Brother Gary Sunday Morning 4/24/16

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

John saw a beautiful vision: He looked and he saw the Lamb, on Mount Sion.  This is a spiritual mountain that is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testament.  He saw this beautiful Lamb of God on Mount Zion and with Him were 144,000 who were the redeemed of all time.

There are many mountains.  Everyone that has even become a teenager has felt the mountains of the world, the mount of discouragement and the mount of success.  These are offered to everyone. 

John was exiled to the isle of Patmos.  It was a small rocky island inhabited in his day, AD 95, by mostly prisoners.  It was a long ways from home. 

You don’t have to be far from home to feel: “Home is quite a ways away.”  Especially if you are walking or are separated by a large body of water.  He was about 800 miles from Jerusalem.  He had a particular testimony and had come into the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Rev 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 and his brother had been called after Peter and Andrew were called.  He was there during many seasons with Jesus.  He was there when Jesus suffered in the garden, he was there when Jesus spoke on the Holy Spirit, and he was there when Jesus spoke of the resurrection and the crucifixion.  He was there when Jesus ascended into heaven.  He was there when Jesus spoke the words, “Lovest thou me?  Feed my sheep.”

There is a mountain of bitterness.  You may feel that it could never touch you.  That is today.  You live a while and you will understand why Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Looking diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.”

“I, John, who also am your brother.”  Isn’t that beautiful?  “I am your brother.”  He wrote to all the servants of the gospel day.  “I am your companion in tribulation.” 

Tribulation means a lot of things.  It means anguish, stress, and it covers every possible difficulty in life that you could possibly face both literal and spiritual.  He said, “I am your brother.  I am in the kingdom and I am in the patience of Jesus Christ.” 

I have never spent any time in a snake infested island.  Patmos was such.  My mother was bit by a rattlesnake early in her life and in her marriage.  It was the great mercy of God that she survived and was able to raise a family.

John was there on the snake infested island.  He was inspired of God to write the Revelation.  He wrote His testimony: “I am in the kingdom of God.  I am here in the patience of Jesus.”  He was an elderly man who was exiled.  He was sent there by an ungodly king.  “I was there for the Word of the Lord.”

I appreciate your calls and reminders of the wonderful things that God has blessed us with in the Saints of God.  I know that you want me to make it.  I want those, when I am gone, to be able to say, “He finished his course and kept the faith.”

“I am here for the testimony of Jesus and I am here for the Word of God.”  We appreciate everything that God set up and that He had a willing vessel on the Isle of Patmos.”

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Do we realize about the Holy Spirit of God and you and I being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day?  There is more to the Holy Spirit than just one thought.  In the subject index of my bible it is almost two full pages. 

There are three things that are clearly taught by Jesus about the Holy Spirit.  He is a comforter.  We often think of the comforter when someone loses a loved one.  Yes He is a comforter.  It goes past that.  It is that plus more.  He is an advocate. 

I read an account of Mel Trotter.  I identified with it as I read it.  Mel started as a gifted young person like those we have in our audience.  He ended with a life story like mine would have been if it had not been for Jesus.  He became addicted to alcohol. 

Whenever you see an alcoholic whose nose is becoming red and has that red face, think of me.  There go I but for the grace of God.  My friends were drinkers before salvation. 

If you walk the road where the subway is, you will find one white stem and three crosses: My uncle, his son, and Dennis.  They left the bar here Sunday night when they should have been in church and went into eternity.

My brother: you go to Hotsprings through the blinking light and keep going.  You will see a bridge with a white cross.  He left one bar headed to another bar on a Sunday night. 

I am not here to scare anyone this morning, but if I can help you to grasp the effects of what being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day will make: you will have an advocate.  One that offers you the best from eternity.  He is not just one that goes to court for you.  He is interceding with the Father, “God remember those children in school.”

Mel was a fine looking gifted young man.  He was bound for success, before he went so far.  He stole the new shoes off of his dead baby’s feet. 

We need an advocate.  There will be people that tell you, “Go this way and climb this mountain.”  There is only one way to know where to go and that is to have Jesus for your advocate, and have the Holy Spirit of God.

He is the guide.  People think they will take the attitude of a duck or a goose: wake up every morning and say, “Which way should I fly?”  That works for a duck or a goose but not for people. 

Our day wants to destroy worship on Sunday.  Where Tommy Castle came from he said that even Sunday is not kept for the house of God.  Can you imagine what it would be to not have the opportunity of not being in the Spirit and in the congregation on the Lord’s Day? 

Can you imagine there being no one to pray and no place to gather to worship.  Can you imagine that there would be no place to have a wedding? Can you imagine wanting to serve God and there being no place to go to find a people that wants to serve God? 

We need to be the church so that someday these young girls can say, “God has helped so-in-so to get saved and he has asked me out.”  I will look them right in the eye and tell them, “You make sure you are worshipping.” 

John said, “I am your brother and I am in a difficult spot, but I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”

The Spirit is an advocate and a guide.  I don’t care what the scholastic tests tell you what you would be good at, you go to the guide and have Him lead you.  He is an advocate, a guide, and a teacher.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit. 

The redeemed stood on Mount Zion with the Father’s name written in their forehead. 

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Our mind is an inward part.  I am alive today because my brain is protected.  The infections from my tooth came out on my forehead but they missed my brain.  I know God.  I know that He is a rewarder to those that diligently seek Him. 

He puts His Word in their mind and heart.  “I will be their God and they shall be my people.”

Heb 10:15  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

His name is in our mind.  It is a choice that you and I make, “I am going to serve God.” 

The Holy Spirit is in the world to reprove the world of sin.  We all can thank God for every time that the Holy Spirit reproves sin.  He reproves sinners of sin.  When you think of crossing a line that the Holy Spirit has said, “Don’t.”  Then don’t cross it.  If you have, then confess, repent, turn and get baptized.

Then he convicts, which is what reproves means, the world of righteousness.  He wants the world to live holy.  Life is short compared to eternity.  He wants us to live holy.

He convicts the world of judgment.  All nations will be at the judgment.  Every individual will be shaking and trembling.  The only thing to know is “I have measured to His Word.” 

Wherever we are on raising the bar on being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, let’s raise the bar higher.  “God more of your presence.” 

Mel stole the new shoes that some kind person had bought for the baby that had gone into eternity.  He sold them to buy another drink.  One day he said, “There is no reason to live.”  He headed to whatever river it is that flows through Chicago and said, “I am going to end it.” 

He was standing on the sidewalk and there was a guy about his size that pushed him toward the door of a church and said, “Go in there.”  He went in and they were preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He said, “I need that.” 

If you have let anything take you to where you are not in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, you make sure that you get it clear with God.  Then you need to testify about it.  So that not only do you have it clear but you have a covenant with God and the church, “I am going to walk with God.”