R1600 Trusting God’s Word, Pt. 2

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton about trusting God's Word. In these next few moments, we'll complete the message we began yesterday with Dr. Don Wilton. If you missed yesterday, that's okay. You can catch up online at www.tewonline.org.

But even today, Dr. Don will catch you up, so as we dive into Revelation, we'll be in the first few verses of chapter 1, as well as the first couple of verses of chapter 4 in just a moment. But right now, we want you to know that we're here for you. We'd love to talk with you, pray with you. We can connect on our website at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, right now, this Walking with Giants offer, if you have got a minute, take a minute and look at www.tewonline.org. It could be just what you need to launch this new year.

That's online at www.tewonline.org. Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. Revelation chapter 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw that is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and blessed are those who take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.

Hi, John. To the seven churches in the province of Asia, grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come and from the seven spirits before the throne. From Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom of priests, to serve his God and father, to him be glory and power forever and forever. Look, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who killed him and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be.

Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Now go to chapter four quickly. Go to chapter four.

This is fantastic. Look at chapter four after he speaks to the seven churches, which we are going to be looking at together. After this, I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven and the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must soon take place after that. So from this point in chapter four, all the way through to the end of the book of Revelation, God shows us what happens after all believers have gone in through the open door of heaven into the presence of the Lord our God who is seated on his throne. Look at verse two of chapter four. At this, at once I was in the spirit. By the way, that's where we get our word rapture from. Have you heard the word rapture?

That's where it comes from. At once I was in the spirit and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. The rest of that chapter describes the beauty, the brilliance and the majesty of God who is seated on his throne. Billy Graham said, I don't understand everything in God's word, but I believe everything in God's word.

I promise you over the next couple of days and weeks, in fact, any study like this, you'll find yourself sitting there saying, what? How? But I promise you this, God by his Spirit is going to give you a spirit of trust and belief. You'll know it. You'll know it.

You can sense it already, can't you? You know what I'm saying? You know what God's saying? So what does God's word say to us? What does God's word tell us?

Let me just put this out there for us. Number one, God's word tells us that this is the revelation. Verse one, the revelation, it's the revelation. You know that little word revelation, most of us understand it. It means to pull back the cover. It means to make known what lies beneath. It means to unveil the mystery. Another word is to uncover, to expose, make it plain, the revelation. The book, the revelation, it's the revelation.

It's making known things that we just don't understand. At a time that we've never been. Not one of us has ever died and already gone through all of this. And by the way, Jesus has still got to come back in the clouds. We don't know.

We've never done that. Bible says every eye will see him. The revelation, this revelation, the book, the word, God is telling us, hey, yo, I'm going to pull back the cover for you.

I'm going to show you. Number two, God's word tells us it's about Jesus Christ. The revelation of Jesus Christ right there. Verse one, that's what revelation is about. It's all about Jesus.

Now, guys, I'm going to tell you something. When it comes to end times, there are so many signs of the end times. I've been talking about some of them even on my daily little short video that I've been sending out that so many are being blessed by. There are many signs. You know, we look around today and I could go off at an angle here.

Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, unrest, a great falling away, godlessness, mockery, a disdain for Jesus Christ, blasphemy. By the way, have you heard how many times and how many people use God's name and the name of Jesus Christ in blasphemy? Have you noticed that? You have? You know the Bible says it's at the name of Jesus that everyone will bow?

Have you noticed, by the way, have you ever gone to watch a movie? Have you ever heard anybody drop a brick on their toe and say Buddha? Or how about Mohammed, Hare Krishna?

Name all the religions of the world. You ever hear anybody use their name as a cuss word? Never. The only name you ever hear as a cuss word is? You got it. You ever heard anybody say, oh Buddha, it's hot today? You ever heard anybody use a deity or a god or a pagan god? No, no.

Joy is, you got it. You know we look around and see a cashless society, credit cards, trying to figure out, just think for a moment, okay, just think for a moment about Instagram, Twitter, emails. Just think how easy it is to communicate. Just put a button. You can take a picture. I went to Instagram the other day. I only put one picture of my trip in Alaska. I was just compelled to do it.

You can go to my Instagram account. It's me flying through the air about to do the polar plunge. I mean you talk about take your breath away. I'm telling you, my wife caught me in the air.

You want to see the rest of it. That's why I didn't put it on Instagram. Do you know, here I am in Alaska, right in the foothills of a great glacier, in freezing water, you take a picture and you push a button and people around the world can see it. I had some people in Africa and other places in the world saying, oh, you did that? How did they know?

