Understanding The Book of Revelation

I WAS GLAD

Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

I love church. I love being in church on a Sunday. I probably have the best job in the world because I get paid to lead a church and focus my life on it. I enjoy my ministry. I enjoy our church. But I have discovered that even with things that we enjoy, there can be pressure, tension and difficulties. But like the Psalmist, I am still glad to be a part of the Church!

There was once a preacher who was invited to a small country church. He accepted the invitation and took his young son along with him. They arrived early at the church, which was open, but found no-one. While they waited for someone to arrive, they noticed a wooden box on the back wall with a slot in it. The preacher took out $20 and deposited into the offering box as his son looked on. Soon enough a few of the regulars turned up and the church service was under way. The visiting preacher poured his heart out and at the end of the service the deacon came up to him and vigorously shook his hand with genuine gratitude for the preacher's efforts. "You preached real well today pastor, real well. In fact, we have a visiting preacher offering box on the back wall into which the congregation can show their appreciation. And they really liked you today!" With that encouragement, the deacon gave the pastor an envelope. The pastor thanked the deacon and bid his farewells. In the car on the way back home he opened the envelope with his son looking on. Inside the envelope was $20. The pastor's $20! "Well Dad", said the son, "don't be disappointed! If you'd put more in, you would have got more out!"

When we do things with gladness we are 'putting in' and are then more likely to 'get more out'. Thus, an attitude of gladness affects our level of appreciation because being glad about what we have produces within us a sense of treasuring. Afterall, if you had treasure wouldn't you be glad? Coming together as God's people in worship we are treasuring God's presence and we are made glad.

Psalm 21:6 For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

We can be glad about so many things that we are often frustrated with: family, work, health, weight, finances, relationships, leisure time, time-management and so on. And sometimes when we are frustrated generally we become frustrated specifically, especially with 'soft' targets. This is why we often take out our general frustration on those closest to us, or those most likely not to challenge us. Sometimes this means that church becomes a soft target for generally frustrated people. So when life gets frustrating, it's hard to agree with the Psalmist when he says that he was "glad" when he went to the house of God (Psalm 122:1). It's at these times that we must choose to be glad. Being glad comes from a decision of our will-

Psalm 31:7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have known the distress of my soul,

In the great Forgiveness Psalm (32), the Psalmist has just experienced God's forgiveness and he declares to the people of God to-

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

So this Sunday, let's come together to seek the Lord. In so doing, we are proscribed by the Psalms to worship- to declare that God is great - and to seek God and to be glad in God-

Psalm 40:16 ¶ But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

Let us be glad and be glad together and be glad to be together !

Father, help us to be glad and to declare to this world that You are great! May we be caught off guard by Your magnificence at the most inconvenient times. When we are unnecessarily distracted by the mundane, please forgive us and help us to quickly repent and experience Your forgiveness. Give us a greater love for those closest to us, and an increasing love fr our church family. As this Sunday approaches in which You have ordained that we meet together to rest in Your presence through worship of Your Saviour, Jesus Christ, fill us with extraordinary gladness. Help us to encourage our brothers and sisters who have been embattled this week. Help us to rejoice with those who have triumphed this week. Help us to hear from You and draw nearer to You where we can hear Your whisper convicting us to repent, to stretch, to obey, or to reconcile. Please give us Your grace to be humble ambassadors to a lost and dying world that urgently needs to know You - the Source, Point, Hope and Reason for life, and to do so gladly.

Amen.

Understanding The Background To The Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation Interpreted

GOD DEMANDS: BE HAPPY!

