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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
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Being an Overcomer in Tough Times 0:00 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering church? Hallelujah. It is always a joy and a privilege to bring God's word into your homes. Again, this morning, we're gonna study from the book of Revelation, Revelation0:11 chapter 1 and verses 9 to verse 20. I'm titling this sermon, Being an Overcomer in Tough Times. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.0:23 Thank you for giving us an opportunity to study the Word of God together and to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord Jesus, be glorified in our midst. Holy Spirit, open0:35 our eyes to see the beauty and the glory and the majesty of our Lord Jesus, that our lives will never be the same, that we will be transformed from the inside out, that we will live for the0:47 glory of God and for the good of your kingdom. This day, we ask for your grace. In Jesus' name, and people of God said, amen and amen. The book of Revelation is a0:59 unique book. It is a book that reveals Jesus Christ. Verse 1 talks about that it is an apocalypse. That's where we get the title for this series. The1:11 first word in Revelation is apocalypse, meaning the unveiling, the revelation. And who does it unveil and who does it reveal? It reveals how God brings consummation of1:23 history in Christ Jesus. So, speaks about the end of times as we know it. Secondly, it is not only an apocalyptic writing, it is also a1:34 prophecy. Verse 3 of chapter 1 says that this is a prophecy. In other words, a prophetic book is about speaking life into the people of God.1:47 It not only warns us, but it also comforts us. This is a prophetic writing for us to keep us accountable. Accountable to who? Accountable to1:58 Jesus and to his kingdom. That's why the call of this book is to be faithful. Thirdly, this is not only an apocalyptic writing or a prophetic writing, it is2:09 also a letter. John pens this letter to the 7 churches. Things that he saw from Jesus Christ, Things that have been revealed to him by the Lord2:21 Jesus Christ. And now, that letter is being passed down not only to the 7 churches that he wrote, but to all the churches. Praise God for that. It's2:33 an apocalypse, it's a prophecy, and it's a letter. That's why when you study this book you have to understand there is different perspectives that's given here. All2:45 we can see is an earthly perspective of things but when you read the book of Revelation you get an heavenly perspective, you get an eternal perspective, and you get an eschatological perspective which means2:57 the end times perspective. Hallelujah. This perspective affects the way we live our lives. See what you see will determine how you will live.3:10 Story was told of a man who saw a photograph. Now when you see this photograph it looks like a young man was grabbing the arm3:22 of a young woman and he was quite aggressive and it almost you can make, when you look at it you can see that either he's assaulting her or trying to3:34 steal her handbag from her hand. That is in 1 photograph. But when you see it in another photograph, a wide angle lens, you see the big picture of what3:45 happens. You see a bus is barreling down the road and this woman towards the woman and the woman is unaware of it. Therefore, this man is trying to pull her out of the way3:57 and that is getting the big picture. Now, these 2 photos were placed side by side in a British newspaper and this was the ad. The ad is Get the Whole Picture. It is from the4:09 British newspaper Guardian. Their slogan is Get the Whole Picture. Now the book of Revelation is similar to that, get the whole picture because anytime you and I go through a tough time in4:21 life, a difficult season in our lives, for example that's what the whole world is going through right now, all we see is the trees in front of us but sometimes we have to zoom out to see the forest.4:33 That is the book of Revelation and that is why studying the book of Revelation during this season is important for us because it gives you a different perspective and the call that Jesus places to the4:44 church in the midst of difficult circumstance. There is 1 word in this book that is repeated nearly 17 times. It is a word4:56 that many of you would be familiar with especially young people who like branded shoes. They will be familiar with this word Nike. It's the Greek word for victory,5:08 victorious, nike. The verb form of that word overcome, overcome, conquer is repeated at least 17 times5:20 in this 1 book. That means this book is about you and I facing a tough time and how to overcome it. I want you to catch this picture. This is the book of Revelation.5:32 The book of Revelation is a call for the church to be faithful to God in the midst of difficult and tough times and not only remain faithful but to overcome. Therefore, the