, time, and all,
All Thou hast
given me held at Thy call.
Speak but the
word to me,
Gladly I'll
follow Thee,
Now and
eternally
Obey my Lord.
Fully
surrendered—silver and gold,
His, who hath
given me riches untold.
All, all belong
to Thee,
For Thou didst
purchase me,
Thine evermore
to be,
Jesus, my Lord.
Fully
surrendered—Lord, I am Thine;
Fully
surrendered, Savior divine!
Live Thou Thy
life in me;
All fullness
dwells in Thee;
Not I, but
Christ in me,
Christ all in
all.
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