Grace Haven Church

0:00 So we've been talking about the Book of Revelation, and actually the meaning or the word for the Book of Revelation is the apocalypse, the apocalypse of Jesus or the opening or uncovering.

0:12 Okay.

0:13 And I just want to remind us a little bit about what we've heard last week and what this is all about the Book of Revelation.

0:21 And then we're going to take a closer look at the seven churches that actually Jesus is sending a letter through John to the seven churches.

0:28 And actually what we can learn from them in our situation today.

0:32 Is that okay?

0:34 All right.

0:35 So keeping in mind what the Book of Revelation is about, okay, it's a big, big book with a lot of things in it.

0:42 And I'm not a scholar, I'm just going to do my best to, you know, help us in our day to day world and our day to day life.

0:49 This is not about head knowledge.

0:50 This is about life application.

0:53 Yeah.

0:54 But we've heard that it is written by John, obviously.

0:57 John was being exiled on the island of Patmos, now a Greek island, I think, or Turkish.

1:03 I don't know.

1:04 You'll find it out.

1:06 On the island of Patmos.

1:08 But you know, we think about island is beautiful, but he was probably working in the mines.

1:12 Okay.

1:13 He was not on a holiday.

1:14 He was being exiled for the testimony of Jesus.

1:17 So just think about that.

1:19 Put yourself, today is a lot about putting yourself in these people's shoes.

1:22 Okay.

1:23 Have a bit of imagination.

1:25 He's in, he's working.

1:26 He's in the mines.

1:28 He's been exiled, not knowing what's next.

1:31 And that's, this is where he is writing the book of revelation.

1:34 When he's having the vision of the revelation.

1:37 And then he's writing into a certain audience.

1:40 He's writing it to the churches in Asia Minor, now in Turkey.

1:45 They're in affluent cities.

1:46 They are in, you know, churches that have been planted through, like what Mark said on the screens, through Paul and the apostle, through Paul and Timothy and all of these guys.

1:56 And they are actually in these cities.

1:59 They're in the Roman empire.

2:01 They're being surrounded by all of this Roman empire vision.

2:05 Yeah.

2:06 The narrative of that.

2:08 They have been facing persecution and actually in around 70 AD, there was such a big persecution in Jerusalem.

2:16 The Christians there that the temple was destroyed.

2:20 They were actually, many had died because of persecution.

2:23 And some of them now actually found refuge in these churches.

2:28 Okay.

2:29 But there were Christians from Jerusalem.

2:31 So they now find themselves in the Gentile churches of now these cities.

2:37 Okay.

2:37 So we can imagine there's been a, probably a bit of tension there as well, just because, okay, these are from Jerusalem, from the Jewish background.

2:45 And these are from Gentile churches.

2:47 Okay.

2:48 So can you envision, this is the audience.

2:50 Okay.

2:50 So there's tension internally and externally.

2:53 And it's a bit also the potential that we have today, right?

2:57 In a church today, even here right now, we have different backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, different cultures, but we all find ourselves here today in this church.

3:06 You've chosen to be in this church today.

3:08 Amen.

3:10 So it's, you know, not the same audience, but it's similar or it has similarities.

3:15 Okay.

3:16 And I actually want to show you one picture of that we saw when we were in Ephesus the other week.

3:21 And it's just to give you again, a picture of what these people were facing.

3:25 So you see these stones here.

3:27 So this is on the street that Mark was standing and there's the port, not far away.

3:31 And you would come through the port and then you would come into the city and then you would see these stones.

3:36 And on the left, you see a stone with a cross, which is great.

3:39 Right.

3:40 So that would actually tell you, okay, there are Christians here.

3:43 Okay.

3:43 So you could be, you know, encouraged, okay, there's people of my faith here.

3:48 But then there would be these stones with the cross and the box around, which was actually a sign of, but there's persecution also.

3:56 Okay.

3:57 So you would enter the city, encourage it.

4:00 There's Christians, but also be aware that there's actually tension.

4:03 There's actually persecution.

