Transcription
We're starting a series called Apocalypse How. And yeah, it's what it sounds like. Apocalypse How. How is that going to happen? Well, we're going to get into it. And this is one of the most divisive topics in the church, all right? Women in ministry. In the end times. Those two things are like the most divisive things in the church. Everybody's got a really strong opinion. And there's been a lot of talk about this stuff recently. I, we planned this. It was crazy. And I saw like two other local churches talking about the same thing. I'm like, huh, maybe God is doing something, you know?
So here's the purpose. I'm going to get into this real quick, but I'm going to go slow today. All right? If you're used to my style of teaching, I'm usually like, just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. You, you get it and take it with you. Maybe you have to watch it three times. Maybe you'll have to do that with this. But I'm gonna go very slow today, okay? And I want, I want you to really grab a hold of the truth of what I'm gonna share because I haven't actually shared this. Um, it's not new, all right? I got this about four years ago. It was just me and the Lord. And I've confirmed it with, uh, more learning and things like that. I've been, I've been nervous to share these things, I'll be honest with you. And I'm even more nervous this whole weekend than right now because this one's live-streamed. And I can't deny anything I say because it's on tape, you know? So you're like, I'm never coming back to this guy. Anyway, now it's right out there for everybody. And this, like I said, it's really divisive. So I'm a little nervous about this. But that's okay. Um, God is good and He is, He's breathing on this. And so I want to give you the purpose, the full purpose of this series, okay? Here it is. It's to break off fear of the apocalypse and to break through the pride of the know-it-all. It's twofold because that's really when I look at the church, I see two kinds of people by and large, generally speaking. People are scared to death of the book of Revelation and the end times, that whole conversation. And those who have, you know, a book that they want to sell you and all of the answers and 88 reasons why, you know, Jesus was coming in 1988. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that was a real thing. Sold a lot of copies. I don't remember that person returning the money, okay? So there's two kinds, sorry, two kinds of people. Usually those who know it all or those who don't want to look at it because they're kind of freaked out by it. So my goal in this series is to, whichever camp, whichever one of those camps you're in, if you're in one of those, is to break you out of it, okay?
And, uh, I need to tell you also what this series will not be, okay? As far as I know, the purpose of this series is not to teach the whole book of Revelation. I'm not going to do that. We're not going to go line by line, picture by picture. We're not going to do that unless, I don't know, unless the Lord tarries and I'm in this series for the next five years, you know? I'm already messing with you. It's fine. All right. I'm not going to do that. I'm also not going to answer every question you have about the end times. So let's just leave that under your chair, like, just leave it. I'm not going to answer every question. In fact, I know I'm doing my job if I give you 10 better questions for every one question you have. Good teachers don't answer your questions. They give you better questions to ask. That's what Jesus did. That's what teachers who actually move stuff and change the world do. They give you better questions, okay? And so, sorry, you might already be upset with me. I'm not gonna answer or check all your boxes. I'm not. All right. It's too mysterious for that. Okay. Here's the third thing. It's not, it's not going to be 21 reasons why Jesus is coming in 2021. All right? I mean, it's just not going to be anything like that, okay? I'm trying to set expectations here. All right. We're gonna go right into it because this, this, this day today really is an introduction to the series, okay? So you're just gonna have to come back for more or watch the live stream or whatever because I really need to take my time. Everybody, okay?
All right. There are four main interpretive models for the book of Revelation. There are four main lines of thought. I'm not even going to go into what they are, okay? Because honestly, none of them work out all the way. They all got problems, okay? None of them work all the way through the book. They have to change modality. They have to make excuses for themselves. And for me, I want the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God, no matter what it is. And so I don't fully wholeheartedly agree with any of the four main lines of thought. Shocker, I know. You're like, oh, I'm so surprised you don't agree. Yeah, I don't. I don't. And I've done quite a bit of study, like I said, over the past four years about this. And they break down. So today, I'm going to give you my interpretive model. And it's a submission. I am no expert. I don't even want to do this. I, I, the Lord, I thought I was going to do it earlier this year. And then the Lord was like, no, you're not. And I was like, whoo, good, don't have to do that. And then earlier, later in the, in July, He's like, no, it was not, no, it was not yet. It's now. It's time. I'm like, oh, great. You know, so here we are. These four are all valuable. Those four that are made out there, you know, they're valuable. But I don't agree with any of them completely, okay? I'm gonna give you mine today.