key question to5:43 ask is this, what are we supposed to overcome? See in the book of Revelation the people of God faced 2 things. They faced tribulations. In other words, they were persecuted. They were facing5:55 persecutions. And at the same time they were also facing temptations, the pressures of worldliness, the pressures of world. So 1 is the persecution from without and pressures from within.6:07 They were facing these 2 things. That's why the call of this book is to overcome overcome by giving them this message, don't give up. Don't give up when you're facing persecution and don't6:19 give in in times of crisis, pressures that comes in. Don't give up. Don't give in. Why? Because you serve a master. You have a king in heaven who6:30 loves you and he lived, he died, he overcame the world and he through his death and life and resurrection and today his ascension, he gives you the power to6:42 overcome. That's why you and I are called to be overcomers. The key question for our meditation this morning is how can we be overcomers in tough times?6:54 Ask yourself this question, am I an overcomer or am I being a succumb? Am I being a conqueror or am I being conquered? Am I being the 1 who is triumphant or7:06 am I being trampled? Listen, you and I need to understand this question, how can we be overcomers in tough times? In the passage that we are going to read from verse 9 to verse 207:18 of chapter 1, I look at John and I learn 3 empowering principles. These 3 principles are this, let us witness unto the missional plan of Christ7:30 verse 9 to verse 11. Let us worship in the majestic presence of Christ verse 12 to verse 16. And then let us work by the mighty power of Christ verse 17 to7:41 verse 20 because these 3 principles will help us to know what it means to be an overcomer in tough times. First point is this, let us witness unto7:53 the missional plan of Christ. Let's look at verse 9. The Bible says, I John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, and the kingdom8:05 and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the8:17 Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the 7 churches, to Ephesus, to Spurna, to8:28 Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to the Sardis, and Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Now, this is the word of the Lord. The Bible says, I John,8:40 in verse 9, I John your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. Now John writes here and he8:52 says that he is in Patmos. Where is Patmos? Patmos is a small island off the coast of Turkey today. This was during the time of the9:03 emperor Domitian. It was a time where they banished people who did not follow the Roman way of life. John being a follower of9:15 Christ, John would not have acknowledged Caesar is Lord. See Emperor Dominician actually wanted everyone to worship him as Lord. They need9:27 to go to the temple of Caesar and they need to acknowledge that Caesar is Lord and God of their life. But as a true Christian you can't do that. Here John is being banished9:39 as a result of not being able to bow down to Caesar and acknowledge him as Lord because he has a Lord in heaven. His name is Jesus. The Bible says he is in Patmos on an island on exile.9:51 But even though he has been exiled not because he is a criminal but on the account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, the Bible says God had a plan for his life. I want10:03 you to understand no matter where you are finding yourself in this season, you are never away from the plan of God. God has always got you covered. Hallelujah. So while he's in10:15 Patmos, maybe all all the, he's concerned about what is going on in the church and God takes him away from the ministry, puts him in that island but in this island10:27 he still has freedom to have a revelation from God, have a vision from God, have time to write the letters and send it to the churches. Even though he is in exile, the Word of God is not in10:38 exile. The Word of God is not bound. I want you to catch that picture. The key thing here is John is in this island and the word of the Lord comes to him. There's a revelation.10:50 God opens his eyes to see the revelation of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Now, if you were receiving a revelation from Jesus Christ, how would you describe yourself? You would say, the11:02 great reverend Doctor John, the apostle, the prophet received this revelation. But you know what he says about himself? Look at this. He says, I'm your11:13 brother. I want you to circle that because in the kingdom of God we are brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what role we play in the kingdom. We are brothers and11:25 sisters in Christ because he's particularly focusing on 1 aspect of experience here. That experience is they all go through pain and suffering. Listen to this.11:37 Even though he's in the plan of God and in the missional plan of God, God has placed him in Patmos. He's