Joy. It is one of the hallmarks of the Christian life. It is a fruit of the Spirit. It is a happy, rejoicing response to our circumstances. For the believer, joy is the facial and emotional declaration to the world that God is good and that my highest desires for satisfaction and fulfilment are met in Him. Joy in someone is obvious to everyone. The face of a mother-to-be betrays the delightful joy of the news they have just had confirmed by their doctor. The boyfriend in a longstanding and wholesome relationship with his sweetheart cannot conceal that his former girlfriend has just agreed to become his fiance. His attitude and perkiness tell all around him that he is happy and joyful. The face of the father of an honoured student at her conferring ceremony is only matched by how many photographs he takes of his "little girl" as she graduates with her degree in surgical medicine. The despairing business-person who has been deeply betrayed in more ways than anyone will ever truly know, has just met a Saviour who they have strangely and mysteriously discovered to be infinitely faithful, reliable, caring and considerate, and now their whole world seems clearer and brighter. They are happy.

Joy and gladness are the natural evidences of God's presence. When the prophet Joel describes God's abandoning of rebellious Israel, he declares that joy and gladness has been cut off from the House of the Lord (Joel 1:16). We are to live joyfully. We are to live gladly. In fact, God commands it. Dare I say it, God threatens severe things if His people will not be happy. But I am now plagiarising. I have borrowed a thought from Jeremy Taylor which was borrowed by John Piper, which he borrowed from CS Lewis who borrowed it from Taylor as he borrowed it from the Scottish preacher - George MacDonald (Jeremy Taylor, quoted in C. S. Lewis, "George MacDonald: An Anthology" (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1946), 19). Here's how John Piper cites this amazing thought-

One is this: It is not John Piper who commands us to rejoice in the
Lord; God does. God elevates this experience of the heart to the level of
command, not I. And he does so with blood-earnestness. “Because you
did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart,
... you shall serve your enemies” (Deut. 28:47-48). “God threatens terrible
things if we will not be happy.” The fight for joy is not a warfare I appointed. God did.
"When I Don't Desire God", by John Piper, page 30,Crossway Publishers 2004

Joy is something, says Piper, that we must display. It shows our delight in God. It confirms our ultimate satisfaction being derived from knowing God. It declares to the world - "Hey! I've found it! I've found what we're all looking for!!!!"

Isaiah 52:7¶ How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”.

We need a church full of people full of joy!

Nehemiah 8:10 ¶ Then he said to them, “...for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

But we don't always feel happy or full of joy. It's these times, argues Piper, that we must fight for our joy. He draws upon a document called the Westminster Shorter Catechism in which it says from the outset: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Piper says this opening statement can be amended to The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. To truly give God His right glory demands that we enjoy Him and display our happiness to the world.

Not feeling joyful? Perhaps you need to repent of whatever is robbing you of joy and pray for God to restore to you the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51). Perhaps you need to change your diet or sleep habits? Maybe you need to seek God and ask Him to remove every obstacle to your happiness in Him?

Having a happy attitude can make the world of difference to how you see life, God and your future. Your happiness matters! A lot!

Matthew 25:21 ¶ ...Enter into the joy of your master.

Happy people laugh. Happy people sing. Happy people are thankful people.

Be happy! Make the decision to turn from accepting gloom, to only being satisfied with God's joy.

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

I pray that in the midst of our circumstances we can be full of joy and happiness. I pray that we as a church will be rejoicing, full of joy, delighting ourselves in God, and happy for knowing Christ and His people. Happy people are attractive people. Let's decide to be happy for God's glory!

When we walk with the Lord In the Light of his word What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, Not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away; Not a doubt or a fear, Not a sigh nor a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, But our toil He doth richly repay; Not a grief nor a loss, Not a frown or a cross, But is blessed if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
But we never can prove the delights of His love Until all on the altar we lay; For the favor he shows, And the Joy he bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at his feet, Or we'll walk by His side in the way; What He say's we will do, Where He sends we will go, Never fear only trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
("Trust & Obey", written by John H. Sammis and Daniel B. Towner)

The Revelation Delusion

Much damage to the credibility of the Bible has nearly been done by those who twist the contents of the Book of Revelation to force it to sound like it refers to the events of our present day. Time and time again, so called Bible-Prophecy teachers have been left with egg on their faces as their ridiculous speculations have proved to be completely wrong. Our Administrator forwarded onto me a copy of an email we were sent claiming that our understanding of the Book of Revelation was wrong and that we would be humiliated by the Lord when the Rapture took place on October 17th 2009!!!

