Well, if you'd open up your Bibles to Revelation chapter 10, as you're turning there, I just
want to let you know we've got a special guest with us this morning.
Isaiah the prophet has come and joined us from heaven for a little bit.
So Isaiah, welcome, welcome.
Thank you, Mike.
Isaiah, I've got two questions for you.
The first one is this.
If you could sum up your prophetic ministry in one word, what would it be?
Well, Mike, I don't need to think about it that much.
It's the word bittersweet.
And here's why.
The sweetness of being a prophet is being given God's word, hope-giving word.
You know it's true.
You know it's God speaking.
It is so sweet.
And there is sweetness when you proclaim God's saving message to people under his judgment
and you see people respond and get saved.
That is sweet.
But here's the bitterness.
It's when you proclaim this message of salvation to people who don't have ears to hear.
And they reject the message.
It's heartbreaking.
It's so bitter.
But that's only half of it.
Because when you proclaim God's saving message to people under his judgment and they reject it,
they're going to reject you.
And sometimes they will hurt you.
This prophetic ministry is bittersweet, Mike.
Did you have another question?
Oh, in fact, I do.
Isaiah.
Isaiah, if you could say one thing to Christ the King Church, what would you say?
Christ the King Church.
For you to be a faithful church, you must be a prophetic church.
Take the scroll.
Eat the scroll.
Preach the scroll.
Thank you, Isaiah.
Here we are in Revelation chapter 10.
Let me try to orient you as to where we as a church in 2019 are on Revelation's time frame.
Okay?
Here we are.
We are somewhere in between the hoof beats of seal six.
And we are the seal judgments.
And we are between the seal judgments and the final trumpet of the trumpet judgments.
Of Revelation 11, 15.
We're somewhere in there.
God's turning up the heat.
We're somewhere before the coming of Jesus.
And when Jesus comes, the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
So here's the question that I want to ask and answer this morning.
What are we to be doing as a church in between?
What are we to be doing?
And what we're going to see this morning, the answer from God in his word is,
Christ the King Church, you must be prophetic.
You must be prophetically present in the city of Kenosha.
As God turns up the heat of judgment.
Just like the prophets of old.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
These men who were given God's very words to proclaim to people under his judgment so that they would be saved.
Christ the King Church.
You must be prophetic.
I want to be up front with you this morning.
To be prophetic is to experience bittersweet.
We'll see that in a little bit.
Let me give you your bearings again on terms of Revelation 10.
Revelation 10 and the first half of Revelation 11,
it's kind of a break in the action in the trumpet cycles of judgment.
So there's seven trumpets.
And in between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet,
we have this, what scholars call an interlude.
It's chapter 10 and the first half of chapter 11.
And this isn't the first time we've experienced this.
Because back in the seal judgments,
between the sixth seal and the seventh seal,
there was another interlude in which God addresses the church.
And so both these interludes between the sixth and seventh judgments, seals and trumpets,
God is addressing the church.
What are we supposed to be doing in the midst of God turning up the heat of judgment?
Well, what's interesting about chapter 10 in the first half of 11 in chapter Revelation
is that we're given these very interesting pictures of John being recommissioned as a prophet.
And then in chapter 11, 1 through 13, we're going to see a story of two witnesses that get thumped.
So here's what these messages are to us as God turns up the heat of judgment.
The first one, chapter 10, which we're going to look at today is,
the faithful church is a prophetic church.
And then the second, which we'll see next week,
is that the faithful church is a suffering church.
And here's why.
Prophetic ministry and suffering, more often than not, goes hand in hand.
Maybe we'll bring in Jeremiah next week to ask him about it.
Chapter 10 answers the question of what the church must be doing
while God is turning up the heat of the judgments.
And what we're going to see in chapter 10 is this picture, vision unfolding
with the initial focus on an angel with a scroll,
and he is called a mighty angel for a reason.
And then the vision unfolds from this mighty angel with a scroll
to John, the writer of Revelation, being given that scroll to eat.
So there are two scenes of this vision,
and they're designed to help us as a church to be faithful to Jesus today.
A faithful church is a prophetic church.
So let's walk through these scenes,
and I'm going to bring these things to bear as we go through.
So scene one, this angel with the scroll.
And there's several things I want you to notice about this angel.
Then all of a sudden there's this twist,
and then we have this angelic announcement
that we see at the end of this section.
So first, some descriptions of this mighty angel.
Well, take a look at this,
because this mighty angel coming down from heaven,
he's wrapped in a cloud.