in exile. He's suffering for the kingdom's sake. He's suffering for the sake of the gospel.11:48 Here the bible says he calls himself, I'm a brother. Why a brother? The reason why he's calling himself a brother because he thinks of all the people that suffered in the kingdom. Jesus himself,12:00 the master himself went through persecution, trial, death. Not only that, his own brother James was murdered. He looks at the apostles like Peter and12:12 Paul, they were all already being killed by this time. So John, the most senior old member of 12 disciples now, he's looking back and he says, I'm a brother12:24 because all the fellow believers also suffered and now I'm also 1 of you suffering for the gospel. I want you to listen to me. Just because you follow the will of God doesn't mean12:36 that you are spared from what goes on in this world. Suffering and pain is part and parcel of the life on earth. But here the Bible says, your brother, and then12:48 he goes on to say, your partner. What is this word partner? We have studied this word before. It is the word koinonia but he adds a little word to it, sun koinonia. In other words he's saying, I'm your fellow partner, I12:59 am your fellow companion, I am your fellow person that is going through this tribulation. He says 3 things, tribulation and then kingdom and then patient endurance13:11 that is found in Jesus. I want you to catch this picture. He says, I'm your brother. He's modeling for them. He's witnessing to them. He's showing himself to be13:23 a faithful witness in the midst of persecution. He didn't give up. He's overcoming and how is he doing it? He says, I'm your fellow partner in tribulation meaning in the pain of the suffering in Jesus13:36 and in the kingdom. Kingdom meaning there is also kingdom authority. Just because you go through suffering doesn't mean that you have no authority. You have no power. You have no privileges. He also talks about the13:46 privileges of the kingdom. In other words, I have this vision from God. I have an experience with God and that is what he's saying. Even in the midst of my pain, I also have the privilege of being part of the kingdom of13:56 God. In you and I, we have the privilege. Not only that, he also says there's a purpose in my suffering. That purpose is to bring forth patient endurance. He says patient endurance that are in14:08 Jesus for us. You and I, we need to recognize as we journey with Jesus in the times that are difficult and tough. I've already shared this with14:20 you. In our darkest hour, God does his deepest work and the deepest work is to produce the fruit of the spirit and 1 of the fruit is that patient endurance that is in14:31 Jesus Christ. He says, This is how I overcome. How? By being a faithful witness even in the midst of all this persecution and suffering the pain that14:43 I'm going through but in the midst of it I have a patient endurance in Christ. Now as a pastor when I step back and look at the church world today, there are so14:55 many personality clashes, petty disagreements that results in almost groups being split or church being split. When I look around it saddens my15:07 heart. You know why? Because none of the believers in Christ that go through this kind of petty arguments and petty trivial disagreements that leads to breakup of groups and all15:19 that, they don't have patient endurance. I want you to listen to me carefully. You think about it. In the first world the problems are usually so trivial and we get our nose15:31 out of joint for no reason. But can I humbly ask you to evaluate this? Where is the patient endurance that we need to model for the pre believers? Where is the patient endurance that15:42 we need to model for even our own new believers? Where is the patient endurance that we need to model for our next generation? Sadly this is the state of the15:54 church. All around the world we are losing the next generation. That's why in a disciple making church we make it a core priority to walk with the next generation. But when parents sit down and ask me why is it my16:06 children who have brought them to church regularly but now in their teenage years or in their adulthood they are not walking with the Lord. This is what I would say to them. There's a big difference16:18 between just attending church and treasuring Christ. Listen to me carefully. You can model to your children attending church but then there is a big difference between just16:29 attending church and treasuring Christ. The difference is there is a love, there is a relationship and that love is seen not in good times, that love is seen even in tough times. You and I, we16:41 need to recognize that when we are going through that furnace how brightly we shine. When we are going through that furnace that the world is watching us and we should not lose our witness in that16:53 season. This is the days where you're hearing a lot of fall of ministers of God. Now the world expects a lot17:05 from us, isn't it? Now