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ON THE THRONE | Pastor Josh (The Crown & The Cradle) · Northwest Students

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Before I came to work at Northwest, I
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was the youth pastor at a church out in
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California. Uh, and I think that it was
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like my second or third year that I was
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the youth pastor there that the
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associate pastor of our church came to
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me and he asked me to preach a sermon
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during the main Sunday service. Okay?
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And so, as I was preparing for that
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message, right, I was like probably 24
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maybe. And I don't remember how this
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came up, but I ended up getting into an
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argument with some of my friends about
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who would win in a fight, me or a
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giraffe.
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And and y'all, I was like straight up.
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This is on the internet. Like, you can
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still find this. There you go. It's
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actually the first sermon I sent to
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Pastor Jay when I applied for the job.
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And that was the first thing he
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mentioned when uh when I interviewed.
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Anyway, so I was like straight up
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convinced. Okay. I was straight up
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convinced that I could win a fight with
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a giraffe, right? I was like, you just
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got to juke out those big old long, you
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know, chicken legs, right? And then jump
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onto its back, hold onto the neck, and
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then you just like ride until it gets
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tired, and then you got it, right? Like,
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you totally got it. Okay.
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And yes, dude, they're like they're like
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pencils, right? Come on. Anyway, anyway,
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so all right.
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All right. Yes, they're like pencils.
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Anyway, so on the morning when I was
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supposed to preach that my first sermon
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to our whole congregation, right, people
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are like, "Did we make the right choice
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hiring this dude?" Okay, I get up there
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on stage and the first thing out of my
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mouth is, "Show of hands. Who do you
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think would win in a fight? Me or a
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giraffe?"
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And just to give you guys a chance to
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respond, who do you think would win in a
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fight? Me or a giraffe? Hands up for me?
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>> That's the right answer for my wife back
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there. Yeah. All right. I'm taking
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notes. You guys are getting treasure in
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heaven. Who thinks the giraffe would
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win? You're wrong. Posers posers.
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Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Here. Hear
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me out. All right. Listen. I got I got I
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I'm I'm
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All right. Listen. So, before before I
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preached that Sunday, all right, I
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actually wanted to know once and for
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all. This was before chat GPT was a
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thing, right? So, I couldn't just look
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that up. Um but so I actually looked up
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how big a giraffe is, okay? And here's
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what I found out. Male giraffes are
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about 18 feet tall and they weigh around
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3,000 pounds. A big one can be 4,500
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pounds. Uh you can you can look up
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videos on YouTube and you can just type
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in the search bar giraffe fights lion
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and you will just see video after video
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of a giraffe just straight up like curb
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stomping a lion. It is crazy. And I
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don't know why, but like in my head, I
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was like convinced that giraffes are
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these like gentle giants with pencil
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legs who you could just go up to and
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like hug and they'll nuzzle you and
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you'll be fine, right? But the reality
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is Harbor's like, "Where do I go?" I
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don't know, dude. Just pick pick a
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direction. But the reality is these
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animals are big and powerful and
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terrifying. And I still think I could
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beat one in a fight. I'm just I'm I
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think I could if it was like a teenage
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>> a teenage giraffe. I could look David
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fought Goliath.
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>> David fought Goliath.
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>> Goliath was 9 ft tall and he didn't have
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pencil legs. Okay.
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>> Bear bare hands, bro. Bro, or a sling
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and five smooth boys.
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>> Anyway, okay. Okay. This has fallen off
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even worse than the candy canes. Okay,
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so if you if you've been here with us
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the last couple of weeks, all right,
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maybe you already know where I'm going
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with this. Sometimes I think that we can
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look at the Christmas story and we can
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see like a cartoon version of the
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Christmas story, kind of the way that I
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looked at a giraffe, right? So we look
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at like sweet baby Jesus in the manger
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and we see that there's like Mary and
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Joseph standing over him and they're
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like the same age, which they probably
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weren't, right? And and the reality is
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my my goal of this series that we've
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been in the last couple weeks is to give
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us a big vision of the Christmas story
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to give us a big vision of who sweet
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little baby Jesus in the manger is.
