the testimony of Jesus Christ. Lord, I thank you for your word. Thank you for the privilege to be able to worship you through song, Lord, through vocally praising your name and lifting you up. Thank you, dear God, for letting us see one another and have fellowship. You said truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, you told us to fellowship one with another. God, I pray that you will walk among us, for you said where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, and Lord, our eyes are upon you. And I pray, God, you'd speak to every heart. Lord, you know the nature and the need of every soul. Quicken us according to your love and kindness. We'll thank you for what you do in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. All right, I wanna preach tonight on this subject. Amen and amen. The old black preacher in California said, some of you folk think that amen is for country people that don't have any sense. But he said the definition of amen is, you know what's going on. So if you don't know what's going on, Just don't say amen. You say, I don't believe in amen. Well, neither did the Laodiceans. So the Lord introduced himself to them over in chapter number three, by saying unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, saith the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation Jesus Christ. He wasn't there because he was a criminal or he had broken God's law nor man's law, but he was there for the word of God's sake. There'll be times when you, for the word of God's sake, will find yourself too abandoned like John was. He said, I was there on the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Because I testified and I honored him, Roman government said he was against me and cast me out. And simply because you have the testimony that Jesus Christ is your Lord and your Savior, you're gonna wind up on the Isle of Patmos sometime along the way. Now you may not be on a physical Isle of Patmos, But as God's children, if you believe the word of God, if you have the testimony of Jesus Christ, you are gonna find yourself on some islands along the way. It may be on a social island. And many a people that's gotten saved and thought everybody's gonna be glad that I got born again, I'm saved, washed in the blood. But not everybody's gonna be happy about that. I got saved on a Wednesday night, Thursday morning. I came up Green River Road, where I lived at. My buddy was coming down the road, I was coming up, I rolled down the window, and I said, hey, James, guess what happened to me last night? He said, what? I said, I got saved. He said, huh, right down the road he went, and he dodged me for the next three years. He didn't want anything to do with me, and all I did was told him I got saved. But you see, that testimony is like light. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. And it's like turning the light on, cockroaches run everywhere. I didn't have to worry about my old buddies. They abandoned me. I wasn't smart. I wasn't ugly. I loved them. I wanted to try to get them all saved. But socially, sometimes you'll be pushed out. We have young people, especially young ladies, that are afraid to really go with God because, oh, what will they think? What will she think? What will he think? Young men have the same, and the moms and the dads, all of us, we have a tendency to be pressured by our peers, but if you go with God, you're gonna wind up on some of these islands sometimes socially. Sometimes it might be physically. You're fit as a fiddle right now, but one little blood vessel burst in your skull, up in your brain, and you have a stroke, and you'll be confined to home, maybe a wheelchair, maybe bed fast, and maybe a time when you were able to go to the house of God, but now you're not able to go. There are many people like that. My mom and dad, in their latter years, they loved God. They was there every time the doors were open, because of physical infirmity, they found themselves on an aisle of patents. It may be a financial situation. I've known men that have loved God, took their stand for the Lord. Then when it came time for a promotion, the boss promoted that drunk or that one they were running around with over the top of you, though you'd been there longer and you deserved the promotion, you didn't get it. and you seem like you're on an isle, which is called Patras. Well, what happens when you get on this isle of Patras? You get down and out, get discouraged, you get depressed, you can throw up your hands, you can get bitter, you can blame God, you can question God, you can say, why me? Why do I have to go through all of this? I don't understand these fiery trials that are to try me. Or you can do what John the Beloved did on the Isle of Patmos. Look in verse number 10. He said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice. The Lord met with John on the Isle of Patmos. He got in the Spirit on the Lord's day. He remembered the Lord. Just because they kicked him out, he didn't kick out on God. And the Bible says, draw nigh unto me, and I'll draw nigh unto you. And there's some of you thinking, you know, because I've been kicked out, I'm gonna get bitter, I'm gonna back away, I'm gonna back off. That's the worst thing you can do. Draw nigh unto God. The Bible says resist the devil, but it also says you've got to draw near to God, and it says that he will flee. Well, while on this isle of Patmos, the Lord begins to minister to John, And Shaw has three great amens on this island. And I want you to look at these reasons that he was able to say amen. It'll be the reason that you'll be able to say amen, regardless