Revelation: Jesus Wins in the End

Praise God, brothers and sisters. I'd like to open up today's service by reading from uh Psalm 34 verse 1. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. We see here that David, he writes, you know, that he blesses the Lord even in the the bad times and in the good times. And no matter, you know, no matter what you're going through, no matter what is happening, praise should continually be in our mouths to the Lord. And I think that's also very pleasing to God when he sees that our hearts are like that. whenever, for example, we're going through a hard day, hard month, hard year, God really sees that. And uh with that being said, let's listen to what the word is saying to us today and what the songs are saying to us today. And let's stand up and pray for the service. Lord God, we thank you for this amazing day you've given us, Lord, and for this service, God. Thank you for another day that we're alive on this earth, Lord, and that we're able to praise your name, God. We thank you, Lord. And I pray and ask Lord uh fill us place the Holy Spirit God speak to us through the word through the music. God guide us and lead us in your holy spirit. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And altogether we'll be singing yet not I but through Christ in me. [Music] What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to this. Oh, how strange and divine I can see. All is mine yet not I, but through Christ in me. The night is dark, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior, he will stay. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, his power is displayed. To this I my shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley he will lead. Oh the night has been won. And I shall overcome yet not I but through Christ in me. No fate I dread. I know I am forgi. The future sure the price it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon. And he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hope my sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my king. Oh the chains are released. I can sing. I am free yet not I but through Christ in me. With every breath I long to follow Jesus. For he has said that he will bring me hope. And day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hold. My hope is only [Music] Jesus. All the gloryy ever more to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me, and will be seen like eagles. [Music] Oh my soul, do you not know? Have you not heard? It's been told from the beginning. The Lord your God is on your side. Oh my soul. Don't be afraid. Hope in the Lord. By his righteousness and power. He will strengthen. He will come. And I will soar on weeks like eagles. Help by the hand of God. I will run and not grow tire when on his name I call. For the Lord is never weary. His ways are beyond my thoughts. I will trust in him with all my [Music] heart. Oh my soul, do you not know? Have you not heard? It's been told from the beginning. The Lord your God is on your [Music] side. Oh my soul, don't be afraid. Hope in the Lord by his righteousness and power. He will strengthen. He will guide. And I will soar on wings like eagles, held by the hand of God. I will run and not grow tire when on his name I call. For the Lord is never weary. His ways are beyond my thoughts. I will trust in him with all my arms. Praise God. Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, for this morning that we can all come here together into the house of the Lord and praise his name and glorify his name. And I'm going to read a Bible verse in Isaiah uh 43:E 2. And it says here, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. Praise God. And uh we'll have Pastor Gennady uh saying a word about Revelation for us. And uh so we can learn more about that book. Praise God. One, two. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Praise God. As you heard, my name is Pastor Gennady, but I do go by Henry as well. That's equivalent. I was born in Georgia. That's former Soviet Union. So some people know as Russia. So therefore, if you feel like I'm I'm speaking like Arnold Schwitzenegger, that's not my problem. Actually, that's where I was born. So I I did taught Bible study in jail. And so they called me a teachingator. So instead of a terminator, a teachinator. So and um but anyway, that's my excuse for maybe speaking with an accent that you may not understand. That makes me easy actually to move forward because my kids goes to me, father, why you have such a big accent and what's wrong with you? I'm like, well, nothing wrong. I'm just I was born in formous Soviet Union. But regardless of my accent, how I speak, but I do love the word of God, and that's something I've been studying for the rest of my life. And um today we're going to talk about Revelation. It's an extremely interesting book. Some people find this book to be very difficult to understand. There was a time or after studying the book of revelation for many times one teacher he was his name was David Parson he actually explained to me that this book is not a difficult book it's most people made it this book to be very difficult but this book was written to people that is less less educated than you and me. Most of the people at that time had no education and this book was written to them to understand and to comprehend. So therefore we should actually read and try to get as much as possible. The way the Bible is actually made is that the more we read the more we understand. Why is that so? Because a kid can start read a Bible and he will understand understand something from it and educated scholar sometimes read a Bible and he has no clue what some of the verses talking about. That's this is the word of God. It can actually feed every person. Doesn't matter the type of education you have or who you are. So we're going to talk today about revelation and we're going to try to make to make it as simple as possible. Book of revelation in the Bible we know that there is a 66 books and they are written by 40 authors. You probably know that. And um Revelation is the last book of a Bible. So if Genesis it's like the beginning of the movie. It's how everything started. Genesis extremely important book. It's actually explains how God created humanity. The reason God