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Revelation | Episode 4 | Rev Paul Jeyachandran
December 24, 2024 · 28 min
Are You Among The Blessed?
Series IDMC Movement
316K followers
Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
316K followers
0:02 Unknowing to me that there was, in the group of about 300 or 400 inmates that were there in this, notorious, camp. In fact, if you search for the world's0:14 most notorious prisons, they rank in the top 5. Unknown to me, there was a man standing and he says, I didn't even want to sit down because I didn't even want to come and be part0:26 of that group, because I felt so far removed that God will never accept me, God will never want to, want to receive me. His name is Peter. The reason why Peter was in0:37 the maximum security prison is because he murdered a missionary pastor. He actually murdered the pastor and his family and he was there in the prison as a0:49 result. Now when he heard this message he wrote to me in his, in the letter that he wrote, he says, I heard that word and the Holy Spirit reached out to me and pulled1:01 me. I didn't realize I was weeping and weeping and weeping and crying before God. And as a result I built an altar of repentance. I committed my life to Christ. Now1:13 this letter was written years later and he said to me that he's still in the maximum security prison, but he's a changed believer in Christ. Not only that, by the grace of God he has now1:24 started a church within that maximum security prison and he is now the unofficially the pastor. And through a local missionary he got enrolled into a1:36 Bible college and he's also doing a correspondence Bible training to become a fully accredited pastor. Wow! The Gospel is powerful.1:49 People need to see Jesus. The moment they see Jesus, it doesn't matter what they have done, no matter what way they feel they are in, the Lord is merciful2:01 and the Lord is able to redeem them. Hallelujah. Do you believe that? If you believe that, can you shout amen? So the first thing is to see Jesus. See the message of revelation.2:13 How do we walk in the blessing? Blessed is the 1 who sees, sees not only the message of revelation, but sees the messenger of revelation. Look at this in verse 1 and verse 2. Look at how many2:26 people God has used as messengers to communicate the book of Revelation. The Bible says in verse 1 that Jesus received it from God the Father. Isn't it?2:38 God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant, John. I want you to listen to me carefully.2:50 God gave the revelation to Jesus, and Jesus gave it to angel and angel then gave it to John and John then gave it to the 7 churches3:02 and to the churches today, to his servants, the Bible says. I want you to see how many messengers are here. See, God could have directly communicated to, the3:13 servants. When the Bible says here, His servants, it means, later on John will explain in, verse 4 of Revelation 1 that he's writing this as a letter to the 7 churches.3:26 But I want you to listen to me. God did not reveal directly to the 7 churches, but He gave the revelation to Jesus, and Jesus to the angel, and angel to John, and John to his servants. Why? Because3:38 God has an appointed messenger through which, through whom the world will be reached. That's why you and I, we should not fail to see this. You should see who is the 1 that's going3:49 to go and proclaim this good news to the people. God has chosen you and I, His servants, to be the messengers. And the word here for servants, twice it's mentioned.4:01 It's mentioned about the to His servants and then His servant John. It's the word doulos in the Greek. It's the word for bondservant. In other words, you and I are the4:13 bondservants of Christ. Listen to me. You and I are the slaves of Christ because once upon a time we lived in the slavery of sin and then Christ redeemed us. He purchased us with a price and today4:25 we belong to Him and these people, you and I, who have been purchased with a price, who have tasted the goodness of God and the newness of life, it is to us, he4:37 says, you are the messengers. Don't forget this. You and I are called to be the witness. You and I are called to be the person who carry this message, the message of God's love to the4:49 world, the message of God's gospel to the world, the good news that Christ redeemed them from their sin. They no longer need to live away from God. They can come home to God. Hallelujah. You5:01 and I are the messengers. Look at what the verse 2 says. Verse 2 says, that who bore witness. See, this is talking about John the messenger. He bore witness to the Word of5:13 God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. You and I are called to be a witness. That word witness in the Greek is the word for5:25 martyr in the English word. Martyr. You know, John was writing to the 7 churches this letter and the 7 churches they were5:37 already going through severe persecution. Some of them had already been killed. You know how the Romans usually the people? They either threw them into the lion's den or they light them up as5:49 human torches. So