of what territory you're on. Look in your Bible now to verse number five and six. It says that from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins and his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. The first thing that he said amen to was the redeeming program of God. Now John's on the Isle of Patmos, but guess who knows where he's at? The Lord Jesus. They sent mail through the Royal Mail to Ephesus to John, and they began to get their mail back and saying, no longer at this address, no forwarding address available. They didn't have a mail ship run out there and deliver John mail on the Isle of Patmos. Nobody could get to it. His loved ones, his church, nobody could get to John. He's isolated at this point. And there are times when God's people feel like they are isolated and that nobody can get to them. But I love verse number five, it said, and from Jesus Christ, guess who could get to him? Jesus. Guess who knows where you're at tonight? Jesus. From Jesus. That word Jesus means our Savior. And just to hear the word Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, is to lift our hearts up. His name shall be called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. He is our Savior. Do you remember meeting Jesus, the Savior, experiencing His redeeming grace, His mercy and His goodness when He came into your heart and He saved your soul? You've never met Jesus and I tell people, I told a fellow this today, that I got saved when I was 18 years old. God called me to preach and I've just been traveling around the world ever since telling people how good Jesus Christ is. And boy, I'm so glad that he met me and I met him and I know him. He's my Lord Jesus. And then he said, John, I am the Christ, the Christ. This is not a Roman God that's hatched out of some man's philosophy or some imagination, a man's mind. He's the Christ. They are the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Christ, meaning the anointed Messiah, the one that fulfilled all those scriptures from the garden of Eden all the way down those 4,000 years, the Lord Jesus fulfilled every one in magnificent detail, from being the seed of the woman, the virgin-born Son of God, to living the perfect life, to opening the eyes of the blind, to raising the dead, to doing all that the scripture said that he should. Born in the right place, born in the right lineage, born at the right time. And I could spend hours tonight just looking at the roadmap of what the Messiah had to do and how they had to fulfill it. And guess who fills the bill to the minute detail? His name is Jesus the Christ. John, you know who I am. I am the Christ. And then he said, who is the faithful witness? Now, Brother John was able to pin this in the Gospel of John, the faithful witness of Jesus. Jesus said, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world. I know we have the nabbit and blabbit crowd, the help and wealth and all of that, but we'll tell you, you go with God, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Paul said, I suffer trouble as an evildoer. And you're not going to go agob without going against the grain of this world. Before, you were just an old dead stick floating down the stream, but now you're saved, and you're like a live salmon that's kicking against the current. The whole world's pressing against you, but you're going against it, and there'll be waterfalls in your life, and there'll be times that are very hard, but I'm glad, thank God, that he witnessed it. He told me what I was to expect, and he told you what to expect, so don't be blindsided. Peter said, Frankie, not strange. concerning the fiery trials which are to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. Oh, this is weird, this is strange. I didn't sign up for this. It's about like a soldier saying, oh man, I didn't sign up for this. I didn't think I'd have to fight. If you're a soldier, you just gotta expect it. And if you're saved, you've gotta expect that too. Then the Lord said, I'm the first begotten of the dead. The dead, how'd he die? With nurses and doctors around him as he laid on a feathery, a down mattress? No. Died a death like nobody else has ever died. He suffered like nobody's ever suffered. He said, John, you'll never go through anything that I haven't already been through it. I've been tempted as all points, like as you are, yet without sin. And if you look, you'll find the footprints of Jesus has already been down that trail of trouble that you're gonna face, and he'll leave handfuls of honey and grace all along the way. And then he said, I'm the prince of the kings of the earth. Sure, the devil said, oh, John, yeah, God's in charge. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all that the Lord said, hang on. They may be kings, but I'm the prince of the kings of the earth. And in our troubles and on our Isle of Patmoses, we need to recognize that God's still on the throne. You may not know why you're going through what you're going through, but I promise you that God has got a plan and a purpose that's beyond anything you and I could ever imagine or ever think. The very backbone of Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose. The very backbone of that is that God is on the throne and nothing ever takes Him by surprise. He still rules and He still reigns, hallelujah. I had to make my radio broadcast a month ahead when I came over here. I didn't know how the election was gonna turn out in America, and I knew how I wanted it to, but I couldn't say for certain how it was going to. So this past week, and even today, I gave verses and chapters in the Psalms about how