have created and what God was expecting from humanity that they would serve him that they would glorify him. And then there is a books in between explain to us that God goal was to save the humanity because humanity fall into the sin. And the book of revelation it's the end. It shows how everything will end. And it also explains to us who will be on God's side and who will be on devil's side. And our goal today is to make sure that we on the right side of the history. So that's why we're going to learn today Revelation. And we want to make sure that we understand and not only understand that we obey this book. And so let's before I will start introduction um I will read the first uh verse. I also have a very bad vision. So I will have my brothers right here. They will read some of the verses from Bible to me to you guys and I think it will make something smoother. But first verse I would like to read. It's going to be Revelation 1 verse one. So I'm actually going to make this actually just because it's extremely to read. Those who do not have Bibles, please raise your hand. Does everyone have a Bible? Does anyone need a Bible? Because there is a Bible right here. We actually want to open today. We want to open chapter one verse one, book of Revelation, because this is the study. So we want to make sure we ourselves reading and we starting from it. I don't care what kind uh interpretation you have. I use many different interpretation because my goal is to understand what is written over there. So if you have a slightly different interpretation, it makes you think okay what does really it's saying? Um, Jacob, so I do have a first slide on my computer, but for some reason you guys don't have a slide right here. Is there a reason why maybe I'm not in a correct setting right here? I want to make sure that you see maybe there is a I want to make sure that you're able to see. Oh, okay. Okay, great. So, does everybody everybody got their Bibles? Good. Good. That's how we should hear the word. Every time when we come to this place, we want to open up the Bible and we want to read the Bible. So, Revelation 1 verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bond servants, the things which must soon take place. And and he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bond servant John. This is an extremely important verse. I do not find any book of a Bible that would give this description. Even though we know that all 66 books of a Bible is written by a man that was guided through the Holy Spirit. It's the word of God. God was given this word to them. But for some reason, God want to make sure that you know that this book was given we read by God the father to his son God the Jesus Christ. So it was revealed by the father to Jesus Christ because this is talks about future and God want to want you to know that this book came from him. This is an extremely important book. It was given by God the father revealed to his son Jesus Christ. Then Jesus Christ gave this to John. Uh Jesus Christ gave this to an angel. An angel came and gave this to an apostle John. An apostle John gave to me and I'm giving to you right now. And hopefully there is a people in your life that you can give this information to some other people and that's how we should spread. This is shows the importance of this book that God himself, God the father revealed to his son Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ gave this to an angel. And we see that pattern that Jesus Christ actually describing that anything he gets he gets from his father and he giving it to us. That's also concerning the entire word of God. Because if we're going to open like John and you don't have to open this, I'll just read it to you. John uh the gospel of John uh 15 and verse 15. So chapter 15 verse1 15 Jesus Christ saying these words, no longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. So Jesus Christ saying that all things that I have heard from my father, I had gave it to you. So you're my friends now. And at the same time he's describing that if we obey his words then we are his friends. So our goal today is to make sure that we're going to obey this word. So then second part of the verse it explains that things that will come soon. I want to show you how to interpret the book of revelation. Make sure we interpret it properly. I want to give you one example and I'm going to read from the revelation ch 12 verse1 and then I'm going to ask you a question. A great sign appeared in heaven. a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. So when we going to ask to some people who is the woman and everyone or not everyone there's a lot of scholars will say that this is an Israel because the description gave given to us is that there is a sun there is a moon then there is a 12 stars it's a Jacob and his wife and 12 of his sons because that's what Bible describes to But I don't think that's in Israel. I think this is the church. And the reason I think this is the church because we read we read in verse one the things which must come soon. If it's talking about Israel and how the Jesus Christ uh is uh crucified then this thing already had happening. So when an angel came and shown this to John, he goes, I'm going to show you what's going to come soon, not not what's already had happened. So when we read the book of Revelation, it's all information that given to us. It's either present when John is present or it's a future after John. And that's how we're going to interpret the book of Revelation. It's when John was there. It's the things that should come soon at the time of a John and actually later. But the Christ was crucified and Israel it was slightly before it was 30 years prior or even 50 years maybe more. It's actually it was actually 80 years prior of the Jesus Christ's birth. So that's one of the example I'm giving to you how to interpret the revelation. Make sure we're not start mixing. Okay, maybe it's talking about things that had happened before the Christ. It's mostly things that's happening after when Christ was ascended to heaven. So I would like brother Zach to read uh verse two and verse three, please. Okay. And I'm going to start uh just quickly again at the beginning just so you know where we're at. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to the servant John. Okay. So now we're going into verse two. Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Christ Jesus even to all that he saw. Now listen. Blessed is the one who reads out loud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. Very powerful words. Yeah, that's the only book of the Bible that openly promises the blessing. I mean the entire Bible if we read and obey it bring blessings to us. But for some reason Jesus Christ want to let you know those who reads and right now when brother Zach was reading reads out loud. That's so interesting. Yeah. Maybe we all start should start reading this book out loud. Or maybe it's talking about preaching actually like I'm doing right now. But blessed blessed are the ones who read out loud. Another thing they hear the words and obey what it says over there. So very very important is to read to hear and to obey it. And those who going to do that they will inherit blessings. They will inherit promise from God. So that's what we are doing today. we read in this word but that's not enough. Hopefully when we read this word we're going to obey this word then it's going to bring blessing to us. So right now I would like to start from introduction in a way just to have a little bit uh historical background behind that. Number one why it was written and to whom it was written. The purpose this book is was written, we read already to show the events that must come soon. It's to show to each one of us the things that must come soon. It's to show how the events will end. It's like the end in the movie. And it's given to us. I mean, can you believe if someone would someone would give it to you, what's going to happen in the future in your life? You want to know that? Why? Because it will save you from many problems. It will give you wisdom what to do. And right here, actually, we're reading that God given this information about the future, how things will end. And knowing that we can make a right decision. We can make wise decisions because we know what's going to happen. And when things come to appear at that time, what we read in the revelation, we know how we should act. That's why the purpose why it was written, it's to show the events that will must come soon. And like I said the second point to show at the end Jesus wins. There was one man he was a janitor in one of the seminary biblical seminary and so there was a students who was actually at that semester was learning about the book of re revelation and they thought it was so complicated that in a break they said hey let's go and let's play some basketball. We want to mentally be free from all the things that we studying. And so, and while they were playing, they saw that uh man sitting there and reading a Bible. So, they came up to him and said, "Hey, what are you reading?" He said, "Book of Revelation." And they almost smiled and goes, "Well, do you understand what you're reading about?" He goes, "So, yeah." They're like, "You do? I mean, so what it's talking about?" He's like, "Very simple. Jesus wins at the end. And that's the entire message right here. Jesus wins and who endures also wins at the end. And we're going to learn today how to endure some things as well. So make sure because Jesus Christ, he endured on the cross and he wins. When we endure in our life, we're going to win as well. So we should all endure and right here I already came to that point. Enduring will inherit salvation or will inherit everything. Of course enduring when we talk about salvation I do want to paraphrase. It's not that we get salvation by our works but we endure in trusting in Jesus Christ. We endure in following him. We enduring sticking to him to the end. And that's what we should do. Whatever happens in our life, we enduring sticking to Jesus Christ. We want to follow him. Even though we have some problems in our life. Sometimes we fall. And some people when they fall, they get so discouraged they go away from Jesus Christ. But no matter what happens in your life, we should endure trusting in Jesus Christ. He's he is our savior. And as soon as we stick to him, we'll be okay. So don't never get discouraged in your life. Whatever happens in your life, keep keep trust in Jesus Christ and he will lead you to the salvation. And another point we should know that wicked will perish. If um if brother Tim or who who can open or brother Zach can open Revelation 21 verse8 let's read that verse. I do want to read this right now just to explain that if we're not on the right side of a Bible, then we're in trouble. And so we should do something about it. We should come to repentance. Okay. Revelation 218. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abonomable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolattors, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Bible very clearly explained to us if we doing those things and we're not following Jesus Christ and we're not repenting we're going to end up in a bad place. There is no gray line. Some of us going to say well I mean maybe some of those things I have in my life what should I do? You should come to Jesus Christ. You should repent. Yeah, you should repent and you should say, "Jesus Christ, from now on, I don't want to do those things. I want to follow you and I'm going to learn from this book how to be the follower of Jesus Christ." So after when we going to finish this lesson today, if anyone of you feel like you're on a wrong side of a Bible, you want to repent. If you want to come to Jesus Christ, it was very clearly stated those who do those things, they will not inherit the salvation. Very important words, very clear. No gray lines. It's white and black. And but the simple message, if you're one of those, the simple message that Jesus Christ died for you, that Jesus Christ can set you free, that Jesus Christ can make you part of his family, and still with all of your weaknesses, you can be part of the Jesus Christ family, and you can inherit salvation as long you trust in him and you come to him and if you struggle with those things you can come and say Jesus Christ I'm struggling with those things free me from those wicked things forgive me for the things I have done in my life because he already died for you he paid