many years ago Tiger Woods, 1 of the famous athlete who it came out in the news that he had many affairs and his17:17 marriage broke up. Now he was a man who was signed by a lot of companies to be the face of their company, the image of their company because his17:28 image, his picture showed competence. But then a lot of them after the affairs came out and the marriage broke up they withdraw from the endorsement. Why? Because17:40 it's not enough to just be a man who is competent, they also want character. Why? Because they know that there are eyes that are watching this man. He's not just a golfer17:52 on the golf field but he's also a person who is modeling his life for the other young people that are following him. So therefore they expect more. So if they expect more from an18:04 athlete, they expect more from a politician, how much more they expect from the people of God. That's why you and I, how we go through life matters. And you know who's watching you?18:16 It may not be the people around you in your neighborhood but the ones that are watching you is your own children in your own home. They are watching you whether you're just a person who goes through a ritualistic walk of18:27 going to church and coming back doing some ritual or there is truly a reality of treasuring Christ in your life. There's a big difference. Here the Bible says, It was the18:38 Lord's day. Look at verse 10. It was the Lord's day. You know what's the Lord's day? The Lord's day could be that it was the first day of the week. It was the Sunday. It is the resurrection Sunday and18:50 he is talking about on the Lord's Day all the churches that are in the mainland, all the churches in Asia would be worshiping the Lord. And John on that same day, even though he's19:02 exiled, he's worshiping the Lord on the same day and he says, I was in the spirit. Listen to me. He is in exile in Patmos, but he is not only in an earthly location19:14 like Patmos, he also had a spiritual location which is in the spirit. Now in the spirit is always used by the charismatics. When they they feel, I feel19:25 goosebumped. I'm in the spirit. Oh, this music is so emotional. I'm crying and weeping. I'm in the spirit. Not really. Those are just emotional experiences. When you are in the spirit, it basically means that you are19:37 receiving a revelation from God. It's like as though your eyes have been opened and there's an open heaven about you and you're transacting heavenly things and precious spiritual things.19:49 On the Lord's Day when everyone was worshiping, John in his exile was also worshiping and he was caught up in the Spirit. He was in the Spirit and in the Spirit he experienced a20:00 revelation that completely transformed his life. Listen to me carefully. What do you do on the lord's day? Matters. That's why if you're a young family, listen to me carefully. Don't put go to beach on the on the lord's20:12 on the lord's day. Don't put a birthday party or go to a birthday party on the lord's day. Make the lord's day a special day. It's not a day for your golf or for your entertainment. It is a day for worship and you model20:23 it. You treasure Christ and show to the next generation that you truly treasure. Then you see as they grow old they will walk in the ways of God. In the Lord's day, he had an20:35 encounter with God. Hallelujah. What a wonderful privilege that is. My prayer is even though we are watching this from a home environment that we will treasure Christ together that in the20:47 Lord's state as we worship together and partake of breaking bread together and receiving the Word of God together, Doesn't matter whether you're watching it from a theater or watching it at home or watching with your20:58 small groups, there will be an open heaven about you and you will have a revelation from God because that is what is necessary. How do you overcome tough times? Be a faithful witness.21:10 Model how you live to the next generation. The second point he's trying to make is this, there is a second empowering principle. Let us worship in the21:21 majestic presence of Christ. I want you to listen to me carefully. Read this verse in verse 12. He got a glimpse of what Jesus looks like.21:34 See in the gospels when you read, they never talk about how Jesus looked like. Isn't it? Nobody ever gave you a description. He's a Jewish man. He walked on earth but nobody gave you21:45 description of how his eyes looked or how his face was, what is the skin color, how long was his hair. We are only imagining but nobody there's no writings in the scriptures that gives you a21:57 picture. But here John is the first 1 to give you a picture and he's not saying this is how Jesus looks like, he's saying this is how Jesus is like. So he gives you a picture of22:09 what he sees and he says this is how he is like because words can't utter. He can only use what he has seen, what he knows, what he understands. He uses22:20 imagery and he gives you what Jesus is like. You and