Sermon by Bob Bradley

Transcription

1 Sermon by Bob Bradley COPYRIGHT 2017 CAMPBELL CHAPEL FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH 1709 Campbell Drive * Ironton, OH 45638

2 John s Vision of the Son of Man Wednesday, November 15, 2017 Bob Bradley Many years ago, I read about a study that a hospital did. It wasn t a hospital that was a Christian hospital. It did not have anything to do with Christianity or anything like that. However, they did a study on sick people. They did a study on people who prayed when they were sick and people who did not pray when they were sick. I was astounded that they actually did that. However, I wasn t a bit surprised when they came out with the numbers that people who prayed, got well a lot sooner. They prayed to the God of heaven. It makes a difference. Prayer in our life makes a difference. If we would get a hold of that and understand how much power we have in prayer, and how much God wants to shape our lives and mold our lives as we seek His face and pray unto Him, we would have a lot easier road as we go through life. Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Revelation 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Revelation 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; Revelation 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun sinneth in his strength. Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

3 Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. John was a fellow that got to see a lot of things. In the first verse here of the chapter is says Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: John is receiving the revelation or the unveiling. The word revelation means to reveal, or unveil. John is seeing the unveiling or the uncovering of Jesus Christ and some things here that were happening and going to happen in the future and things like that. I thought about John. John had been a fisherman. The Lord went by the lake one day and He called him. We know that he forsook the boats, the nets and things like that and he came and followed Jesus Christ. We know that when you are looking about John; He was one of the individuals, one of the disciples, one of the apostles that got to see a lot of things that some of the rest of the guys did not get to see. We know that John was one of them that got see he was on the mountain that day when Jesus was transfigured. Do you remember that? Jesus raiment shined like the sun We know that John heard a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved Son, hear Him. Not only that but also, we know that John was there when He raised folks from the dead. He was there when He raised Jairus little 12-year-old daughter from the dead. Do you remember? He takes Peter, James and John, the father and the mother and they go in and put everybody else out. He speaks unto her and she gets up from the dead. John got to see a lot of things. The Lord really blessed John. He was used in a tremendous way. John was there when at the Last Supper, when Jesus washed their feet; John was there. When Jesus leaves the Upper Room, and goes down in the Kidron Valley and He is down there praying. John was there when the soldiers came with their swords, spears, and staves; when they came and arrested Him when He was in the garden; John was there. Not only that but also John was there when He was dying. We know that He was there when Jesus was on the cross. We know that Jesus gave His mother unto John to take care of. Not only that but also, we know that John was there and saw

4 the empty tomb. We know that John was there on the day that Jesus arose from the dead. John got to see a lot of great things in life. Listen. It is wonderful what God does with His people. Do you know that? It is wonderful what God does, how He blesses If you are saved tonight, living in the will of God tonight, there are so many things in life that you would have never got to participate in or to be able to see had not the God of heaven blessed you and gave you the opportunity. Probably you have never saw anyone that has come and received Jesus Christ. You may not have seen anyone healed. However, do you know what God does? God does some great things with us, through us, and for us. We are very blessed people. Do you know what? Also, along with that we know that John did a great work in Jerusalem. We know that he was a very influential guy there. However, there came a time there maybe 50 or 60 years after Jesus had died; John had been preaching and teaching. We know that John, because of his preaching and teaching and his testimony for Jesus Christ; the Romans finally got tired of him. Those that were in power, those that were in authority; they finally got tired of John and his preaching, and talking about a guy that was dead and is alive. There is really only one king and His name is Jesus. Do you know what Jesus can do? They probably just got tired of all of that. Do you know what they did one day? We are going to shut you up. We are going to put you on a place that you can just go ahead, preach and holler and do all that you want to do because there is not going to be anybody out there that can hear you. That is just exactly what they did. They put him out here on the Isle of Patmos. Patmos was 40 miles out in the Asian Sea, off the coast where Ephesus was at. This Island is about 10 miles long and maybe 6 or 7 miles wide. It had high mountains over there, as I have read before. Probably it would be a thousand feet tall. Listen. It doesn t matter where the servant of Almighty God goes if we will live in the will of God and let God use us and God direct us; then God has a message for us. Do you know what else God will do? God will give us the message for other people. The message that John is getting here is not for John. Amen! John was to receive the message but John was to take the message unto the seven churches that were in Asia. Wasn t he? There were no doubt thousands of churches here in this area. They did not have buildings like we have today. There were all kinds churches around, no doubt. John is here. He was probably put there around 94 or 95 A.D. and they thought he was going to die. They thought he would just sit out here and die. Listen. You can t out do God. Listen. You will never kill God s servant until God gets through with them. Amen! You can do whatever you want to do. You will never stop the people of Almighty God. You will never ever I know we have good people who have been martyred and Christians have been killed. They are being killed around the world. We understand that. I also know if I know one thing that I am going to be here

