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[ Pause ] [MUSIC - "TELL THE SWEET STORY"] Tell the sweet story of Christ's silent love. Tell of his vow to forgive.

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Fathers will trust you if only you know. ♪ To every woman who knew ♪ ♪ Make me a messy ♪ ♪ Make me a messy ♪

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♪ How long, O God, may Jesus shine ♪ ♪ Bring me a blessing, O Savior, my friend ♪ ♪ Mercy, oh Savior, my friend ♪ ♪ Sending a blessing to someone today ♪

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♪ Make me a blessing ♪ ♪ Make me a blessing ♪ ♪ Out of the garden ♪ ♪ May Jesus shine ♪

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♪ I will be your light ♪ ♪ Send me a blessing ♪ ♪ O Savior, I pray thee ♪ ♪ Send me a blessing ♪

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♪ God ♪ ♪ Brought ♪ ♪ To me ♪ - Amen.

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) [ Music ]

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speak to our hearts, O God, and grant to us listening ears. In Jesus' name, amen. Revelation, first chapter, first three verses are the words of our text.

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The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel

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and to his servant John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw.

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That they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Seeing, reading, and heeding.

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Seeing, reading, and heeding. This is the first in a series of messages based on the revelation received by John. There is an old adage concerning three monkeys,

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each is symbolic of a condition, see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. I might add to these, know nothing and do nothing. This is a parable of the nothingness of existence, that which prevents us from enjoying harmonious

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relationships with the eternal, that which keeps us from being, that which prevents us from living an authentic existence. The only way we know who we are and what life is all about, what we ought to do in this world is that it must be revealed to us. We enter this world not knowing, without any

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perception of what's going to happen or where we are going. All of this must be revealed. Somebody somewhere must tell us, must speak to us, and we must listen. Someone must leave a record that directs us,

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something we may read that shows the way to go. These will not be meaningful unless what is shared is heeded, unless the word is obeyed,

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unless the directions are followed. Book of Revelation has these words, sort of an inscription, the revelation of Saint John,

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the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants. See, the word revelation has to do with that which is made known, that which is disclosed,

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that which is shown. It suggests that we may have been in the dark prior to that time, prior to the time of the revelation. But in the experience of the revelation, we are brought from darkness into the light.

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And so we see, we see that which was hidden. In divine revelation, we get a glimpse of who God is and what God is doing in human history. these introductory words of the book of Revelation refer to divine revelation.

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Well you see there are two types of divine revelation, general revelation and special revelation. There is the general divine revelation that's part of the experience of every person. That is that general revelation that we see in nature and in many other ways. The psalmist speaks of it when he says, "The heavens declare the glory of

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God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork." But John is concerned here with a special revelation, this special revelation which comes through Jesus Christ. It's special.

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It's peculiar. There is none like unto it. It's in a class all by itself. It is the revelation that is special in the disclosure of God the Father Almighty through

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his only begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord. This revelation is absolutely and completely dependent on God. God himself has taken the initiative to reveal himself. And you know, no one will really know who you are unless you choose to let them know

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it by revealing yourself. And only what we know of any person is what that person reveals. And even if we take the situation of one going to the psychiatrist and you get on the couch, if you don't talk, he still doesn't know what's wrong.

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So God has chosen, God has taken the initiative to reveal himself through Jesus Christ. is the way it is in Revelation. We reveal that which we choose to reveal. And so you see John stands in the tradition of the prophets. He is a seer. He has eyes to see. He sees what God has shown him. And it's a wonderful thing to have eyes

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that discern the spiritual to see God. It's wonderful to see God at work in the world. You know God's doing something all the time and so many times He's doing something even in our lives and we do not have the eyes to see it. But God is at work. The psalmist said, "I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness

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of the Lord in the land of the living." What strengthened him, what supported him in the spirit, what gave him courage was the fact that he had eyes that permitted him to see the goodness of the Lord. Shakespeare talks about perception that a person may have.

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He talks about being able to see books in running brooks, and tongs in trees, and sermons in stones. Spiritual vision is essential to our life as God's people. God has something to show us,

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something he wants us to see. And where there is no vision, the people perish. God is saying something, God is speaking, his word is addressed to his people.

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The fact that his people ask, is there any word from the Lord is indicative of the human expectation. We expect God to speak to us,

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we expect God to say something to us. We've come here today expecting God to say something to us through this service of worship, in the songs that are sung, in the scriptures that are read,

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in the sermon that's preached, and the experience that's shared here today, that God will speak to our hearts and say something to us that will strengthen us

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along life's way. It's a wonderful thing to be able to see and to hear God and to recognize him in the midst of human experience. You know the story of Samson, of Samuel rather.

