As you know, my son is in Qatar, and he is working with the refugees, and he's kind of in charge of this airplane hanger full of about a thousand refugees, and it says job to distribute clothes and food as they come in. And it's been kind of chaos. He was really, his reports every time I talked to him were about riots and children rushing the the trucks and just kind of craziness and the frustration he was experiencing. But then I talked to him on Tuesday, and he was so much more relaxed. And he said, yeah, these are pretty good. And I said, what change? And he said, well, we got a new translator, and he's six foot three, and he's a legit bodybuilder. So evidently, he has this huge guy who works as been working with the military as a translator in Afghanistan. And he said, anytime people try to cut line, this guy would just come get in their face and send them back, and all of a sudden everybody started just behaving in a whole new way. He said, it was time to put out lunch, and they were keeping the food way away from the counter. And the translator looked at him and said, no, put the food up here where I can reach it. And we'll say, well, if we put it up there, they're going to rush to the tables, and they'll grab it. And he said, the guy pulled himself up to full height and pushed his chest out a little bit, and he said, they will not grab it. So that's what we'll need it. What we'll needed was somebody who was with him that was bigger and stronger than the people who were against him. I said, oh, let's say this, what do you need? What do you need? What do you need from God right now? We're going to spend this semester studying the Book of Revelation. And what the Book of Revelation is, it's God's gift to a church in times of trouble. It's God's gift to a church in tribulation. He talks to the Apostle John. John is the last living Apostle, a church that has watched every one of his church leaders die, be hunted down and killed, imprisoned, and now the last leader, John, the Apostle, the youngest of the disciples, is on a prison camp on the island of Patmos, working in the marble quarries, and he's going to be there until he dies. John is sad. John is worried. He doesn't know what's going to happen to the churches, and the churches are worried. They don't know what's going to happen to them. They're an assessed pool of Greek religion where every religion is just kind of absorbed into this huge soup. The mentality of most of the cities is Christian, yes, great. That's one more. They'll view a little temple, and you can worship your gods, along with our gods, and we're going to all just kind of have this big synchrotistic, super religion. On the other hand, you have the Roman government. That's just a steam roller. It's crushing everything in its path, and it's kind of forced everyone to worship the emperor and willing to kill anyone who won't. You've got gross immorality, all kinds of sexual immorality, greed, lying, just every possible kind of sin is rampant, and drunkenness and just overwhelming filth, false teachings. Everything's everywhere you turn. You have something stuck in your face. What do you need at a time like that? What do you need in a year when everything is falling apart? When everybody seems to be going a little bit crazy? What do you need when it's time for your children to leave and you realize you can't control them? What do you need when your marriage is falling apart? When your health is falling apart? What God thinks you need is a bigger, clearer, truer vision of Jesus, and that's what He gives us. Sorry, Revelation 1, actually all the way through the book of Revelation. We get vision after vision. God wants us to know who Jesus is. He wants us to know how big He is, how good He is, and how complete He is, and how competent He is to take care of His church even in times like these. Here's the word of the Lord from Revelation 1. I, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, right what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smurna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like white wool like snow, his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze or find it a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars from his mouth gave a sharp two-edged sword in his face local thumb shining in full strength. When I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying, fear not, I am the first in the last and the living one. I died and behold I am alive forever more. And I have the keys of death and hate these right. Therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those that are to take place after those as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand in the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches thus far the reading of God's Word. Amen. The apostle John sees Jesus. This is the apostle that Jesus loved. That's how he referred to himself. Remember in the book of John he's the one who laid on Jesus' breast at the last supper. He's the most intimate of the disciples and the youngest of the disciples makes sense that Jesus kind of had a tender place next to him taking care of him. We know his mom came to check on him a couple of times and he just loved Jesus. He was always right there next to him. He was so intimate with him. And yet when he sees Jesus on the island of Patmos he doesn't go running into his arms. He doesn't go snuggle up to him. He falls on his face as though dead. What is it that is in this vision? What is the God wants us to see? That's going to be our comfort in times of tribulation. Let's look at the text. The first thing he sees is what? He sees purity. He sees purity. White hair like snow, eyes of fire, the refining fire, feet of burnish bronze, everything about him is pure white. What is it about that? When we see true white we feel dirty. When we see true white we feel our own sin. We see true white, we see true purity, we feel how far short we fall. John Calvin said that we will often think of ourselves as righteous if we've never seen God. We think we think we're pretty good. We think we're holy. As if someone has never seen the color white assumes that his dendiness, his brownness is white because it's the brightest color he's ever seen. But when you see Jesus, when you see what true holiness, true love looks like you feel dirty. Many years ago there was a movie called Nell. Jody Foster played a part of this girl who was raised by her mom out in the woods and she had never met another human and she's kind of brought into society. And there's this interesting thing she's completely innocent and she wanders into a bar and the men in the bar start to recognize that she's