I we need to pay attention to this. You know why? Because you and I carry a picture of Jesus.22:32 I want you to see as you read this whether the picture that you carry of Jesus is the same as John carries. Look at this, Then I turned to see, he says, the voice that was speaking to me and on22:44 turning I saw 7 golden lampstands. In the midst of the lampstands 1 like a son of man clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. He says, I turned to see the22:56 voice and then suddenly he saw lampstands. What are these lampstands? See the lampstands in verse 20, the bible explains it. Jesus himself gives an explanation of what these lampstands are. As23:08 for the mystery of the 7 stars that you saw in my right hand and the 7 golden lampstands, the 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches and the 7 lampstands are the 7 churches. The 723:19 lampstands are the 7 churches. In other words, there is a lampstand that represents a church in heaven and there in the midst of that lampstands,23:32 in the midst, who is there? 1 like the son of man, the bible says in verse 13. 1 like the son of man. I want you to catch this. In the23:44 presence of God, in the heavenlies, in the presence of God, in the most holy place, there are lampstands representing the churches. And who is in the midst that is 1 like23:55 a son of man. Now this word son of man is a favorite designation that Jesus himself used for himself in the gospels. Over 81 times Jesus calls himself the son of24:07 man. Now the son of man, sometimes we understand the son of man as son of man means that he is fully human and Son of God He is fully God. It speaks about the24:19 humanity of Jesus. But not so because the Son of Man is a title that was given even in the Old Testament. I want you to go with me to Daniel chapter 7. Look at verse 13 and verse 14 and catch this.24:31 The bible says, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came 1 like a son of man. See the same language, like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days. Now pause there. Who is the24:43 ancient of days? Ancient of days is God. It's God the Father. So here, right here, there is almost another deity there in the heavenlies. But that deity is24:55 not just ancient of days, but there's a there's the there's God, another not there's there's almost like another being there and that 1 is like the son of man. I want you to catch this. In other25:07 words, 1 who looks like human but he's also God and was presented before him. Verse 14, And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom25:19 and all peoples, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom 1 shall that shall not be destroyed. Hallelujah. I want you to catch this. In other25:30 words, in the heavenlies, there was a son of man. 1 that looked like a son of man, but he's fully God because it was given to him dominion and glory and kingdom. Hallelujah. And all the people from all25:42 over the world was given to him and his kingdom will never be destroyed. Hallelujah. In other words, here is a beautiful picture that in the presence of God there is a God who is also a25:53 man. And what is that? You and I, the New Testament reveals to us, that's Jesus. Now pause here. I wanna give you an overview. You know in the Garden of Eden, in the presence of God, there26:05 was a man. His name is Adam. Adam. Adam means human and here there was a man in the image of God walking in the presence of God in26:17 the Garden of Eden. After that, after the fall of man, no man could walk into the Holy of Holies. Only once a year in the tabernacle and in the temple, the high priest26:29 can come in. So a man came into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God only once a year. So once in a while, you see the presence of a son of man in the in the holy of26:41 holies. But then when Christ came into the world, he died for us. He rose again. He's fully God. He's fully man. Now this man Jesus is now in the father's presence. He is deity.26:53 He is fully God. He is fully man. But he is the 1 like the son of man. He is there in heaven. Hallelujah. And the bible records by saying that he is wearing27:05 and what is he wearing? If you go back to verse 13 it says he is clothed in with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. What is a golden robe? What is the long27:16 robe? Long robe is dressed like a priest and the bible says with a golden sash around his chest. Again, in priestly garments, I think I did a sermon for 1 of the Easter Sundays where27:28 we saw the full garments of a high priest and part of it is a long robe and a sash. Here the sash is around his chest. In other words, only27:40 royalty wear it around the chest. Servants wear it around their waist and here he's the royal priesthood representing that he's our chief high priest. He's a high priest who has passed27:52 through the heavenlies and who has been touched by infirmities and who knows what it means to be tempted and