He's got a rainbow over his head.
And he's got a rainbow over his head.
His face is like the sun.
And his legs are like pillars of fire.
And when you look at your Bibles,
you realize those are all descriptions of God at some point.
This is a God-like angel.
So much so,
some scholars think that this is actually Jesus.
But I find myself not persuaded because John is very clear that this is another angel.
This mighty angel does have kind of God-like aura about him.
But it's because he's coming from the very presence of God.
He's radiating God's glory from being in the presence of God's glory.
This is an impressive angel.
The second thing I want you to notice is the movement.
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven.
He's coming from heaven.
From the very throne room of God.
From God's very presence.
Now this is in stark contrast to last week about all those demonic locust plague coming from the hell hole.
This angel, mighty angel, is coming down from heaven.
And implied in that is that he's been sent.
He's coming down to earth with a purpose.
From God.
The third thing I want you to notice is his stance.
Now I spent a lot of time as a former athlete being trained by coaches
that when I am out in the field I need to have an athletic stance.
Feet shoulder width apart.
Slight bend in my legs.
Do I have an amen from any further athletes?
Amen.
Head on a swivel.
You got it.
This angel does not have an athletic stance.
He's got an authoritative stance.
Did you notice that?
He's got one foot on the sea.
End of verse 2.
And his other foot is on the land.
This angel is straddling sea and land.
He's got all authority over sea and land.
And not to mention, he's bigger than any Paul Bunyan statue you've ever seen.
He's massive.
Colossal.
This angel has come down on a mission and he is massive and brilliant.
The scene is meant to impress you.
The fourth thing I want you to notice is back in verse 1.
It's this is another mighty angel.
And whenever you read something like that, you're like, wait, wait.
There was one before?
And the answer to that is yes.
If you flip back to chapter 5, verse 1.
We're back in the throne room.
Then I saw on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written and on the back, within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
You remember that scroll?
Verse 2.
And I saw a mighty angel.
That's the reference.
And what was he doing?
He said, you know, proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?
Remember what John did?
John freaked out.
He started crying after that.
Good things happened.
Here we have a reference to another angel.
Another mighty angel.
The angel that we see in Revelation 5, 2 is a mighty angel that is in the very throne room of God.
He's very in the presence of God.
And he is talking about a scroll.
A closed, sealed scroll.
Here in chapter 10, verses 1 and 2, we have this other mighty angel coming from heaven.
Reflecting the glory of God's presence.
And in his hand, he is carrying a scroll.
Opened.
Which brings me to the fifth thing I want you to notice.
This scroll in his hand.
What scroll is this?
Well, first, let me just remind you where he's coming from.
He's coming from heaven.
This is a scroll from heaven.
And did you notice?
It's a little scroll.
Now, I'm going to save you a lot right now.
There is so much out there on the little scroll.
What is this little scroll?
So, what I'm about to tell you is my best shot at it.
It's my opinion on it.
You may disagree.
That's okay.
Why is this a little scroll?
Well, I think the simplest and best explanation to the little scroll is it's because of the size of the angel.
The angel's huge.
He's straddling sea and land.
Of course, it's going to look little.
But what's more important to its apparent size is that it's opened.
It's an opened scroll.
It means it has been opened in heaven, brought to earth.
It's because it's been unsealed by the lamb.
I believe this little scroll is the same scroll that began in the right hand of the one seated on the throne, Revelation 5.1.
To be taken by the lamb and unsealed.
Now to be given to his angel.
We'll come back to that, Revelation 1.1.
Who then is now bringing it to earth to give to John and commission him as a prophet.
Who then, John, is giving to us through the book of Revelation.
This is God's plan for the fullness of time realized in Jesus.
You can shorthand it by saying it's the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1.1.
It's about what God is doing to save sinners in the person of Jesus.
This mighty angel is coming down from God's presence.
With God's opened plan for the fullness of time.
It's revealed, made known, and to be made known.
And this angel is coming down to earth to give it to John to proclaim.
And to pass on.
And now you guys ready for the twist?
Verses 3 and 4.
This angel calls out with a loud voice like a roaring lion.
It would have reverberated in John.
And when he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
Whoa, that's really interesting.
Verse 4.
And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write.
But I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up what the seven thunders have said.
And do not write it down.
This is really interesting.
What is this?
What is this all about?
This mighty angel straddling sea and land.
Holding the open scroll.
He's calling out in a loud voice.
John's ready to write it down.
John, Revelation 1.19, because he was to write down everything he saw for us.
John's about to write it down.