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Right? The the radical, incredible,
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amazing reality of the Christmas story
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is that the God of the universe, the God
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who literally made heaven and earth has
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come down from heaven and been born as a
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defenseless little baby to a poor family
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in a poor town in the middle of Israel.
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And through that little baby, salvation
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has come to the world. And if you
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haven't been here the last two weeks,
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two Sunday nights, every week we've been
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looking at these big God moments in the
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Bible when the curtain kind of gets
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peeled back a little bit and we get to
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see the glory and the power and the
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awesomeness that Jesus has had since he
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was like with the father in eternity
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before the world ever got made. Right?
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So the first week we looked at the Old
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Testament book of Daniel. In Daniel
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chapter 7, we got to see Daniel's vision
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of of the son of man. That's a figure
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who in Daniel seems like he's just a
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regular dude, but he comes riding on the
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clouds of heaven the way only God does.
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He's given an eternal kingdom the way
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only God has. He's worshiped by the
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whole world the way only God is. Right?
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It's talking about Jesus before Jesus is
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on the earth. Last week, we looked at a
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scene from the Gospel of Luke called the
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transfiguration. Okay? Jesus and a
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couple of his disciples, they go up onto
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a mountaintop and there these disciples
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see the appearance of Jesus transformed
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so that his face and his clothes are
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shining with light. We learn that Jesus
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shines with the glory of God. We learn
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that he's greater than the Old Testament
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heroes. And we learn that he's God's own
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son. And so this week, we're going to be
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looking at one more big God scene. We're
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going to be grabbing a scene out of
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Revelation chapter 1. Okay? So, if you
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need a Bible, like I say every week, you
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can grab one of the NLTs or the ESVs
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that we've got there in the back of the
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room. Um, now, while you get there,
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while you you pull that up, Abigail, um,
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you can flip all the way to the end, go
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back like 10 pages. That's Revelation
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chapter 1. Okay. So, now, while you get
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there, I just want to say, uh, there's a
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lot of people who have some very
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different ideas about what Revelation is
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talking about. Okay? There's people who
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think that Revelation is pretty much all
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talking about events that took place in
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the past. There's other people who think
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that it's mostly talking about events
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that are still in the future. There's
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Christians who are in either position on
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that. Um, I'm not really going to talk
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about any of that tonight, right? Uh,
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what matters for us is that God chose to
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have his disciple John write revelation
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at a particular point in time. Okay? So,
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when this is written, it's about 60
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years after the life of Jesus. After
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Jesus has his whole ministry, dies on
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the cross, rises again, ascends up into
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heaven. 60 years have gone by since
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then. Um, and it's written in order to
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encourage a particular group of
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Christians who are going through a
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really hard time at that time. Okay. So,
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in the first chapter of Revelation,
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we're going to see John has a vision of
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Jesus. Remember, this is 60 years after
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Jesus's death, resurrection, return to
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heaven. John has a vision of Jesus. And
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Jesus tells John to write these letters
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to these seven local churches that were
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around at that time. Okay? And each of
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these churches has their own issues. And
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if you read Revelation 1 through3,
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you'll you'll see what the issues are.
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But the biggest issue that's going on in
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the background of this letter that John
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is writing is that the Christians are
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going through some hardcore suffering at
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the hands of the Roman Empire. See, the
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the Romans had a rule back then that
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everyone living in the empire needs to
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honor their emperor, their king, as a
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god. And the Christians, because they're
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Christians, they refuse to do that
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because they know that honoring the
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emperor as a god goes against the
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teachings of Jesus, right? And because
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they won't go along with worshiping the
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emperor, these Christians are being
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targeted for persecution.
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There's stories uh from the the early
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church of people who are being thrown
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into the coliseum and fed to lions.
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There's people who are losing their
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friends. There's people who are getting
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arrested. There's people who are being
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literally tied to poles and set on fire.
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Like it is unbelievable what some of
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these Christians are suffering. And I
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think that the people in those churches
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are probably feeling really discouraged,
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right? They're they're thinking, "Man, I
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I turned away from these false gods of
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Rome in order to follow Jesus, and since
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I did that, my life has gotten so much
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harder." They think, "Man, I keep
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praying that God is going to rescue me
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out of this suffering, but he isn't. My
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friends and my family have rejected me.
