It's All About Jesus [LIVE] 08/02/2026

Let's go, happy Sunday, Graceway. So good to see you all. Come all who are thirsty, come to the water. Come all who are hungry, come and be fed. Why spend your life on what does not satisfy? Here is bread enough and grace beside. So come, let us worship the God whose faithfulness runs through every generation. Let us worship the God who feels the empty hand. Let us worship the God who feeds the multitude. God of Jacob and God of the 5,000. You meet us in places we did not expect. By the river at night, on a hillside at suppertime, we come hungry for you. We come wrestling. And so Father, meet us again and do not let us go until we too are blessed, amen, amen. It's so good to see y'all today. As many of you know, Graceway has a heart for the nations. We believe that the gospel is for every tribe, every nation and every tongue. And so today we get to experience a beautiful expression of that. It is my honor to introduce to you my mentor, Pastor Kanji. He's come all the way from California, y'all, but originally he's from Africa. And so today, Graceway, we get to experience a global worship experience. Are you guys ready?

All right, Kanji, let's go. Amen, amen, amen. Well, good morning, church. I wanna teach you guys a little song that we sing and I'm gonna sing a line and you sing a line, if that's okay. So it goes like this. Say, ♪ Whosoever, whosoever calls on your name, ♪ ♪ They shall be saved. ♪ You sing. ♪ Whosoever, sing it out now. ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. ♪ Sing it again. ♪ Whosoever, oh, whosoever calls on your name, ♪ ♪ They shall be saved. ♪ You sing. ♪ Whosoever, oh, whosoever calls on your name, ♪ ♪ They shall be saved, they shall be saved. ♪ So when we get to that part, sing it as loudly as you possibly can, amen. ♪ You can be rich, you can be poor. ♪ ♪ You could be young, you could be old. ♪ ♪ No matter where we're coming from, the weak and strong, ♪ ♪ Can call upon the name of Jesus. ♪ We sing. ♪ Go to the East, go to the West. ♪ ♪ Run to the North now, run to the South. ♪ ♪ There's nowhere we could go that he won't hear our crying. ♪ ♪ So call upon the name of Jesus. ♪

Sing. ♪ Whosoever, whosoever, whosoever calls on your name, ♪ ♪ They shall be saved. ♪ Sing. ♪ Whosoever, I'm calling on you. ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. ♪ ♪ We can be free, we can be saved. ♪ ♪ We can be new now, we can be raised. ♪ ♪ Sing of his love, sing of his grace. ♪ ♪ Let there be joy, let there be praise. ♪ ♪ And every tongue confess him as the Lord of all. ♪ ♪ Oh bow before the name of Jesus. ♪ Sing. ♪ Whosoever, sing it out now. ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. ♪ ♪ Whosoever. I'm calling on you. ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. ♪ ♪ Whosoever. Oh Lord. Whosoever calls on your name, ♪ ♪ They shall be saved. Whosoever. Hey. ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. ♪ ♪ They shall be saved. ♪ ♪ And as for me, my heart was bound. ♪ ♪ When I'd get free and I'd get found. ♪ ♪ You lifted me, you pulled me up. Praise the name of Jesus. ♪ We sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound. You're gift of life, look at me now. You heard my cry, so hear my shout. Praise the name of Jesus. Sing it again, amazing grace, amazing grace. How sweet the sound, you're gift of life.

Look at me now, you heard my cry. So hear my shout, praise the name of Jesus. Say, whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. Whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. Whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. Whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name, they shall be saved. They shall be saved. All right, great swing. The Bible tells us that we should love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength. Now with all our strength is actually with all your body. And AKA, praise God and love him through your dancing. Okay, so I'm gonna start really easy because I know there's just different levels of dance in the house. So there's some of us who all we can do is clap. We got something for you. It goes like this. Everybody go. Hey, hey, hey. All right, step two is a little bit easy, and it goes from side to side like this. From side to side, side to side, side to side. Everybody. Hey, hey. All right, next one, next one. Do your wave.