And then there's this voice from heaven that says, no, we're not going to do that.
We're not doing the seven thunders.
Seal it.
Close it.
Don't write it.
This is not to be passed on.
Pretty interesting, isn't it?
What's this all about?
Well, here's how we're going to figure it out.
Has anything like this happened before?
Has there been an angel that has pronounced something and then something big happens?
Well, we've seen it.
So in Revelation 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.7, these living creatures, these angelic beings around the throne,
they call out, come, and one of the horsemen comes.
Judgment.
And then when we go to the seven trumpets, do you remember what happens?
An angel raises a trumpet, blows his trumpet, judgment comes.
So what we see here is angels.
What I'm trying to make a case is angels calling forth judgment.
It's interesting that these are seven thunders.
Because there's been seven letters to the churches.
Seven seals of judgment.
Seven trumpets of judgment.
And what we're going to see in a little while, weeks out, seven bowls of God's judgment.
This angel appears to be calling for seven thunder judgments.
Another cycle of judgments.
That's to take place.
That's to take place after the trumpets and before the bowls.
And this voice is saying, no.
Seal it.
Don't write it down.
That's a twist.
That should catch your attention.
What is going on here?
This voice is saying that these seven judgments of thunder aren't going to happen.
And what these judgments would consist of, we don't know.
But what we do know is that they would have extended the time before God's full and final judgment would fall.
And so what these seven thunders must represent are another cycle of wrath that would have been partially poured out on all creation.
So why is this voice, who has authority to execute God's plan for the fullness of time from heaven,
nixing the thunder, seven thunder judgments?
You know this voice.
Flip back to Matthew 24.
Matthew 24 is a section in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus himself is teaching about the end times.
So I'm going to help you see what's going on here through Jesus' own words.
Chapter 24, verses 21 and 22.
For then there will be great tribulation, such, this is Jesus speaking,
such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.
No, it never will be.
And if those days had not been cut short,
no human being would be saved,
but for the sake of the elect,
those days will be cut short.
What's going on here?
The cutting short of those days.
This mighty angel was about to call down another cycle of judgments,
but the lamb cuts it short for the sake of his blood-bought own.
This, my friends, is mercy.
He limits, he knows the suffering of his people,
and he's limiting the suffering of his people.
He sees the hard-heartedness of those who don't repent of the fifth and sixth trumpet,
and he also hears his saints,
How long, O Lord?
He cuts it short out of mercy for his blood-bought.
And then what we see in verses 5 through 7 is this kind of adjustment.
The mighty angel is about to call down the seven thunder judgments.
He raises his right hand.
It was a way to indicate you're going to take an oath.
And he swears by the one who lives forever and ever,
the creator of all,
of heaven and everything in it,
of earth and everything in it,
and of the sea and everything in it.
And remind you, he's standing over the sea and the land.
And he says, as an oath,
there will be no more delay.
No more delay.
No more partial judgments.
We're going to go straight from the seventh trumpet to the seven bowls.
God's full and final outpouring of his wrath on all creation.
And in so doing, God's plan is fulfilled.
If you flip in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 15, 1,
what you see happening is this.
Then I saw another sign in the heaven,
great and amazing seven angels with seven plagues.
If you look quickly over to 15, 7,
those seven plagues then take the form of bowls,
bowls of God's wrath.
And these, back to 15, 1,
these seven plagues, which are the last.
For with them the wrath of God is finished,
fulfilled, finalized.
Turn to 16, 7.
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air
and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying,
It is done.
Fulfilled.
Finished.
So when this angel swears that there would be no more delay,
but that in the days of the trumpet call,
that seventh trumpet to be sounded by the seventh angel,
the mystery of God would be fulfilled.
He's talking about the fulfillment of God's just wrath on earth,
poured out by the seven bowl judgments,
just as he announced to his servants,
the prophets of the great and final day of the Lord.
Shocking.
So what happens here in verses 1 through 7
is that there's this angel who brings an open scroll,
and he's a brilliant angel,
and he's announcing another cycle judgment,
but he's interrupted by this heavenly voice
in order to cut short the days of suffering for God's elect,
and therefore the seventh trumpet is going to usher
into God's full and final wrath.
But this nixing of the thunder judgments
doesn't change what this angel had come down to give John,
because in this angel's hand remains an open scroll
in which we all will be called to prophesy.
A faithful church is a prophetic church.
So would you turn with me now to verses 8 through 11,
the second scene where John is recommissioned as a prophet,
and we are commissioned as prophets.