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People from my church are being arrested
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or being chased out of town. All those
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famous apostles of Jesus like Peter and
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Paul who were his first followers are
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now being murdered for preaching about
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Jesus.
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Where is Jesus when I'm suffering?"
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Have any of you ever felt that way?
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Where is Jesus when I'm suffering? I
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know that like none of you are in danger
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of of being arrested for being a
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Christian, right? I hope. Uh but maybe
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you have had friends who have stopped
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hanging out with you because you won't
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stop talking about Jesus. Maybe people
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have told you that you're judgmental or
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you're close-minded because you believe
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what the Bible says about abortion or
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about waiting until marriage or about
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homosexuality.
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Maybe you're scared to live for God
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because you're afraid that if you do,
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then your friends won't want to talk to
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you anymore. Where is Jesus when we're
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suffering? So the passage we're going to
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look at right now, Jesus is going to
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give us the answer to that question.
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Okay, we're going to read Revelation 1
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starting in verse 9. We'll go through
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verse 18. So this is John from his
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perspective. He's saying it says I John
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am your brother and your partner in
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suffering and in God's kingdom and in
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the patient endurance to which Jesus
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calls us. Remember he's talking to these
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churches. I was exiled to the island of
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Iceland. I was e exiled to the island of
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Patmos for preaching the word of God and
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for my testimony about Jesus. It was the
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Lord's day and I was worshiping in the
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spirit. Suddenly I heard behind me a
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loud voice like a trumpet blast. It
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said, "Write in a book everything you
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see and send it to the seven churches in
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the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
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Thotyra, Sardis, Philadelphia, and
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Leodysia." There will be a quiz at the
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end of this.
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When I turned to see who was speaking to
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me, here's the vision, okay? When I
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turned to see who was speaking to me, I
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saw seven gold lampstands. And standing
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in the middle of the lampstands was
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someone like the Son of Man. Remember
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who that is? He was wearing a long robe
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with a gold sash across his chest. His
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head and his hair were white like wool,
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as white as snow, and his eyes were like
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flames of fire. His feet were like
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polished bronze, refined in a furnace,
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and his voice thundered like mighty
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ocean waves. He held seven stars in his
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right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword
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came from his mouth, and his face was
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like the sun in all its brilliance. When
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I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I
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were dead. But he laid his right hand on
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me and said, "Don't be afraid. I am the
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first and the last. I am the living one.
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I died, but look, I am alive forever and
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ever, and I hold the keys of death and
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the grave." Let me pray for us and we'll
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continue. Heavenly Father, we just thank
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you, Lord, for your word. We thank you,
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Lord, that we have access to your
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scriptures. We thank you, God, for
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Jesus's life. We thank you for this
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incredible vision that John received and
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that now we get to hear about of the
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glory of Christ. We pray Lord that
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throughout the Christmas season that you
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would be reminding us continually of the
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glory that your son had before his
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earthly life and the glory that he has
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now in heaven. We pray all these things
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in Jesus name. Amen. Okay. So the first
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thing John does in this passage is he
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introduces himself to the churches he's
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writing to, right? He says, "I, John,
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blah blah blah blah blah." Now the
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churches all know who John is. Okay, at
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this point, John is an old old man.
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Remember, this is 60 years after he was
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one of Jesus's friends. Okay, 60 years
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later, he's probably in his 90s, and
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he's just spent the last 60 years
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preaching the message of Jesus. And
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because of John's ministry and impact,
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the Roman government tries to shut John
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down by imprisoning him on an island,
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not in Iceland, but an island in the
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middle of nowhere. That's the first
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thing John says to these churches. He
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calls themself in verse 9, he calls
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themselves him himself their partner in
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suffering and in God's kingdom. For
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these churches that are going through
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it, John says to them, "I'm going
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through it, too. Keep going. Keep
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trusting in Jesus. Keep praying. Keep
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following him. Don't give up." He says,
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"Yes, we're going through suffering
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together, but God has promised to give
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us his kingdom together."