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Samuel was in the temple and God called him, but he didn't know who was calling him. And he ran to Eli and he said, "Did you call me?" And Eli said, "No, I didn't call you."

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Go back to bed. He went back to bed and he heard a voice again saying, "Samuel, Samuel!" He got up again and he went to Eli and said, "Didn't you call me?" He said, "No, I didn't call you."

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Eli told him that when you hear that voice again, you say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." And it is then when he heard the voice again that Samuel answered, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth," that he recognized that it was the voice of God.

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But he had to have Eli to help him to know. So here you see one who stands in the tradition of the seers. The prophets were known as seers. But every one of us is made to be a prophet.

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We are made to be kings and prophets, as the people of God. So every one of us ought to be able to see God. We ought to be able to see him at work in our world.

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We ought to be able to see him at work in our families. We ought to be able to recognize his presence. Every one of us. And so John is able to see God

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under some very adverse circumstances. She's able to see God under very, very adverse circumstances. You know, when most of us have a hard time, we think God isn't with us. "Lord, what has happened here?

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Why are you letting this happen? We are unable to see." But many times, God is more present, he's just as present with us when times are not going well with us as he is when they are.

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It may be that we aren't able to see him, but in the midst of the darkness, even when we walk through the dark valley of shadows, God is present walking there and beside us. He's there and John is able to see God under these adverse circumstances in the midst of persecution.

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God comes to him and he says to him that those that receive the revelation are to show it to his servants. That's what the scripture says, that those of us who know the way, those to whom the way has been revealed that we have a responsibility to show it to his servants of things which

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will come to pass shortly. So what John sees he is to show to God's servants. What is revealed to John is to be shared with the Christian community. What is to be shown is sent by God.

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It's the direct divine revelation. It's the word from heaven sent to earth. It's the eternal addressing the temporal. It's being sent by God.

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This suggests divine authority. It's no need for any other reference. No other recommendation is necessary. That's enough.

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Sent by God. Do not question the authenticity of the revelation. Do not try to undermine the authority of the revelation. It's sent by God.

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Do not question the validity of the revelation in the midst of the human situation. It's sent from heaven to earth. It's a revelation from God.

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And so John sees, and what he sees, he's to show to the servants of God as having been sent by God and signified by God. Oh, many people say,

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"Well, I don't understand the book of Revelation." And I've heard people say, "You know, the Lord had this book of Revelation "in the Bible, so he didn't intend

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"for anybody to understand it." No, that's far from the truth. The book of Revelation is sort of a track for bad times. And while it is veiled in mystery,

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it's intended to be that way because it's written during a time of persecution. And it was veiled, it was wrapped in symbolic language so that the initiated would know what it means,

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but the uninitiated would not know. Those who were insiders, those who were converts to the faith would understand, those who were not converts would not understand.

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You know, I belong to a lodge, and I belong to a collegiate fraternity, and in both instances, when you go in and you're initiated, you have certain signs, certain symbols.

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And those who are initiated, those who belong to the fellowship, they understand the signs. They know the symbols. But those who don't belong,

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they don't understand what's taking place. You can be given a sign, but they don't even know what's happening because they don't belong. And so the person who didn't understand the meaning

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these signs and these symbols, these were the persons who were outside the church, they were outside the fellowship, they were the persons who were not initiated, but those who were inside, the insiders, they understood. And so these signs are important.

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They are a part of this divine revelation, it's a part of the record. So the Lord speaks to John saying, "Now, John, what I'm going to show you, I want you to show it to the servants. This is a difficult period, it's a dark period, but I'm going to show you some things and

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I don't want you just to keep it to yourself, I want you to share it with the Christian community and then I want you to make a record. A record, I want you to write these things down." so that generations to come will be able to read it.

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Write it down. This is the first century. This is the first century, and you're in the midst of a great deal of persecution,

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but I want you to write it so that Christians in the 20th century will be able to read it and will be comforted from these words

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of what you have been shown and what you shared and the record that you have left of my revelation. And so it's not enough just to speak the word. It's not enough just to hear the word.

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It's ours to do the word. We must be followers of the word. You know, we have a lot of privileges. And many times, we forget our obligations.

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I think when I was a child, we used to play a little game. Grandma Gray made I go to play. And you say, "No, my child, it's too early in the day." And then you say something like,

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"I'll be a good child," or something, all the day. And she'd finally let you go out to play. And you'd go out to play, and then finally she'd say, "My children, I'm calling you!"