John's faithfulness,
for John to be faithful,
he must be prophetic.
And for us to be faithful,
we must be prophetic.
And so there are three words I want to help you see.
We're just going to get us through this last section.
I want you to see the word take,
I want you to see the word eat,
and I want you to see the word prophesy.
Let's look at that word take in verse 9.
This voice that I heard from heaven,
excuse me, verse 8,
this voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again.
The same voice that has just nixed the thunder judgments.
That voice says to John,
go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel
who's standing on the sea and on the land.
Go.
Here's the significance of what's going on here.
This is a chain link of transmission
of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Here's what's going on.
This scroll started in the hand of the one seated on the throne.
And then it goes from his hand into the hands of the lamb
who breaks open its seal.
And then the scroll opened is given to this angel
who then brings it down to earth
and now is going to give it to John
who's going to take it, eat it, and prophesy it
and write it down to give to us
to take and to eat and to prophesy.
If you flip back to Revelation chapter 1, 1,
I'm not making this stuff up.
The revelation of Jesus Christ,
shorthand for the contents of the scroll.
The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave to him, Jesus Christ,
to show his servants, us,
the things that must soon take place.
But you're saying there's only three links
in that chain, Salvati.
Well, look next.
He made it known, Jesus made it known
by sending his angel, mighty angel,
just come down, straddling sea and land.
He made it known by sending his angel
to his servant John, who then gives it to us.
Five links.
God, Jesus, angel, John, us.
And John's got to take it.
John's got to take it.
Go and take it.
Go take the scroll, John.
This has so many similarities
to the callings of the prophets
in the Old Testament, Ezekiel in particular.
A scroll, God's saving message
for those under judgment to save them,
given to a prophet for him to proclaim
so that God's people would be rescued back to him.
And what John is being told here is,
John, you've got to take the scroll.
You've got to lay your hand on it.
But the scroll was for him to take.
He's addressing John.
And here's how I want to apply this for us.
John's prophetic commissioning
is like our prophetic commissioning.
We are to grab hold
of this revelation of Jesus Christ.
That's where it starts.
We got to realize
this is being given to us.
We take the revelation to ourselves.
This scroll,
this making known of God's plan
for the fullness of time
in the person of Jesus.
This is calling.
This is entrustment.
This is being given God's message
for us to do something with.
And we have got to take it.
Another way to think about it is,
brother, sister in Christ,
God intends for you
to grab hold of this revelation.
And for us to do it as a church,
we move from taking this
to eating it.
We read,
I went to the angel
and told him to give me the little scroll
and he said to me,
take and eat it.
Eat it,
the scroll,
will make your stomach bitter,
but in your mouth
it will be sweet as honey.
And I took the little scroll,
verse 10,
from the hand of the angel
and I ate it.
And it was sweet as honey in my mouth,
but when I had eaten it,
my stomach was made bitter.
Eat it.
He took it,
now he's got to eat it.
Again,
the calling of Ezekiel
in Ezekiel chapter 3,
God gives him a scroll,
his message
for the people of that time
who were under judgment,
for him to eat it
and to call them to rescue,
call them out of judgment.
Eating it,
this is a really interesting way
to talk about it.
It's a picture of internalizing
God's revelation.
of internalizing God's message.
Have you ever been to,
you know,
you're talking to somebody
and you're like talking
really fast to them
and you're giving them
a lot of information
and they say,
whoa, whoa,
you know what,
give me a second,
I just need a minute
to digest what you're saying.
To take it to heart.
To fully grasp it.
To take it personally.
John is not just simply
to take this.
We're simply not to take it.
We're to eat it.
Internalize it.
Claim it as our own.
This angel says,
hey,
when you eat it,
it's going to make
your stomach bitter
and your mouth
it's going to be sweet.
Internalizing
this revelation
of Jesus Christ
will have
a bittersweet effect.
The sweetness
is recognizing
the truth
of what we are
ingesting.
The truth
of how things
really are.
The truth
of who God is.
Of who we are.
Of what he's done
in Jesus
and our need to respond.
And the sweetness
is knowing that
having responded
to this message
ourselves
in repentance
and faith.
We have peace
with God.
Healing.
But the bitterness
what we will see
is that the heartache
of this
scroll
and its contents
the revelation
of Jesus Christ
it's
when we
when we take it in
and then when we
proclaim it
when this message
falls on
deaf ears
because
those deaf ears
belong to a dead heart
and
when those
this message
falls on deaf ears
you realize
that this good news
is now
a warning message
of judgment.