4:04 You can take that down.

4:05 Okay.

4:06 So this is the reality of the people in that time.

4:09 And I am not sure how you came here to Berlin, but Berlin is a place where many different people come for different reasons.

4:16 And maybe you've come just recently and you are glad that you're in a church, that you're glad that you found some people that smile at you.

4:24 Which probably because you might have realized when you go to work, your new job, it's maybe not the most friendly place sometimes.

4:31 Okay.

4:32 So maybe you're encouraged that you have found Christians, that you have found a church, a home.

4:36 And at the same time, you know, there is a world out there that you're going to have to overcome and that you're going to have to step into and actually live your faith.

4:44 Right.

4:45 So I think there's some similarities and the main focus or main topics of revelation of the book of revelation that we heard about last week is two of the words that I have mentioned the most is look, look and behold and fear not.

5:02 Yeah.

5:03 So look, Jesus is telling John, look, look, look at Jesus.

5:08 Look at what's happening.

5:10 Behold him.

5:11 Look at him.

5:12 Look who he is.

5:13 And then fear not.

5:15 And I think that's so encouraging.

5:17 We can take that into our world, right?

5:20 That Jesus is the reigning and ruling King right now.

5:24 If you only take one thing into your week, take that look and behold Jesus and fear not.

5:31 He's with you.

5:33 The second, the second topic or one of the main topics is the throne of Jesus.

5:39 We're being told that there's a throne, a throne where the angels worship around where Jesus is on the throne that is unshakable and that is immovable and that is standing right now.

5:52 Not some time, some day when we're in heaven.

5:55 No, it's standing right now, strong and steady and unshakable.

5:59 Amen.

6:03 That throne is standing, no matter the rulers and the ideologies, no matter what's going on right now in the world.

6:11 This throne is standing right now, right now in this moment.

6:16 You can, as a Christian, you can, you can take that and draw strength from it for your day to day world.

6:25 And I believe that's actually one of the things that the Holy Spirit is asking us as a church, as this church is to again, look to the throne.

6:34 Look that he's here, that he is steadfast right now.

6:38 Whatever is coming, the uncertainties that we all faith face, but he's here.

6:44 He's present.

6:46 And then the third topic or, you know, theme is Jesus standing in the middle of the seven lampstands.

6:54 I'm going to read this, going to read this part of scripture that we read last week, where it explains so beautifully of what John sees in this vision.

7:02 And it talks about Jesus.

7:04 He's being described with lots of symbolism, of authority, victory, purity, strength, power.

7:11 And I'm going to read it to you.

7:13 Okay.

7:13 Again, if you want to get to know more of this, listen to the message from last week or take the message notes.

7:19 Revelations 1, 12 to 18.

7:23 John said, He was wearing a robe that reached down to his feet, and a gold cloth was wrapped around his chest.

7:39 His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes looked like flames of fire.

7:45 His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall.

7:53 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword was coming from his mouth.

7:59 His face was shining as bright as the sun at noon.

8:02 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, but he put his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid.

8:09 I am the first, the last, and the living one.

8:12 I died, but now I am alive forever, and I have the keys to death and the world of the dead.

8:19 Amazing, amazing.

8:20 Okay.

8:21 So this is the scene.

8:22 This is the kind of scene that we're in.

8:25 And I want to ask you to make this personal, to make this imagery personal.

8:29 Because again, I don't know about you, but all of these symbols we don't really use today, right?

8:37 But I want to ask you, if when you read this at home or even right now, can you try, can you try to imagine this Jesus?

8:46 Can you try to imagine this Grandeur, this majesty of Him?

8:51 Who has heard the roar of a waterfall?

8:54 Who has heard the roar of a waterfall?

8:56 Anyone?

8:57 Okay.

8:57 A few of you.

8:58 Great.

8:59 Can you imagine that roar of the waterfall?

9:03 I don't know.

9:05 But who has watched the Netflix series on, you know, turning glass, making glass art?

9:10 Anyone?

9:12 Okay.

9:12 Three people.

