All right, look if you would in Revelation chapter number one. Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ chapter one. You know, one of the first things we do, I want you to think about this for a moment. How many of you ever had to put something together? Something that required instructions? Ever had to put something together that required instructions? You didn't know people read instructions? Keith Palmer, you don't read instructions? Or Pam don't read instructions? Yeah. Think about it like this. When you do read the instructions and lay your stuff out, what is one of the first things that you want to do when you take your instructions and you look at what you got? One of the smartest things to do is make sure you have everything that you need. All the pieces are there. All the pieces, it's kind of frustrating when you set out on a project that takes a little time to put together and you're missing pieces and parts. Now sometimes you can modify it, sometimes you can adjust and do what is needed, but usually the smart thing to do would be make sure you have all your stuff that's required. You look at the instructions, you count your pieces, okay? That's a good place to begin right there. We've got it all. Second thing that you'd want to make sure you have the tools to put it together. Because it's not necessarily something, some things are fairly easy and some things are more complex and you may not have the necessary tools to actually put all the right pieces in the right place. So those things are very important to examine when you are putting something together based on something that you've not put together before. You want all the pieces, you want all the tools. Life, you wanna have all the pieces together. You wanna have the key piece. You gotta have Jesus. Because at the end, when you get to the end of life, we've talked about it, we talked about it in Sunday school, how brief life is. Even the longest life, 80, 90, 100 years, is relatively short when you look on the grand scheme of things. And there's gonna be too many times people stand before at the end of their days and they stand before a holy God and they didn't have all the pieces that was needed for life. Didn't have the tools to put those things together and they just winged it and they come up empty handed. And the book of Revelation is one of those books, one of those final calls that help us To validate, we have all the key pieces to put life together and the tools to do it with. And that's why we have the title of the book of what it is. It's not just revelation, but it's the revelation of who. the revelation of Jesus Christ, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. And I'm just gonna begin reading in verse number one where it says, the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, the title taken right out of the first few words of the book itself, which God gave him, that is Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place and he, Jesus, sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near. We need all the pieces and we need the tools for life. And I'm grateful we have not only the key piece who's made himself known to us, Jesus himself, but he's equipped us to deal with life, the good and the bad, the hard and the easy, the comfortable and the convenient and the inconvenient things, the difficult days, days that we're dealing with right now in our own lives, in our own fellowship, that he's given us what we need TO FIX OUR EYES UPON HIM AND TO KEEP LOOKING TO HIM AND WALKING WITH HIM AS HE HAS GIVEN US THIS LEADERSHIP. SEVERAL SONGS WE WERE SINGING TONIGHT ALL TALKED ABOUT WHEREVER HE LEADS WE WILL FOLLOW. WE WILL FOLLOW. WE NEED HIM TO LEAD. HE'LL MAKE A WAY WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO WAY. THAT'S JUST WHAT the key piece to life does in the lives of those that are His. So this last call, this final call we see. Now I want you to imagine that for a moment. If I shared this with Mama Rob, let's say that I play the role of God the Father. Mama Rob's going to play the role of Jesus. Stephanie's gonna play the role of the angel. Miss Pat's gonna play the role of John, and then Pam's gonna play the role of the seven churches that are gonna take this word and pass it on. I'm gonna tell Mama Rob this revelation. She's gonna then go tell Stephanie, and then Stephanie's gonna go tell Miss Pat, and then Miss Pat's gonna go tell it to Pam, and then Pam's gonna spread it abroad. How many of y'all think we'd get it all messed up? Y'all think we'd get the original story that we started out with? More likely not. Stephanie said, y'all get to me. Mama Rob would get it all right and you get to me and I'm gonna mess it up from there and then she's just gonna, and Miss Pat's gonna take a little bit of what Stephanie says and she's gonna put her own twist to it and go from there. So we talking about a divine work here that God has done in this unveiling of Jesus. and showing us His servants of what and who He is. A couple of things. Revelation, that word means unveiling. The unveiling of Jesus Christ, it's like pulling back of the curtain to get a peek of what John had seen of Him who is, who was, and who is to come and what he sees as it applies to the churches and what will soon take place. I love how verse 8 says that for us. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Who is, who was, and who is to come. The Almighty, God Supreme. And as I mentioned this morning, that idea that He always starts off with that principle, who is. He is the Almighty right now. And all God's people said? He's the almighty of the past, and he's gonna be the almighty of the future, tomorrow. And we can rest in that. Man, what a comforting word that is. To know that he is, he was, and he is to come, and he's always been and always will be the almighty. He's the key piece. And we want that key piece to be our answer in life. my current situation, my covering of my past, and my future of walking in the here and now, and as we were singing earlier, the sweet by and by, amen. I want Him to be, He has to be, He must be for me that answer. And what we find in this is this pulling back of the curtain. God's allowing us to see Jesus. It's a prophetic view of who the Almighty is. We talked about this a little bit in Sunday school. The idea of this unveiling would be like if you went to a play before. How many of you ever been to a play before when they had a stage up there and they had the curtains on the stage and you knew stuff was going on behind the curtains but you couldn't see behind the curtains because the curtains was thick. They were heavy, they were tall. You could hear ruckuses going on in the back. You could hear people shuffling. You could hear things moving around. You were close enough to the stage to know something was going on behind the stage. You was there for what was gonna be unveiled behind the stage, but they kept it covered until the right time. And then at the right time, they pulled back the curtain and allowed you to see what they've been working on and what they've been doing. This is this picture of what this book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, it's a pulling back of the curtain to allow us to see. Him who is, who was and who is to come, what must shortly take place, what's going on now and what is to come in the future and who is in control of it all and who is behind all these things that are gonna take place and there's not one thing that is missing on His prophetic timetable and He is unveiling that for us so that we would bend the knee and live in this life In spite of the troubles, in spite of the tribulation, in spite of the despair, we would live this life in the light of His return, of His promise coming. Gotta keep in mind a couple things. It's not a book to help us look necessarily for event after event. That will soon come to pass. The unveiling of Jesus is a message that allows us to see Jesus, to see Him. And to see Him reigning in His glory and sovereignty over the affairs of the world. That's what we want to see. It's a message given to encourage us to live. and to live this life for the glory of God, with God's presence and purpose, heaven's promises, and the hope of Christ's return in view. It's a message that edifies the disciple to live on mission in the light of his return, in spite of all the cultural differences, we will all face as we live for Jesus. Because I want to tell you, this life is not an easy thing to do. This life is a challenge. It's difficult, it's hard, it's harsh. Life will beat you up. And all God's people said, life will beat you up. You've heard me refer to this before. People ask me all the time. I try to use it as an opportunity to witness. They'll say, well, Brother Nick, or they'll say Nick, or they'll say preacher, how's life treating you? And I'll be straight up and honest with them, life's hard on me. Life's tough, life's difficult, but boy, Jesus sure is sweet. Man, he's been gracious to me in spite of it all. Man, he's been kind and gentle and good and shepherding my life in the midst of all the ruckus and the chaos of life. And we see, as John says in verse number nine, notice what he says of one nine. I, John, both your brother, we're family, and companion. In what? In the tribulation, in the kingdom, and the patience of Jesus Christ. He's saying, I'm your brother, we are family, we are family with our brother, the Lord Jesus, and we are in the trouble with him, we're in the rain with him, and we are walking out the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you a passage of the scripture. We just read it in Thessalonians, but go back a few books to 2 Thessalonians chapter number two and three. Let's just look at that for a moment. I'm gonna begin reading in verse number 16 of chapter number two of 2 Thessalonians, and I'll read into chapter number three, but watch out how Paul draws this same picture of what John is unveiling. He says in verse number 16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us, and all God's people said? Wow, that right there, who has loved the unlovable, who has loved us and by his love and grace he has given us everlasting consolation, everlasting comfort. and good hope by grace. Verse 17, may he comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. And all God's people said. That's the idea of the kingdom. Every good word in every good work, may He establish you in that. Isaiah 9 says it like this. You know that passage in Isaiah 9, 6 says, for a child is born and a son is given and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and the government shall be placed upon his shoulders. The government shall be placed upon his shoulders and by righteousness and justice he shall establish it and support it. The idea is this right here that he establishes his own kingdom. He supports it, He sustains it, He is the ruler and the reigner of it, He is the Almighty who is, who was, and who is to come, and He is the one who is gonna establish us in His