It's hard.
It's a heartache
especially when
the people
that you want
most to tell this to
are the people
you love the most.
And then
the bitterness
is of course
the hurt
that can come
when we
proclaim
this message
of God
in Christ
for those
under his judgment
and they're like
nope
don't buy it
and by the way
how dare you
suggest
that my
lifestyle
is offensive
to your God.
I won't
forget that
and you'll
suffer for it.
What can happen
is the bitterness
of this message
is not only
seeing the heartache
of people who don't
take it in
themselves
but it's the
the reaction
towards us
the messengers
for faithfully
proclaiming the
message to them.
in verse 10
John eats
the scroll
and he
experiences both
the sweetness
and the bitterness
and so will we
but brothers
and sisters
you must
eat
the scroll
you've got
to internalize
it yourself
you've got
to internalize
the revelation
of Jesus Christ
God's plan
for the fullness
of time
realized
in Jesus
you've got
to own it
not because
your parents
own it
not because
your spouse
owns it
not because
your church
owns it
you need
to own it
yourself
because you
become
personally
convinced
of its
truthfulness
and its
necessity
it's personal
when I was
a college
student
I spent
a couple
summers
out in
New Jersey
on the shore
and I
would watch
construction
workers
build
boardwalks
and these
huge
pile
driving
machines
there would
be this
pile unloaded
and it was
like this
big telephone
pole
and this
pile driver
would use
steam
and just
hammer
this
pile
on down
through layers
and layers
of sand
until it
hit bedrock
wasn't
moving
now you
can build
your board
walk
internalizing
the gospel
of Jesus
Christ
is very
similar
it's a
process
of God
driving
the truth
of who
Jesus
is
all the
way
down
into
the bedrock
of your
heart
where it
will find
uncompromising
conviction
you build
on it
how do you
become
convinced
of this
how do you
how does this
process
of conviction
happen
well you
prayerfully
study your
Bible
you get into
a life
group
among other
people who
are saying
I want
to be
convinced
of this
too
I know
it's
true
Jenny and I
have the
privilege of
leaving a
life group
ourselves
and we're
going through
the gospel
of Mark
and the
gospel of
Mark
is this
gospel
pile driver
that is
driving
Jesus
down
onto the
bedrock
of our
hearts
uncompromising
conviction
internalized
and when
you've
internalized
the message
now you're
ready to
preach it
now you're
ready to
speak it
now you're
ready to
prophesy
in verse
11
we read
this
and I
was told
you must
again
prophesy
about many
peoples
and nations
and languages
and kings
after
John
takes
the
scroll
after
John
eats
the
scroll
John
is now
to
prophesy
the scroll
do you see
the word
must
you must
again
prophesy
it's the
nature
of calling
it's
burden
it's
I've
got to
I've
internalized
this
I know
it's
true
I know
it's
necessary
I've
got to
speak
this
it's
not an
optional
calling
but a
mandatory
calling
you
must
again
prophesy
it's not
enough for
John to
take
it's not
enough for
John to
eat
John
must
prophesy
he must
speak
God's
message
his
revelation
of
Jesus
Christ
to
the
peoples
and
nations
and
languages
and
kings
from
whom
God
will
draw
out
a
company
a
multitude
who
will
worship
him
you
must
again
prophesy
remember
John was
exiled to
that rock
pile
called
Patmos
for the
testimony
of
Jesus
and so
here
he's being
told
John
your prophetic
days aren't
over buddy
you got to
get back out
in it
and preach
again
this revelation
of Jesus
Christ on
this scroll
given to
you
and hey
if you're
kind of
wondering
whoa
what is
this
revelation
of Jesus
Christ
business
what is
this
prophesying
business
it's
making me
a little
uncomfortable
turn back
to
Revelation
19
verse
10
it's
not
complicated
we're
told
what is
at the
heart
of this
prophesying
in
19
10
second
last
sentence
of
the
verse
for
the
testimony
of
Jesus
is
the
spirit
of
prophecy
do you
know what
the
heart
of
prophecy
is
do you
want to
know what
the
essence
of
prophecy
is
do you
want to
know what
the
breath
of
prophecy
is
the
testimony
of
Jesus
it's
all
about
Jesus
this
open
scroll
is
God's
plan
for
the
fullness
of
time
in
Christ
by
Christ
for
Christ
and
John