our God reigns, and though the heaven and earth be shaken, God's still on the throne. And for Friday's broadcast, I said, I'm gonna let Nebuchadnezzar speak. Nebuchadnezzar, after he'd gone out and he'd grasped for that time and then raised his head, he said, the Most High God ruleth over the affairs of men. God returned his sanity. And Nebuchadnezzar was dressed and put back on his throng. He called all the world together, the leader of the then known world, and he gave his great oops speech. He said, I, Nebuchadnezzar, want to extol and magnify God. He said, he giveth the kingdom to whomsoever he wills, and the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as to him. He said, God's on the throne. It wasn't my battle that I built. It's God that's on the throne. One thing that'll help you when you're on an isle of Patmos to know that God's still on the throne. He's always there. Hallelujah. And then he tells Pope John, that he is not only the prince of the kings of the earth, but he said unto him that loved us. When you get on an isle of Patras, the devil's gonna say, God don't love you. If God loved you, you wouldn't be going through what you're going through. I'll tell you, God's love to us is not a daisy love. You know what a daisy flower is? We used to pick on when I was a boy, you'd be in love with some old gal and she didn't even know you existed. We'd take that daisy and we'd start picking the petals off. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. Give me another flower. I don't know what it's not like. He loves us with an everlasting love. Stella approached this dear old lady one time, said, do you mean to tell me that Jesus loved you before you was ever born? She said, why, sure, sonny, because if he'd have waited till I got here, he'd have never loved me. Amen. He has an everlasting love toward us unto him that loved us. And I want to tell you, sometimes As God's child, you just need to concentrate on His love and how He did love. How much did He love us? He spread His hands out, put the nails in His hands, and said, I love you this much. I was preaching in Antigua, and it's over on the Grace Farm side of the island, not the tourist side. It was the rough side. We had a tent meeting going on. And one of the pastor's wives, Miss Johnson, asked me, said, Would you like to go with us in the morning and preach at an insane asylum? I said, well, I've been preaching at Baptist churches all these years. I guess I should. And so loaded up, headed over there. When we got on the grounds, it was a humongous place and people were everywhere. And they were pulling bugs out of the sky. They were doodling and slobbering and doing what crazy people do. We got out and Miss Johnson handed this fella a 300-page book of poetry, and he gave her another one back, and he said, Marla, I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Yeah, come out with insanity, insanity. I said, okay. We went on in, they had probably 100 people there. They got them all seated in this auditorium and they sang a song or two. I got up to preach and I'm preaching, man, they wasn't paying me a lick of attention. Head doodling, pulling bugs out, slobbering, all that, you know, and I'm preaching along. I said, this is not going anywhere. And then it hit my heart and I said, ♪ Jesus loves me, this I know ♪ ♪ For my heart and my soul ♪ Focused in and they started singing the chorus with it. ♪ Jesus loves me, this I know ♪ We sung the whole song and it was like sanity hit that crowd. I mean, every one of them just focused in on that. I said, you know, sometimes it's the fact that he loves us that'll bring us to that sanity. Because the devil tell you God don't love you. He said, what else can I do to show you that I love you? For God so loved the world. God loved the church, but Paul said, what I like is Christ loved me and gave himself for me. And he loves you. I finished singing, they went right back to doing everything that they do, you know? But for a moment of time, concentrates on the love of God, it brought them synergies. That song, it talks about the love of God, the name of it's the love of God. The last line was pinned on an asylum room wall. Could we rethink the ocean field and were the skies of parchment made? For every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Oh, love of God, how rich, how pure. I don't know how crazy that man was, but seemed like he had a little sanity about concentrating on the love of God, unto him that loved us. And the Bible says that he washed us from our sins in his own blood. John, God's getting even with you, boy. That's why you're here. The Lord said, hold on, John. That don't have anything to do with you. You've been washed from your sins in my blood. They are gone. Far as the east is from the west, he has no records of them. He was there for a greater purpose. He didn't know what the purpose was, but we know it was to let him Maria, write the book of Revolution. It would be a blessing to us. But we need to be remembering that he's washed us from our sins in his own blood. And he said, on top of that, Johns, I know the devil's telling you you're nothing, you're nothing. You're a second-rate citizen. If you think any better, you wouldn't be going through this. The Lord said, hang on. You are a king, and you are a priest in my economy. I made you royalty. And I give you your praying lessons. They may cut your tongue out. They may put you in an isolated prison, but you can still pray and commune to God because of the priesthood of every believer. Man, John's on this Isle of Patmos, but you know what he does now? He says, well, to him be glory forever. And then he says, amen. Can I get an Australian amen out of this crowd over God's redeeming program? Can you say amen one time? Thank God it means I agree. I know what's going on and you have the right in the morning because your name's written in the book of life to say amen, amen. I rejoice in you. You're talking about Jubilee now. You want a Jubilee that's steadfast? One that's not like a weather thermometer in the spring or the summer, up and down. One that'll spend the past year rejoicing is the fact that you concentrate with the helmet of salvation. My name's in the book, I'm saved by the grace of God, that's never gonna change. And if nothing else ever happens, praise God, I am saved. Or we can say amen. I'm held up at another thought, verse number seven. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also is pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, John says, amen, amen. I like it, Lord, I agree with it. Truly, truly, it is so. Now he's talking about his return plans. Behold, he cometh. Jesus said, if I go away, I will come again. And this is broke down in the two aspects of his second coming. It's broke down into his rapture and then the revelations. First he says he come up with clouds. We read over in Thessalonians how that when Christ comes and catches us away, that we're gonna be caught up together with him in the clouds. For this we're saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be called up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's called the catching away. Or another title is the rapture of the church. Somebody said, I don't believe in the rapture. The word rapture's not in the Bible. Did you know the word Bible's not in the Bible either? Well, you know what he's talking about. That word called away means to rapture. It's the same as ain't it what we're God and it was not. Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11 that he was translated, that he should not see death. That means called away, raptured out. And that's the next event on God's prophetical calendar. and I believe that we're coming down to the closing moments of the times of the church age. But then he says, secondly, I'm gonna come where everyone will see me, and the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of me. There'll be a nation born in a day, and we find that's gonna happen over in Revelation chapter number 19, and this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is not the thief in the night. He's coming back as King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True. And said in righteousness let thee judge and make war as ours was a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns and he had a name written no man knew but he himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon horses clothed in fine linen and white and clean. out of his mouth drew up a sharp sword, and with it he would smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. He hath on his fester and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah. He's coming back one day to reveal himself at the end of the tribulation, and a nation will be born in a day and Israel's gonna have their eyes open, and God's gonna fulfill his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and for 1,000 years, Christ is gonna rule with a rod of iron upon this earth, and we're coming back with him, hallelujah. He's explaining this to John. No, John said, well, amen, even so. Can you say amen to the second coming of Jesus? Can you say even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. I'm looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we are living in marvelous days, wonderful days. Days that are pointing in every direction. Now it's kind of like prevail on a woman. A woman said, I don't think it's gonna be long. Okay, we'll just lay back down, darling. After a while, she says, I believe we're getting a little closer. You better be packing me a few things. Well, I don't know. And then after a while, she goes, hey, let's go. And those birthplates are getting closer and closer and closer. We felt travail for a while, but it's getting closer and closer and closer and closer all the time. Just like a puddle, the Lord said, when you see all these things, you lift up your head, your redemption draw by. And if I get up on prophecy, we'll be here for a while, amen. I believe with all my heart, according to the word of God, we're looking for signs. Did you require a sign? We're looking for the coming of the Lord, but I couldn't help but just look over the fence and say, man, if things are coming that he said was gonna come then, They're starting to come now. How much closer are we to the coming of our Lord and our Savior? Hallelujah. Can we say amen to the second coming? Jesus is God. Let's give a hearty Australian amen. Amen. All right. Now, let's look at this other amen. I said we're preaching amen, amen, and then amen. Well, Brother John in verse number 11, I want you to look at this. This is some of the most precious truths. And by the way, this book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And if you look for him, you're gonna find more titles of Jesus in Revelation than any other book in your Bible. And you're gonna see him in the end as the King, the Lord, and the Lamb of God, right on down the line. But Brother John said, he turned to see that voice that spoke to him in verse 24. Being turned, they saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, girded about the pouch with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength. And when I saw him, I felt that his feet is dead. This