Hey, hey. Everybody, somebody. Hey, hey. Okay, okay. All right, all right. Now everybody, hands real stiff like this. And you can get that leg moving a little bit. And this move goes like this. One, two, three, hey. Go back. Go for it, hey. Go back. One more time, one more time. Go for it, hey. Hey, go back. Now we get to do something really special. And so on the count of three, I want you to find it in you to do this. One, two, three, and... Top of the wave, top of the wave, top of the wave, top of the wave, top of the wave, top of the wave. Everybody, top of the wave. Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it. Oh, whosoever, whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name. Hey, they shall be saved. Whosoever, I'm calling on you. Whosoever calls on your name. They shall be saved. They shall be saved. Oh, oh, oh yeah.

Hallelujah. We serve a God who is the firm foundation. And we get to sing to him right now. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand when everything around me is shaken. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. Come on, somebody. So I won't give in. He won't. Oh, oh, oh. He won't. Sing. I've still got joy in chaos. I've got peace that makes no sense. So I won't be going under I'm not held by my own shame Cause I built my life on Jesus He's never let me down He's faithful in every season So I would eat So I would eat well He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail He won't He won't He won't fail

He won't fail Christ is my firm foundation The rock The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shared I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus He's never let me down He's never let me down He's faithful He's faithful through generations So I would eat well So I would eat well He won't He won't He won't He won't fail He won't fail So right now maybe we can put our hope in that God who's never lost a battle We can put our faith in He that is the rock that is unmovable And our firm foundation Oh yeah We raise our voices We raise our faith We raise our faith Whoo! Say Reiki Reiki with you My house was built on I say with you

I'm gonna make it Do Reiki Reiki with you My house was built on And I say with you I'm gonna make it Reiki with you My house was built on I say with you I'm gonna make it Yes I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it through I'm standing strong I'm standing strong for you I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it through Cause my house is built on you My house is built This house is built on God My house is built on you Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaken I've never been I've never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus He's never let me down He's never let me down Faithful, faithful through death So I'm gonna leave there

So I'm gonna leave there Now, he won't He won't, yes, he won't He's never lost a battle He won't fail He never will He won't fail He won't Raise your voice and say He won't, He won't He won't fail He won't fail And the church said He won't Come on Graceway, let's continue to worship King Jesus. Can we lift our hands all over the room? We're going to sing about how God is a way maker, a miracle worker, and a promise keeper. So come on, let's posture our hearts to get ready to worship King Jesus, continue to worship him. But let's lift our hands as a sign of surrender and say, thank you, Father, for being a way maker, and a miracle worker, and a promise keeper. We worship you, we worship you You are here, moving in our midst I worship you, I worship you You are here, working in this place I worship you, I worship you You are here, moving in our midst I worship you, I worship you You are here, working in this place I worship you, I worship you You are way maker, miracle worker Promise keeper, light in the darkness My God, that is who you are You are way maker, miracle worker Promise keeper, light in the darkness My God, that is who you are You are way maker, miracle worker Promise keeper, light in the darkness My God, that is who you are You are way maker, miracle worker Promise keeper, light in the darkness My God, that is who you are Graceway, this is one of my favorite Sundays here at Graceway. It's Baptism Sunday. Our brothers and sisters, we get to witness our brothers and sisters get baptized today. So come on, let's watch some baptisms.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ Let's celebrate what the Lord is doing in this place! And in the lives of our young people! Come on, you are! ♪♫♪♫ One more time! You are! One more time! You are! One more time! One more time! You are! ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫

