He's With Us | Rodrigo Vargas

Houston, Texas, let me hear you out there. So good to be in church, even though I'm feeling a little under the weather this morning, I find it no better place to be than in the house of God where the healer walks amongst us. Amen. Hey, listen, if this is your first time with us, we want to say that you aren't just a honored guest or a special guest. You're an answered prayer in our church. Union Houston exists to connect people to God with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel says it doesn't matter what your past looks like, doesn't matter what your present problems may be or what doubts may weigh in your heart. Jesus loves you right where you are, but he also loves you too much to leave you where you are. And I believe today he's going to move you further. He's going to move you through a door. This includes everyone that is incarcerated and watching us through the panda web that we just talked about. Union Houston, can you help me welcome our Union prison campus? Listen, we can't see you, but you're never out of our hearts. We love you and we can't wait for the day you walk in through those doors. So here we are, we've come to the end of the end. And I never got out of chapter one, but when you are preaching and exposing, it's called expository preaching through a Bible, you have to go slow. Well, here's what I believe though. I believe that we have set in chapter one, a solid foundation for us to look at the book of Revelation and not only look at it seriously, but also look at it within context and allow it to not just change us and transform us, but inform us of the world that we live in because what you'll find is that the very things churches experienced back then are not only the things that we experience. There are also the things that we may experience in the future.

There are the things that many of us who have pain and problems are experiencing right now. There's that issue and it's weighing you down. I want to finish this series at the end of chapter one, delivering the good news. And here's the good news is we're about to see that Jesus stands with his church. He walks amongst his church. He knows what they're going through. He knows what every single one of you is facing right now. And ultimately, he's calling us back to him. You know why? Here's the good news so that we can be ready when he calls us to walk through an open door. Amen. Would you stand with me as we read? I'm going to read chapter one versus 12 and 13 and then skip to the very last three verses and this is part of what we read last week where John says I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lamb stands. I want you to understand that the very first thing he saw was seven golden lamb stands and among the lamb stands was someone like the son of man and then he saw Jesus standing amongst the seven lamb stands dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead and then he placed his right hand and said, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead and now look, I'm alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Right there for what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. Remember I said, sometimes it's for what we're experiencing now, but also what we

may experience in the future, the mystery. And then Jesus says the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lamb stands are this, is this the seven stars of the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamb stands are the seven churches. Let's pray Father God, we thank you. to speak to us. Silence the worries of the world, the anxieties of the world, the stresses of the world. Then let us focus in on what the God, the Creator of heaven and earth want to say to us in this moment. Let it be a divine moment in which the Creator, the one, the author of life itself speaks to us individually. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see and open our ears to hear what you want us to hear, but most importantly soften our hearts so that the seeds of this gospel may flourish in our lives. Help me deliver this message that you have given me to deliver and I pray this in Jesus mighty name and the church said amen, amen, amen. You may be seated. Today I want to talk to you from a simple title of he's with us. He's with us. I know sometimes it's hard for us to reconcile that because of the difficulties we're going through life. Sometimes it's we're going through depression, anxiety, we got stress, something bad's happening in our lives, but the reality of it is that we just read that the truth of God says he's with us. Let me ask you something that has been weighing on my heart for a few weeks now, for some time. What would you do if you came down with a serious disease or illness? What would you do? Where would you go to get it looked at? Where would you go to get it treated? Where would you go to get medicine? Where would you possibly go to find the healing that you needed? The answer is obvious. You'd go to the doctor's office, right? We go to the doctor's office. We go, we make an appointment, you know, urgent care, you know, whatever it is, and we go get diagnosed, they check us out and they hinge some medicine and they send you home to get healed. Yet why is it that as believers, and I'm talking to the church now, as believers, when we are dealing with issues, when we're dealing with pain, when we're dealing with problems, and when we need an encouragement, a word, a counsel, or maybe we just need a miracle from God. The last place we go to is God. And then before we ask God, we text our friends. We are going through difficulties, and the option for you is, well, I'm going to go to church, but you know what? I got too much on my plate. I'm not going to go to church.