First and foremost, first thing you need to understand is that the book of Revelation is a letter. Say a letter. It's a letter that is an accounting of a vision John had, okay? Say a vision. Revelation chapter 1, verse 10 says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, when I heard a voice behind me like a trumpet." And I turned to see the one who was speaking. Okay, we're not, we're not there to that verse yet. But 1, 110, verse 10 says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." Okay, that means he was having a vision, a spiritual sight. What's going on? Are you, are you, are you with me? And he wrote it down, okay? Ezekiel had some visions, wrote it down. Anybody read the book of Ezekiel? Pretty crazy town up in there, you know? The Bible is not boring, all right? It's wild. But there's wheels with wheels within a wheel, eyes within the wheel, the spirit of the creatures within was in the wheel, I, and they're floating in the air, the four living creatures darting to and fro, all this stuff, yeah, crazy. Nobody takes Ezekiel literally, all right? Peter, Peter had a vision on the house of Simon the Tanner of the unclean animals coming down in a blanket, right? The, the pigs and all that stuff. First instance of pigs in a blanket, right? Down from heaven, brought it down. He was, it says he was hungry. He hadn't eaten and he was hungry. And he went into a trance. The word is *ekstasis*. He had a trance. Where's the practice of trances in the church? Like, this is Peter. It's, I'll tell you where it's at. The Jesus Lab. That's where it is. But applications are closed. Sorry. Next year, you can come. He's having a trance. He sees the vision. Pigs in a blanket, you know, oink, oink, pigs fly, all that stuff. Into playing and flying down, flying up. Nobody takes that thing literally. There was not a literal blanket, right? Are you guys with me? With a literal pig? All right, no, that wasn't. He was singing in the spirit. Are you with me? Has anyone had a vision in here ever? Yeah. Okay. If you took everything you saw in those visions literally, you would be sent into a psych ward. And yet, when we get to John's vision, we want to take it literally. It's very strange. I know. It's okay. Hopefully, we can still be friends because this is all a submission. I'm submitting it to you. I'm no expert. I'm just being obedient. Is that okay? We don't even have to agree at the end of the day. I just don't want you afraid of the book. And I don't want you in pride thinking you know everything. Are you with me?
So let me give you my interpretive model. It's the first three verses of the letter. It's the first three verses of the book. I don't know about you, but here's what feels safe to me. Just read it the way He tells you to read it. Yeah. I don't need an outside model. I'm gonna use the one He gives me. Anybody think that's a good idea? Okay. So we're gonna walk through those three. I'm gonna preach three verses today. All right. I know, like I said, slow. I'm gonna read it to you. This is Revelation chapter 1, verse 1 through 3, ESV. ESV, English Standard Version, says: "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 his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." Amen. Right there is my model for the whole book. I'm gonna break it down for you, okay? And let me just set it up for you. This one works all the way through. Imagine that. Imagine that.
Let's go back to that first slide, verse 1. It says, "This is the revelation of Jesus Christ." Those are the very first words, okay? That's how the letter opens. Are you with me? That word "revelation" is literally the word *apocalypse*. This is the apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Now, that word "apocalypse," you might have some ideas in your head what that means. You might have some pictures. You might have some movies that you watched running through your head right now, like hail storm and fire and the earth cracking open and, you know, clothes laying everywhere with no bodies in them and all that stuff. That's not what that word means. The apocalypse is literally the word for unveiling. It's from a compound Greek word that means to lift the cover, lift off the cover. This is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Let me give you a hint. He's not the one who has problem seeing. He's not the one veiled. You are the one. I am the one who needs an unveiling. Are you with me? Okay. This is the revelation. The word apocalypse means revelation, okay? Of Jesus Christ. Say, "of." Scholars are split on whether that means it's about Him, all about Him, or if that means it belongs to Him, because it could go either way in the Greek, okay? There's split over that. Does that mean it's all about Him? Or does that mean it just all belongs to Him? And here's the answer: It's yes. It's all about Him, and it belongs to Him completely. He owns it. And it's about Him. In Him, all things consist. Colossians chapter 1. He is the heir of all things, right? I mean, what is not God's? Like, the whole earth is the Lord's. Everything is His. Are you with me? He owns it. And it's all about Him. All right. He is the central figure of this story. This is not the unveiling of the Antichrist. It's not even the unveiling of the end times. It's the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It's the unveiling of Jesus. The last book in your Bible is not about the Antichrist. It's not about the rapture. It's about the Son. The last book in your Bible is about the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The last book in your Bible is about Jesus. I promise you, there's no other topic. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That's how it begins. Now, here's my last point about that. There's one revelation. People say Rev, book of Revelations with an S. I, yeah, okay. It's one revelation. There's not revelations plural. There's one revelation. The only thing getting unveiled in this book is Jesus. Are you with me? Okay. All I've done is read you the one, two, three, four, five words of the opening. And you might already be like, uh, maybe I was reading it wrong.