♪♫♪♫ And some of them, history tells us, left the faith, they compromised, and they said, man, the price tag is too high, we're not going to do this. But even the ones who stayed, man, a lot of them suffered, and a lot of them are losing hope. And there's a book in the New Testament in which Jesus could have corrected, he could have broken out the whiteboard and said, you know, we were going to do the mustard seed and kingdom of heaven thing and all that, but we're going to scrap that. Here's a new plan. He doesn't do any of those things. Rather, he gives them a fresh vision of himself. He reminds them of who he is. Before he tells them what to do, he tells them who he is, and he tells them how much he loves them. He takes that third option to restore their confidence to them. Now if you're familiar with the New Testament, maybe you're thinking about the book of Philippians, and you would be right. Maybe you're thinking about the book of 1 Peter or Hebrews, and you would be right. But I want to say to you that I think the book that is most aimed at encouraging the church in the entire New Testament is the book of Revelation. It's the book of Revelation. Now we tend to think that the book of Revelation is a book that just is aimed at satisfying our curiosity, but it wasn't. That's not why it was written. It wasn't written to scratch the itch of curiosity. It was written to sustain the courageousness of the early church. And the book doesn't say that life is going to get easy. The book does say, this is Jesus, he wins. And so you can endure, and you can be faithful, and if you're anything like me, it might come as a surprise to you that the most encouraging book in the New Testament is the book of Revelation.

And I would say that that is because we don't understand the book of Revelation. So today, I want to teach you the Bible, and as I do, I want to teach you how to handle the Bible when you study it. The Bible tells us a lot of different ways to engage with the word of God, but one of them is that we need to study it, but you need to know how to study it. And so if you are into that, we're going to have a lot of fun today, and if you are not into that, then I pray that God saves you by his grace, amen? Alright, OK. So how do we do this? First off, let's just let the book of Revelation say to us what it is, and it tells us that it's three things. If you have a Bible, get over to Revelation chapter 1. The first thing is that the book of Revelation is an apolytic, you know what I mean, right? It is a book about the apocalypse, alright? When we think about the apocalypse, we tend to think about kind of this dystopian, maybe a little bit of a horror movie, it's the apocalypse, okay? That's not what the word means. The word means an unveiling. And so the book of Revelation, God pulls back the curtain on the otherworldly and gives us his perspective on the trajectory of history, why? So that our thinking can be shaped, so that our living can be shaped. So the first is it is an apocalyptic, whoo, come on somebody, I did it, I did it. Let's pray in Jesus' name, alright, yeah. It's an apocalyptic book. The second is it's a prophetic book, and this is in verse 3, and there are two elements of prophecy. The first is forth-telling. It's just simply God's assessment of the present. Most good preaching is prophetic forth-telling. This is what God said.

Come under the authority of God. But there's the other part of prophecy, which is foretelling, which is just to predict what comes next. So apocalyptic, prophetic, forth-telling, and foretelling all show up in the book of Revelation. And then the third is the simplest, and the one that for some reason we tend to ignore the most, and that is that it's a letter. It's a letter written to real people in real places. Because of that, the book of Revelation needs to be read literarily, which means we need to understand the context of the audience. We need to understand the intent of the author. We need to understand the genre of the book, and the genre moves within the book, rather than saying I'm just going to take a literal reading of the book of Revelation, because a lot of us don't have the cultural understanding to literally read the book of Revelation so we bring our culture to the book of Revelation. The third, because it is a letter, we have to understand that in order for the letter to be received by real people in real places, it had to have made sense to them. And so, when you read the book of Revelation, you go, that doesn't make any sense. It did make sense to them. And so, to understand the book, we have to understand this is apocalyptic. It is prophetic. And it is a letter written to seven churches in Asia Minor in the first century. The whole book is written to those seven churches. There's a three-fold application of the book, which is what makes the book so complicated. Apocalyptic, prophetic, and a letter. The only other book that's close to this in terms of complexity is the book of Daniel, which is apocalyptic, prophetic, and narrative. Most have two. Two have three in the Bible. Say amen if you're tracking with me.

