Revelation/ Thunder

“And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.”Revelation 4: 5.

One of the things I like best about Oklahoma is the thunder storms. I thrill to the hard rain, the low roll of thunder followed by the flash of lightning. Then the loud boom, which shakes the ground and the house. I feel the power of God and yet I realize that this is only an infinitesimal fraction of that power. In our own solar system Jupiter’s red spot is a storm that can swallow the earth whole. On a 12 inch scale, Earth would be one inch away from the Sun, Pluto 3 ½ feet. The nearest star other than the Sun would lie 4 ½ miles away! Our sun is only one lonely star among several hundred billion throughout the universe. Our galaxy is one amongst millions. Yet the Sovereign Almighty God who created all this became a man and lived among us! He was born not in a palace but a stable. He cried. His wonderful mother not much more than a girl herself cleaned him. He grew. He played. He worked. His muscles ached. He hungered. He ate. He was thirsty. He drank. He grew tired. He slept. He showed anger. He laughed with our children on his lap. He prayed. He fasted. He had compassion. He healed us. He fed us. He forgave us. He told stories. He taught. He taught us how to love. He showed us how to love. He told us to pray for those who persecute us, to love our enemies. He washes our feet and told us to do likewise. And then we killed him. I hear thunder.

“And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals;For You were slain,And have redeemed us to God byYour bloodOut of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”Revelation 4: 6, 7, 9.

Revelation / Stone

Each Christian knows and loves Jesus in a way that no other Christian does. Each relationship is special and unique. This relationship will last through all eternity. You love and know God in a way that I and all other Christians do not. Yes that’s right even those who are in prominent positions in the church, pastors and teachers.
In Matthew chapter 26 the story is told of the woman who came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head. The disciples who were with Jesus were angry that she wasted the money that bought this perfume and did not use it on the poor. Jesus reply? “The poor you will always have with you but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in her memory”. Think about this, the ones whom Jesus had chosen to spread the gospel around the world, the ones who were close to Jesus and been following him for three years did not understand that he was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, buried and raised. This simple woman did but they did not.
Yes we look up to and honor those who care and minister to us as we should, but please realize that your relationship with Jesus is just as special. You know Jesus in ways that none of us do.

“To him who overcomes, I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it”. Revelation 2: 17.

For all of eternity you will have a name known only by God and you!! Through all of eternity your relationship with God will not only be corporate but personal, one to one. You love and understand God in ways that I never will, and we will have eternity to try and teach each other about our wonderful Sovereign Lord God, Jesus Christ.

Revelation/ Patiently Endure

The Risen Christ wants me to patiently endure. In the first three chapters of Revelation, while he speaks to the seven churches, the command is given. First it is given to all the churches in Ch. 1 vs. 9. Then he mentions it again in 2:2, 2:3, 2:19, and 3:10. if you read the verses in context, conquering is to patiently endure to the end. In fact he tells the wealthy church at Laodicea that they should ask for gold refined by him. I don't want to ask for struggles and pressures of life. I don't want to go through the fire, but it is going to happen and I am to patiently endure through it with the endurance that can be found in the Risen Christ. Onward Christian soldiers patiently endure!

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37.

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Revelation 3:21

Defintion 7 Conquer

Conquer - To patiently endure to the end.

Abraham The Father Of The Faithful

Did this man know happiness? Probably now and again as when Ishmael and Isaac were born or as when God stayed his hand in the land of Moriah. But that was not what mattered. His destiny, his cross, if you like, was to show faith, to lift himself time after time from the floor of disappointment and despair and return to the fight of life, to hear the tremendous promises and yet be content with the flimsiest of fulfillments before he died, to follow desperately God’s retreating shadow because he knew there was nothing else worth following, to lay down his pilgrim’s staff while still in the valley of deep darkness, seeing only the faintest rays of the suns rising on the distant hills. What an example is there for us whose faith is fitful and fleeting and cold and selfish, hardly deserving the name.

John C. L. Gibson The Daily Study Bible Series, Genesis. Westminster Press.

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5-6

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. Genesis 15:13-15

So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? John 6: 67-68

Character Trait

There is a character trait that God likes, hard work. Not just hard work but hard work for the stranger, for the alien. Please do not confuse busyness and work. Busyness clutters life and makes it unenjoyable. Work brings joy and a sense of accomplishment(I cant believe I just wrote that) especially when done for God. The young girl Rebekah was asked by Abraham’s servant for a drink of water, a very easy task, but she also watered his 10 camels. They were large pack camels and had just completed a long journey. One camel can drink up to 20 gallons of water!This task must have taken a tremendous amount of labor. All the while the servant sits and watches! Because of her kindness, because of her hospitality, because of the hard work for someone she did not know, she would be chosen to marry Isaac, Abraham’s son.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:46-48

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2

Quote 9 For New Years Day

"The story of your past does not have to be the script for your future"

Mike Fleischmann
Inlandhills Community Church
Oceanside, California