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And some of us say, "I don't hear you!" Well, that's the way it is, but it's time with God. You know, He grants us privileges, He's gracious to us, And when he calls us, we don't answer his voice.

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And we don't respond. We don't heed his word. But it's important that not only is division to be shared, it's not only to be seen, it's to be read, it's to be heard,

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it's to be followed, it's to be heeded. That's what the vision is to be in our lives. Well, it's a difficult day, difficult day. Nero was on the throne, it's a difficult time.

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Christians are being persecuted, they're being fed to the lions. It's a difficult time. And we live in difficult times.

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And Christians in that dark period needed to hear a good word. And there are those of us here today We don't need to hear a good word in the midst of all of the struggles that we face.

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We need to hear a good word. A good word. And somehow we need to work at it. We need to work at trying to be faithful to God, not only hearing his voice, but to be

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faithful to God in the midst of it. We need to work at it. Just before I took the trip, I went to Scott and White Clinic for my annual checkup, and I got the report back from the doctor that you're in good condition, found nothing wrong.

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I used to go every year, and I came back, and I told my wife, I said, "You know, the doctor said that I had nothing wrong, gave me a clean bill of health." And she said, "You ought to get one. You work at it enough."

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Well, we ought to all work at it. We ought to all work at being and doing what is best for us. And that's certainly true in relationship to God. We ought to work at being faithful to Him because that's the most important thing in our lives, is our relationship to Him. And we need to work at it. We need to constantly work at it.

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It's a dark and difficult time that we face. Every period is that for us. us and we need to work at being rightly related to God. As I said, we went to the DMZ, that demilitarized zone, and certainly one felt the tensions between North and South Korea. North Korea had dug some tunnels, planning to have tunnels that would lead them from

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North Korea into South Korea, these secret tunnels. And these tunnels were wide enough so that 30,000 soldiers could go through them in one hour. And it so happened that one of the army officers of North Korea defected and went to South Korea and told him about these tunnels and they discovered three

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tunnels and the South Koreans dug some tunnels to connect with this to discern what was happening and they discovered these tunnels. They discovered three. They believe there may be more. And we had the privilege of going into one of these tunnels that had been dug as a connecting tunnel and there were lights in the tunnel

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and when you have about 700 people, all of us were given the privilege of going into this tunnel and walking in this tunnel. It's just wide enough, this one, we were here, just wide enough for persons to go on this side and another one would be coming back on this side with a railing on the side. And it was going down, so when you went down along

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long distance you had to remember that you had to come up coming back that same distance and while we were in the tunnel the lights went out. Well if people responded just like you did when the lights went out and somebody spoke out in the darkness saying hold on to the rails. Well there were rails railing on each side and so I was

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with the railing, then somebody else said, "Keep going!" And so we kept going, even in the dark, holding on to the rail. We kept going, and finally there was some Korean soldiers

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that were in there, they were in looking at the tunnel just like we were, and some of them had cigarette lighters, and so they turned on their cigarette lighters, and there was some light, and we just kept going.

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The lights were out for some time, several minutes, it seemed like it was far more than that when we were at the dock. And we kept on going, and every one of us knew one thing,

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that there was light at the end of the tunnel. And even long before I got to the end, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the way it is, for John,

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John has given a vision in the midst of the darkness, he's in the tunnel there in the first century, But he's saying, hold on to God, hold on, keep on going, don't stop, because there's light at the end of the tunnel.

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And time and time again, we find ourselves in some tunnel, and all of the lights go out. We're to keep on traveling, keep on moving, because there's light at the end of the tunnel,

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and God is there with us. We can hold on to his unchanging hand, and go on and on because there's light at the end of the tunnel. That's a good word for us today.

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And as we come to this moment, we ask that you make a decision for Jesus Christ. God is so good. He's always revealing himself to us.

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He's always assuring us that he's with us no matter what may happen. And the main thing is for us to heed his voice, for us not only to see him working in the world,

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but to say, yes, Lord, I'll do what you want me to do. I'll say what you want me to say. I'll go where you want me to go. I'll be a faithful servant.

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I heard the voice of Jesus say-- we invite you to come. The door is open. [MUSIC - "I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS"] I heard the voice of Jesus say, "Come unto me and rest."

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Lay down thy weary wand, lay down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as my heart, spirit, and form, and sound. I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say, "Behold, I'm free!"

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♪ A living water, thirsty boy ♪ ♪ Stood down and dreamed again ♪ ♪ I came to Jesus as a slave ♪ ♪ O God, my living stream ♪

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♪ My thirst was quenched ♪ ♪ My soul retired ♪ ♪ And now I live in Thee ♪ (music)

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