is John that laid his head on the bosom of Jesus. This is John that sees him now in his resurrected glory, and he describes him the best that he could with different analogies, but he says it's like the sun shining in all his strength, He said, such glory, I'll tell if his feet is dead. The Lord laid his right hand upon him, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first, and I am the last. I'm he that liveth and was then, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. John's saying amen this time. It's Jesus saying amen. And you know why he could say amen? It's because he's alive. He said, I got the keys of death and I have the keys of hell. I'm here and it was then, but now I'm alive. It's the Lord saying, amen. Confident, witnessed the job and Jesus is alive. I love to say amen to his redeeming program. I love to say amen, I believe he's coming. But I'll tell you when it gets real good is when he says, amen, in my heart. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. I will make my abode in them. And you experience the reality of God, the amen himself, is the confirming with the witness of his presence in our heart that he is alive. We walk by faith. We live by faith, we serve by faith. But every once in a while, the Lord must make himself known. Amen, I like what Brother Al Sexton Sr. used to say. He said, I get that inward unexplainableness, that outward all overness, and that divine awareness of his presence, and it feels better everywhere than it does anywhere, because I know the Lord is ministering to my heart. Boy, that's the greatest amen of all, that he witnesses to you that you are saved by the grace of God. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Hey, we're different. We're different than the idolatry. He has to move his God around. That God has ears, but he can't hear, eyes he can't see, tongue, but he can't talk. Our God's a living God. He is the Lord God Almighty, and he is real. And the last thing God told that church at Corinth was to let the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, amen. And that word communion has to be with fellowship and in joy of reality and in power. This time it's Jesus that says amen with confirmation in our heart. Fannie Crosby wrote a song, it's probably in that book, Blessed Assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. And I'll tell you, when he witnesses in your heart, it gives a confirmation that you know, that you know, that you know that you're saved. Paul said, I am persuaded. I know whom I have believed. He said, I know him, but I want to know him more, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. He's alive, he's living, he's real. That's where he says, as many as are led of the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, were led by the reality and the power of a true and a living God. So I say, amen to his divine presence. I ask you this question, does your amen need tuning up? Do you need tuning your amen up? Truly, Lord, I agree with you, Lord. I witness of that, Lord. I agree with that. I say, Amen. You can enter in with worship to him by giving him a good heart. Amen. Let's stand all over the house. I'm he that liveth and was, then behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen. And he worked with John and in John on the Isle of Thames. And he'll walk with you and he'll talk with you. We're not talking about a dead God, we're talking about a living Lord. If you're here tonight and you've never been saved by the grace of God, you look at me funny and you don't even know what I'm talking about. Jesus said, you're born of the Spirit. The Spirit of God comes in your heart. He births you into his family. And the Bible says we cry, Abba, Father, by His Spirit. There's a relationship, a real relationship you have with God. Too many people have got nothing but religion. They know nothing about the reality of a relationship with the Lord. John had one on the Isle of Patmos. He was able to say amen. Let's bow our heads and hearts Sister, I want you to come on the piano, please, ma'am. We're going to have a song here in a moment, but I want to ask you a question. Do you know you're saved? Do you know that beyond any shadow of a doubt? Is it just religion to you? Is it a social token that you come to church? Do you read his word and let him speak to you? Do you fellowship with him in prayer? Does he guide your life? It may be that you walk in a guilty distance as a child of God from Him, and you need to draw nigh unto Him. Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you. He'll draw nigh unto you in reality and in His presence. If you're here tonight and you've never been saved by the grace of God, you're interested in that same. I beseech you to slip out and make your way. Father Luke wants you to come, if you will, sir. Please, sir. The pastor's here at the front. You're here not saying, God's dealing with you. You wanna talk, you wanna pray. You've taken time, come to the house of God, the word of God's been preached, God spoke to you, why don't you respond? Why don't you respond? You can have blessing assurance, Jesus is mine. And as a result, you'll have the foretaste of glory divine. Ship against the play, our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, or raising our hands or whatever, but God spoke to your kind, and talked to the Lord tonight about anything. I beseech you to move in, do like John, he got in the spirit of the Lord today, I believe he got to one of those old rocks, and he said, Lord, I need you, I need your help. And boy, when he sought the Lord, God gave him the help, absolutely, that he did.