9:13 Okay, sorry.

9:15 So it's a series about, you know, these people fighting for making really nice glass art.

9:20 But they obviously have to get this glass in the furnace, in a big oven to, you know, get it heated as high as possible so they can shape it.

9:30 The furnace.

9:30 His eyes.

9:34 You know, when we, when we were in Ephesus, there was this one big fireplace.

9:41 Not like a campfire, but like the, maybe like the Olympic fire, but maybe 10 times as big.

9:46 Okay.

9:47 And this was a sign for everyone that would come, that would see that fire from the port.

9:55 Okay.

9:56 Long distance.

9:56 They would see the fire and know that there was prosperity in the city, that the city was alive.

10:01 There was all well in the city.

10:04 And it took, I don't know, 20 women or 10 women, I think the whole life, everything they did for 20 years was mending to that fire.

10:13 Mending that fire that it would never go out.

10:16 And I imagine this maybe as big as half of the stage, this fire burning, not a little campfire, not a little candle, how we see it today.

10:25 But imagine his eyes like fire, his eyes like this fire, never going out, always blazing, always, always on.

10:37 Can you imagine, can you start to think about this Jesus that you actually serve as not just a little, you know, some person there, but this Jesus.

10:49 And for someone to drop dead, drop as if they were dead, something needs to happen, right?

10:55 So I want to encourage you, make this personal.

10:58 For me as a German, you know, it's sometimes difficult to actually, you know, actually get close to these symbolisms or this bigness because, you know, we've been taught because of the history not to, you know, not to go there.

11:10 But I want to imagine Jesus, I want to imagine this, this savior.

11:15 I want to imagine this King, this victorious King on the throne that we can actually come to, that we belong to.

11:22 Amen.

11:22 The one that even in death, even in death, even for our beautiful families from Ukraine, even in death, there's hope because he holds the keys to death in Hades.

11:35 Can we imagine this?

11:37 So John, he's seeing him not anymore in his earthly ministry, although he has actually witnessed him in his earthly ministry, but now he sees him how he is, how Jesus is now and the ministry that he has now and forever more.

11:51 Okay.

11:53 So just imagine how that must have been for John.

11:57 And I think this is huge for us, even just these verses, because it means we have an insight to Jesus now, how he is working on our behalf.

12:09 We've been given the gospel and the accounts of the early church that we can read about, but now we've actually also been giving an insight, a glimpse of what's happening right now, right now and forever more.

12:23 And what we belong to.

12:25 Isn't that amazing?

12:27 Jesus at work on our behalf right now.

12:30 You know, like it says in Romans 8, 34, the amplified version, I love that.

12:35 Who is the one who condemns us?

12:37 Christ Jesus is the one who died to pay our penalty and more than that, who was raised from the dead and who is at the right hand of God interceding with the father for us.

12:48 Again, how do you want to go into your week?

12:50 How do you want to leave this place today?

12:52 Do you want to leave it knowing that Jesus is working on your behalf?

12:55 He's interceding with the father for you.

12:58 What is the meeting you're going to go to today that you're already afraid of?

13:03 Can you bring Jesus into your story?

13:05 Can you bring him the one with the eyes of fire that never go out?

13:09 Can you bring him into your story?

13:12 The tough decision you're going to have to make this week.

13:15 Jesus is interceding on your behalf right now.

13:19 Think about that.

13:22 I'm encouraged by that.

13:25 Even if your week has nothing crazy, but can you actually take that into your every day?

13:34 When you pray, when you pray for your family, when you pray for your church, for this week, for venues, can you take this Jesus into that prayer, please?

13:44 Amen.

13:49 Because I believe this is the kind of people and community that we need right now as a church.

13:54 We need right now as a church, people that have a revelation and uncovering as a vision of who Jesus really is.

14:04 Because we're going into one of the most significant seasons as a church, like Andres was saying, a heart for the house season.

14:11 You know, as a local church, again, we are part of this journey.

14:15 We are part of the story of the ancient church now.

14:19 And we need to realize that.