This is the condition of the American church, y'all. We do not come to church, or we show up late. There's got a lot of things going on. You don't understand, Pastor Rod. You don't understand my life. Yeah, okay. We show up late. I wonder if Jesus was late the day that he saved you. And then, or, or, or, you know, we got a lot of things going on. So we come to church, and by God, as soon as it's over, we got track shoes on trying to get to the car. Because apparently we got a lot of things to do on Sunday. I mean, I don't think being in the father's house was to be a burden of work. So what have we done? We just come in, we consume. Let's go work. a good word as a good sermon is pick up a towel and start serving somewhere in the house. We need God. We need God. I need God in my life. I need God to bless my marriage. I need God to help me raise these children. I need God to sort out my finances because the way I've been doing it, it's not working out too well. I need God to help me heal this problem I need God to restore that relationship with the children that I got or with a relative. I need God, but I don't want to serve them. I don't want to give that type of thing. I don't want to apply what is being taught. I just like saying good word, amen. Yeah, that's good, pastor, but when it comes to my life, hell, I'm not applying it. We need prayer. Y'all know you need prayer. And on Tuesday night, you're not here. We need discipleship. You know you need to be disciples. But you don't go to a connect group. Or you sign up and you don't go. Or you go half the time. We need to be mentored, right? And then you get a mentor and you tell everybody you got a mentor, but the only time you call them is after you made the dumb decision, not wisdom before you made that dumb decision. Why? Well, today you're going to see how all of this is so important. Because church today, Jesus is reminding us that in the end of days, in the latter days, in the days that are going to come to a close, he reminds us, I am with you. He's with us. Jesus stood with John on Patmos in his very worst moments in his life. And today he stands with us. And in verse 20, he says that he stands with his church. But we have to remember from last week, John was in the spirit on the Lord's day. See, because we forget that part that is very specific. He was in the spirit on the Lord's day. There's no greater place to be that when you're going through something and your life is going far and apart to be in the spirit on the Lord's day. His circumstances didn't affect his desire to worship the Lord. His condition didn't

dictate his spiritual life. Jesus did. Jesus says he holds in his right hand the angels assigned to his churches. Now, I want to say because yeah, but those are seven churches that don't exist anymore. This is how you apply scriptures. If he's talking to those seven churches and he gave those seven churches, angels, what makes you think that this church doesn't have an angel assigned to it. When we are struggling, frustrated, or in pain, the best place to be is in God's house and in his presence. Because Jesus walks among his church. He walks with his church. And I want to say that the church is in a building. It's a people. A people that gather for a purpose to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. To hear a word from him. To pray together. This is what the church is. It's a group of people. Now remember last week John turned around and what did he see first? Lamps stands. And in the middle of those lamps stands was Jesus. Those lamps stands are the churches. Those lamps stands are us. Now watch what it says. These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in itself. laughs on his revelations chapter two and one. He doesn't walk from a distance. This is good news. He walks among you. There is an absolute truth that should settle all your anxieties and all the pressure you have and all the stress that my God, I'm going through hell but the one that is with me has overcome it. He walks among them. The same right hand that touched John on Patmos is the same right hand that holds his churches. Now that could be an extremely encouraging word, right? But it also could be an extremely terrifying word at the same time. If you think about it, if he walks among us and you're going to see here in a minute, right, he knows when we've been unfaithful. He knows what you're hiding.

He knows your pride. He knows it. And this is like we go back months ago where I talked about reverence. You know, we have to have a certain sense of reverence for the Lord. Now we live here in Houston, Texas, amen? And in Texas we have what's called the Texas Medical Center. It is the largest medical complexes in the world. People fly in from all over the globe to be seen by doctors in our city. Now I want you to imagine a physician that doesn't make you fly anywhere to be touched by him. A physician who does not make you wait on an appointment. A physician who walks with you when you're going through something. Mark 2 17, Jesus himself says this, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick." Some months ago, someone from our church here asked us if we could pray for their uncle. He was in the hospital and the doctors had basically told the family, "Hey, look here. Y'all gonna have to say your goodbyes." My dude had given up. He's ready to go. And so they asked us to pray. So our pastoral team and our intercessory team began to pray for him. You know what happens when you start to pray for something? One prayer leads to another. And so our prayer led to another and this man who I'll be giving up on life, all of a sudden decided, "No, no, no, no, I want to live. And I want to get on this transplant list. I'm gonna fight for my life." However, there was a problem. He's old. He's frail. And he would be at the very back of the transplant line. But we focused in on the first, we need the first miracle. Right? We just need the first miracle. We'll trust God for the rest of it.