You'll notice that I am writing this brief article after this 'day of humiliation'. But still the sillyness continues to be rolled out by many TBN preachers who (even inadvertently) misrepresent the Book of Revelation by claiming that it is written to us about our day. (I have compiled a small list of such of failed interpretations.) In the unlikely event that you are a now cynical believer reading this article, or even in the more unlikely event that you are a complete skeptic about Christianity and the Bible reading this article, I hope to take just a few minutes of your time to offer an alternate understanding of the Book of Revelation that will actually present a credible case for Christianity and the Bible. [Read the full article]

Consider This

There are times when we must stop. During these arrested moments the believer considers. To consider is to think, ponder, mull over, positively meditate, and dwell on.

Hebrews 12:3 ¶ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

We seem to be creatures who are easily distracted and too easily forgetful. The Scriptures confront these weaknesses with a remedy by calling us to pause from our frenetic helter-skelter and to leave the freeway of distraction and come aside to the rest-stop of reflection. It is here that Ancient-Tried-And-True beckons us to consider Jesus. Consider that He endured completely unreasonable hostility for our sakes (Heb. 12:3). By considering this, we are promised that it will bring refreshment to our near weary and faint hearts. Christ's suffering and humiliation is considerable.

2Tim. 2:8 ¶ Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel

A challenge to consider is a call to think afresh about previously unrealised things. A challenge to remember is a gentle rebuke against our weakness of forgetting to easily and too soon. Christianity should be considered and reminiscent.

Consider Jesus in His sufferings, remember Jesus in His triumph.

I was sharing with some one recently who was struggling in their faith. I encouraged them to consider the One we worship who walked the earth a mere 2,000 years ago. Consider His impact. Consider the response of His audience. Consider the reaction of His opponents. Consider how historians (both Biblical and non-Biblical, in His own day) recorded His life. "Extraordinary" "Divine" "Unlike any other" "Messianic" "Sublimely inspirational" - are the terms we might use to sum up the universal appraisal of His life and teaching by historians. Consider that this homeless carpenter from Galillee claimed that He was the eternal God revealed in flesh who would abide with all those who chose to follow Him - even to the end of the Age. Abide. "I will never leave you nor forsake you" - I will abide with you.

But the call to consider is also the call to commit. We consider Christ and His promise to abide with us, but Christ challenges us to consider his charge to us: abide in Me. Considering Christ should lead to commitment to Christ. For the follower of Jesus there is a continual invisible drawing within our souls that causes us to walk not by the happenstance emotions of our mere circumstances, but by a mysterious yearning for something not visible with our natural eyes. For the person of gifted-faith, sometimes it's easier to see with our eyes closed. This mysterious yearning is perhaps not so mysterious in its origin-

1John 4:13 ¶ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

There are several ways to consider and remember Jesus.

Moment by moment the best way is in prayer.
Day by day the best way is in Scripture reading.
Week by week the best way is in the fellowship of God's assembled worshipers who give themselves to the Word, to Witness and to congregational Worship.
This weekly time together calls the redeemed to consider Christ through the words that we sing together, the Table of Institution, the preaching of the Living Word, and the fellowship of holy-provokers. This weekly time together calls us to remember Christ- what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will one day do.

Take this moment, this day and this week to consider Jesus and to remember Him. If the fire of passion for Him has dimmed, consider, remember.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Identifying The 8th King of Rev 17

Dr Kenneth Gentry is the author of BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL. In this book he makes an irrefutable case for why the Book of Revelation must have been written around 65AD (not 95AD). This is an interview I did with him for an upcoming DVD we will be releasing soon on how to understand the Book of Revelation, based on my book- THE MOST EMBARRASSING BOOK IN THE BIBLE.