must
proclaim
it
and
we
must
proclaim
it
too
you may
be
thinking
wait
I
thought
this
sounds
like
more
of
a
calling
of
John
the
prophet
but
hey
I
thought
you
said
this
was
about
the
church
just
let me
remind
you
of
the
five
link
chain
of
transmission
starts
with
God
on the
throne
goes
to
the
lamb
angel
comes
down
gives
it
to
John
and
John
is
writing
it
for
us
to
take
eat
and
for
us
to
proclaim
we
must
speak
of
the
of
Jesus
and
of
all
that
he
is
into
the
lives
of
others
around
us
we
do
that
prayerfully
and
we
do
that
boldly
spirit
empowered
courageous
if
you're
afraid
to
speak
of
Jesus
if
you're
too
busy
to
speak
of
Jesus
you
need
to
eat
the
message
more
it's
got
to
be
driven
down
more
and
then
you'll
be
able
to
preach
it
to
you
might
be
wondering
what
do
I
say
to
someone
who
I
love
and
I
know
the
wrath
of
God
is
coming
I'm
afraid
for
them
I
want
good
for
them
I
want
to
tell
them
about
Jesus
what
do
I
tell
them
so
that
they
can
be
saved
I'm
going
to
refer
you
to
a
book
it's
called
what
is
the
gospel
by
Greg
Gilbert
he
points
to
four
words
that
you
need
to
say
that
they
represent
you
need
to
tell
them
about
God
that
God
is
the
creator
he's
holy
and
just
he's
got a
plan
for
the
fullness
of
time
and
every
person
on
the
planet
has
a
place
in
his
plan
and
this
God
is
warning
us
which
brings
us
to
the
second
point
man
God
man
God
created
men
and
women
in
his
image
to
be
in
relationship
with
him
but
we
rebelled
against
our
creator
in
the
worst
way
possible
we
swapped
him
out
for
far
lesser
things
to
worship
the
things
he
made
it's
called
idolatry
and it's
a capital
offense
it provokes
God's
wrath
that
is what
got us
to this
problem
to begin
with
God
man
Jesus
God
sent
Jesus
to
bring
us
back
to
God
by
addressing
God's
wrath
for
our
sin
Jesus
hung
on
the
cross
bearing
God's
wrath
for
our
rebellious
idolatry
and this
Jesus
didn't
stay
dead
he was
raised
from the
dead
he's
reigning
right
now
and he's
going
to
return
and when
he returns
he's
going to
vindicate
his
saints
and he's
going to
pour out
the wrath
of the
lamb
God
man
Jesus
and the
last word
is
respond
you've
got to
respond
to this
and
you either
respond by
rejecting it
or respond
by repentance
and faith
and saying
oh man
I did not
know that
so thankful
for telling
me
I'm
turning
from my
idolatry
and trusting
myself
and my
unbelief
in God
and I'm
turning
to Jesus
trusting
in him
trusting
in this
revelation
you're
telling me
about
that's
from God
to save
me
and by
the way
no
response
is a
response
it's
called
waffling
and it's
a rejection
of Christ
you know
who are we
to tell
this to
anybody
who
listen
can I
give you
another
resource
it's
called
the art
of
neighboring
you can
look it
up
online
Jenny and I
have extremely
helped by it
I think we
are put on
by it
by Rick and
Jasmine
Aldrich who
are like
PhDs in
the art
of neighboring
but I
would commend
it to you
life groups
I would
commend the
material to
you to
position your
life groups
to think
about the
summer of
2019 in a
different way
of taking
eating and
prophesying
you've got to
take the
revelation
the scroll
you've got to
take it
yourself
lay your
hand on it
and then you've
got to take it
down deep
internalize it
eat it
and then when
it hits
bedrock
you proclaim
it
you speak
it
and just a
word of
reality
when we
become prophetic
in our city
for Christ
it's going to
be bittersweet
there's going to
be blessing
sweet blessing
of people coming
to faith in
Jesus
it's happening
but then there's
going to be
heartache
this message
of God
falling on
deaf ears
people reject
it
and then
rejecting it
they want to
hurt us
they want to
go after
the messenger
of the message
that's part of
the bitterness
to be a
faithful
church
is to be
a prophetic
church
is there
really any
other
worthy
option
worthy
is the
lamb
let's pray
God
would you
by your
spirit
make us
a prophetic
church
not obnoxious
not stupid
wise
brave
compelling
empowered
and God
we would
ask that
through us
your message
coming from
our lips
that you
would
you would
save
many
rescue
many
that we
would be
worshipping
around the
throne
with many
who in
2019
repent
and believe
in Jesus
we ask
this in
your name
amen
or
to