And then something happened. His teenage son came to church here. And then he came up here for prayer. Do y'all remember when you were like that with God? Where all you had was God? When you first came to him, you brought him all your concerns? We can learn something from this young man. This young man did what we should all do when our world is falling apart. He asked after he got prayer, he asked, "Could the pastors come and pray and lay hands on his father?" And of course, me and Pastor Sarah said, "Of course." We went down there to the medical center, and we took our anointing oil, and we met with him, mostly unconscious, his wife. There were some of the relatives that attend our church, and we prayed, we laid hands, and we anointed him. We walked out of there, and we left. A few days later, I get a text, and they say, but he was able to come out of his coma. He was able to recover his strength, and somehow or another, he's the next person on the transplant list. (audience applauds) Now, here's what I wanna tell you. It wasn't the doctors, it wasn't the experts, it wasn't the medicine, it wasn't even us, it was Jesus, he came down and touched that man, it was Jesus, now don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to skip the doctor.

No, no, no, go and get treatment, some of y'all need treatment, get that medicine, some of y'all need that medicine. What I'm saying is don't make God the last stop. The physician is not that far away. He walks among his church. Because like I said, Jesus knows, he knows what we are dealing with. He knows what we are dealing with more than we know ourselves. Now, watch what happens in chapters two and three. Jesus does what a good doctor does. You know what a good doctor does? Good doctor takes a bunch of exams, right? He looks at your chart, he asks you a few questions, right? And then he diagnoses you. He tell you, I'm gonna tell you what's wrong with you. You need to stop eating so many Sour Patch Kids. You know, my doctor told me like, I was 18 months ago, two years ago, he was like, "Pest of all, you eat." Look, I know you like fried chicken, but you're gonna have to lay off that fried chicken. Is it hard on your liver right now? You gotta lay off the fried chicken. Jesus examines and he diagnoses the seven churches. Seven letters. Now, I want you to listen to the words very carefully. Because he begins every single letter to each one of those churches.

I know your deeds. I know your deeds. I know your afflictions. I know where you live. I know what you're going through. He says it to Ephesus, to Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. Every single one of them, he tells them, "I know." Can I ask you something? What makes you think you don't know what we're going through? I know. He's not guessing. He's saying, "I know." Nobody has to give him an explanation for it. He knows. You don't have to fill out paperwork. He already knows what you've been carrying. Ephesus has the work, he says. You have the doctrine and you have endurance like Pastor Sarah preached. But you have forsaken the love you had at first. Pergamum, you're tolerating teaching that leads to compromise and idolatry. Thyatira is tolerating what should never have been tolerated to begin with. Sardis has a reputation for being alive. In other words, they tell everyone, "We're alive, we're good." Yeah, surprise the Lord. But is that Laodicea is lukewarm.

They are neither hot for God or refreshing with God. They are, "Hey, I am rich, I need nothing." When in truth, they are poor, blind, and naked. Now, two of the seven churches get no rebuke at all. Smirna is suffering, is poor, you see the difference? These people are suffering, poor, slender, they're being attacked. And Jesus says to them, "Do not be afraid." Philadelphia has little strength, but they have kept this where they are faithful to the word. Which means the problem is not always that something is wrong with you. Some of us are walking through a smear now. Pain, we did not cause in our lives. Pain that just came into our life. And Jesus is standing with you saying, "Do not be afraid." And can I tell you, sometimes that is enough for me. That is enough for me. Some of us are walking in Philadelphia season, running on little strength. Can I get an amen? That's how I felt this morning when I got up. I'm running on little strength, Lord. But I'm hanging on to your word. I'm hanging on to your word. I don't know about you, but I wanna be counted as those that hang on to the word. Because you know what the other option is? The other option is, away from me, I never knew you. I'd rather be of little strength,

but be counted as one who kept the word, who was faithful to the mission, who was faithful to Lord, Lord, and Savior. But we all must be mindful though. And here's where I need you to take a deep breath. We need to be mindful. We need to be, can I say it this way? Prayerful, that our personal lives with Jesus doesn't look like that we don't live like, that we don't walk like ethicists, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea. Because you can have all the work. Let me tell you something. You can have all the doctrine in the world. You can have all the endurance. You can have all the intellect. You read all the books, you know so much. And still put Jesus on your calendar only when you have the space and time. I'm gonna be blunt with you. So many of us used to be all in with Jesus. You remember those days where you first were saved. You know, you got to church early. You couldn't wait to get to church, you know? You remember those days where you were so in love with Jesus that you didn't want to leave, you stayed late. You're like the ladies, the church ladies that I'm leaving to go to lunch and they're still talking in the lobby. You know what I'm saying?