5 until God gets through with me here as long as I live in the will of God, as long as I do what is right, as long as I follow Him; I know that He will take care of me. Do you know what else I know? I know He will take care of you guys too. John is here. They thought they had got rid of him. Aren t you glad that God spoke unto him? We have a wonderful book that we can read. Do you know what it will do? It will bless us if we will just read the book of Revelation. We don t have to understand it. He did not say you had to understand it. He said if you want to be blessed, just read it. That is what it says. Isn t it? There is no other book in the Bible that will bless you like the book of Revelation will. Just read it. You may not understand when you look at some of the beasts that are here. You may not understand a lot of things that are going to take place. You may not get it. Do you know what? I don t get it either. However, do you know what I do have? I got His presence on the inside of me and I know that His Word is real and alive. When I read it, it comes alive in my heart. It does something for us. John says here in verse 5 Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He is telling us who is. John is telling us here who is writing. He goes on to say here Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do you know what John was telling the seven churches here in Asia? I am also a believer. I am your brother. I am a believer. I have been born again, just like you have been born again. Do you know what he wants us to understand? Even though he was writing this message, even though that the God of heaven had sent an angel down and was telling him and showing him and telling him these things that he needed to write down John is saying, I m your brother. He also says, I am your companion. Do you know what John is saying? I walk the same road that you guys walked. I see the same sun that you guys see. When I go out in the night, and I look at the stars, the sun, the moon, and all the things that are there; I see these things just like you do. I am a brother. I am a believer. I am also a companion. He got to see the empty tomb. He got to see Jesus after He had rose from the dead. Amen! John did. He got to see and do a lot of great things. However, John had problems. Amen! He said this. Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in

6 the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He said, I am your brother, and companion in tribulation. Do you know what John is saying here? Just because I have received this revelation from the God of heaven, it doesn t mean that I don t have issues. Listen. It doesn t matter in life about a lot of different things. Do you know what we are going to have? The greatest Christian people that have ever lived on planet earth have had problems. The greatest people, the people that have lived as close as you can live; they have had problems. The very Son of God that never sinned; He knew no sin. There was no guile in His mouth but yet He had problems, tribulations. Amen! John says, I am your companion to that. John says, I know what it means to have tribulation. I have been there. I have done that. In life we are going to have tribulation. Not only does he say that but he says Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. In the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Do you know what John was doing? John was very much concerned about the kingdom of Jesus Christ. He was very much concerned about being able to teach people about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He can do for them. Do you know what John was? Do you know what John was able to do? He was very patient in that. John persevered in that. Sometimes when problems come and tribulations come and hard times come and the dark clouds are rolling over; do you know what we may tend to do sometimes? We just may want to fold up our tent and say hey it isn t worth it anymore. I want you to understand it is always to early to quit. There is never a good time to throw in the towel and say this isn t worth it because I promise you it is worth it. John knew that. He was very patient. He persevered. Do you know what God will always do? in the darkest times of the history of mankind; God is always around. Amen! It doesn t matter how dark it gets. It doesn t matter how low the clouds are. The God of heaven is here. The God of heaven will help you. The God of heaven will strengthen you. The God of heaven will help you to get you through whatever it is you are going through if we will just follow Him. Amen! He is on the Isle of Patmos. He is there. He is there because he has preached and taught the Word of God.

7 Listen. We don t have too much of that today. Amen! We don t have too many people being put in jail today because they have preached the Word of God. Truth! It is true. We don t have that. Do you know why? It is because not too many people are preaching the Word of God anymore. Amen! We hear a lot of racket. We see a lot of stuff. We see a lot of big new buildings being built up. We see all kinds of gold and silver and we see a lot of different things. However, do you know what we are not seeing much of anymore like we used to? We are not seeing men preaching the Word of God like it was once preached in America. We are not seeing it. We want to make things modern. I m for modernizing some things. It is a lot better to have padded pews than it is not to have padded pews. Isn t it? It is a lot better to have heat that comes out of those things up there than have a big pot belly stove in the middle like we used to have, out on Leatherwood. Amen! The pipe run all the way through the roof. It would get red hot in the winter time. I m all for some conveniences. But do you know what I m not for? I m not for compromising what we know as truth. I m not for compromising what we know is the Word of Almighty God. When we do that, we have issues. When we do that do you know what we can do? We can build crowds. We can have large crowds coming, but it is dangerous. Too many people today do not want to hear the truth. They want their ears tickled. Amen! They want to hear what is nice, polite, and politically correct. We are so afraid we are going to offend somebody. Well, get over it. It is time we wake up and understand. People are dying and are going to a lake of fire. I m not really worried about offending you. If you are a sinner you need to get saved. Amen! I m not worrying about offending. I m not purposely offending anybody. I m not saying that. However, we worry about too many things sometimes and the Word of God is not being preached and taught. Get this. I d say John was having a time. The Lord s day here, no doubt, was on Sunday. We know that is the day that Jesus Christ arose from the dead. I don t know whether John had been praying. I don t know whether John had been meditating. I don t whether John was looking out towards the sea and seeing the sun come up. I don t know what John may have been doing. However, I know he was worshiping the God of heaven.