many of them have already been killed for the sake of the gospel. And so John writes to them in John chapter 1 and verse 9, sorry, in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 9, he says, John, your6:00 brother, your partner in tribulation, because he was also going through tribulation. And he writes to them, and he says, you and I, we bore witness. Witness to what? Witness to the word of6:12 God. That the Word of God is true and we believe in it and we receive it and we act on it. Secondly, the testimony of Jesus Christ, that Jesus died for me and rose again from the dead, and because I believe in Him, I'm6:23 forgiven. And thirdly, to all that we have seen. In other words, we have taste the goodness and the grace of God, isn't it? Now listen to me. You bore witness. Now can I humbly say this to all the6:35 believers that are watching? Listen to me. You and I are called to be a witness. That witness includes the word martyr. In other words, to be a martyr, to be6:47 killed for the sake of the gospel. Now you and I are living in a country where you will not be facing persecution like that to the point of execution, to the point of6:59 martyrdom. But you and I have an opportunity to be a witness. You know in those countries where people are going through severe7:10 persecution the Gospel rapidly expands. The church continually advances and grows because it's a life and death for them. But for us in this first world it's very7:21 different, isn't it? Because there's no real persecution, there's a freedom of religion and you can worship the Lord. We take it for granted and we don't see the urgency of the Gospel. We don't, we are7:33 not gripped by it. So I want you to listen to me carefully. You know, that's why the first world, we have first world problems. Churches, within the church you find a lot of grumbling7:45 and complaining and griping and people, are easily offended or easily hurt. Oh my goodness. When you're in a battleground, when you're going through hardships and7:57 persecution, there's no time for it. You need each other. You love 1 another. You will sacrifice. You will share what you have, and you will be gracious to 1 another, you will show mercy to 1 another, and because you8:08 need each other's support. But in times like this, people's true character comes out. Their immaturity comes out. That's the first world problems where you get offended, easily8:20 hurt, your nose gets out of joint for no reason. Listen to me carefully. As a pastor, I'm saying this with much burden. And this is not saying because these things happen in church, but these8:31 things will happen in church. Therefore, I'm saying this for you to pay attention to it. You and I are called to be witness. The the moment the reason why we lose our witness at workplace, we lose8:43 our witness in our neighborhood, we lose our witness even within the community that we are part of. We lose our witness sometimes. You know why? Because we got so easily pricked. Easily, our ego takes8:55 over. We're easily hurt and offended and all that. The Bible says already they will know, the world will know that you are His by the way you love 1 another. By the way, let me come back to the main9:07 text. The main text is that you and I are called to be martyrs. You and I are called to be witness. You and I are called to be the person who carries this message9:19 of the Gospel to the people in the ends of the earth. I want you to listen to me carefully. So as we continue to see this, that God has called us to be the messenger,9:32 as a church we have embraced CTTC as 1 of our philosophies in it. And CTTC, you would already heard this, compel them to come, Carry them9:44 to Christ and connect them to community. CTTC, compel them to come. You and I are called to go into the world and compel them to come. Taste the9:56 fruit of Jesus. Share the gospel with them. Not only it's about just compelling them to come but it's about carrying them to Christ. You carry them in prayer. You intercede for them. But at the same time you connect10:07 them into a local community. You need to connect them to a small group because people need to be part of a family. Now as I was thinking about this I want you to listen to me. Many times we want to10:19 be a messenger but we sometimes fail to recognize what does it take to be a messenger. It takes this: it takes that you understand the process that people will go10:31 through before they commit their life to Christ. See, want you to catch this phrase: Evangelism is not an event, it is a process. Evangelism is not a process.10:43 It's a process, it's not an event. I want you to catch this. Why? Because many times we just say, Okay, let me invite him to a church service. Let me invite my pre believing friend to a life group or a social. You10:55 invite them 1 time, and they come 1 time, and then they go back, and everything goes back to the normal because you don't follow through. You don't follow-up. I want you to listen to me. Evangelism is not a 1 time11:07 event. It's a process. I want you to give I wanna give you an Engel scale. A man by the name of James F. Engel