May 10, 2015
Morning Worship
Text: Proverbs 29:18
Subject: Revelation from The Word
Title: Open the Eyes of My Heart
Happy Mother’s Day to all our Moms. As I began the week trying to get direction for a Mother’s Day sermon the Spirit began to deal with me in a totally different direction, so if this Mother’s Day sermon isn’t like what you expected I apologize. Actually it is kind of a Mother’s Day sermon because it seems that mothers have the uncanny ability to understand when there are hidden things going on. You all know what I mean. How many of you have been caught by your mom when you were young doing something you shouldn’t have been doing and there was no way she could have known about it, but she did. That is kind of the direction that I want to take you in today with the sermon. I want to talk to you about revelation and it’s importance in the church, especially for the times we are living in.
The gift bags that our moms received this morning have a scripture verse attached to them. Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Word study on 3 words…
Word – a word or a thing – the root word is the verb which is a word spoken…
Lamp - a light or a lamp, but more than that. Refers to a bright or glistening lamp. Root word “fire”…
Light – illumination – in this instance illumination from the word.
Does God intend for His word to be light for you?
For millions of Christians the word of God is simply a book of guidelines for living. But this is also speaking of the spoken word – God speaking by His Spirit..
1 Corinthians 2:7-9 (NKJV)
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
See? There it says it. We can’t see or hear or perceive in our hearts all the things God has for us…
Really? That’s not what verse 10 says.
1 Corinthians 2:10 (NKJV)
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:10 (ETRV)
10 But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. The Spirit knows all things. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God.
Would you agree that God shows things through both the written word and the spoken word?
Would you also agree then that it is the Holy Spirit that reveals things to us today?
The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God.
So if you go on down to verse 14,
1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV2011)
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
OK, this is where I wanted to get to today.
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
For years I have taken this verse to refer to the church and that the church has to have a plan for the future – a vision – and if there was no vision then the church would not prosper. And while that may be true, it isn’t what this verse is saying.
The word that is translated “vision” in the KJV refers to seeing a picture in your mind and is better translated as “revelation”. So any group of people, whether the church or a community or a nation that is receiving revelation from the Lord and then keeps it is blessed.
Proverbs 29:18 (NKJV)
18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
Do you think that revelation is a good thing? Look at the last part of that verse. But happy is he who keeps the law.
How did the Law come to Moses? Through direct revelation from God! Is just receiving revelation enough? No, you have to be in obedience with God’s revealing in order to be blessed.
Proverbs 29:18 (ETRV)
18 If a nation is not guided by God, the people will lose self-control, but the nation that obeys God's law will be happy.
I like the way the Message bible says it.
Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
18 If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
Does revelation only refer to the Law or to the promises God has for your life today? We have to understand that God wants us to receive revelation of all the scripture and to act on that revelation accordingly. Revelation for salvation, healing, blessing, deliverance, provision, power, authority… Amen!
But He also wants you to receive revelation concerning the last days as well.
Dr. George Sweeting once estimated that "more than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy...Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the O.T., and seventeen O.T. books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the N.T., there are more than 300 references to the Lord's return--one out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 N.T. books refer to this great event...For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are 8 on Christ's second coming."
Today in the Word, MBI, December, 1989, p. 40.
Now let me stop and share with you something I think is significant. Ever since I have been saved I have heard all the end times prophecies and listened to or read prophecy teachers. I have understood that we are drawing closer and closer to the end.
Now let me preface what I am about to say with this… I am not a prophet!
But last week while I was praying and seeking a direction for a Mother’s Day sermon there was a strong foreboding that came into my spirit that there is something about to happen that is going to change everything. I believe that this is from the Lord but I don’t think He is trying to scare us – I believe He is trying to prepare us so we can warn others.
If you look at what is going on in the world right now – the rise of islam and their killing of Christians and hatred for Jews; the persecution and arrest of Christians and the closing of churches by the thousands in China; the anti-Christian rhetoric and legislation being passed in westernized nations that makes it criminal behavior for believers to openly espouse biblical principles; and finally the rise of the apostate church that is turning people away from Jesus instead of pointing them to Him.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NKJV)
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
You can go to any prophecy website on the Internet and see how the apostate church is on the rise. I read that this next generation (millennials) is starting to come back to church. But it appears that the churches they are returning to are churches that are turning away from the full gospel message.
All things point to the return of the Lord. And yet the world, as well as much of the church acts like Jesus is never coming back.
2 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV2011)
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
2 Peter 3:3-4 (ETRV)
3 It is important for you to understand what will happen in the last days. People will laugh at you. They will live following the evil they want to do.
4 They will say, "Jesus promised to come again. Where is he? Our fathers have died, but the world continues the way it has been since it was made."
2 Peter 3:3-4 (MSG)
3 First off, you need to know that in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday. Reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings,
4 they'll mock, "So what's happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything's going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing's changed."
Cable television mogul Ted Turner criticized fundamentalist Christianity and said Jesus probably would "be sick at his stomach" over the way his ideas have been "twisted," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Turner made his remarks Friday evening at a banquet in Orlando, Fla., where he was given an award by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of the environment and world peace. Turner said he had a strict Christian upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. "I was saved seven or eight times," the newspaper quoted him as saying. But he said he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith, "the better I felt."
Spokesman-Review, May 1, 1990.
Matthew 24:4-8 (NIV2011)
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Matthew 24:36-39 (NIV2011)
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Let me close with this. We have reached an age when many Christians believe that they don’t need to be in church. They don’t need anybody else – just them and God!
Hebrews 10:24-25 (ETRV)
24 We should think about each other to see how we can encourage each other to show love and do good works.
25 We must not quit meeting together, as some are doing. No, we need to keep on encouraging each other. This becomes more and more important as you see the Day getting closer.
Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
18 If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
In these last days God is revealing Himself to the church through the written and spoken word. And more and more He is revealing Himself to the world through signs and wonders.
And now you, the body of Christ, have the responsibility of proclaiming the revelation of God’s word to those who are lost and to those who have slipped away. They need Christ and they need revelation or else they will perish.