8 Do you know what that tells me? That tells me the spirit had control of John on this Lord s day. Do you know what I am glad of tonight? I m glad we serve a God that do you know what He does from time to time? He gets hold of us. He will bless us from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet. He will move us around. If you are saved tonight, you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. We are not dead people. We are people who have been born again and we have been filled with the power and the presence of a Holy God. Do you know what He will do? From time to time when I get me out of the way and get my mind off of a lot of garbage that is out here; do you know what He will do? He will come along and take control. There are times that you may be washing the dishes. You may be mowing the lawn. You may be going down the road in your car. Isn t it great when He just shows up and takes control of what is going on? That is awesome! That is the God that dwells in us. In my mind when I read this; this what kind of a day John was having. He was having one of them dabba doo days. That is the kind of day he was having. He was in the spirit of the Lord s day. Get this. There is a message here for us. Listen. We can hear the voice of God a lot more sometimes if we get in the spirit sometimes. If we allow Him to take control of our life I hear people say all the time that God doesn t speak. Listen. You are dead wrong if you think that the God of heaven that made this earth and everything here; if you think He is silent then you do not know the God of heaven. He is a God that speaks in a voice that you and I can understand. If we live as we should live and we will live close to Him; do you know what He does? He will speak. He will call. He will bless us. I m glad that God has a voice. Aren t you? I m glad He has a voice. It scares me when people says that God doesn t speak. Do you know why it scares me? Because I wonder where they are at in their relationship with God. I know we all grow on different levels and different rates I get all of that. However, someone that has been saved 20, 30, 40 years and never heard the voice of God; that scares me. I worry about them. I worry about where we are at here.

9 Get this. a voice like a trumpet. Do you know what? You can beat on drums. You can beat on this drum, this drum and this drum and they are just drums. That is all they are. You can blow on a saxophone and it has a sound to it. What I am getting at is this. When the trumpet sounds it has a sound, it has a distinct sound that you will not get it mixed up with a drum. You won t get it mixed up with a saxophone. When the trumpet sounds you know it is a trumpet. Get this. There is a message here. Do you know what John knew? John knew exactly who was speaking to him. John knew exactly; he knew it was a great voice and an awesome voice. He knew exactly who that was. Do you know why? John had heard that voice before. John knew who it was. He was acquainted with that voice. Jesus said this. My sheep know my voice. Amen! and another they won t follow. That is in the book. Isn t it? I m glad that God speaks. He is real. He spoke to John here. Revelation 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. John hears the voice, the great voice behind him. Jesus begins to speak. He says, I am Alpha and Omega. Do you know what He is saying? Revelation 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. I am Alpha or the beginning. I am Omega the ending. And I am everything else in between. I am the first and I am the last. Do you know what He is saying? There is nobody like me. John, you will not find anybody like me. Do you know what I have found over the years? I have found there isn t anyone like Jesus Christ. There is nobody like Him. There are all kinds of people out here. There are all kinds of spirits, and all kinds of voices that want to control our minds and our lives. We hear all kinds of voices out here in this world. However, there isn t anyone

10 like Jesus Christ. He is the first and the last. He was here before there was ever a bullfrog. Amen! He was here before lady bugs. Amen! Before the stars, the sun and the moon do you know why? He was the Creator. He created all of that. Amen! There is nobody like Him. The Bible says here in the next verse. Revelation 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Candlesticks, or the lampstands were what was in the tabernacle or the temple that gave light to the temple. For the priest and the high priest; those that worked inside the tabernacle and the temple get this the lampstands or the candlesticks were what was inside that which gave light so they could see what they were doing. It illuminated everything inside the tabernacle or the temple, so that the people that were working there, people that were worshiping could see what was there. The Bible says Get this. He said he sees seven of them. Seven is God s complete number. When you look at the word seven, it means completeness. Amen! Get this. The Bible says Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Do you know what that tells me? When I read on over here in verse 20 of chapter 1; I know that the seven candlesticks represent the seven churches. Do you know where you find Jesus at here? You find Jesus in the midst of the churches. Isn t that awesome? He is in the midst; He is in the middle of the churches. That is where He needs to be. That is where Jesus Christ needs to be. I know in America and in our own community; I know we have written Ichabod over some of our doors, which means the glory has departed. Because there are places that God once was and the Holy Ghost once was there, but He is not there any longer. There is one reason for that. Get this. I want you to understand this. Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Revelation 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