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It says, "God gave Him." Which God gave Him? To show to His servants. Who's Him? Jesus, right? I know it's a little crazy because they're the same person. Jesus is God, right? But Jesus also received an unveiling. This is where I get in lots of trouble. And I can, like, I can hear the typing of keyboards on the email, the live stream. I can hear it. Jesus had to be unveiled to Jesus. He was 100% God. Jesus is 100% God. Are you with me? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. Jesus is God. Are we together? Everybody clear? Okay. Jesus also came in the form of a human, 100%. Resisted temptation the way you resist temptation. You know, some people got this idea that Jesus like cheated, that He came as a man, but not really. He was deity, so He didn't like have the same type of urges on the inside of Him. Are you kidding me? No. He became flesh. He became us. And He did it perfectly. He was born morally innocent and He maintained His innocence all the way to His death and resurrection. I want you to understand, Jesus was able to sin if He chose to. That's the whole point. Some people have this subconscious idea that like, He, He could have, He didn't have the capacity to sin because He's the Son of God. He was born of a woman. He had the capacity to sin. He came just like us. He was tempted in every way we are. Hebrews 4:15. Okay? So Jesus overcame what you never could as a man. Are you with me? And as a man, He also was unveiled as to who He was, okay? This is where I get in trouble. I don't care. Like, two-year-old Jesus did not know He was the Son of God. Did that change that He's the Son of God? No. Did He have to get a revelation of it? Yes. God gave Jesus the revelation of who Jesus was at some point. Are you with me? All right. Are we still friends? Okay. He gave it to Jesus to show to His servants. Say, "servants." That word "servant" is *doulos*. All right? This is a very important word. It's not the, it's not the same, uh, normal word for like slave or whatever. It's literally bond servant. Peter called himself a bond servant of the Lord. Paul said, "I'm a bond servant." John said, "I'm a bond servant." They use the word *doulos*. Okay? And *adoulos* was a slave who, after serving their time, doing their time, chose to remain with their master because in that day, they would be enslaved because they have debt. And they would pay off a debt by working for someone, okay? It's kind of like some of us who owe JP Morgan Chase, so we have to work our job. That's kind of what it is, all right? But once you paid off the, I'm sorry, once you paid off the debt, um, in that day, a master, if the debt was paid, would have to release you. Say, "Okay, you're free to go." A bond servant, after paying off their debt, having no debt with their master, would say, "I still want to serve you. I'm not going anywhere. I've fallen in love with you. I love my master, and I'm staying with you. I'm not going anywhere." That's a *doulos*. All right? Now, a *doulos*, being one who serves beyond their point of needing to serve, hello, would have a very specific ceremony to become a *doulos*. This is important because this letter is written only to *doulos*. Only to the bond servant. Only to the loving servant. If you're not a loving servant of the Lord, this is not, this is illegal reading for you. It's not written to you. If you're not a loving servant of the Lord. Some people are saved, but not servants. What I'm trying to say to you is, you, this is the scandal of grace. He does all the salvation stuff, and then you get to choose what you do with that. Some people can be saved and living like hell all the way to heaven and not serve Him one moment. They're not building up treasures for themselves or whatever, but they get in the gate. Are you with me? Are you okay? So certain believers who are doing nothing for the Lord try to interpret this book, and that's where we get issues. They're not the *doulos*. Here's what a *doulos* is. This is how you'd be made a *doulos*. They would bring the servant who said, "I'm staying with you forever. I'm never leaving." They would bring them to the door of the master's house, okay? You need to be thinking about this in a prophetic form, all right? Because this actually happened in the natural, but it speaks to what a *doulos* is now, okay? They would take them to the door. They'd open the door. They would expose the wood frame of the door. Are you getting this picture? And the servant would take their ear and place their earlobe against the door, okay? And the master would nail a nail, hammer and nail through their ear, pierce their ear with a nail to the door, all right? And then they remove the nail. And you're walking around with a big gauge in your ear, you know what I mean? A big hole in your ear, right? Nasty looking piercing. And everybody knows, "There goes the *doulos*." Why? Because their ear has been opened because they love their master. The *doulos* can read this book because they've laid their head on the door, and the master has opened their ear, given them another capacity, a supernatural capacity to hear. Step in the spirit with me. John, what did he do? Last supper. Where did he lay his head? On the door. Jesus said, "I am the door." It's not until you get into an intimate proximity with His heart that you understand this book. Only the *doulos* who have had their capacity to hear opened, another hole in their ear, are able to receive this book. It's