And so, the book of Revelation tells us what it is. We ought to just understand and read it to get some clarity. And then I want to teach you a little bit about four ways that you can read the book of Revelation. You can read it like it's a book about the past, it's a panoramic book, it's a symbolic book, or it's a book about the future. And I'm going to unpack them for you here real quickly. First is this idea that the book of Revelation is a book about the past. If you go to seminary, this is a preterist position. You can be a full preterist or a partial preterist. That will be on the test on Wednesday, all right? In this book, this perspective means that a preterist believes that most or all of the judgments or visions were substantially fulfilled in the first century. Like it already happened. Largely around the Jewish war and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 50. Now here's what's good about a preterist position is that Revelation 1 and verse 3 says that the time is near. The book says, I'm telling you about things that are going to happen soon, and it probably doesn't mean 2,200 years later. And so there's this overemphasis on the time is near. The problem with the preterist position is that a full preterist believes that everything in the book of Revelation has already occurred. It's already in the past, including the second coming, to which I say I really, really, really hope that that is not true. Because if the second coming has come and this is heaven, I want a refund, right? Yeah. And so luckily, the full preterist position has been wildly debunked throughout church history. It's not what the Bible says. A partial preterist, I think, has some strong points to it.

The reason that I don't agree with a partial preterist is that they believe that in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem fell, that is the apocalyptic event. So they have to move the writing of the book of Revelation to the A.D. 60s. I don't think that's when it was written. I think it was written in the A.D. 90s by John in exile under the Emperor Domitian. So the timing gets a little bit off. Second way to read the book of Revelation is a panoramic view. This is a hysteresis. I did it in the first service, and I'll do it in the third. I need y'all to pray in Jesus' name against the demons in my tongue right now, all right? This is a historical point of view. It reads the symbolic as panoramic, a sequential prophecy of church history. From the first century to the end of the age, the ten identifying historical figures, the empires, the institutions, the beasts, and the judgments. Now here's what's good about a panoramic point of view. It was connected to the Reformation. That's when it was largely viewed. Here's what's bad, is this symbolic view tended to have a Euro-centric perspective. So the Reformation happened in Europe, so the way that they were connecting dots between the book of Revelation and their time period was in Europe. And this is where the idea that the Antichrist is the Pope came from. Some of you good Baptists have this idea that the Roman Catholic Church and its head, the Pope, is the Antichrist, and you think y'all came up with that. No, no, no. The reformers came up with that in the Middle Ages because they read the book of Revelation through a panoramic lens. Thirdly, is symbolic. This is what's called an idealist, and this reads the book of Revelation as a vision of timeless, ongoing, cosmic conflict between God and evil, between the church and the world, and it's applicable to every generation.

So the symbols in the book of Revelation can apply to any time, but we all end up the same place with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now there's some strengths to this because the book of Revelation has a lot of symbols. There's some negatives to this in that the explanation tends to be vague and step over times when the book is clearly literal. or talking about historic events, and it tends to understate future prophetic events that show up. Are you with me? So past, panoramic, symbolic, and then fourthly is future, a futurist. And this understands most or all of the book of Revelation 4 and on to be in the future. Some even think that Revelation 2 and 3 are symbolic references to future church ages. And so this is somebody who's taking their position and applying it even when it doesn't really make sense to apply it. Now here's the strength in a futurist position is that the book talks about prophecy, says it is prophecy, and this position takes that seriously. Here's what's negative about it. It does something called newspaper exegesis, which is to basically look at current events and take the book of Revelation and go, oh, so Donald Trump or Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Yeah. It's a perspective of looking at the world in which you connect dots to your context, into your culture, and think, oh, that bug is actually a helicopter. Right? Okay. So the best interpretation, I think, of the book of Revelation is a little more eclectic. It's a posture more than it is a position. So I'll give it to you this way. Revelation 2 and 3, which we're going to look at, is both preterist and idealist. It is both in the past and symbolic. Here's what I mean. These are seven real churches with churches full of people, churches in a place, and they are not indicative of, Jesus is not giving us code about churches that are going to show up in the future. So let me tell you how I've heard it. I've heard that we are living in the Laodicean church age. No, we're not. There's no such thing as the Laodicean church age. There's a church in Laodicea that has some applications to us, but Jesus isn't talking to John and saying, let me tell you about a church in Missouri in 2026 through a place called Laodicea. No, he's talking to a church in Laodicea, in modern day Turkey. It's preterist. It is past. And he's talking to us about seven churches that have things like cooling love for Jesus, compromise, fear, self-sufficiency, problems that existed then and now. And so we read these letters in two ways at once. A thing that already happened, and as a mirror held up to us so that we can learn from history because we know what we learn from history is that we don't,