for all of your sins simple message simple message come to Jesus Christ repent and and start following him. So to whom it was written as I mentioned before it was written to the ordinary people to the people that is less educated than you and me and they should understand this book. If they they should understand this book then you should study this book. You should read this book and go chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Not just getting in some small bits and pieces from this book, but start reading this book and you will find it's simple enough for you to understand. One man said that intellectuals tend to complicate this book. they tend to start making this book so complicated that some of them even pass in the history they said well I don't know if it even should be in a Bible but it is in a Bible and it is for us to read and this book bring some blessings to those who read and obey this book and simple message like I said Jesus wins So I do like to talk about the outline of this book. Very simple. There is nothing too complicated about this book. And when I'll mention the outline, maybe it's going to be so much easier for you. So chapter one to chapter three. Chapter one, two, and three. It's a present time that John, Apostle John had lived. While he was living there was seven churches and to those seven churches Jesus Christ sent his letter. Then when we're going to come to chapter four and five it was stated to John come up to the heaven and John is in heaven actually. And while John is in heaven in chapter four, he sees God the father on his throne and everyone bow down to him and worshiping him. Then when we come to chapter five, it's actually talking about Jesus Christ the lamb, the lamb that has died for us and that the lamb is worshiped as well as God the father. Because we got to understand God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit makes one God. But there is three persons that makes one God. And so that's why we see first the throne of God the Father, then in chapter five, we see God the Son, Jesus Christ. Yeah, this is maybe hard for us to comprehend how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit makes one God because, well, we're we're a little bit more simpler. When I was studying biology, I studied the ukariots. Ukariats, it's a simple cell. Um, so ukarotss or procariots. Yeah, there is ukariats, procariots. There is an organism that have one cell and that organism with one cell thinking well to be one you only can be one cell that's one and all the sudden God has created some organism that does not have one cell has a lot more cells and then they think well there is many cells it cannot be one and those many cells made up one organism it was more a complicated creation. So therefore, God is more complicated than we are. And so, but we do read in the Bible that in chapter 4, there was actually God the Father on his throne. And in chapter five, it was God the Son, the lamb that died for us. And that God the Father had the scroll in his hands. And no one could open this scroll. And then John was crying and he was crying a lot. And then the angel came to him and said, "Do not cry. There is someone that is worthy to open this scroll, this book." And it's the lamb. It's the Jesus Christ. Why he's the only one worthy? Because the scroll talks about the countdown to the end for the humanity. And who's worthy to start the countdown to the end for the humanity? It's the human himself. And there was no human that was worthy to start the countdown to the end. And that's why John was crying. Is there is anyone that is worthy that can represent a person that is perfect and able to open this book and start to count down to the end? And there was no man. And then angel goes to him, do not cry. There is someone that is worthy is Jesus Christ because God the son became a person and right now he represents me and you and therefore he's worthy to open this book. He's the only one that worthy. And so and God the son came from his father took this book and when he starts opening this scroll we come to the chapter six. And chapter 6 all the way to chapter 11 talks about the scroll. But then it will and practically chapter 6 to chapter 19 it's what things happening here on the earth. So that's a very quick outline. So makes it easy for you when you read chapter 1 to chapter 3 you're going to read about the present time when John was present on the earth 200 years ago and there was some physical seven churches to whom this letter is sent. Then chapter five and chapter six, John is in heaven. He's by the throne of God the father and he sees Jesus Christ over there as well. And on chapter five, chapter four, everyone glorify God the father. In chapter five, everyone glorified God the son Jesus Christ because he is the worthy same glory as the God the father. I know maybe there is someone that may not understand as I have described it but it's okay if we understand something differently then it makes us to not quarrel about it but we should read more and study more and and it pretty much promote us to study Bible more okay is this true is this how it is so let's approach it this way not to say oh I don't agree But it's okay. Let's start reading. Let's start diving in into the Bible and let's start comprehending what it's saying to us. So, um I do want uh brother Zach to read um Revelation 1 verse 11. Okay. Saying, "Write what you have seen in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus and to Sarrenia and to Per some of the hard difficult words. Yeah. Pergamin and to Therita and Sardius and to Philadelphia and to do. I gave you the toughest verse of the Bible. Yeah. No, no, but I gave him the toughest verse because I mean those words, they're not part of your language or even language that we use right now. But anyway, those the seven series in minor Asia over there. There was the physical seven cities there. So only seven cities cities over there and God sending the entire entire revelation to those churches. Why? Why not to Jerusalem? Why not to the church in Rome? What's so special about those seven churches? So there is a different interpretation why those seven churches. The first interpret interpretation that seven churches uh represent the churches