Mass communication? By the way, what about the big eye in the sky? Have any of you noticed or thought sometimes that your telephone's listening to you? By the way, have you noticed sometimes you can talk and all of a sudden your telephone, your phone, your iPhone starts writing what you're saying down in a text message. Have you noticed that? Hey, do you know I was in Alaska and all of a sudden on my social media I started getting advertisements for Alaska?

And I hadn't sent any pictures out. How did my phone know that? What does God's Word tell us? God's Word tells us it's the revelation, but God's Word tells us it's about Jesus.

It's kind of like, get this, I mean I've got all this stuff, social media and cashless and Buddha and fighting in the street and anarchy and politics and hate and God says Jesus. It's about Jesus. Number three, God's Word tells us that it comes from God, the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him.

Oh, why do we need to know that? Well, Mark 13, 32 for example, one passage, reminds us that not even the angels in heaven know when the end will come, only God himself. And God here in the revelation reminds us that God sent this information about Jesus to show his servants God did this. It came from God. What God is saying is this didn't come from Billy Graham, didn't come from Don Wilton, didn't come from the pope, didn't come from the bishop, didn't come from the Sunday school teacher, the life group leader, the D group leader, it didn't come from your favorite whomever. This came from God. Trust him. Trust him. Number four, he tells us that what is going to happen is about to happen.

Did you see that word there? He says what must soon take place. That's the imminence of the coming of Jesus.

What God wants us to know, trusting him, is that this is going to happen soon. It's about to happen. You've got to get ready. You've got to be ready. You've got to be prepared. Can I just say, I just want to say this to you.

I want to be overdramatic. There are two reasons why you cannot afford to give your heart, not to give your heart to Jesus. Now, can I give you two reasons?

There are lots of them. Number one, because you don't know whether you're going to be alive tomorrow, do you? Number two, you don't know whether or not Jesus is about to come back, do you?

Trust the Lord Jesus. And then, by the way, it's fantastic to be forgiven of your sin. It's awesome. I'm just telling you, when Jesus comes in your heart and he forgives you of your sin and he casts it as far as the east is from the west, he makes you brand new, it's just fantastic. It's fantastic. And that's why Jesus died for you.

That's exactly why. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, and this awesomeness of having our sins forgiven, it really is life-changing. And for some of us, it's taken years for me to really understand the way that God separates us from our sin.

Literally, as far as the east is from the west, are you burdened by what you know God has already forgiven but you, for some reason, can't forgive yourself? Oh, how we'd love to pray with you for literally a breakthrough in leaving the past behind so that you can look ahead, wonderfully anticipating what God's going to do here in this new year of 2021. We'd love to pray with you at 866-899-WORD. We're available right now during the broadcast, but jot the number down because we'd love to connect with you 24 hours a day. Again, the number is 866-899-9673.

Or if you'd rather go keyboard to keyboard, meet us online at T-E-W online dot O-R-G, that's T-E-W online dot O-R-G, or on the phone at 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Number five, God's Word tells us that this word that we're reading is given to believers. See, he says here, he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John. He sent this to believers. Can I just say this very lovingly? Unbelievers.

Are you kidding me? They don't believe this. You ever had someone, maybe a good person, say, Man, that's such rubbish. I mean, who can believe in such junk? If you don't have faith, if you don't take God and his Word, woo! Some of this stuff, you talk about a mystery. That's why God pulls it back. He unveils it. And you know who he's doing that for? Believers.

And you and I are worshiping the Lord right now, and we're looking at this. And you can't explain it. You don't have to understand it. But that belief in you, you just believe it. It's real.

It's true. Guys, listen, I really believe Jesus is coming soon. And I really believe it could be tonight.

I do. And I really believe all these things that he's telling us about, that he's going to come in the clouds. And if we're still alive, believers, we're going to be caught up to join those who are already in heaven. And then when we are, we're going to turn around, we're going to go back through the open door of heaven into the throne room.

All of us. You say, how are we going to fit in there? You know how big heaven is?

The galactic sphere of God's sovereign kingdom? It's never ending. It's eternal.

I really believe it. It's given to believers. But number six, it's designed to bless.

I love this part. It's designed to bless. You've got to look at verse three. Don't miss verse three. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy. Blessed are those who hear it. And blessed are those who take it to heart.