yeah, we don't learn from history. Okay. So Revelation 4 through 22, are y'all still with me? Okay. Revelation 4 through 22 has been disagreed on by Jesus-loving Bible-believing saints for centuries. But let me give you three ways to understand the book of Revelation to kind of keep you out of the ditch. The first is I'm concerned with theologies that start with ideas outside of the text and look for places to put them into the text instead of letting the book tell you what it intends to tell you. I'm going to give you two ways that this shows up, and I'm probably going to get emails on both of them. And as long as you sign it, I'm here for it. All right? If you don't sign it, I'm not going to read it. But here's the deal. Here's one thing that we do. We take our geopolitics, particularly around Israel, and we say the political state of Israel, especially around things like wars and that kind of deal, what do I do with this God when I read the book of Revelation? Where does it go? Instead of coming to the book of Revelation and asking if the text intends to find a place for you to put it. So if you don't come to the text first, if you bring your thing first, you're going to look for a spot to put it in. So we do it with our geopolitics, and I see this everywhere. The other place that we do it is we take certain theologies, and I'm going to give you one, and I'm for sure going to get an email on this. The rapture. So we go, God, when's the point at which we get sucked into the sky so we don't have to go through the tribulation? Where is that? Right? You know, like all the other places in the Bible where God keeps his saints from suffering. Oh yeah, I don't know any of those either, but whatever. And to be honest with you, you look it up and see if I'm right. The place that somebody who holds the rapture, the place that they put it is in the period at the end of chapter three. And if that were true, I would imagine that the apostle John would at least have made that period a little bit bigger, because there's a whole lot in that period. You get what I'm saying? Or you brought your thing to the text and went, where do I put this? Instead of going, is it in the text? Is it in the text? Secondly, I'm getting emails for sure. Come on somebody. Secondly, is I struggle with perspectives

that lack understanding of church history. Like, oh, the Pope is the Antichrist. Did you come up with that? No, it's in the Bible. Really? Nope. No, it's not. Well, there's a city with some hills and... Go on. I don't know, I just know it's in the Bible. No, you don't know that it's in the Bible. You had somebody tell you that it was in the Bible who didn't tell you that the reformers were the ones who came up with that because they were trying to reform the Catholic church whose head was the Pope, yeah. And so I'm just saying, if you believe something, you ought to at least know where it comes from. And if you don't understand where it comes from, then you probably don't understand what you believe or why the people who believed it actually believed it. And we got a lot of Christians running around not knowing what they believe or not knowing why they believe what they believe. And you come to a book like Revelation and you're gonna get exposed really quickly with that. Thirdly, is I struggle with theologies that are young and contextualized by current events first and the first century second. Remember, this is a letter to real people

in the first century. This is not a letter primarily to you and I. And so when I take my world and impose it onto the text, I'm going to mess up the text and my understanding of the text. When I start with their world and their understanding of the text, I'm gonna have some things that I need to learn, but I'm gonna get a clear understanding. And I'll say this, throughout church history, those four perspectives, the futurist position is by far the youngest, by far the youngest. And it is also the position most widely held in the United States. And let me just say this about young theology. I am suspect of young theology, especially if it's 10 toes down, because what you are saying is, the position that I hold was not held for 1800 years by saints who went before me, but I am right and they are what? I'm not saying they're wrong. You know, you're just saying you're right and they didn't even think of what you think is right. So I'm not saying that young theology in and of itself is wrong, but I am saying that if you have a young theology, you ought to know where it comes from and you ought to know how it corrects theologies gone by,