The ladies are still, I know they lie, they still in love with Jesus 'cause they long here. I'm driving away, they're still out there talking. (laughing) Love it. Love it. You know, ah, you remember when you was first on fire for God and you were leading groups and you were serving and some of you were even tithing but life got complicated. You used to be on fire but something has shifted. Something in your life has shifted, right? Your life has changed, am I right? Listen to me, I'm with you. Some things in your life just changed. It happens. Like your life's changed, your life has shifted, right? You know, your schedule has shifted. You know, your job has shifted, it's more demanding. So does your, so has your love for Jesus that shifted. That's not who you are anymore, you tolerate. Listen to this, you tolerate the teachings that leads to compromise and idolatry. You listen to the doctrine of demons. Why? Because you take advice from social media, you take opinions from the news and you make an idol out of your politics. You're tolerating what you shouldn't tolerate because you're scared to be canceled.

You look alive, you tell everyone Luke 1, and you wonder why you can't feel Jesus, you can't hear Jesus. Can I tell you why he spit you out? There is such a thing as the Holy Spirit grieving. You know what the Holy Spirit grieves when you intentionally sin knowing you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have slept with that girl. You know you shouldn't have slept with that girl. You know why you can't feel, you know why you feel stressed right now? Because the Holy Spirit is like, I can't be around. Oh buddy, because he's out there fornicating. Sure your life has changed. And you have more complications. I'm not denying that. Listen, one bit. I'm not here to deny. I'm also not going not to tell you that your first love has changed. And today Jesus stands amongst us and he's saying, come back to me. Some of you are in Sardis. Looking fine on the outside, hurting on the inside. Some of you are like Leo to see us saying, I'm good, I don't need anything. And church, we always need something. Leo this year literally said, I don't need nothing. Can I say what that's like? Leo this year reminds me of the person that doesn't go to the doctor. They got a big old knot in the back of the neck, you know what I'm saying? And I know I was fine, just put some dicks on it. Well you need to go to the doctor and get that thing checked out. That thing looks cancerous, bro. Y'all know who they are. I'm going to be honest, sometimes that's me.

You need to go to the doctor. Nah, it's just the catara. Just leave it alone. Don't worry about it, bro. This will be fine. You know, I had Vietnamese cough syrup last night. Y'all know what Vietnamese cough syrup is? A big old bowl of pho. Whoo, that's setting me right. I was eating my soup, past the stairs and the other. And I'm like, whoo, praise the Lord, I'm feeling good. She's just laughing at me and saying, you're silly. So good. Put extra jalapenos in there, you know. You know, you can't be like Leo this year. You can't be like that person that never goes to the doctor. In Revelation 3, verse 18, Jesus gives us the prescription, though. He says, buy from me gold refined in the fire. You can only buy from him. You can only get it from him. White clothes in south for your eyes so you can see. Jesus writes his prescription to us. Now you're all going to go and read the book of Revelation. You'll be like, oh my God, it was here the whole time. This is incredible, right? Because he says, those whom I love, I rebuke and I discipline. So be earnest. And here's the prescription and revenge. I'm going to tell you something. A review from Jesus is not a rejection.

A diagnosis, it's a diagnosis. It's not rejection. It's a diagnosis for rescue, restoration and redemption. That's what it's for. And what better than it coming from the one who loves us? Jesus doesn't diagnose us to discard us. He reveals to us to heal us. So I know some of the things we talk about are difficult to hear and are hating you hard, but can I tell you? It's because he loves you and he wants to heal that part. Return to the first things he says. Return to the first things. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. Then you did at first. Come early. Stay late. Go to group. I served. I tied. He's saying don't let life complicate your life. Go back to the things that you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come. This is the terrifying part I told you. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamb stand from its place. This treatment plant has three things. Remember, repent and return.

Remember, repent and return. Notice he doesn't say add something new. He just says, come back to the first things. So what are those things for us? Prayer. We need prayer. We need prayer. That's what Tuesday in our prayer is for. If you don't need prayer, that's fine. Okay, no big deal. But I know in a church with a landscape like ours and in the vast variety of who we are and all the different complexities that we have amongst our people, listen on Tuesday, on Tuesday nights, that there should be about 40 to 50 of y'all in here praying 'cause y'all need to. Just letting you know, we need prayer. We go through things and the last thing we wanna do is come to God. Discipleship, we need to grow, so we go to group. Wisdom, we have a mentor. So we call them, can you please call them before you make that dumb decision? Not after. 'Cause some of my mentees, they be calling me. Some of my disciples call me as a advisor, I did this. I was like, you're supposed to call me before. You say that, you know what I'm saying? Before you do that, you're supposed to call me.