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I I think it can be hard for us as
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Christians living in at the end of 2025
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to be going through hard stuff sometimes
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because we can look online on like
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Instagram or Tik Tok or YouTube or
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whatever and there are these like
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Christian influencers and celebrity
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pastors or like Christian music artists
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who are making millions of dollars and
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have like a million followers and
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everybody loves them, right? Who just
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seem like they're doing great, right? We
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can look at these people who seem like
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they have the good life and we can
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go,"Well, what's wrong with me? Am I
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just like not smart enough? Have I
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sinned too much? Am I just not praying
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enough? Why am I going through it when
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there are these other people who are
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just doing great?" You know, maybe maybe
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it's not like Forest Frank that you're
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thinking of, right? Maybe it's just like
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somebody at school who just seems like
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they've got all the friends and get
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amazing grades and get into schools that
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you wanted to get into and like all of
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those things. Why are they doing great
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when I feel like I'm just going through
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it?
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That's not how it was back in John's
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day, okay? With like celebrity pastors
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and stuff, right? Like John is like
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their version of a celebrity pastor,
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okay? This is a guy who was in Jesus's
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inner circle of followers. If you were
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here with us last week for the
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transfiguration, he was literally there
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on the mountaintop and saw Jesus's face
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like a neon sign, right? And shining
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with glory, okay? And that guy when he
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writes to these churches that are
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suffering, John says to them, "Hey,
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dude, me too. Me too." And not only
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that, but John says to them that we have
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been called by Jesus to face suffering
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with endurance and courage.
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For those Christians who said yes to
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Jesus in the first century, they knew
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that following Jesus meant a life of
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being uncomfortable. It meant a life of
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being misunderstood and maybe
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mistreated. It meant a life of being a
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misfit and a weirdo and of bringing the
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good news of Jesus to other misfits and
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weirdos because you know why? Jesus
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loves those people, too.
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And my sense is that there are some of
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you here who know what it's like to have
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friends drop you because of your
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relationship with Jesus. I've had that
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happen. I think that there are others of
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you who maybe want to live boldly for
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God, who maybe sense God calling you
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into a deeper relationship with him, but
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who are afraid of how your friends might
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react.
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Well, here's the encouragement that
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Jesus brings to these struggling
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churches. Okay, so John sees this vision
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of Jesus, right? He sees this vision of
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Jesus in like full-on God mode. Okay, I
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found a picture on the internet of what
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that might have looked like if that
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might have looked like if we have that.
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That is like just a straight up artist
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drawing out what John sees. As you can
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see, he's got a freaking sword coming
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out of his mouth. That's crazy. That's
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terrifying.
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Right? If if you were here two weeks
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ago, uh he says that the figure he sees
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looks like he says the son of man.
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That's John straight up pointing back to
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Daniel 7, okay? And just like how we've
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been talking for the last couple of
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weeks, there's like a lot of symbolism
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to the way that Jesus is choosing to
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reveal himself. It's not like, you know,
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when Jesus was on his ministry on earth
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or like chilling with God in heaven that
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he's just got like a sword coming out of
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his mouth all the time, right? I I don't
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think so. I could be wrong, but I don't
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think. Anyway, here's one thing I want
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us to notice. Okay, in the picture,
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you'll see that there are these seven
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like candlestick things that are all
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around him, and then there's John
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freaking out in the back, right? Looking
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a lot less old than he probably should.
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Um, but so those seven candlestick
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things that are floating around him in
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the picture, the verses right after this
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say that those candlestick things
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represent each of the seven struggling
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churches. And in the vision, John sees
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Jesus not towering over the candlesticks
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50 feet tall, not up in heaven and the
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candlesticks are down on earth, right?
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He says that John sees Jesus right in
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the middle of these candlesticks.
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John sees Jesus right in the middle of
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these struggling churches.
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Now, I don't know about you guys, but
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that is such an encouragement to me that
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for those believers who are asking
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Jesus, where are you when I'm suffering,
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the answer is I'm right there with you.
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If you're the type of person who takes
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notes, which Sophia's not here, so maybe
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none of you, but if you're the type to
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take notes, I want you to write that
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down. Jesus is with us in our suffering.
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Jesus is with us in our suffering.