kingdom for every good purpose. Word and work. And Paul then begins to ask the church to pray. He said, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course or run swiftly and be glorified as it was or is with you. Aren't you glad of the liberty of the word of God? and it having free course in your life that simply saying that God can do as He pleases with us that His Word not only encourages us but His Word is consistently correcting us. His Word is consistently building us up. His Word is consistently edifying us, and as needed, He directs and redirects us. And He does that through His precious Word. It has free course. It's got liberty. It can run swiftly in us. Paul's saying, I pray, you pray with me that that same thing will happen in other people's lives. And verse number two, that we, as the proclaimers of that word, the messengers of this message be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all who claim faith have faith. But the word of the Lord, the Lord is what? Verse three, but the Lord is? Y'all say that one more time with me. The Lord is? Faithful. Is he faithful only in the good times? When is he faithful? all the time faithful. In the hardest, the most difficult of days, the Lord is faithful. What is He gonna do? But the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you, keep you from the evil one. This is this idea that Revelation talks about overcoming. You know how we saw in the chapter two and three about every church said he who over, comes, He who overcomes, He who overcomes. This is this idea. What are we overcoming? We're overcoming the world. What are we overcoming? The evil one. What are we overcoming? The flesh. How do we do that? By believing who? Him who establishes us. The Jesus. That's how that happens. Verse number 4, And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you both that you do and will do the things we command you. Verse 5, now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of who? in the patience of Christ. That's the same thing that John said that, remember, he was a brother and a companion in the tribulation, the sufferings of Christ. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST. WELL, WHAT'S THAT PICTURE OF THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST THAT WE ENDURE AND PERSEVERE ALL THINGS IN THIS LIFE TO BRING GLORY UNTO HIM? LOOK IN HEBREWS CHAPTER NUMBER 12. THIS IS THIS IDEA OF THIS PATIENCE. HEBREWS CHAPTER NUMBER 12. Look in verse number one. Talking about overcoming, talking about having victory. Our victory's in who? He is our victor. He leads us in triumph. We overcome the world in him by believing him. Verse number one of Hebrews 12 says, therefore, We also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, every burden, Anything that's holding us down and sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Now we're talking this is the idea of this patience of Christ because he's our example. What's verse number two say? Looking who? How are we gonna cast away that weight and that sin that so easily besets us so that we can run? See, we're not even in the position to run the race, to look to Jesus, if we're letting things weigh us down and we're ensnared. Because I wanna tell you, Jesus wasn't ensnared. Jesus wasn't ensnared. Remember, he invites us to come unto him who are snared. He says, you come unto me and I'll give you what? Rest, I'll give you rest, not rest from what I'm gonna give you, but I'll give you rest in what I give you. I'll let my burden be easy and light upon you, and you will learn from me how to walk in this work that I've established in your life. So he says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, which is the will of God, that was the will of God for him, that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And all God's people said? That's what the Bible refers to, Jesus healing all our unfaithfulnesses, our backsliding. How does that happen? We look unto Him. We see how He lived. We look to see how He walked. How did He deal with people who troubled Him and mocked Him and spit on Him and mistreated Him? He didn't let them get in the way of what the Father gave Him to do. And you see, that's how We, as Paul prayed to the church at Thessalonica, that God would direct and redirect as necessary our lives into the love of God and the patient endurance of Jesus Christ. As John said, look, I'm a companion with you in the sufferings and the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ. Why would John say that? John's on the island of Patmos. in prison, locked in chains, isolated from the world because he believed the word of God and lived out his days for the Lord Jesus Christ. But he said, I can't let that harden me. I can't let that cripple me. I can't let that get me to a place that I can't look unto Jesus and endure the shame and suffering that was coming my way, that I can run the race that God set before me. And I can do it with joy, amen? This is saying all the exact same thing. Verse three, verse three of Hebrews 12 says, for consider, that is gaze, examine, look, measure your life. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. For fear you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Man, it's easy to get down, isn't it? It's easy to get weary and weighted and heavy. The writer of Hebrews is simply saying the solution, the answer is just get your eyes on Jesus. Jesus didn't do anything deserving of his mistreatment. Oftentimes we do deserve what we get. Are you with me? And a lot of times we're the ones who put ourselves in a position to be mocked and laughed at and reproached because of some foolishness we've done. That happens. But that wasn't Jesus. Jesus was misunderstood. Jesus was unwanted. Jesus was rejected and spitefully misused, but He never wavered in following and fulfilling the unveiling will of His Father because of the joy that was set before Him. So what the writer is saying to us is that for us to endure with the patience of Jesus, we're not gonna do it until we look to Jesus. We gotta look to Him and learn from Him, lean on Him. Why? Not only is He our substitute, but He's our example of how He lived His life. And that'll begin healing us of looking to anything and everything else but Him, amen? Because that's what winds up happening. We're either looking to ourselves, we're either looking at our circumstances, we're looking at our despair, we're looking at other things, and when we get our eyes off Him, then we start, we get unsettled. We start getting frustrated. We start having problems with people, and people start having problems with us, and we start having trouble and despair in our own heart and life and mind because we're just looking at the wrong things. But when we look back to Jesus and he starts filling us up with his peace and because we have peace with him, now we can walk in peace from him and we can have the peace of God that what? Surpasses all understanding. You ain't gotta have it figured out, amen? He gives you His peace, because we're walking in peace from Him, how He says to live and walk, because we're at peace with Him. And I want to tell you, we don't always live there, but that is the place we've been called to live, amen? That's where He's called us to live, and that's where I want to live, in the peace of God. because I'm walking in peace from Him, because I'm simply at peace with Him, amen? And then He grants those things to us. So, if you look back in Revelation, as we look at and go through, we're up to chapter number three, we just wanna keep in mind, I want you to keep in mind this, that details, details concerning times or events never produce righteousness. and holiness for which Christ came, died, and was raised to give us. For only faith and intimacy with Jesus produces fruit worthy of his kingdom. For an example, details and events surrounding the cross, the most significant moment and message in time doesn't transform a person's life. A person by the name of Jesus transforms the lives of sinners. And all God's people said, not the details around it, not knowing the details. You can know all the details, but not know him. The person, the intimacy, the person. People for centuries have trusted plans. They trusted people who tell them what to do. but failed to trust the hands and the finished work of Jesus himself. So we can know all the details and I think there's people out there that we've come across before and we could have been even in this position as well where we knew maybe focused in on the events of the details and that's what we conveyed to other people but we didn't unveil to them the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can know all the details and be mean as a snake. But I wanna tell you when you're living and looking and walking in the spirit of Jesus Christ, you're approachable, you're accessible, people can attain, come into you and you have something to give away to them that's life because you're giving away Jesus and not just details about events, amen? So that's something important for us when we walk through this book. God's message is a personal message. And it's given to show us, himself, and what he's about to do. And that's the idea about what's about to take place soon. It's what he is doing. And I wanna know him and what he wants from me and then take those things that he has given us. He is, no doubt, the alpha and the omega, as we talked about this morning. He had the first word overs. He's gonna have the last word overs. Praise God for that. My daddy didn't have the first word over me, he won't have the last word over me. You didn't have your parents' first word over you, I won't have the last word over you. Nobody will but enemy won't now the enemy will give you a disclaimer. He won't give you no disclaimer He's gonna think and make you think he's got the final word He's gonna let you think you have the final word But I want to tell you the Alpha and Omega had the first and he'll had the last and we can trust him Amen and walk with him He's the Almighty over what is What was and what is to come I want him to be my almighty, my answer for what is today, what my past looked like, and what my future holds in Christ. I can trust him, amen, even when it don't make sense. I can trust him. He holds the key and the answer to my next breath in this life. Father, we thank you tonight. We praise you. We ask you to help us with these things that you teach us, that we grow in intimacy with you as you unveil yourself to us. The storm that is coming and a Savior that is coming for us, people, that we would praise you and adore you and walk through the sea with you, whatever it may be that you bring us in and through, and that we will praise you You have promised you would give beauty for our ashes, that you would give the all of gladness for our mourning, and for our heavy hearts, you will clothe us with your praise. So we just thank you tonight, ask you for your help, for your wisdom, and we can follow your voice. In Jesus' name, amen.