And we gather as a church. We don't just go to church. Can I tell you, we are the church. We don't just go to church. We are the church. You are the church. Notice what is at stake. Jesus doesn't say the building will close 'cause he understands that the church is not a building. He says, I wanna remove the lampstand. The danger to a church is not the pressure on the outside is losing its love on the inside. That's the problem. It ain't, listen, I'm not denying, there's a lot of evil out there. There's some demonic things going on and I, look, I'm the first one to tell you that. But the church's destruction will not come from the outside. It's when we stop going back to our first love. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. He says it, say it with me, to the churches. Plural, churches. To the one who overcomes, we get the tree of life. He's with us. We don't just go, we are. We, listen, we've got this all confused.

We, this is, can I say that that's why it's become a drag to come here? That's why it's a drag for you to go to your group. Because you think it's another thing you do, not who you are. I'm here to tell you, you are the church. You are what's chosen. You are the one that Jesus holds in his hands. So we just got to live that out. We got to walk that out. Revelation chapter three, eight says, I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door. That no one can shut. I love this. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied by name. Can I tell you, there's an open door. The door is open. Church, I did not come with only a diagnosis. I came with a word of vision. I want you to look at Philadelphia, little strength. And Jesus does not say, I know your numbers, I know your attendance, I know your miracles. He says, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. Who opens the door? Jesus does. Not our hustle, not our budget, not our brand, our marketing. Jesus does.

And I believe Jesus is opening up big new doors for Union Houston. Can I say this? Something new is happening. Something new is coming. Something new is on the horizon. (congregation applauding) The Lord has been telling me for months, months, something new. And yes, yes, we're gonna get into some of this. Yes, some of that is we're gonna have a union in Españor. I mean, come on. If you have not registered for our vision party next Saturday, please do so today. It's important we get a proper head count to get the right amount of food. But I have to be honest with you, that's just the tip of the iceberg. I wanna tell you something, the Lord opened a huge door for us on Friday morning. And I know you wanna know. (congregation laughing) But you're gonna have to wait 'cause I'm gonna drip it to you in the next couple, for the next couple of weeks. Okay, we gotta wait till begin the heart of Houston next week. We're gonna start sharing vision. I'm gonna give you all of it, okay? I'm gonna give you all of it.

But here's what I wanna tell you is, not by our doing, there's nothing we could have done, but the Lord has opened a huge door for a union Houston. (congregation applauding) What I am going to tell you is, when Jesus opens a door for us, we as a church, we're gonna walk through them. We're gonna walk through them. Little strength, little budget, lots of faith. 'Cause I don't wanna miss anything. And I don't wanna be counted as those that have lost his first love. I'm going back to the first, I want you to listen to my heart. A church that is sick, cannot walk through an open door. A church that has lost his first love will not carry what God is about to place in its hands. So before the new things, before we begin to something new, we've got to go back to the first things. Before the new things, come the first things. And it's time to come back. It's time to return. Maybe you've been walking through an emphasis season. You do the work, but somewhere along the way, you've lost your love for the Lord. Maybe you're in Sardis, looking alive. Everything looks good. You check all the boxes, but you know,

and I know that's not true. Or maybe you're in Smyrna, hurting, tired, or maybe you've been treated. (gentle music) You've been treating God like the last resort. Well today, my invite is simple. Just come back to him. Just return back to Jesus. Come back to him. Return to prayer. Return to his house. Yesterday I taught on Timothy's sessions. This is the household of God. How Paul teaches Timothy that we are the household of God. Return to your mentor, that you've been avoiding. It's okay, they love you. They know you've been out there acting a fool. They know. They know, you trying to avoid something they already know. Return to your first love. And for some of you, that means turning to Jesus for the very first time, receiving his forgiveness, his grace, his mercy, surrendering your life and trusting him. opportunity would you stand with me you know this decision is a decision you make in your heart it's a decision that is private it's very special and if you want to make that decision today i want to give you that opportunity you're making a decision that you believe jesus is the son of god that lived suffered and died for your sins was buried but on the third day he rose again

and when he rose again he defeated death and hell but he also made a way for you to have a new life in christ and so right now in this moment if you believe that and you want to make that decision i want you to shoot up your hands so i could pray for you just shoot up your hand thank you lord jesus father god we thank you for the hands that were raised bless them keep them i know you're doing something special here or to your people call them back right now holy spirit to the first things i know that you're standing amongst us today i know that you want to touch people today i know you want to do a mighty thing so lord right now move in this place and have people that the prayer partners up here if they need prayer lord move in their spirit to come up for a prayer lord the lord so that they can come back to the first things lord because he's here with us and this is a place we come to it's a people that we are father god we thank you for today i've said everything i had to say and now i leave the people that are coming back to you in your hands and i pray this in jesus thing come on church can we thank god for his message this morning