14:20 I want to encourage us to realize that, not just listen, but to realize it and to take it for your own life.

14:27 That you are part of building a church in Prague and Warsaw that will serve the generation.

14:32 That you are a part of this church fighting for a new venue.

14:36 You're part of this church that's going to raise finances to actually set us up for the future.

14:42 We are not disconnected.

14:43 We are part of the story of centuries and we're in the right in the middle of it.

14:48 And it's going to take, you know, us understanding.

14:51 We're not here for a religious hype, because we're not here to impress anyone.

14:56 Okay, we're so not impressive.

14:59 So like we're here just simply to build the local church, a local house that's going to reach Eastern Europe.

15:07 And you can be part of that, but you need your own revelation of the common purpose that we share here in this church.

15:16 And I want to pray and I pray that the words that I speak today are not just about facts and not just about the history, but they are really dropping into your heart and to your spirit that you have Jesus on your side.

15:28 That we have Jesus on our side, on the throne right now.

15:31 But we need us together as a community.

15:33 You know, on Sunday, maybe you come here and you see a few people serving.

15:37 You see a few hosts on the door.

15:39 You see a few people on stage and that's okay.

15:42 Okay, a few people serving, the many, that's fine.

15:46 But Heart for the House, this season we're entering is, is actually about everyone serving, everyone participating, everyone contributing.

15:55 Okay, it's not about a few.

15:57 It's not about the team that serves.

15:58 It's about us as the church coming together.

16:02 All right, it's an opportunity for everyone, for everyone to express your heart for God's house.

16:10 Your heart for God's house.

16:13 And I want to pray that we take this because it's exciting, you know, because it's actually honoring the past, honoring those people in Ephesus, honoring the spirit that they had, the tenacity that they had to go through persecution and to still be faithful to Jesus.

16:32 It's honoring them and it's honoring your children to come, my children to come, that will hopefully be in the house of God, that will be growing up in the house of God here in Berlin and Warsaw and Prague.

16:45 And it's about honoring them, honoring what has gone before and honoring what's coming.

16:50 Amen.

16:50 And us right in the middle.

16:52 Okay, I want to be part of that.

16:54 And that's exciting.

16:57 And it's telling the world, it's telling even the spiritual world that we are on mission, that we have something to fight for, that we are not just playing church every Sunday, that we are here committed, having a revelation of what the Church of Jesus Christ is doing and can do in our world.

17:16 Amen.

17:18 So don't just hear it, but actually hear it.

17:21 And the revelation says all the time, those that have ears, listen.

17:26 I want to pray that we would have ears to listen in this season.

17:30 I had the opportunity, you know, over this year, my holiday, to go to Rhodes in Greece and then obviously two weeks ago in Ephesus.

17:39 And both times was so interesting to visit those temples and the ruins.

17:43 And, you know, what stood out to me, there were like signs of stories of families and stories of individual men and women that sacrificed money, that sacrificed from their own lives to build these temples, to build those churches, to build what we still see, things that serve the women and men and children in this community.

18:08 And they were, they took, they took from their lives and they gave it generously so that we could still today even see what has happened.

18:20 And that's what I want to do.

18:21 That's what I'm really part of.

18:22 This St. John's Basilica, Basilica in Ephesus that we visited, where John's remains are still today, was built by a woman in the 6th century.

18:35 Amazing by one woman, obviously a wealthy woman.

18:39 OK, I think it was the queen.

18:41 But anyway, it took a decision from her, though, to honor, to honor, to honor what God had done through John in this city.

18:53 I believe this is the spirit that we want to, going to have in our church.

18:57 Amen.

18:58 So let's take a closer look at the seven churches and what we are part of.

19:03 I'm going to read to you just quickly from Revelation 1, 19 to 20 in the Amplified Version again.

19:09 So Jesus saying to John, so write these things which you have seen in the vision and the things which are now happening and the things which will take place after these things.

19:20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels, divine messengers, of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

19:35 Yeah, so again, we're setting the scene here.

