Bro Gary Weds PM 3/16/11

Bro Gary Weds PM 3/16/11

Revelation 4:1-11 KJVR

(1)  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

(2)  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

(3)  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

(4)  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

(5)  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

(6)  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

(7)  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

(8)  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

(9)  And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

(10)  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

(11)  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Verse 7 – The first living creature was like a lion.  The characteristics of a lion resulting from standing on the sea of glass, the morning time church had the characteristics of a lion standing on the sea of glass and the church today is to have the characteristics of all the living creatures. 

Whenever God moves there is a great effort from the enemy and religious people to hinder that work.

Acts 4:13 KJVR

(13)  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Whenever we need boldness in the right way, it is important that we recognize that the only God given boldness comes from Jesus.  May God help you and me to realize the value of trusting only being with Jesus for our strength and boldness, nothing else.  We thank God for truth and the message of the Church of God and how much ever truth we have, but our boldness must come from being with Jesus.  We need to be endued with the boldness of the lion of Judah which is Jesus Christ.

Paul dealt with the thought of how wonderful it was that the message of salvation wasn’t just to the Jews.  Jesus had revealed to Him that the way was opened up that all men could be saved.

Ephesians 3:11-12 KJVR

(11)  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

(12)  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

We are heavily contested when it comes to the truth of God’s word, but we can have boldness because it is not God’s will that any be lost but that all come to repentance.

Philippians 1:20 KJVR

(20)  According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

This boldness must come from God the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit of God.  We all know that there are terrible mean spirits in the world and when we come up against them, those spirits would like to lash out because of the standard, or because of our believing the word of God.

Paul had it settled, “Whether it be by life or by death.”

There is no question that John saw a door opened into heaven and he saw lightening and thundering and heard voices and then God invited him to come up and see what He would show him. 

God was likened to a red diamond and there was a glistening rainbow surrounding the throne.  There was a sea of Glass that represents the word of God.  There were also four living creatures: The lion, the calf, the man, and the eagle.  These represented what the church was to be.  The characteristics of a lion are courage, strength and boldness.

Why do we as the church need courage, strength and boldness?

Revelation 20:7 KJVR

(7)  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

There is no question that he is loosed today. 

Revelation 20:8 KJVR

(8)  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

I stand in awe that God helped me to find Him.  I stand in awe that God has helped me to understand how precious the word of God is.  When I think of how strong the deception is in the world today, people are tuned into the various medias that are out there and the devil is using this to spread strange doctrines. 

People that despise Christianity not only want to move into the USA, they want to take over.

Gog and Magog, all the evil spirits are turned loose today.  You would think that as little and insignificant as I am, they wouldn’t bother with me.  The devil doesn’t care who it is; he will attack a little child.  He will attack a young person. 

This is why we need the Lion of Judah.  There will be no one that is exempt from the enemy trying to cause unbelief to take them away from God. 

This is a battle that has gone on for 500 years.  It is an old battle and it is not going to end tonight. 

A song sung by Bro Chuck and Sis Dorothy:

Lord give me courage, give me strength, make me bold
That I might lead some lost sheep into the fold
That I might stand and you might be fully satisfied with me.

I want my Lord to be fully satisfied with me,
I want my life to be what He’d have it to be
And when I stand that day before His throne
He’ll say He’s satisfied with me.

I’m satisfied with God’s great redemption plan
I’m satisfied with …
I’m satisfied with…
But is the Lord fully satisfied with me?