not written to anyone else. Are you okay? You're like, is that me? I don't know. Well, do you love Him? Do you love Jesus? Are you serving Him because you want to? You're the *doulos*. Come on. No one's making you do it. You're free. Are you with me? Where the Spirit sets free is free indeed. He doesn't free you and then enslave you and make you do stuff. You choose Him, right? So cheer up, buttercup. You're the *doulos*. I'm talking to you. Your ear has been opened because you've laid your head on the door, and His words both pierce and heal. You've been run through by love. You've been opened by His voice. Amen. Only those who have chosen righteousness as their master are able to hear the truth of this book. Now, let me say something a little stretchy that's, you know, I don't want to hurt your feelings. I want to help you, okay? But if you are outright living in flagrant sin and you know it, you also will not hear the words of this book because a *doulos* doesn't live like that. It's like having the radio on a dial, and it's just off the channel. And if you just turn the radio, the dial on the radio, maybe the millennials don't know what I'm talking about. There's these little knobs on the car or on the TV. And you, if it's just a little bit, I'll be like, and then you turn, and he goes, "Today in the news." You know? So here's what's happening. If you are out of sync, if you are not serving, if you are flagrantly disobeying the Lord, you're going to have static, and you're not going to be able to hear the words of this book. So it's when we line up, align with the Lord, that we hear His voice. God is speaking to everyone, but some people are out of alignment so bad they miss what He says. But when you line up, boom, you get it. So your ear may have been open at one point. You might have laid your head, obsessed. You might have been serving, and then if you stop, don't try to interpret this book while you're living in sin. I'm talking habitual, outright, you know it's wrong, you do it anyway. This is a lifestyle. And I know it's bad. Whatever, like you justify the fact that you like flick people off in traffic and things like that. That's what I'm talking about, okay? You go, "Well, it's just who I am." Okay, no, it's not. You're the *doulos*. You're the loving servant. You need to line up with the truth of who He's called you to be, and you'll be able to receive this book. Can you see why I'm taking time with this? I really want you to hear it.
So God gave it to Jesus to show to His *doulos*. The *doulos*, come on. "Things that must soon take place." Now, that word "soon" is the word in the Greek that sounds like the word tacos. It makes me hungry. I've been saying this all weekend. I think Taco Bell is getting some extra business because of me. I don't know. Tacos sound great right now. Tacos, literally *tasso*, *tasso*, means swiftness. It means speed. It means quickly. All right? So "things that must soon take place." You need to think, things that must swiftly take place, as in, when they start, it's quick. It's swift, okay? And now the word "soon," even on its own, is relative. Like, "soon, hopefully, I'll be eating some tacos." Amen. And I'm also going to be in Kentucky soon, but that's not until the end of the month, right? Right. I see you. "Soon" can mean I'll see you in a year. Like, I mean, I'll see you in a day. I'll see you soon. "Soon" is relative. That's one of the arguments people take with the book and say, "Well, He said soon, it must have all happened in that time period." Well, it's actually the word "swift" says in it'll happen quickly when it starts. Are you with me? And what's going to happen? What is this book? It's the unveiling, revelation, uncovering, apocalypse of Jesus. That's what comes swiftly to who? The loving servants, the *doulos*. Okay? Things that are taking place will unveil Jesus. The whole book of Revelation is an unveiling of Jesus that's supposed to happen quickly to you and I who lovingly serve Him. Are you with me?
Okay. Now it says, "He made it known by sending His angel." Say, "made it known." Did you notice that? God gave it directly to Jesus. Jesus gave it directly to an angel. But then an angel made it known to John. All right? It doesn't say God made it known to Jesus, and Jesus made it known to an angel. It says they gave it directly to them, and then an angel made it known. That word "made it known" is very important. It is the word *semianno* in the Greek, and it's literally the word for signs, signified, signified, indicated, to give a sign. This book, are you ready for this? Is written in sign language. The whole thing. God gave it to Jesus. Jesus gave it to an angel. An angel looked at me, did this with John. An angel signified it. That's literally what the word means. An angel put it in sign form. It's in sign language. If you don't understand sign language, you won't understand this book. It's all symbols. The whole thing. I'm submitting to you my interpretive model. Remember, this is a submission. Don't take my word for it. Everything I'm saying can be found in a Strong's Concordance, easily Googled, all right? I'm telling you, this is how He started the letter, and it's on purpose. This is not on that. It's not like, "Oh, I'll put some stuff at the beginning, and then I'll put the really important stuff later." No. This, this, this is the holy writ of God. Are you with me? Like, inspired by the Holy Ghost. We have to take this stuff seriously. It's all symbols. It's all in sign form.