just imitating whatever they do and they have a little fun with it for a minute. And then one of them wants to see how far it'll go. It's like pulls his shirt off and now it just pulls her dress off and it stares at it. And the fascinating thing is in her complete innocence as she just looks at this man instead of making fun of her or mocking her he begins to feel shame. He feels his guilt and he covers back up and then he dresses her. That's the kind of feeling that John has here. He sees this purity to make some feel is dirt. It's like the words of Isaiah when he sees God on the throne, woes me. I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips. He feels his scent. The second thing he sees is strength. You see strength. The voice of the voice like many waters. John is out on an island hearing the crashing of the waves, the deafening noise of the waves. He says the voice is like that when you're on the beach and you can't hear anything else because this wave is rush of water is drowning everything else out. His face is like the shining of the sun at full strength. You know what that's like, right? You can't look at that. You can't even throw your eyes toward the sun for even a few seconds. His face is so strong. His radiance is so strong. You can't even look at it. That's how much stronger he is. His hand is holding up to seven stars. The number seven is going to see a lot in revelation. His perfection of completion. Everything is there. He's holding it up. This right hand signifies that he makes that clear. His right hand is holding seven stars. He sees strength is so great that it makes you feel weak. He sees strength is so great that it makes you feel like you have watery legs like you can't even stand in the presence of it. It's like going to the Grand Canyon and looking over the edge and you begin to get weak. You're like, oh, here I am. Deaf is two feet away. There's nothing I could do if I step off that ledge. You feel your own mortality, feel your own weakness. It's beginning to see a little bit of what it means to fear the Lord. When I was a little boy, I would always ask my mom, why does the Bible say we should fear the Lord? And bless my mom's heart. She never went to seminary, got any formal training. But I think every time she gave me an answer, she was always right. And she said, fear in the Lord doesn't mean fear in what he's going to do to you. Fear in the Lord means fearing what he could do to you if he wanted to. And that's dead on. It's who he is. If you were not on our side, we would have we would live in terror. He is the great and all powerful. And that's a beautiful thing. And it's a scary thing. That's a scary thing. John trembles that got Jesus' purity and had a strength. And then his judgment. His judgment. He sees a sword coming out of his mouth. One word from this sage or one word from this vision would cut you to the core. Like the words of the Apostle Peter and Acts chapter two, all who heard it said they were cut to the heart. His words would be caught. You would know you have no recourse, no way of getting all any kind of. Any kind of combination that comes from him, any word that comes from him, you have no excuse. You're just caught. You're not feeling of being caught. That pitted your stomach, dropping fearing of being caught. One time I was back in when I was back in Delta State, that's campus minister. They had a golf course that was free to the staff. I used to play a lot. And and that golf course is funny. They got a $50,000 grant. And in a move of really brilliant marketing, instead of spending $50,000 all over the course, they poured every penny of it into one green. And they made this, it's a green. It comes right up to the road. It's just on the other side of the fence from the street. And a lot of traffic goes up and down that road and they made it beautiful. So when you drove by, you'd be like, oh, that's a beautiful golf course. I'm going to go play that. And so, you know, it had traps and it was elevated. It was a gorgeous black green. It was the best hole in the course. And one morning I was out playing it. I was the only one out that early. And I hit a perfect drive, which is very rare for me. So I was about 80 yards away from the green. I pulled out my sandwich and I hit, I took a full swing. And I got up under the ball and I lifted it high up in the air. And it came down the green. I had tons of backs been on it. It came down the green about three feet past the hole. And it rolled backwards right at next to the hole. That's what it did in my mind. What it actually did was I did something called glating the ball, glating the balls. When you don't get the edge of the golf club up under the ball, you hit it right in the middle of the ball. And instead of going way up in the air, it goes about two feet in the air. And it takes off like a skull and a hand that just takes off like a missile. And the ball took off and it was went over the fairway just without even thinking about touching the ground. And it went over the green didn't touch a thing on the green. And there's these trees back behind the green. And I was like, well, maybe it'll hit a tree and bounce back. Nope, right between the trees. And there's a beautiful fence with with brick pillars and raw iron. I was like, well, hopefully it'll hit the fence. Nope, right through the fence. And there was a car, a suburban, a Chevy server driving down the street. And it was straight into the suburban. And I was standing on the fairway all by myself out in the wide open. The only person in the golf course just standing there caught the stock. There was nobody to blame it on. It was a 30 year old man looking for mommy wanting to hide. I just stuck. Do you know that feeling of this? It was obviously me. I did it. That's what John feels here. He sees that a sort of judgment coming out of Jesus's mouth. He's caught. He's overwhelmed by the purity of Jesus, the strength of Jesus, the judgment of Jesus, and finally the permanence of Jesus. He looks at his feet and their feet of bronze. Now, this is going to make sense to you if you'll look back and Daniel ever and you'll see this vision he has of all the kingdoms of men. And they're represented by these precious metals and this one huge idol and all the different kingdoms, the Roman kingdom and the Persian kingdom and the Babylonian kingdom and the Grecian kingdom. And then he gets it easy to describe this idol. He says they have feet of clay. They're not permanent. It doesn't matter how beautiful they are, how glorious they are in their time. They're feeder of clay, they're going to break, they're going to fall. But not Jesus. Jesus has feet of