yet without sin and he is the 1 who is interceding for you and what is he doing? He is in the midst of the28:03 lampstands. He is in the midst of the church and he is comforting them. He is counseling them. He is purifying them and he is walking among them. Hallelujah. I want you to catch this. This is what Jesus is28:15 doing today in the heavenlies. He is still working in his church. That's why even in the midst of pandemic, you and I can absolutely rest in the fact28:27 that God is sovereign, totally sovereign, absolutely in control over his church. You know, as a pastor, you know how reassuring that is to me. That is why as a pastor, can be rested. Rested in28:38 who? Rested in Christ. That Christ is building his church and the gates of Hades will never prevail against it. Hallelujah. Can you say amen? Then John goes on to describe what he28:50 saw. See I want you to catch this picture that John was given the first revelation, the first vision that God gave John is the vision of the glorified Jesus. He didn't talk about the end of the earth. He didn't talk29:02 about new heavens and new earth. He didn't give him a revelation of spiritual warfare and how Jesus wins the battle. None of that. He gave him a vision of the glorified Jesus and that is the vision you and I need29:14 in times like this. In tough times, the vision that you and I need to carry is the majestic presence of Christ. Look how he describes him. The bible says in verse29:25 14, The hairs of his head were white like a white wool. In other words, in his dress he looked like a priest but in his clothing, in his hair, he looked29:36 white. What does this white represent? Even though it represents purity because it talks about his head, it talks about his wisdom. In other words, with age comes wisdom they say, right? He's the29:49 ancient of days. He's the 1 who is fully wise. His wisdom is profound. Hallelujah. Then his eyes were like a flame of fire. In other words, when he looks at you he can see everything30:00 about you. His eyes are penetrating. It has insight. It can see through everything. That's why he can see through the hypocrisy. He can see through the double love in their30:12 heart. He can see through everything. And then comes his feet. His feet were like a burnished bronze refined in a furnace and his voice was like a roar of many waters. His feet speaks about30:24 how he is, his how strong he is. It's permanent. It can never be moved because it's made of bronze. Look at that. It's like bronze it says. Then his voice was like the roar of many waters. In30:36 other words, he spoke powerful authority. Hallelujah. Then in his right hand he held 7 stars. What are the 7 stars? The bible already explained in verse30:48 20, the 7 stars are the 7 angels of the church. That word angels there is the word for messengers. It could be also pastors. I would take it as he's holding the pastors in his31:00 hand, the leaders of the church. The leadership of the church, he's holding them in his hands, in his right hand. It's the right hand. It's the right hand of authority, of honor, of power and he says, I'm protecting31:12 them. I'm shielding them. Hallelujah. I want you to listen to me carefully. From his mouth came a sharp 2 edged sword. In other words, when the sword comes out, it will cut asunder the bible says in Hebrews 4 19.31:24 Isn't it? It will separate the bone from the marrow. In other words, it is enough to be able to separate and do the surgical work at the same time it can kill the enemies. It can overcome. Hallelujah.31:36 And his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Listen to me. In other words, when you see his face you can't truly grasp what you're seeing. Why? Because it is too31:47 glorious. It is too powerful. Our naked eyes cannot see sun. You'll go blind. The same way when you look at the Lord31:58 Jesus it's so powerful and automatically there is a praiseworthiness that comes in. I've heard many people say, Oh, I went to heaven. I32:10 saw Jesus. Or there are some prophets who claim to go to heaven almost like catching a bus to go to the town. That means every other day they are in32:21 heaven. Can I humbly say this? If you have truly been in the presence of God and especially if you have seen the glorified Jesus, the reaction will be like just like what John did. In verse 17, bible says, When32:33 I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Look at that. He couldn't move. He felt like he was dead. Now you and I need to pause and ask32:45 this fundamental question. What is our view of Jesus? How you see Jesus will affect the way you live your life. In this day and age,32:57 people have this kind of irreverent terminologies. They say the man upstairs or Jesus is my is that thing? Jesus is33:09 my friend. Jesus or we call him daddy. Yes. There is 2 ways you can look at Jesus. 