Latest / The Daily Word / September 1 – Jesus Is in Control
Transcript
- Cory: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good wee hours of the night, whenever you are joining us. Welcome to the Daily Word podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Corey Barnes, and it is my privilege to pastor our Catabacampus. And I'm excited to be sitting down with you for another Daily Word episode where we're going to be doing a devotion out of the New Testament portion of the Life Journal Bible Reading Plan. And today is September. The first. So first off, happy birthday to my wife, Megan. Tomorrow, September 2nd is your birthday. And then happy anniversary, Megan, cause on the third is our anniversary. We call this September week, cause my birthday is on the seventh, and it just all falls back to back to back to back. So week of celebration. Anyhoosal. Today is September the first. And today's New Testament portion comes from the Book of Revelation, chapter six. Now one thing that I thought I'd make mention of is that people have different ways of interpreting this chapter of the book of Revelation, all of Revelation. Really, there are different theories about what's happening here. So what's happening in this chapter, Pastor Brandon spoke to you yesterday about the scroll that we saw in chapter five that The Father held in his hand, that's essentially God's ultimate redemption plan for humanity. It's ultimately the title deed to the earth, and how the Lord held it and it had seven seals, and no one was found worthy to open the scroll until the Lamb appeared. Jesus, the one that was slain for us, was worthy of opening the seals. And here in this chapter. We see Jesus preparing and beginning to open those seals. Those seals, like we can we can think of those kind of like, you know, the the wax blobs that people used to put on envelopes before they invented the little self-adhesive that you lick to make an envelope close. You know, olden days when they'd melt candle on it and press something into it, like a signet or something. That's that's kind of what we're thinking about with these with these seals. And honestly These seals, when Jesus starts popping them, pretty terrifying things start happening. And that is where the different interpretations come in, not so much in what those things are, but when those happen. There's a number of different viewpoints. I I'm I'm I don't even I doubt that I even know all the different viewpoints that people interpret this through. some people think that These seals being broken have all already been fulfilled and they were tied into the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 72. that's one viewpoint is that all of these events have already happened. Another viewpoint is that these are progressively happening. that at this point in human history, some of these seals have been broken, and not but not all. those people would point to the fact that the four horsemen, they seem to already be riding like this is just human history, right? Like conquest and war and famine and and death have already been part of human history, and that the four horsemen are already at work. And another viewpoint is that these seals are going to be broken in a yet undetermined time, and all those things are just going to ramp up to a new level. whichever way you interpret this, or whichever way anyone. interprets this, that's not really what I'm concerned about in today's devotion. what I am concerned about and what I would like to pull all of our attention to is that it is Jesus in verse one who breaks the first seal. It is Jesus in verse three who breaks the second seal. Jesus breaks the th third seal in verse five. In verse seven he breaks the fourth seal. It's in verse 9 that Jesus breaks the fifth. In the 12 verse 12, he breaks the sixth. And in chapter 8, Jesus himself breaks the seventh seal. And my point to that is that it is Jesus who is breaking these seals. And then these things occur. And that means that it is Jesus who is controlling when these events happen. And they all ultimately forward his ultimate redemption plan for the world. Yesterday, Pastor Brandon talked about the fact that Jesus is worthy. Amen. Hallelujah. Jesus is worthy. And today I want to make the point that Jesus is in control. It is Jesus who is controlling the timing. Jesus who is controlling all of these different things taking place and regardless of whether they've already happened or we're in the middle of it or if they're at a future date, Jesus is the one who is setting the timing on these things. And ultimately, all of these things are happening at his bidding. Jesus has a redemption plan. And even though some of these things are quite terrifying to think about, They all play a part in Jesus coming back. The beautiful things we're going to get to celebrate in chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation, where he comes and he rules the earth from Jerusalem. The fact that he establishes his kingdom fully on the earth, casts Satan into the lake of fire, all those things are coming on the other side of these seals being broken. So as much As these things are terrifying, as much as the thought of of war and death and pestilence and a third of the earth having this happen and another third of it having that happen, all the things that we're reading in Revelation, all of this, Jesus is in control in the midst of it. So we don't need to fear those things. We need to worship and we need to praise the Lamb who is worthy of it all. And we need to bring him glory and honor in our lives. So that is what I have for us today. That's our scripture and our observation. What about application? Well, if if Jesus is in control of human history, am I giving him the place to be in control of my today and my tomorrow? Am I consulting him before I make big decisions and even small decisions in my life? Who is in control of my life? And I mean, we can really spend time talking to the Lord about this. And it doesn't really matter how far you've progressed in your relationship with him. We all have things that we're holding on to. And we're holding on to the control of those things in our lives. As you progress in your relationship with Jesus, those things become probably a little bit smaller. They're less They're less looming and large. We've surrendered so much to him, but but there's still things that we want to feel like we're in control of. And ultimately, let's just have a conversation with the Lord. Open it up for him to talk about anything that he wants to step into and have control of in our life. Let's do that today. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you. I thank you for your ultimate redemption plan. I thank you that Jesus came and he gave his life for me. For for the folks that are listening today. He gave his life and that he is worthy and he is in control. Lord, I thank you that even when things are scary to put for us to put in your hands, your hand holding it is so much more secure than ours holding it. So I pray that you would give us grace. to turn things over to you and give you the things that you desire to have control of in our lives, Lord. We yield control to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.