Please turn in your Bible to the book of Revelations chapter 1:1-3. Lets now read beginning this evening with this text: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
In this place we begin as it is appropriate, I asked the Lord why and he reminded me of my life and all I have seen as a new Christian to this day and I then was reminded of all the places he took me and all the interesting experiences I have been through as a Christian.
It was in the winter of 1972 I remember vividly the times as if it were yesterday! My salvation experience was during the climax of the famous: “JESUS MOVEMENT.” I observed it closely and as by God’s grace the wave of this movement rolled through the 60’s and 70’s it began to climax in the era right where I was. God in his grace saw fit to include me. Halleluia.
I remember the theme of the preaching at that time as though it was to keep me or I should say preserve me. It was a message coupled with the fear of God. The theme of the preaching of the church was the coming of Christ for his Church. Or, as we would probably regard it as, “The Rapture.”
My life at that time as a young 19 year old just missing out on going to Vietnam. I could have gone at age 17 however at about my 18th birthday they began to curve the draftees. Sure I registered to be drafted. It was a formality I saw that I would never be drafted. I had a high number on my draft card. They were only drafting a certain number that were just a few weeks older than me. As a new Christian I preached in the County Jail and the Nursing Homes, Witnessing to whoever would hear me. People would refer to us type as the “Jesus Freaks”.
Well, I gave a little explanation as to what took place in my life as a new Christian.
Lets now turn to a verse that has been in sequence to my theme, Turn to the 14th chapter of Revelations. We will begin with verse 4 and we will read the part where it begins: “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountain of waters.”
It still grips me how this group of people in a future era live for God. I mean as I look at this place in the Word I later learned as I grew in the Lord it was a reference to the tribulation Saints. They were walking in the Fear of God and “whithersoever he, the Lord Jesus went they followed.” Awesome. It was as though God had told me: “Follow me” It was a turning point in my walk with the Lord. In verses 12 through 16 I will read: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
As we begin to unfold these scriptures I am reminded continually of my mindset in those early years as a new Christian. I had developed a routine for a long period of time all on the premise God had promised: “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that heareth the words of this prophecy, and keepeth those things which are written therein…” So as a result I was reading the book of Revelations everyday 5 to 7 times as a daily routine. It was as I recall enriching. My walk in the Spirit was all that made it so worth while. What I remembered was the fullness and contentment as I began each day soaking in the Word. I sincerely sought to be recipient to the blessing of the Lord. Looking back I can say it was a rich experience in the Lord.
Let’s now turn to Revelations chapter 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walketh naked, and they see his shame.” Now it has been my conviction, I should say this is how I am convinced it will be:
We are blessed if we hide God’s Word in our heart, put it to work, apply it to daily living in the fear of God. Then we are blessed if we watch. Blessed if we keep our garments. What is this in the simplest explanation? Turn over to Colossians 3:8-10 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man…” read now Ephesians 4:23-24 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” So I simply assumed as a new Christian I was to be clothed with the presence of Jesus. I was exceptionally blessed! However, I would discover it was lacking. I found that I had overlooked a critical teaching in this process of living the Christian life. Let’s go back, I mean through the order as we looked and found it written.
Blessing in reading, hearing and keeping the Word of God.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.”
As time would go on and I prayed and sought God’s face, hearing several preachers and teaching, God put in my spirit the teaching of “Putting on the new man or I should say “Watching and Keeping our Garments has to be done in as Paul would say: “I die daily” I Corinthians 15:31. Oh here we go I entered into a whole new realm of living. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.” I skipped right over this verse with the idea as tradition teaches, These are all who literally died in the Lord and have gone on to be with the him. True. It still holds valid. However, Look again in the Spirit it is all literally true to those who chose to follow Jesus and doing so chose to die to self. So let’s put on the Lord Jesus Christ!