and you ought to hold all of it with greater humility than many of us do. So revelation was written for them, first century Asia minor, back then, and it is written for us right now, Raytown, Missouri, 2026. Both things are true at the same time. It aims to encourage and bring clarity, not confuse and create fear, then and now. And whatever conclusion we reach on the book of Revelation, if we leave Revelation more fearful than faithful and more confused than clear, we have probably missed its primary pastoral purpose. Are you with me? So open up your Bible to Revelation chapter one, and let's just let the text tell us what it is. Revelation chapter one, if you don't have a Bible, go to the next step, says, we'd love to give you one. So the source of the revelation shows up immediately, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. In other words, this is a revelation from God the Father given to Jesus Christ, who was about to give it to the apostle John. The purpose is to show to his servants the things which must soon take place. And so God the Father gives it to Jesus, Jesus gives it to John to say to the seven churches that are its recipients, hey, this is what is about to happen. And then we see the first of seven beatitudes

in the book of Revelation, the first blessing, blessed is the one who reads aloud the word of prophecy, who hears it and who keeps what is written. And so John's assumption is that this revelation, this book is going to be read in church. So Pastor Kanji is gonna lead us, you're gonna dance, then we're gonna see some baptisms, then we're gonna take the offering, then we're gonna pray, and then I'm gonna stand up and I'm gonna go. Revelation, not chapter one because it doesn't have that, Revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ, and that's church. And the assumption is that as I am reading, you are listening. And that as you are listening, you are deciding if you are going to keep what is written. In other words, the word of God gets read, you understand the word of God, and you intend to obey the word of God, which means that clarity is assumed. So if you get to the end of the book of Revelation, you go, what was that? You don't have the clarity to act on. But the first century church would have read this letter and gone, got it, we'll do it. That's how off we are around this. The greeting is John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of kings on earth. And then John gets a little theologically excited and begins to tell us some things about Jesus. He comes to verse nine, he says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the isle of Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. And so we know that John is in exile under the emperor Demetian at this point on an island

called Patmos. We know that he was in Ephesus after Jerusalem was destroyed. He goes to Ephesus, he's thrown into exile by Demetian, goes to the island of Patmos where he receives this revelation. After Demetian dies, he goes back to Ephesus where he pastors the church in Ephesus, the book of Ephesians, until the day that he dies. And so he says, this revelation is from God given to Jesus. It is to let us know what is about to come. Blessed are you if you listen when it is read out loud and obey it. I, John, speaking on behalf of Jesus, let me tell you some things about Jesus. I, John, your boy, John, your partner in suffering and in struggle and in patience and endurance, I, John, writing to you from exile, give you an account of the word of God. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, which I hope you are right now, on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it, where? To the seven churches. Which churches? To Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Do you see why these can't be future prophetic references? You can't send a letter to 2026. These are real places. Write what you see in this revelation. Write it down, send it to them so they can read it in church, keep it, and obey it. The vision is that I see the voice. See the voice. Huh, that's interesting. How do you see a voice? It's kind of like when in John chapter one, same author, describes Jesus as the word of God.

That's the way you see a voice, when the voice is a person. So he turns around to see the voice that was speaking, and turning, I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands, one like the son of man. And that describes him, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a service, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. And in his right hand, he held seven stars, and his mouth was a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining at full strength. And John's reaction is when I saw him, I fell at his feet like I was dead. You know how I know that you have been in the presence of God? Your nose is crooked. Some of y'all walking around with straight noses, acting like you've been in the presence of God. No, you ain't, because every now and again, when you see God for who he is, you're not like, what's up? So John turns around and sees the glorified king. And before he can say anything. He's like a tree cut down. And the Bible says that Jesus reaches down and lays his right hand on him. I love this. Hey, my guy. And says, Fear not. I am the first and I am the last. I am the living one. I died. It's true. I did. But behold, look at it. I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death in Hades. Write therefore. Get your pen out. Wake up. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. You're embarrassing me in front of my friends. Write the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place.