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Y'all, we do not follow a God who
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doesn't care about our suffering. We do
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not follow a God who doesn't care what's
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going on with his people. The whole
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story of the Bible from back to front is
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God caring deeply about his people and
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God's rescue mission to save human
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beings from the consequences of our sin
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and separation from God. God cares. And
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although he may not take us out of the
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hard things that we go through, he is
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right there with us in our suffering. He
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is right there with us when your friends
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ghost you. He is right there with you
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when people talk bad about you behind
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your back. He is right there with you if
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your parents are getting a divorce or
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when you find out that a family member
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has a life-threatening illness or when
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you have an illness. Jesus cares.
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So that's the first thing. Jesus is with
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us in our suffering. Here's the second
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thing to write down. Jesus is greater
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than our suffering. Jesus is greater
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than our suffering. I know how hard it
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can feel to be going through it and to
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be like, Lord, why aren't you ask
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answering my prayers? I'm not asking for
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that much. To feel like you're alone
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with your hurts or your doubts or your
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fears.
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And probably nobody understood that
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better than these Christians who were
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suffering at the hands of the Roman
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Empire. Right? Here's what Jesus says to
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these churches in the second chap to one
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of these churches in the second chapter.
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He says to to a specific church, he
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says, "I know about your suffering and
19:44
your poverty, but you are rich." He
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tells them, "If you remain faithful to
19:50
me, I will give you the crown of life."
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You guys, it may look like your life is
19:55
falling apart or your body is falling
19:58
apart. You might have no friends, no
20:00
money. You might not make the sports
20:02
team you want to. You might not get into
20:03
the college you want to. You might get
20:06
fired from your job. Someday, if it
20:08
doesn't already, someday your body is
20:10
going to stop working on you and fall
20:12
apart.
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But if you are a follower of Jesus, my
20:17
good news is that that is as bad as it
20:19
is ever going to get. If you're a
20:22
follower of Jesus, he has promised to
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bring you into eternal life in the
20:27
presence of God forever and ever. And
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even if your life was just 70 years of
20:34
straight up non-stop suffering for the
20:37
entire time you're here on earth, I pray
20:39
that's not true for any of you. But even
20:41
if it is, when you have been in heaven,
20:44
in glory with Jesus for a thousand
20:47
years, for 10,000 years, for a million
20:50
years, you're going to look back at that
20:52
tiny amount of time on earth and think,
20:54
"Man, I was rich. I was richer than Jeff
20:59
Bezos. I was richer than Elon Musk."
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Because look at what my father had
21:04
waiting for me. Jesus is greater than
21:08
our suffering. Here's the other piece to
21:10
that, okay? When John sees this vision
21:12
of Jesus, it's this like big vision of
21:15
Jesus, right? It's this demonstration
21:17
that Jesus is more powerful than all the
21:20
false gods of Rome. Jesus is more
21:22
powerful than all the forces of hell and
21:25
evil and the devil and demons all put
21:28
together. Okay? The whole rest of the
21:30
book of Revelation is God showing his
21:33
total complete power to judge evil and
21:37
defeat sin once and for all. At the end
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of Revelation, if you, you know, flip
21:43
forward like nine pages, at the end of
21:45
the book, it says that the devil himself
21:47
is thrown into a lake of fire and after
21:51
that death and the grave are thrown into
21:53
the lake of fire, too.
21:56
Jesus will end death and suffering once
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and for all. And yes, we do right now
22:02
have to wait for the day that he does
22:04
that. But we can wait with confidence
22:08
knowing what Jesus has promised to do.
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Knowing that he is powerful and that he
22:12
will do it. Jesus is greater than our
22:16
suffering. Jesus cares about our
22:18
suffering. Here's how we know. Okay,
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you're probably thinking, "How is this
22:21
anything to do with Christmas?" All
22:22
right, here's how we know. Here's how we
22:25
know that Jesus cares. Here's how we
22:26
know that he's going to do something
22:28
about it. At Christmas, the God of the
22:33
universe steps into human history to
22:37
suffer with us.
22:39
Jesus knew what it was like to have his
22:42
friends betray him. Jesus knew what it
22:46
was like to be sick, to be hungry, to be
22:48
tired, to be hurt. Jesus knew what it
22:51
was like to see the people he loved die.