developed a scale of how a pre believer comes to faith in11:18 Christ. Let me show you this. Want you to take it down. The first thing he says is minus 8. It starts at minus 8. Minus 8 is no knowledge of the11:30 gospel. Someone who has no understanding of the gospel. They are aware of a spiritual being, but they have no awareness of the gospel. Minus 7 is they have an initial awareness of the gospel.11:42 What is initial awareness? Maybe they came to a life group event. Maybe they heard about other people talking about how they became a Christian. So they are initially aware of the Gospel. Minus 6 is awareness of11:54 fundamentals of the Gospel. So what is the fundamentals of the Gospel? It's, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. And people without Christ will go to eternity in hell. So these things are12:06 fundamentals of the gospel. Minus 5, it's the grasp, the implications of the gospel. They have to recognize that if I don't place my faith in Christ, that I am doomed. That's the grasp, the12:17 implications. Either Jesus Christ is Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. Either Jesus Christ is a liar or a lunatic or a Lord. If he claims that he's the only way and truth and12:29 life, either he's a liar or a lunatic or a lord, a truly lord as he says he is. So they have to grasp the implications of the gospel. Minus 4 is positive attitudes towards the12:41 gospel. After they have encountered you bringing the gospel to them a few times, there will be a positive change from negative to positive, from closed to now they are open to12:53 receive the gospel. Then minus 2 is minus 3 is a personal problem recognition. Minus 3, personal problem recognition. They recognize, Well, if I13:05 don't do this, I may be successful in my career, I may have a good net worth, I may retire rich, I may have all the luxuries of life, but I'm living for the temporal because if I13:16 close my eyes today I would be judged by the eternal King Jesus. It is a personal problem recognition. And when they come, then minus 2, there is a decision to act. They say,13:28 Yes, I want to place my faith in Christ. And then they go into minus 1, which is the repentance and faith in Christ. This is where you lead them to a sinner's prayer and do that. I want you to catch this because there is13:40 a process in which people come to faith in Christ. That's why from experience and from research I can boldly say this, It takes about 4 to 5 times you13:51 ministering to them, you having gospel conversations with them before the penny drops. That's why you don't do this alone. You bring them to your life group, Reach them together14:03 as a life group. Pray together. Pray for them that the gospel will take that root in their heart. Hallelujah. Then finally, when they have new birth, then the next thing happens, plus 114:15 now. It's the post decision evaluation. They have to evaluate their life. I lived like this before. Now there are some changes I need to make. What are those changes? Then plus 2 will be they need to be14:27 incorporated into a local body. They need to be part of a loving family. That's why connect them to a community. Don't just leave them as orphans. Bring them into the family of God. Plus 3, they14:38 they grow in God. How do they grow in God? Not only they grow in God, they become conceptual and behavioral growths. This is where they understand what it means to have a14:50 quiet time with God, what it means to be renewed in their mind, what it means to memorize and meditate the scriptures. They learn and they grow in feeding of God's Word and doing of God's Word. Plus 415:02 is communion with God and plus 5 is stewardship of life. Now the reason I want you to take a photo of this Engel scale is because I want you to recognize15:14 evangelism is a process. To take someone from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son Jesus, there is a process. And God uses you and I as15:26 messengers of God's love, as people who continue to go and door knock, people who continue to keep giving them that invitation, people who continue to intercede on their behalf so their heart will be open to15:38 receive the gospel. Hallelujah. I want you to listen to me carefully, church. That's why don't do this alone. Do it together with your life group. As a group, work together. As a group, pray for the people15:50 in your blessed strategy. Pray for the people that you have written down in your blessed list. Pray for them and work out a strategy and help people take their next step towards Christ. I want to give you16:02 a mission statement for 20 21, and I want you to embrace this with all your heart because I want you to see Jesus, and I want you to be the messenger of Jesus Christ. How? By helping people take their16:14 next step towards Christ. You and I are only asked to take that step. When you take that bold step, God will do the rest. You keep doing that same thing over and over16:26 again and see how God moves on your behalf because God is wanting to save the rest of mankind. Hallelujah. I want you to listen to me. That's the first thing. Blessed is the 1 