HUMILITY

Clothe yourself with humility, the aged Apostle Peter writes (1Peter 5:5). Who would dare proclaim themselves an expert in humility? Yet the Scriptures command that followers of Christ be humble. To be an expert Christian is to be a humble Christian. Because of this amazingly high goal for Christian discipleship, no one can claim to be an expert Christian. "Clothe yourself in humility" is not just a command, but a major goal of following Christ. But it is a goal that we cannot attain. We must therefore continue to strive toward it, but actually draw on one of the major attributes of humility to achieve it: dependence upon God and His grace.

In the context of what the Apostle Peter is saying in First Peter 5, humility immediately requires submission to teaching and governing elders (1Peter 5:5). A humble person is a teachable person.

Here's some humility test questions based on this short passage-

How do you respond to someone who tells you what to do?

How do you respond to someone who corrects or directs you?

These seemed to be important questions for the Apostle Peter. He commences this chapter by addressing those who who were called to lead. While it is perhaps true that there are some leaders who do so because they are power-hungry and attention-seeking, for most church leaders it requires humility because they are serving people. Whenever you serve someone, you are inevitably going to be criticised, compared, or taken advantage of. This requires humility. Even though leaders may be in the 'spot-light' this actually demands humility to be prepared to put yourself forward in front of the scrutiny of others. It takes humility to serve. But pride can also stop someone from being served. If any Apostle knew this, it was Peter. Remember the night of His Lord's betrayal? While the disciples were fighing among themselves who was the greatest, Jesus stripped to the waist and took a basin and a towell and began to wash His self-absorbed apostles' feet. But when He came to Peter He met with resistance. Peter was too proud to let Christ serve (minister) to him! It takes humility to allow someone to serve you.

If asked to serve in some way, do you positively respond by serving?

If you have an offer of help or assistance from someone, do you generally accept the offer?

The over-arching point of Peter's passage is to have peace and harmony within the church. The clearest strategy he has in mind for achieving this goal is: humility. It seems that pride will always cause hurt, injury, and division. But humility - forebearing, forgiving, and forgetting - will always strengthen relationships (whether they be within the church or the home). Many churches have been destroyed because of pride. No churches have ever been destroyed because of humility.

Humility questions-

How quickly do you cover and forgive those who have hurt or offended you?

Do you generally overcome the temptation to tell others of the hurt you felt from someone else?

Mark 7:21 - 22 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

Peter opens this closing chapter of his first epistle by charging elders to care for the church. These leaders were leaders because they were considerate. Because pride is essentially self-focus it is almost impossible for the proud person to be truly considerate of others. People who leave their mobile phones on while going to the cinema or theatre are inconsiderate enough, but those who actually talk on their phones during a movie or play are even more inconsiderate. I once heard of someone who was sitting on a long plane trip next to someone who had their iPod turned right up as they listened to the "Greatest Hits of the 80s". They endured Duran-Duran, Culture Club, Village People, Tina Turner and others. While they noise from the headset was inconsiderate enough, the passenger was clearly using their iPod experience to prepare for their upcoming TV appearance on "Idol". It was then that the Boy George song- So You Really Want To Hurt Me? - came on. The person beside this iPod Kareoker could take it no longer and ripped out one of their ear-buds and yelled "Yes!"

Romans 11:20b ...So do not become proud, but stand in awe.

Humble people consider those around them. They are aware of how others might be feeling. They remember if someone was sick or ill and asks after them next time they see them. They listen to others and remember things such as a person's name. If asked to do something, a humble person will be prepared to go out of their way in order to make the request happen (note Psalm 15).

James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Humility is our command and our goal. It should be strived for but only in the grace of God. That is, we become teachable, respectful, forgiving, helpful, considerate and thankful followers of Christ because of the grace of God (God's enabling). May God help us to serve Him and be served by Him in the humility that most glorifies Him to this proud world.

First Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Amen.