Okay, let me just make that practical for you, and we'll see if we're friends afterwards. If the mark of the beast is a literal chip or vaccine, then we serve and worship a literal fluffy barnyard animal seated on the throne. And by the way, that fluffy barnyard animal has seven eyes and seven horns. All right? So get it right. And it's as though slain. So this bloody barnyard fluffy little lamb with seven eyes, seven horns, is what we worship. You're like, well, that, that's not literal. But the mark is. Who gets to say what, right? Do you have to change modality to change your interpretive method halfway through because it fits your narrative? I mean, it fits that movie you watched. By the way, the Antichrist is not even in the book of Revelation. It's not in there. The Antichrist doesn't exist. Let me help you. It's always plural. It is always speaking of multiple people. John said, "They are already among us. Many have gone out from us. It's the spirit of Antichrist." You know what the spirit of Antichrist is? Anything opposite the anointing. Churches that don't allow the Holy Spirit. Antichrist. No. The Antichrist coming. People want to connect that with First Thessalonians. I will defend this all the way through. Just, we're gonna be here for a while, all right? So just, this is an introduction, all right? They want to say the "son of perdition," the "man of sin" is the Antichrist. That's in a different book. And that's an extra-biblical assumption that you made. There's no indication that that's what that is. Written by two different people. Yes, by the Holy Spirit, two different times. Yeah, it could be coordinated, but there's nothing to tell us that in the scriptures itself. I just want to be biblical about my end times view.
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Like, wait, why do people get so mad? You take away the mark of the beast, you take away their Antichrist, they get so angry at you. I'm like, I'm trying to help you. There is a spirit of Antichrist in the earth right now. The mark of the beast isn't coming. It's already here. I'm ruining like week six right now, whatever. I can't. I got to get this. Sorry. Just keep coming. You'll get it all right. It's in sign language. Say, "sign language."
Okay. Not only is it in sign language, but it says, "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it." Yeah, that's what it says. You know what the word "blessed" means? It's the Greek word for happy. Happy are those who read aloud the words of this book. Okay, tell me the last time you read the book of Revelation with a smile on your face. You're all laughing because you know it doesn't happen that often. Maybe. But by and large, you're like, "What?" Let me help you. If it doesn't make you happy when you're reading it, you are reading it wrong. *Makarios*. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. The same word. Blessed, happy, eternally blissed out are those who read aloud the words of this book. If they read it through the sign language it's written in, and if they're the loving servant, the *doulos*, of the Lord, to whom it's written. Happy are those. The good news doesn't end in the end times. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and until judgment day, when He has a really bad mood swing and kills a third of the people of the earth on the way to His wedding. I have heard you guys. I'm not making anything up right now. Pastors say, "Jesus is gonna come back, kill a third of the earth on the way to His wedding." That is a direct quote. Yeah, she's heard it too. Not me. And her. We've heard it. Not only that, it's the posture. This is gonna, this is the literal posture of the book because it's got to be taken literally. That's what it says, brother. It says they won't be able to buy and sell in the marketplace. It's not a literal marketplace. It's not a literal mark. In fact, y'all are getting a preview. Whatever the word "mark" literally, in the root of that Greek word, means character. It's the character of the beast on your forehead, in your hand. It's the word "character." Of y'all are a character. Did you know that? You actually have the mark of Christ. You've been sealed for the day of redemption. So the mark of the beast was on your forehead when you were born, and it got erased and replaced when you said yes to Jesus. If we read it as sign language to the loving servants, it's easy. If you take that methodology all the way through the book, it's actually really fun to read. It actually makes you kind of happy. Anybody like, just a little bit more excited to read the book now? Anybody? Okay, good. I'm doing my job. That's, that's the point, right?