22:55
And remember, Jesus is greater than all
22:57
of those things. Jesus is the God of
22:59
heaven. He could literally snap his
23:01
fingers and never have to suffer a
23:02
second in his entire life. But because
23:06
he loved you, Jesus let himself go
23:09
through all of that. Because he loved
23:12
you, he let himself be born in a human
23:15
body with all of its weakness and
23:18
dirtiness. Because he loved you, he let
23:21
himself go up on a cross and be beaten
23:25
beyond recognition and die the most
23:28
painful death imaginable for the sins of
23:32
the world so that you and I could stand
23:35
before God with our slate wiped clean.
23:38
In the vision, uh, John says to Jesus,
23:41
or Jesus says to John, he says, "I died,
23:44
but look, I am alive forever and ever,
23:47
and I hold the keys of death and the
23:50
grave." Christmas is the moment when
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Jesus steps into human history. But the
23:55
mission of Christ on earth is the cross.
23:59
The Bible says that it was on the cross
24:02
that Jesus defeated all the evil powers
24:05
and the devil and the demons combined.
24:07
Okay, we're going to be digging into
24:09
this a little more in the new year, but
24:10
the whole life and ministry of Jesus is
24:13
pointing to what he will do on the
24:15
cross. That he will defeat death and the
24:18
grave once and for all. So that whoever
24:20
believes in Jesus,
24:23
no matter how bad they are, but for
24:25
whoever believes in Jesus, death doesn't
24:27
get the last word. Suffering doesn't get
24:30
the last word. Our friends who betray us
24:32
or turn their back on us or talk talk
24:34
bad about us or ghost us don't get the
24:36
last word.
24:38
Christmas is the moment when God comes
24:41
down to live with us. But the cross and
24:44
the resurrection are how we are brought
24:47
up to live with God. The the passages in
24:50
Matthew and Luke that we read at
24:52
Christmas time talk about how a savior
24:55
has been born. But the way salvation
24:57
comes is through the cross. Now, I'm
25:00
pretty much out of time here, so I'm
25:02
going to just go straight to that Luke 2
25:04
passage. Okay? I'm going to read us the
25:05
passage in Luke 2 that we've closed with
25:07
for the last two weeks. And what I want
25:09
you to think about, what I want to stick
25:11
with you is how the Savior who has been
25:15
born in the manger, the angel says a
25:17
savior's been born, how that savior
25:20
who's born in the manger will save his
25:23
people. So, as Pete comes up to give me
25:25
a little sweet underscoring,
25:28
I'll just read this passage from Luke
25:30
chapter 2.
25:32
At that time, the Roman emperor Augustus
25:35
decreed that a census should be taken
25:37
throughout the Roman Empire. This was
25:39
the first census taken when Quirinius
25:41
was governor of Syria. All returned to
25:44
their own ancestral towns to register
25:46
for this census. And because Joseph was
25:49
a descendant of King David, he had to go
25:51
to Bethlehem in Judea. David's ancient
25:54
home. He traveled there from the village
25:56
of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him
25:58
Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was
26:01
now expecting a child. And while they
26:04
were there, the time came for her baby
26:06
to be born. She gave birth to her
26:09
firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in
26:11
strips of cloth and laid him in a manger
26:14
because there was no lodging available
26:16
for them. That night, there were
26:18
shepherds staying in the fields nearby,
26:20
guarding their flocks of sheep.
26:22
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared
26:24
among them, and the radiance of the
26:26
Lord's glory surrounded them. They were
26:29
terrified, but the angel reassured them.
26:31
"Don't be afraid," he said. "I bring you
26:34
good news that will bring great joy to
26:37
all people. The Savior, yes, the
26:40
Messiah, the Lord, has been born today
26:43
in Bethlehem, the city of David. And you
26:46
will recognize him by this sign. and you
26:48
will find a baby wrapped snugly in
26:51
strips of cloth lying in a manger.
26:53
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast
26:56
host of others, the armies of heaven,
26:59
praising God and saying, "Glory to God
27:02
in highest heaven and peace on earth to
27:05
those with whom God is pleased." Let me
27:08
pray for us.