19:37 This is John, he's having this vision and what I read before,

19:42 we talk about seven lampstands and the son of man in the middle.

19:45 OK, so the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

19:49 And it's not about, you know, maybe read Revelation or about the seven churches.

19:54 It's actually not about, I believe, about judging the seven churches, OK, about reading it and they were so bad or they were so good, you know, we're never going to be that.

20:04 No, it's about actually learning and observing and actually seeing, wow, this is what Jesus sees his church.

20:11 This is what he sees the potential of his church and then actually taking it on and saying, OK, so what are we going to do?

20:19 For our church.

20:22 So I want to quickly go through it.

20:24 Seven churches have not much time left and seven churches.

20:28 First, Ephesus.

20:29 Are you OK?

20:30 You're giving me a thumbs up.

20:32 Awesome.

20:33 It's a bit dark, so it's good.

20:35 It's nice.

20:35 I can't see your smile.

20:38 So church in Ephesus, OK, they were praised for their deeds, for hard work, perseverance and hardship and for rejecting false prophets.

20:46 OK, but they seem to have forsaken their first love.

20:50 And I think what we can be encouraged about here from Ephesus is that we can remember or we should remember Jesus and the salvation that we have through him, that we have received salvation and that we should act upon it.

21:05 OK, that we're not forsaking, not forgetting salvation, not forgetting where we come from, where we actually had been before Jesus entered our lives.

21:13 So I think that's what we can encourage ourselves with.

21:17 Let's remember Jesus and the salvation we have.

21:21 OK, the church in Smyrna, they were commended for their perseverance again and faithfulness and persecution.

21:29 But they actually were warned about more persecution coming.

21:34 So I don't know, you know, I don't know what the future holds.

21:37 And I don't think maybe this persecution like they would have seen.

21:41 But, you know, we can be encouraged that even in the future, even in today, even in when the prices go up, even when, you know, things seem uncertain, that we actually can overcome, that we can stay strong, can stay steadfast.

21:59 Amen.

22:01 The church in Pergamum and the church in Thyatira, it was like pagan centers, OK, the Pergamum temple, we know it, but they did hold on to their faith in Christ.

22:13 OK, that's what they're commended for.

22:14 And they actually increased in deeds and faith and love, their love that they increased, they moved forward, they grew.

22:22 OK, but they also were asked to stop mixing their faith with the pagan faith.

22:29 So it was still a little bit of influence there was a little bit of mixing and mashing.

22:35 And I think we can we can relate to that a lot.

22:39 OK, it's sometimes so easy just to go with the flow and not even realizing that this is not the Jesus way.

22:48 But we encourage to stay true to the faith in Christ alone.

22:52 The promise that Jesus is better than any other gods, any other gods, that he will satisfy and that we can have a new identity in Christ.

23:04 OK, so let's stay true to Jesus and his way.

23:09 The fifth church, the church in Sardis, they were asked to wake up, to wake up before actually what they had would disappear.

23:18 I find this like really like, wow, they had something, but apparently they didn't use it.

23:25 And they were actually asked to wake up, open your eyes, wake up and see what you have and do something with it.

23:34 Wow, I would pray that we in this season that we have right now that we would wake up, we would stay alive, awake and see what God has put in our house, would see who he's put in your life, who he's put in this church, what he's been giving us and that we would keep working on it and not actually seeing it disappear from us.

24:01 Remember what we have received, heard and then act upon it.

24:06 The church in Philadelphia, they were recommended for their patient endurance, again, patience and endurance.

24:12 And they stayed faithful and they were encouraged that they would become pillars in God's house that would be never removed.

24:23 Would you want to become a pillar in God's house, never to be removed?

24:27 They were starting to become, you know, focused on the wealth that they created instead of their need for Jesus and trusting him.

24:38 They were neither hot nor cold.

24:40 They were lukewarm and we're encouraged that we need that we need Jesus and then whatever we accumulate, whatever we're good at, that we don't lose the focus of actually Jesus is the one where everything comes from, is the one that gives us the ability, is the one that actually wants to use us for his kingdom that we need.