So I'm going to take God at his word. He tells me when I read, when I hear, when I take to heart what he says here, the result is being blessed. Can you feel that? You're right now, you're sitting there with your phone, with your Bible app. You're in your living room.

You're in that, wherever you are today, worshipping the Lord. And you can't explain it, can you? You're just blessed. You can feel it.

It's like God's filling your heart with blessing. And there's one more word, number seven. It's urgent, it's urgent. Look what he says at the end of verse three. He says, the time is near.

It's urgent. We met so many fantastic people in Alaska that worked for Samaritan's Purse. Operation Heal Our Patriots, wounded warriors and watching marriages come together and these incredible heroes of ours. And following Jesus in believer's baptism in frigid waters right there in Alaska and lives just coming back together again. Do you know, one of the couples that we met, Wayne and Theresa, and they worked, they stationed up there in Alaska, and they were sharing their testimony with us. And they said, Wayne looked over and he said, you know, he said, man, we had nothing to do with Jesus. We were 35 years old, married, said, God, are you kidding me? Jesus was a blasphemy in our home.

We had nothing to do with him. He talked about messing with drugs. Alcohol was his big thing, man. The more he could get, the more he could booze, the better he felt.

He'd walk around with a cooler with him all the time. You ever met someone like that? I mean, didn't want to know anything to do with the Lord. But they had a friend couple who kept asking them to come to their little church. They wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it.

I mean, months, years, wouldn't. Are you kidding me? Go to church.

Are you out of your mind? And then Theresa said she switched on her television set and Dr. Billy Graham reached out his Bible and he said, I don't understand everything in this book, the Bible, but I believe everything in the Bible. And God got a hold of their hearts. They went back to that little church. I wish you could meet them. You know what they do during the wintertime? They're one of the few couples that stay in remote places. They showed us pictures, guys, like a dream.

Be frank with you, I'd love to do it myself, like a bucket list. Seven months, they're in these little cabins, nobody within 200 miles of them, frozen, snow piled up like you cannot imagine. Their job is to just keep things going. Nobody else there, just them.

This whole place, they take care of it for Samaritan's Purse. And I turned to Wayne, I said, Wayne, you just shut. He said, listen, man, there's no greater joy than serving the Lord. It didn't matter if they were on their own or if they were in a crowd. It didn't matter. I mean, the joy in Wayne and Teresa was palpable, man.

You know why? Because God had pulled back the revelation of their eyes, their hearts. They gave their lives to Jesus.

And they didn't understand that they believed. You see, what God is telling us to do here is to check our temperature. The first question I'll ask you today is, do you know Christ? Give your life to Him.

Just accept Him. Trust Him by faith. What a powerful time of teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. If you're new to the encouraging word, welcome. Perhaps you've heard not just Dr. Don Wilton, our pastor, and this wonderful South African brogue, but you've heard more. You've heard the Lord stir your heart to this new concept of trusting not only God, but trusting God's Word to know that what He has said is true, and you can have new life in Him beginning today. You've heard the pastor from the pulpit, and people in our sanctuary and our auditorium are participating right now to make decisions for Jesus Christ. For those of you that know the Lord, pray, as we all are saying, God, what can we do next? And some of you, would you open your heart to what the pastor wants to share next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. Welcome to the family of God. I just know in my heart that some of you prayed along with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Jesus Christ, some of you for the very first time, and some of you, you are coming home.

Welcome home. It's been too long, but now is the time to begin afresh and anew. Here in the month of January, launching 2021, it really is a good time for new beginnings, and we'd love to walk alongside you as you take those steps to say yes to Jesus Christ. You can give us a call right now at 866-899-WORD. Again, that number is 866-899-9673, and it'll connect you with one of us happy to pray with you, maybe to answer some questions you might have about what God's doing in your life. And more importantly, we have resources that'll help you take the next steps. Dr. Don has some unique resources chosen just for you if you've just given your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Christ. Why don't you call and let us connect you with those resources. The number again is 866-899-9673, or meet us online. Our website's easy to remember.

It's T-E-W online dot O-R-G. That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G, a great place to find wonderful resources like this. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The Word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.

Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging Word, you will receive the first of Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series one, Walking with God's Giants, is available on CD or DVD and includes four messages on the lives of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and Hannah. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request series one, Walking with God's Giants. Thank you for your continued partnership to help us share the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. Our time's gone for today, but let's stay connected online at TEWOnline.org.