As I went from this point I discovered again a pitfall. Oh, I stood upon the Word claiming Ephesians 6:11-17 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…” Oh there I was, I thought I was something. I was really getting somewhere now. God through his grace and tender mercies taught me that my problem ¾’s of the time was not the devil but myself. No matter who we are as long as we are in this flesh we are going to suffer the pain of temptation and lust. What else? The Pride of life, As it is clearly outlines in I John 2:16.
True Revival Starts as we take all this applied teaching one step more. It is said in so many ways and expressions: “To go higher you need to go down, or as Jesus made it clear: “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Mathew 23:12. Lets now turn to Revelations 19:5-9 “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
So, Here we are “and his wife hath made herself ready.” Did you know as we prepare ourselves along with reading the Word, hearing it, keeping it, Putting on the Lord Jesus and dying to self we need to “Submit” under the headship of Christ as a wife does to her husband. We read in Ephesians 5:22-27 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and as the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
In the process of this submission we are being refined and it can place us in embarrassing predicaments. God’s People all need humbling, it’s part of the sanctifying process. In fact we can blindside ourselves in to the mindset that we are Quote: “doing just fine, or: I’m OK.” Let’s turn to Revelations 3:17-18, and we read: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Whenever, we get ourselves in this place of need the key is:
“Whatever the cost, Placing all your Sights on Jesus. Come To The Cross Focusing Fully On Him. Forget About Your Pride. Place it At The Feet Of Jesus.”
Let’s begin to conclude with a true narrative of one women, and then 5 men that I have selected to illustrate the Cost of Revival. Before we do let’s turn to Revelations 20:6 “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
For what purpose to count the cost: It’s God’s desire and goal that we reign as priests. This would have to be expounded upon in a future message God permit with the time allotted me I would have to bring this teaching at a later date. Let’s get back to the cost of revival. Turn to Luke 7:36-50 and we find the narrative of this women coming to Jesus, “Who Counted the Cost”
Let’s begin in verse 37 as Jesus was at Supper with a group of Pharisees, one whose name was Simon and other Jewish leaders in private: “And behold, a women in the city , which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, (that is Simon) he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee, And he saith, Master, say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
And he turned to the women, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss: but this women since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this women hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
And he said to the women, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”
As we begin to wind up our time here it is interesting to find illustrations as powerful and hard driving as this narration with the women washing the feet of Jesus with her very hairs of her head. I just want to touch on the headship of Christ again real quickly. She placed her full attention on Jesus without fear or shame as she approached him. It is not the ointment that was of great price. The price was her diligence to approach the King of kings without any “fear of the clamor” that would take place in her manner she chose before the critics and religious judges of her day. With single heart rent before God unashamedly she paid her price; humbly pouring her heart out before the Lord Jesus in “contrition.” It is said so well in Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”
My next illustration is about a missionary of the 19th century: David Brainard. He as it was in his case trained in the most prestigious schools of preparation for the ministry. All that surrounded him in his family and friends all placed high expectations of his calling as a minister. They all had the assumption he would take the pastorate of some great church and be a great pastor of a congregation, as it seemed the expected norm. Bro. David Brainard went right to his calling in full obedience as an apostle to the Indians of the New England Territory at that time as we know it the most primitive part of the world. His family, his friends all scorned him with rebuke and sharp criticism. How he was going to loose his life wasting it away in this lost cause and would probably even loose his life. His education and efforts were now going to be forever lost. In spite of the criticism and clamorous rebuke by all who looked on his life he obeyed God’s call! It is recorded by Indian converts at the onset of his ministry he was spied upon in the evenings only to be found in earnest intercessory prayer with his time in prayer as they observed as if he: “Walked with the Most High” he prayed all night and found to be as a torch in the night where he prayed. He was said to pray down the fire of God and they heard in his message the voice of God. During the evenings were he was found praying in the cold of the winter seasons it was noted; The snow would melt and he left a 10’ melted area dry in the place where he knelt all night in prayer making a perfect dry circle in the place where he knelt. The Indians observed the presence of Jesus in his life and he brought in these Indians for Christ!