Finally, it says, "For the time is near." I have to finish. It says, "The time is near," right? And the Greek word "near" is the same one where Jesus said this, maybe you've heard it before: "The kingdom of God is at hand." The time is at hand. It's literally the Greek word *eggizo*. It's ready. It's been ready. What is it ready for? The *doulos* to reach out and grab it. But we're like, "Oh, no thanks." The kingdom of God is at hand. It's available for anyone who reaches out. And then the vision begins in verse 10. "I heard, I was in the spirit of the Lord." Say, "I heard." A voice behind me. This is my method right here. And I'm submitting to you that you should try it. At least for a week. Just, just put down all the, put down your rapture rug. All right? Put down all the "Jesus is gonna have a really bad day on the last day" stuff.
I feel like I have to tell you a couple more things. I'm sorry. I have to like, open this up a little more for you. This is cheating. Whatever. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not literal horses. The fourth one is a green horse. Where its rider's name is Death. Death rides on green. Life. The word "green" is evergreen. It's the picture for life in the Bible. Death comes on life. Ever heard of dying to yourself so that you might live? Life has a rider called Death. If you want to, anyone who wants to lose their game, their life, must lose it, right? These are all pictures, symbols. If the mark is literal, we're idolaters. We worship a lamb. We worship creation, not the Creator. If the mark is literal, then a literal dragon is going to come out of the literal ground and eat a literal child as it's being born from a literal woman, floating in the air, the size of the constellations. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. What if that's sign language? What if you can tell the weather, but you can't read the signs? And you need to learn to read the signs of the times. You need to learn how to read in sign language. They're symbols. I know. She's like, "Oh man, I've been reading it wrong for so many years." Yeah, I know. It's okay. It's okay. I've been wrong. Once. You know. Gigi, can you come up? Help me in this here. The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Okay, let me just say something to you, and I'm going to prove this for the next however many weeks, all right? The entire book of Revelation is happening within you before it happens on the outside of you. It's the unveiling of Christ and His people. Jesus spoke about this. He said, "In the last day," He said, "there will be those saying," or, you know, up until that day, actually, there'll be those saying, "He's over there. He's in the field. Come and see Him." "There'll be those who say, 'He's in the house. Come and see Him. He's in the alley. Come and see Him.'" Jesus said, "These are the words of your Lord and Savior, do not believe them, for the kingdom of God is within you." I know you want like, Independence Day, like alien thing coming through the clouds. I know that sounds really cool, but it's not coming through the clouds. It's coming out of the cloud company of people. The kingdom of God is within you. Christ in you is the hope of glory. And Christ coming out of you is the only hope of glory. The family around you has got, listen, here's what's gonna happen. There's gonna be a manifestation of sons and daughters before there's a manifestation of the Son. The word "manifestation." Romans 8 says, "The all creation is groaning for the manifestation of sons and daughters of God." You've heard that verse. It's the word *apocalypse*. All of creation is groaning for your apocalypse. There's an apocalypse coming to a chair near you because creation knows. The birds know. The trees know. The rocks know. They all know when you get unveiled. He's coming back. I believe in the bodily return of Jesus Christ. It has not happened yet. It's going to happen when we look like Christ on the earth, on the outside. Not just claiming it, not just in a bumper sticker, but you're actually, your default is patience. Your default is kindness. You think we got a little bit to go? Yeah. Maybe you should unpack your bags. You're gonna be here for a while. It's okay. It's okay. He's coming soon. He's coming swiftly. Are you with me? If we're living in the last days, you know, we're living in the last days of, of you being a jerk.
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Salah. We're gonna, He's gonna look down on the earth, see His face in the reflection, and say, "Dad, can I go?" So, yeah, go get Him. The bride has made herself ready. She looks just like You. It's the unveiling of Christ within His people. And it surely must soon take place. It must take place swiftly. People are dying for you to be Jesus to them. People are dying for you to love them. Are you with me? This book opens it up to us. Let me read you verses one through three again in the Passion Translation. This is pretty wild. Revelation 1:1-3 says, "This is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It's just a different translation. The unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to share with His loving servants. Servants, that's *doulos*. What must occur swiftly. He signified it, signified it by sending His angel to His loving servant John. I, John, bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. A joyous blessing rests upon the one who reads this message and upon those who hear and embrace the words of this prophecy, for the appointed time is in your hands."
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Your Bible says you're to hasten the day of the Lord. That means the time is in your hands. You can speed it up or slow it down, bro. How do we speed it up? We live the life of the *doulos*. Keep our head on His chest and let these pictures, these symbols, unveil the King of Glory to us. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message from The Resting Place Tampa. Our hope is you feel honored, empowered, and full of faith because of everything you hear. For more great resources like this, go to trptampa.com.