11 He is in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. They were golden and they had oil in them. The oil would burn and that was what gave them light. It tells us how he was clothed It tells about he was dressed. It tells about his hair, his head, he feet; but he says something else down here. It tells about in his right hand that he saw seven stars. Get that. When you read verse 20, you will find out the seven stars were the seven messengers or the seven angels or the seven ministers of these seven churches the seven pastors that were there in these different churches. Not only was Jesus in the midst of the churches, but He had the pastors, the messengers; he is holding them in his hand that denotes power; it denotes authority. It denotes control. If I have something in my hand, I control it. If I have a hand full of peanuts; I can eat them. Jesus was holding the ministers in His right hand. Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Do you know what that represents? The Word of Almighty God. The Bible says here Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. I want you to get something here. I don t want you to forget it. He is in the midst of these churches. John is writing this, or these things are happening somewhere around 96 or so AD. We know that what he is writing and seeing here, and what is going on here. In the last 60 years here from 30 A.D. to 90 A.D., a lot of people got saved. A lot of people have been born again. Churches have been established. A lot of great things have happened. Even though the church was in its infancy, things had started to decline. All you have to do is turn over and read the church at Ephesus. You have left your first love. He had something to say about all of these churches. Even though it was just 60 years after He has died, 60 years after the church has established; things are starting to decline. The Bible says here when it is describing Jesus; He is in the midst of the seven churches. He has the pastors in His hand. It describes His hair, His eyes, His voice and something coming out of His mouth is the Word of Almighty God. Listen. You will not have spiritual light in a church where the Word of God is not being preached and taught. It won t be there. It absolutely will not be there. You may have a lot of different things going on in church. However, if the Word of God is being preached and taught--i m talking about the whole book if the Word of God, if the whole counsel of God is being preached and taught, do you know what you will have? You will have His presence. You will have His help. That particular church will be shining. It

12 will be a bright burning light in a community that is filled with darkness. Do you know why? It is because He is there. He is the light of the world. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Amen! The thing that illuminated the seven churches, the thing that kept all this together, the thing that made this church a church, the thing that made these churches alive, vibrant and having a witness in the community; it wasn t who was there, as far as people go. Do you know what happened? Moses died. The Israelites did not collapse. They went on. I could die here tonight and do you know what would happen I hope somebody would be here to preach on Sunday. Amen! One monkey doesn t stop the show. Amen! What makes it all work? What makes it all work, what makes Campbell Chapel or any other church a light, a place where light and spiritual light is going out is that He is here. He is walking in the midst. Amen! He holds pastors in His hand. We don t like that today. A lot of denominations, do you know what they do? They elect their pastors three or four hundred miles and send them to the churches. Do you know what else they do? They may have two, three, five hundred churches all across America; they will print their pastors out a sermon somewhere in the home office. They will them the sermon they are going to preach on Sunday morning. Do you know what that is? That is absolutely stupidity. Do you know what I don t think? I don t think people sitting in a booth somewhere, in a big city, probably a lot of them have never been born again; can tell me what I need to preach here on Sunday morning. Do you know what I do know and I have learned over the years? The God that is walking around in here does. He knows and sees. He knows what is going on in all of our lives. Amen! He knows exactly what we need to hear. Amen! When the Word of God is preached and taught, it strengthens us. It gives us light, help, knowledge, understanding, and helps us through dark times in life. When we take the Word of God, if just don t stick our fingers in our ears and say I m not going to listen to that and we do that from time to time when we decide to do that; do you know where we get with God? Nowhere. I don t want to hear. We turn a deaf ear to God s Word and God s message. Not every message is a message is like cake and ice cream. Not all of them makes us feel good all the time. That goes for me and it starts here and goes all the way to the back door. Amen! Sometimes we need to be corrected. Sometimes we need to be lined up. Sometimes we need for God to show us the error of our way. Amen! All of us do. We should thank God when that happens. The Word of God was being preached and taught and He was in the midst. Listen. That has not changed any folks. If we want God in our lives, if we want God in our churches, then let s live; let s take the Word of God eat it, digest it, read it, look at it and meditate upon it. Let s be like John. Let s get in the spirit. When we get in the spirit, we will hear a voice. We will hear His voice. It will bless us. He told John

13 Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. John, you don t have anything to worry about. John, you don t have anything to worry about, even though you may be afraid, the sound of my voice may have scared you. Me dressed in my robe, my priestly robe may have got your attention. I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Get this. And have the keys of death and hell. Isn t that great to know tonight? Come and pray