bronze. He's here to stay. He's here to rule forever and ever and everything that is in his way will either worship him or be trampled by him. And when John sees this, all these things together, this purity, this strength, this judgment, this permanence. He falls down at the feet of Jesus as though dead. He has the fear of the Lord. Before going further, let me ask you. Have you seen that? You never felt that. One person said the only idea that's scarier to me than the idea that we are alone in the universe is the idea that we're not. The idea that we're being seen. The idea that there's something out there so great that we all came from him. It's terrifying. Have you ever had that fear? Well, what does Jesus do? How does he go from fear to comfort? Oh, this is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. Look, I want you to see one of the things that John was scared of. He was scared of the right hand of Jesus, right? It had all the stars in it, all this power. What does Jesus use that power to do? He puts it on John's shoulder. He uses it to comfort him. He straightens him up. He uses that power to stand with you. How beautiful is that? To know that all that strength is there for you. And on your side. And then we see the other thing he feared. He heard that terrifying sword coming out of Jesus's mouth. Well, what words does Jesus speak? He says, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Don't fear. How beautiful is that? Is that the word you need to hear this morning? Is that what you need to hear? Don't be afraid. How many times does Jesus say that? Sometimes we go back through the gospels. And just look at all the times Jesus says that. Don't be afraid. A man is brought before him to be healed. And he's lowered and firm. And he says, don't be afraid. He takes his disciples up on the mountain. And they're overwhelmed with a cloud. And the glory of God, the thunderous voice of God crying out, this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. And they fall down. They're terrified. And the next thing they see, and what does the voice say? It says listen to him. I love this. The voice is listening to him. And the next thing they see, they open their eyes and they see Jesus. And what were the first words out of Jesus's mouth? Don't be afraid. You know, amazing. God's voice. Listen to him. Where does his voice say? Don't be afraid. The disciples have terrified of a storm on the sea. And Jesus gets up and says, don't be afraid. The disciples are locked in the upper room after the crucifixion of Jesus. And he appears in their midst. And the only thing worse than, the only thing more scary than him being crucified would be him, reappearant. And he just appears out of nowhere in their midst. And the first words out of his mouth, don't be afraid. Is that what you need to hear today? Are you afraid for your family? Are you afraid for your job? Are you afraid for your kids? Are you afraid for your married? Are you afraid for the future? You need Jesus to tell you, don't be afraid. Why not? Why shouldn't we be afraid, Jesus? Because I have died. And I am alive again. And I have the keys of death and of Hades. I am alive. I have died. I have died for you. There is nothing. You had no judgment for you to fear because I have paid the penalty for your judgment. You don't have to fear that sword coming out of my mouth. I have died for you. I have paid your fine. It has been nailed to the cross according to Colossians 2. You have nothing to fear. And I am alive. Death itself holds nothing over you. I have the keys to death. I can let you out of it. I have opened the door. There is nothing more but passing from one place to another. There is nothing more frightening than going through a door for you now. Don't be afraid of the keys of death and of Hades. I have died and I am alive forever. And I am with you. Don't be afraid. I have brought life from the dead. I am the resurrection of the life. He who believes in me will never die. Don't be afraid. Just believe. And what is the message? What is the message? Where is Jesus? What is the location? The message we take from here, I want you to see. We learn it from where Jesus is and where we are. First, where did John see Jesus? He saw Jesus in the midst of seven golden lamb stands. What are the Lamb stands? They are the churches. Again, the number of completion. The church of God. All over the world all through the history. Where is Jesus? He is right in the midst of the church. He is right here. He is not somewhere far off. We don't have to beg and become a visit. We don't have to beg him to show up. All we need is for Jesus to show up. And I never had the courage to. But I always wanted to respond and say, He is right here with us. He is in the midst of the lamb stands. He is not a long way off. He is right here. Are you feeling? Do you have the faith to see Him? Jesus is right in our midst. And where are we? Where are we? This is the mystery of the seven stars. Are the messengers of the seven churches. That's you and me. That's us. Where are we? We are in His hand. What does that mean? That means nothing touches us. Nothing. Not sickness. Not joblessness. Not pain. Not rejection. Not sorrow. Not heartbreak. Nothing touches us. That doesn't pass through His hands first. Do you know that? Do you believe that? He is mighty. He is able to hold us. He does hold us. You are in His hand. What does that mean for you? For some of you it means you need to stop running away. You are not going to get away. You are in His hand. He is not going to let you jump out. Now the harder you try to get away it might be the harder He has to squeeze you. You don't want that. You need to rest in His hand. Some of you, you live your life as though everything is in your hands. And you fear. And you are so afraid. And you live like you are on some kind of tightrope. And you are going to fall into everlasting misery. You are going to say it. Rest in that. It is funny having children who are adults. The same thing is true of children who are adults. The children who are young. But you just feel it more. And every now and then Bianca will say, what do you think about this son's decision? What do you think about what this son is doing? And you know, just be honest with it or not. But I know one thing for sure. I can't control it. I can't control it. And the belief that I can is going to drive me crazy. I can't drive him crazy. I can't let him be in Jesus' hands. I don't know what is going to happen. In the future you don't either. I know it's in Jesus' hands. I know I am in Jesus' hands. And I can rest in that. And I hope that you can too. Rest in that. He's very healthy.