And as for the mystery, the seven stars that you saw in my hand, let me explain it to you. And the seven golden lampstands, the golden stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. You got it? You see, part of the reason we don't understand the book of Revelation is that we let somebody else explain it to us on YouTube. Just read it. Just read it. Just slow down and just read it. And a lot of times it explains itself to you. Okay, so here's my question. Why does the book of Revelation start like this? Why doesn't it just get into the good stuff? Right? Here's why. Because discouraged people don't primarily need more information. They need a revelation. If you're trying to minister to somebody, can I tell you, your greatest ministry is the ministry of your presence, not of your wit and wisdom spoken at great length to them. I'm trying to help you. You go to the hospital. You don't need to figure out what you need to say. You just need to sit. Because the thing that we need when we are discouraged is not another Bible study. What we need is an encounter with the risen Christ. And so the book of Revelation says, I know you're struggling. Before I tell you what comes next, get your eyes on to Jesus. That's the thing that's going to help. Now, the book of Revelation should be read with the Old Testament open beside it. The three predominant books are Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. And can I tell you, part of the reason we struggle with Revelation is we struggle with Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. We're cool with Daniel and the lion's den. We're cool with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. But you get to chapter 7 and it gets a little weird. Are you with me? What is happening? Let's go back to the fiery furnace. Have you read the book of Ezekiel? It's confusing at jump. Have you read the book of Isaiah? No, you haven't because it's long. And so you got three reference points, none of which you have read. And then you come to the book of Revelation with Fox News on the background going, or CNN or NBC. Okay. And you wonder why you're getting lost. So John, please don't miss this.

John is not seeing or inventing new images. That's not what the book of Revelation is. John is not seeing an Apache helicopter. He is seeing something in Daniel, Ezekiel, or Isaiah. He's seeing something old, not something new. He's gathering hundreds of years of Old Testament revelation and he's saying, everything the prophet saw, everything Israel longed for, everything scripture anticipated has a face and a name. And he's standing behind me. His name is Jesus. Thirdly, because the answer to every question in your heart is Jesus. Let me show it to you. You remember all the descriptions that I gave you about the vision of Jesus? Here's a question. This is a real question. The world is crazy. What is happening? What should we do? Look to Jesus, who with white hair like lamb's wool, like snow. Well, what does that mean? The eternality, the deity, the wisdom of God. The world is crazy. What should we do? Look to Jesus. Look at his hair. Eternal God wisdom. You got it? I think so. Does God see us? Does God see me? Look at Jesus with eyes like fire. Perfect knowledge. Yeah, but does evil win? Look at Jesus with bronze feet refined in fire, the picture of ultimate strength and stability. Does evil win? Look at Jesus ten toes down. But who should we listen to? Listen to Jesus with voice like roaring waters, supreme authority. Anyone else's voice sound like that? No? But what if we get abandoned? Look at Jesus with seven stars in his hand, the sovereign care for and protection of the church. And not in his left hand, in his punching hand. Come on somebody. In this hand. The churches are in his hand. Yeah, but will Jesus win? Look at him with a sword coming out of his mouth, the power of his word to judge and to conquer. Yeah, but is there anyone better than Jesus? Look at him with face like the sun at full strength. Let me put it in simpler terms for you. When life feels chaotic, when evil feels strong out there and in here, when I'm afraid, when I'm overwhelmed, when I feel weak and the church seems anemic, when death feels inevitable and final, look at Jesus. See the vision of Jesus in Revelation chapter one, it isn't actually an introduction. Jesus doesn't randomly introduce characteristics of himself. When he gets to Revelation two and three, he takes characteristics of himself and applies them to the church. Which means that in thinking about what the church