25:07 And, you know, like if you just read the verses alone, I think, you know, can be a bit tempting to get discouraged.

25:14 But actually, I love what God does here.

25:17 At the end of the last church he talks to, he says this in Revelation 3, 20 to 22.

25:24 Listen, I stand at the door and knock.

25:28 If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come into their house and eat with them.

25:34 And they will eat with me.

25:37 To those who win the victory, I will give the right to sit beside me on my throne, just as I have been victorious and now sit by my side, my father's side on his throne.

25:47 If you have ears, then listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

25:51 How beautiful.

25:52 He doesn't leave them, you know, depressed of what they're not doing or what they're doing, but he leaves them with an invitation of saying, come.

25:59 If you listen, come.

26:01 If you're here, come and I will come to you and I will have dinner.

26:06 I will eat with you and you will eat with me.

26:09 How beautiful.

26:10 He doesn't just, you know, point the finger, but he actually gives an invitation.

26:13 He gives an invitation to us today.

26:16 He gives an invitation to say, God, Jesus, we see you on the throne.

26:20 We see that you are ruling and reigning in this time in history.

26:23 And we are here where your church, we're part of your story.

26:26 And yes, we have to do some work on us.

26:29 And yes, we want to actually grow as a church.

26:32 We want to grow in our understanding.

26:34 But thank you for the invitation.

26:36 Thank you for the invitation to have communion with you, Jesus.

26:40 I love that.

26:41 I love that he's saying that.

26:43 Come, if you hear my voice, open the door, I will come into your house and eat with you.

26:50 We have this majestic, big Jesus that we see, the throne of God.

26:54 And yet we have a personal invitation.

26:57 You have a personal invitation.

26:58 Amen.

27:00 We're going to wrap this up soon, but I just want to leave you with three questions that I think we can ask ourselves from, you know, from all of this, what I've talked about, that we can ask ourselves as a church in this season of Heart for the House.

27:12 Is that OK?

27:14 All right.

27:15 First one is what vision are you surrounding yourself?

27:19 What vision am I surrounding myself with?

27:22 We're not in the Roman Empire, but we're in Berlin, on Varsha, in Prague.

27:25 And we have influence, we have things around us, and we have things even from our past that are still trying to get our attention.

27:32 So I want to ask us, what is it that we are going to surround ourselves with?

27:37 What vision?

27:38 Do we have the Word of God in front of us?

27:40 Do we have the vision of this house in front of us?

27:43 Not the church that you come from, but this house.

27:46 We have a vision and we have a purpose.

27:47 And this is what I want to have in front of me.

27:51 What can help our vision is worship, prayer and communion with basics.

27:55 Amen.

27:55 To keep Jesus in our vision.

27:58 Number two, what do we want Jesus to say about us as a church in this season, especially, what do we want Jesus to say about us?

28:06 Do you want Him to say that we are faithful, we stayed faithful, that we're a generous church, that we are opening our homes up this Thursday.

28:12 Amen.

28:13 That we are caring for each other.

28:17 That we are a church filled with vision and action.

28:20 That we are a church filled with His presence.

28:22 His presence.

28:25 I want to encourage you to ask yourself, what do you want Jesus to say about you and about your house, this house?

28:34 Because it depends on us, right?

28:37 And third one, let's keep responding to the invitation of Jesus.

28:42 Listen to His voice.

28:45 Open the door when He knocks.

28:47 Let Him in and then eat with Him.

28:53 And I believe that's what the Holy Spirit is reminding us as a church right now, that even in tension, disruption and uncertainty, we can stand secure on Jesus.

29:04 Individually and as a church community.

29:07 He will take care of you.

29:08 He will take care of your church.

29:10 He will take care of your future.

29:13 And He's inviting us to see Him, to behold Him and to draw from Him and to go into the future with Him.

29:22 Amen.

2022-10-04 - Jesus Is The Key That Unlocks The Bible(Jesus & The 7 Churches) - Juls.

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