1, you can look at him as he's your comforter, he's the 1 who comes in and33:21 redeems you so you can have that familiar relationship, that family relationship. At the same time, you have to acknowledge Jesus is fearful.33:33 Jesus is fearsome. In other words, is terrifying to look at. Many times we look at his humanity, we forget his divinity. Many times we want his33:44 forgiveness but we don't think about his wrath. Many times we want to think about the intimacy that we have with him but we fail to acknowledge that he's king over all the earth.33:56 You and I, we need to recognize. We sometimes have the picture of Jesus as the crucified savior but we forget that he is the glorious king. Why I'm saying this is because34:08 sometimes becoming too familiar with this yeah, with with gospel that we have him as our savior. He's loving. He's kind. You know, he likes the children to run,34:20 jump on him, he hugs the children. We forget that he's also the Jesus who used the whip and chased out all the money changers. We need to embrace both34:32 because how you see him will affect the way you worship especially in tough times. You gotta realize that you and I, we need to recognize that Jesus need to be34:45 feared. There is a reverential fear that we need to have. This is my humble opinion that the church is losing that healthy fear of God. You know34:56 what Christian life is? Christian life is letting go of the wrong kind of fear where you're afraid of judgment and condemnation and shame and guilt but35:08 to come to a place where you are able to be accepted by God but at the same time developing the right kind of fear. Letting go of the wrong kind of fear and embracing the right kind of fear is the Christian life. To be35:20 able to say I am afraid, I fear God. At the same time, to receive from him, do not be afraid. To fear and not be afraid is the Christian life. I hope I'm not35:32 confusing you. I want you to catch this picture church. My heart as a disciple making pastor is to recognize that there are people who are too familiar especially when I walk with pastors because35:44 we deal with this every single day of our life. We handle the word of God. We preach. We minister to people And we pray. We prophesy. We do things. But at the end of the day, is it become35:56 too familiar that we take it that we forget the glorious majestic Jesus? Because that should bring the fear of God, the right fear of God into our lives.36:08 There was a documentary that was filmed called Free Solo. Free Solo is actually an Oscar award winning documentary. It was capturing36:20 the triumph of a climber called Alex Honnold. Alex Honnold climbed without a rope36:32 3200 feet. There was a rock mountain that's called El Capitan in America. He did it without a rope36:44 and they captured him. While they were capturing him many times they thought that he would not make it because it's a steep wall and he needs to climb it. It's amazing.36:56 If you ever have a chance, watch it. In part of the documentary they wanted to see how can this guy do it because no healthy human being would want to put themselves in such danger. Is he a37:07 sociopath? Does he have no fear? They did a test on him. You know what they discovered during the time of testing? That this man where other people will be fearful, he doesn't have that37:19 fear. In other words, his threshold of fear is quite wide. He's not easily moved. He's not easily afraid. Now maybe you and I need to examine37:31 whether we have come to that place where we are no longer afraid of the spiritual things, spiritual realities. You got to understand this is John we are talking about. John37:43 who lay in the bosom of Jesus Christ. John who calls himself the beloved disciple of Christ. John who says, I have so much intimacy with Jesus. He knows the master's37:54 voice. He knows who he is. He was there when the master was hung on the cross. He was commissioned by Jesus to look after his mother. He is so close to Jesus38:06 and yet when he had a vision of Jesus he fell down dropped as though there was no strength in him because he saw the38:18 risen glorified Jesus. Sometimes I wonder whether we need to get back to that place. I believe with all my heart that the church needs to come back to that healthy38:29 place of fear. See, grew up in India. When I was a young man I was called to translate for another speaker who was speaking in English and I needed to translate to38:41 Tamil and I was only a teenager and they brought me to this place called Tirupati in India. Now if you're from India you would know that this place, there is a temple and38:53 it's a temple where people literally from all over the world travel and they climb up mountains and they wait in long queues and they go and worship. Now,39:05 as a young boy I saw the glimpse of how these people worship. It broke my heart. We look at the watch if the preaching goes a little longer, if theShow more In this video 0:00 Being an Overcomer in Tough TimesComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Paul Jeyachandran
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