who sees.16:38 Sees what? Sees the mess sees the message of Revelation and sees the messenger of Revelation. Revelation. Let's look at the second 1. Blessed is the 1 who keeps. How can we16:49 walk in the spiritual blessing? What is the key to unlock it? Blessed is the 1 who keeps. I want you to listen to me. In verse 3, I want you to pay attention to verse 3. Blessed is the 117:01 who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is17:13 near. Hallelujah. Blessed is the 1 who reads and who hears and who keeps. What a compelling invitation. No other place in the Bible does the17:25 Lord say very clearly, when you read, I will bless you. Even this morning, you heard me read the scriptures. And when you're hearing me read the scriptures, the Bible says you're blessed.17:37 I'm blessed for reading it. You're blessed for hearing it. And the Bible says not only for those who are hearing and reading, it is also for those who are doing. That's17:48 a compelling invitation for us to read. Can you make 20 21, the rest of this year, you have another 9, 10 months to go, can you make the rest of this year a year of18:00 reading the Bible? If you have never started reading and meditating and confessing the Word, this is the year for you to do. We are doing this together in the small group, isn't it? My first lesson to you on the small18:12 group was about foundation, building the foundation upon the word of God. So let's do it together as a church. The second thing the Bible says here is the compelling exhortation18:24 to be doers of God's will. Look at what the verse 3 says, Who keep what is return in it. It is not just enough to hear it. It's not enough to18:36 just it to to believe in it, but you need to act it out. The book ends in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 7 with the same exhortation. Look at what it says. And behold, I'm coming18:48 soon. Blessed is the 1 who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Blessed is the 1 who keeps. God is looking for people who are not only readers19:00 and listeners but also doers of the Word. You know years ago when I was a young boy, in our household we used to receive a lot of19:12 pastors and church leaders and they used to come almost every week and every other day there would be someone who has traveled a long distance to come and see my parents And19:24 sometimes my parents are home, they're not home. I would be the 1 hosting them. And, when I was a very young boy, little boy, I remember this lady who traveled from19:36 a very long distance and she's from a village. She's an illiterate woman. She doesn't even carry a Bible in her hand and she wears white and white clothes and she was praying for our19:48 family. And before she started to pray, she asked me to read a certain portion of Scriptures. So she would just say, Read this portion and I'll read it. And then she would say this portion. And then she started20:00 to explain and she went on to preach for another 20 to 30 minutes. And I noticed that she was confessing the word. She was just quoting scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. So20:11 out of curiosity, I recognized that she's illiterate, out of curiosity I asked her, How did you know so much of God's Word? And this is what she said. She said she used to cry out to the Lord and20:23 say, Lord, I don't know how to read, but I want you to give me the grace that whenever I listen, I want you to give me the grace to remember. So she listened attentively. Every time someone reads the20:35 scriptures, she will listen attentively. And by the grace of God, God has given her a super memory. She's memorized almost most of the Bible, passages of scripture. She says she20:47 will ask her children to read and as they read she will just there will be a mem she will memorize the scripture. Wow. That woman is really blessed. I want you to listen to me20:58 carefully. There's power in listening to the word of God. That's why bring the people. Let them hear the word of God. But at the same time, the Bible says you need to do the word of God21:10 because it's not just enough for you to just listen every Sunday or to read the Bible, but then not apply it. Look at the warning that James says. James chapter 1 and verse 22 to21:22 24, this is from The Message translation. The Message translation reads like this, Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but.21:34 Letting the word go in 1 ear and out the other. Act on what you hear. Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and 2 minutes later have21:46 no idea who they are and what they look like. The Bible says, Don't be like people who just hear and not do it. Can I encourage you this year? Take 1 thing21:58 at a time and say, Lord, how can I apply this? Ask that key question. How can I apply what I'm hearing today in my life? That is why in the Bible College curriculum that we are22:10 going through right now as a church, I give you that you need to create space in your calendar to have think time and in that think time to reflect upon your life. So it's 1 thing to read the22:22 Scripture, another thing to reflect upon your life in light of the Scripture, and then to renew your life, to renew your commitments, and to record in a journal what the Lord is22:33 saying, isn't it? And respond in prayer. I want you to listen to me carefully. There must be a strategy for us to learn to apply what the Word of God says into our lives. And the reason why I'm saying all22:45 this is because there is a compelling reason in verse 3. Look at how it ends. It ends by saying, For the time is near. Last week we established what that means22:57 when time is near. Time is near means there is a sense of urgency that you and I, we need to pay attention to. And this is why God has taken so long before Jesus returns to the23:09 world. Why? Because the Bible says in Second Peter, chapter 3 and verse 9. What does it say in second Peter chapter 3 and verse 9? The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward23:21 you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Hallelujah. God is patient. He's waiting for each 1 to repent. That's why you and I have to see23:32 Jesus. That's why you and I need to carry this message and be the messenger to the world. And when we do it we apply it. Hallelujah. The Bible23:44 says, Go into the world, preach the gospel, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey all things I have commanded. This is the call of God for you and23:56 me. This is the will of God for you and me. When he comes back, that's what he's going to evaluate whether we did it. So can I humbly say this church, let's go on this? Let's embrace this, let's embrace that the24:08 blessed is the 1 who sees. Sees what? Sees Jesus. Sees the messenger, the message, and being the messenger. You and I need to be the messenger24:20 of God's love to the world. Secondly, it is blessed is the 1 who keeps. Let's keep doing his will until he returns.24:31 Hallelujah. I want to just ask you this 1 thing. I know if I ask you the question, do you believe in the gospel? You might say, yes pastor, believe in the gospel. Do you know in fact24:43 many believe in the gospel but not many believe in the urgency of the gospel. And this year I want you to be gripped by the urgency of the gospel. What does that mean? That24:55 Jesus is coming again soon and in this season he's calling his church to return to him And he's calling his church to go back to the disciple making roots, to go into the world and to make25:07 disciples. So I want to ask you this question. How are you going to spend the rest of this year, 20 21? What are you going to focus on? Can I humbly ask you to focus on25:18 Jesus? Make it all about Jesus. Seeing him and not only that, doing his will. Hallelujah. Blessed is the 1 who sees Jesus and blessed is the25:30 1 who does His will. I began with a story. I want to end with that same story. Hiro Onoda was in Lubang Island.25:42 The war had ended in 19 45 but he continued to wage the war for another 30 years. You know how he surrendered? He surrendered because25:55 his officer, the commanding officer, was sent to him. You know the Japanese government tried to do so many things. The Philippines government dropped26:06 leaflets to say the war is over, please surrender. Year after year they did it, but he refused. Even though he read it he refused. He was waiting for his own commanding officer to26:18 come and give him the discharge. Now this is what happened. The Japanese government searched for this man and they found him. He had already gone into civilian duty and he's now a26:28 bookseller. So they took him back to Lubang Island and said, Go and talk to your fellow soldier. And so this commanding officer came and met with Hiro26:40 Onoda and gave him the discharge to say the war is over. The good news is you can return home to Japan. And together with him he surrendered and then he went back and the26:52 Philippines government graciously forgave him for all the things he did and he was able to send back to Japan. I want you to listen to me carefully. There are many who are still trapped27:03 in their sin and they are waiting for someone to come and tell them the war is over. Would you be that person? Would you ask the Lord, Lord, whom you have for me to go and reach out in this season?27:15 Whose hearts have you been, have you have you laid upon my hearts? Whose hearts, Lord? Who's who are the people that I need to go and speak to? Write down the list of people and go before the Lord and intercede for27:27 them, and I pray that the Lord will give you divine opportunities to go and minister the gospel to them. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for giving us grace to see Jesus and to27:38 acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord, our Savior, our Master, our Redeemer, and our King. And I thank You, Lord, that You have called us to be the messengers of this beautiful gospel that we believe in.27:50 Father, help us to catch the urgency of the gospel and help us to be the messengers of God's love. We thank You. We give You all glory, praise and honor. In Jesus' name, and the people of God28:01 said, Amen and Amen.
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