needs, it doesn't need a new auditorium with nicer chairs. It doesn't need a bigger LED screen. It doesn't need better lights. It doesn't need better curriculum. It doesn't need hotter coffee. It needs who Jesus is. The answers to the problems that plague your heart and the answers that plague church history and the church today is not that we need other things, it's that we need someone. And his name is Jesus. When I read through the book of Revelation, I feel to some degree like I am sitting in algebra class. And the teacher is writing a long equation on the board, lots of symbols and lots of numbers, and then she gets done and she says, what is X? And I remember saying, I don't care. Wake me up when this is over. But do you know, the Bible and the book of Revelation is sort of like this. What about this? What about this? What is X? Jesus. All the time. To every question, to every circumstance, to every need. Is it more complicated than that? It's deeper than that, but it's not more complicated than that. This is sort of like if you grew up in church and you went to Sunday school and the teacher would call on you and you weren't paying attention and they would ask you a question you don't know the answer to and you would mumble to yourself, Jesus? That's correct. All this time, you were feeling ashamed and embarrassed. All this time, Miss Sandy was guilt-tripping you because you hadn't done your homework. And all this time, you were right! Jesus is the answer! It's unbelievable! Take that, Miss Sandy! Why does the book start this way? Because this is the answer. Before I tell you what comes next, listen, you can't face what is coming until you see who's going with you. And the first command that Jesus speaks to John when John falls like a tree in front of him, he puts his right hand on him and he doesn't say, man, I really wish you had better doctrine. He doesn't say, hey, I'm going to give you some predictions so you you can prepare, what's he say? Don't be afraid, I'm here. Come on, don't miss that. The church's confidence has never rested in its ability to decode prophecy.

It rests in the risen Christ who walks among his people, reigns over earthly powers, holds the keys of death and hell itself, who says, I'm here, you don't have to be afraid. Yeah, but what about, yeah, but what if, yeah, but, no, no, no. Look at me, look, look, look, look at me. I'm here. I'm here, church. Look at me, I'm here. I know what the doctor said, I'm here. I know what you put on the post-it note, I saw it, I'm here. I know that you, that you're wanting something that you think that you need, but I've answered you, I'm here. What's interesting is that in the vision, Jesus holds seven stars in his hand. I'm not talking like gold stars, I'm talking like stars. What's your God hold? My hold stars, no big deal, you know? And new scholars believe that those stars, messengers are pastors. And I think that that's silly, and I am one. Historically, scholars have believed that those stars were actual angels that were connected to each church. In fact, in Revelation 2 and 3, it says to the angel of the church in Smyrna,

to the angel of the church in Thyatira, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, to the angel of the church in Raytown. What Jesus is saying is that there is a angel who is assigned to us. And whether I am wrong and the stars are pastors, or I am right and the stars are churches, they are all the same place in the hand of God. And not in his left hand, in his punching hand, come on somebody. And so no matter what you're facing, if you are in Jesus and you are in the church, you know where you are. I am in the hand of God. And as Jesus is seen by his best friend, the apostle John, he is walking in the midst of seven lampstands. This is not the menorah, a one lamp with seven branches. This is seven lampstands. And he says the lampstands are churches. Why? Because the job of the church is to produce light. And John says that as I saw the son of man with eyes of fire, with a sword coming out of his mouth, with a voice of roaring water, with hair like snow, with a priestly sash, with feet like bronze, he was walking in the midst of the churches. And this simultaneously does two things to me. On one hand, it humbles me that Jesus, the King, is here. Amen.

Moving in our midst. On the other hand, it scares me because the King is here, moving in our midst. And if Revelation 2 and 3 are to be believed, not only is he in our midst, but he sees with eyes of fire and he knows and he gives an account of each church. And I wonder as he walks through our lobby, I wonder as he stands in our auditorium when we sing I wonder, as he watches the buckets pass and listens to the sermon, I wonder what he would say about Graceway. Over the next seven weeks, we're going to humble ourselves before God and before God's Word, and we're going to let him teach us about some churches in history and hold a mirror up to us. As he walks among us, holding us in his hands to make us whatever he wants us to be, for his glory and for our good. Father, we come before you and we thank you for the book of Revelation. We thank you for your grace to us. We thank you for the encouragement. We thank you for the vision of the King. We thank you that we are in his hand. We thank you that he is here with us. And at the same time, at the same time, on one hand grateful, on the other hand terrified. God, are you pleased? God, are you blessed? God, are you ministered to? God, are you exalted? God, are you obeyed? God, are you worthy in this church? Lord, I imagine that the answer is in some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. And I pray, Lord, over the next seven weeks as we study your word, empowered by your Holy Spirit, and a book that can be intimidating, that you will encourage us, that you will clarify to us,

that we will hear and we will keep so that we can be blessed and give you what you deserve. We love you and we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.