through the timeline. Okay. It's like first church Ephesus the time of apostles then the second church then the last church the time Leysia the time or our time but that's not the interpretation that I adhere to I believe that those seven churches represents seven characters of all churches through throughout the history. So when we read what is written to those churches, we should find ourself in one of the that church the character maybe things that we're not doing right the things that we do well and we should actually read and learn what we should correct. So those seven churches represent the characters of all churches through the timeline through the history. Why this is important to us? Because now when I'm going to read what Jesus Christ saying to those seven churches, I will be able find find myself over there and I would be able to see oh maybe I do everything not too bad but maybe I lost the first love and I should do something about it. That's why whatever is written over there, it becomes relevant to me right now today as well. So that's why those seven churches represent seven characters or someone would say seven spirits of all the churches on the earth through the history. So those seven churches also the but historical background it's also stated that most merchants and all the religions would actually be in that area. It was the area where most merchants were passing through and therefore there was lot of business done over there. People with all kind different backgrounds and religion were there and so this place was representing the pretty much entire humanity and that's why those churches do represent pretty much the entire humanity and character of everyone and it's written to those seven churches actually. So team, brother Tim, I think we pretty much done with our time. We should end right here and then we're going to continue and we might go a little bit quicker next time kind reading from the Bible. But at first I want to give you this background so you can understand, you can comprehend. And if you have ability to read chapter one, do this because the best way to learn it's actually start reading and then something you don't understand then when we're going to go over all of the sudden you might have some questions and before I will end I want to ask is there anyone that have a question it's like an open session I do want to at the end leave like maybe a couple minutes for the questions is there anyone have a question or maybe want to add something to this study so it seems like everyone understood or everyone disagree Actually, you agree. Allan agreed. That's it, man. Yeah. Even with Terminator uh accent. Okay. Good. Yes. Alan. minor Asia. Well, there there was many churches. Uh I that's a good question. I actually cannot tell you how many churches were there. I know that those seven churches were there at that time and minor Asia nowadays it's uh it's a modern Turkey. So that's why all those churches they're physically I mean all those cities they're physically there they might have some different names but they were which we call right now in modern Turkey and before the Turkey was a was a Christian nation or that area minor Asia actually. So we should pray for that nation too that it become Christian again. Okay. What is it? Now they're Muslims. So we should pray that they would become Christian again. So well let's all bow down and let's pray actually. Yeah. will sing the song by the name of Yes, I know. [Music] Come ye sinners lost and lonely. Jesus blood can make you free. For he say the worst among you when he say a wretch like me and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the vless sinner And I know, yes, I know Jesus blood can make the vless sinner clean to the faith. He giveth power through the mouth. is makes a way. Findeth water in the desert turns the night to golden day. And I know, yes, I know Jesus blood can make the vless sinner clean. And I know, yes, I know Jesus blood can make the vilest sinner clean. In temptation he is near thee. Holds the path of hell at guides you to the path of safety. Gives you grace for every day. And I know, yes, I know Jesus blood can make the vless sitter clean. [Music] And I know, yes, I know Jesus blood can make the violent sinner [Music] clean. Praise God. Well, my dear friends, our service has come to the end and um I hope everybody was taking notes, but we have some homework to do. Pastor Henry has gave us homework. It's not a lot. is just one chapter but one chapter and write down all the questions you have and maybe you can uh next Sunday bring it to him or we can talk about it Tuesday at our Bible reading and I want to remind all of us again our service schedules Tuesday at 8:30 I would like to see more people at the Bible reading and also Thursday at 6 pm uh we have Bible study and Sunday service at 9:00 am. Praise God for everything. And I'm excited for this book because it has a lot of things that we might see in our life and we're like, what is going on? There's a chaos yet the book of Revelation is going to reveal to us that this time has to come. and let's see where we are at. Let's see where we are at. Uh but does anybody have any needs? Uh maybe somebody wants us to uh pray for you. Yes, Alan. yesterday. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay. We'll pray because God, he can heal you. He can restore you. And he will uh bless you if have we heard today. If we endure, if we obey what the word tells us. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. If not, let's pray. Lord God, we thank you Lord for today's message. God, I pray God that you open up our hearts and our minds and our ears to what you have to tell us, to what you have to teach us, Lord God. May we endure to the end, God, because that is when we will receive uh the rewards and crown of life like and the blessings Lord that you promise us God. Bless each person here. And we also pray for brother Allan Lord heal him Lord God. Heal him, God, spiritually as well, God. He needs spiritual healing as well, God. And you bless him in his life that he endures to the end, Lord God. And also bless the rest of this day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For your kingdom, your power, and glory forever are yours. Amen. Be blessed.