“Dwight Lyman Moody, the great American evangelist of the 19th Century known for his limited formal education. His letters, in record as preaching in grammatical errors. His physical appearance was not impressive. His voice was high-pitched and his tones nasal. Yes! These handicaps did not prevent God from using him to shake two continents for Jesus! He said as he was approached about his life in Christ: “It is yet to see what God can do with the person fully yielded to do his bidding and will, and I chose to be that man.”
“R. A. Torrey who in the turn of the century pastored and preached in revival campaigns and known for his effectiveness as a “Soul Winner Revivalist.” I have here a book that he wrote. I do my best to translate to you as he writes in page 95 of his book: “The Power of Prayer, and the Prayer of Power.” “To sum all we have said: the ones who can pray so that God will hear their prayers, and give them whatever they ask, are those who study the Word of God every day of their lives to find out what the will of God is, and do it every time they find it, and who further than that, make it their study to get thoroughly acquainted with God, so that they know instinctively what will please God and what will displease God, and in every action of their lives seek to do the thing that pleases God, whether it please men or not, and not to do the thing that displeases God, no matter who else may do it. Oh! That we all might enter into the wonderful place of privilege described in our text: “Whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.”
“Rev. Gene Horton, remarkable. He is an example of the believers. Bro. Gene Horton is a man consumed with the person of Jesus Christ. “Full of Jesus.” He would go to great lengths to prepare and study the Word of God. He loves to study the Bible. His message every Sunday morning would be full of God’s Word. Bro. Gene Horton would also spend long hour’s daily in solitude with the ministry of intercession. Bro. Gene Horton when hidden away in prayer would be found always with two items, His Bible and his Prayer List. You say: “Prayer List”? That is right Bro. Gene Horton has a Prayer List. It looked to me like a large scroll of paper all bound together with names distinctly typed and written in an order he had literally subdued his spirit too. His love for his flock, for souls, revival, healing, power and anointing was and is all wrapped up in that bunched up scroll of papers he had, known as his Prayer List. I will say quite frankly, his consuming passion for Jesus, for prayers answered in fellowship with the Saviour would always manifest in his preaching, his invitations, his anointing, At the Prayer Alter souls would fall under the convicting power of God. I saw weekly dozens of water baptisms of new Christians, all with a story. Usually: “Bro. Gene visited me while I was in the hospital . . . Bro. Gene prayed with me . . . Bro. Gene was preaching and I heard the voice of God in his preaching . . . Bro. Gene led me in prayer and I asked Jesus in my heart.” My recollection when I attended his church was his Wednesday night prayer meetings. Always, I could remember with full attendance. His Sunday evening worship services would always be a time of revival and of course with water baptism’s. My memories of his Saturday night prayer meetings would give you a sense that “You had gone aside in the garden with Jesus to watch and pray.” Of all the times while talking with him I will never forget this one bit of advice he had given me as we were fellowshipping: He said: “The importance of being diligent as a Christian is the critical determining factor in what we can be and do for God.” His words have stuck in my spirit and by God’s grace his life and testimony has mentored me to go with God and chose to be all that I can be in Jesus!
One women and four men counting the cost for revival and we now come to the fifth man: Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Turn in your Bible to the book of Revelations chapter 22:7 here we find his discourse: “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” We conclude with this promise. Turn in your Bible to Luke 11:27-28 and we read: “And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.”
Lets rise to our feet and worship and pray and I will read in the last chapter of Revelations verse 14 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Halleluia! Our God and our Father in the name of Jesus we marvel at your greatness and embrace these promises. Give us the grace and favour to do, as the apostle John has so profoundly proclaimed in the book of Revelations to be full of Jesus doing his will. We claim our blessing on a daily basis to be on fire for Jesus as his servants on this earth. Go with us now as we leave here to be a blessing with the blessing of his presence in Jesus name.” Amen.
Hno. Roberto L. Choleva