Tag: Revelation

Because you… I Will… I Am Coming Soon

May 24th, 2022

Revelation 7:10-11 BECAUSE YOU have kept my command to endure, I Will also keep you from the hour of testing… I AM COMING SOON. Hold on to what you have so that no one takes your crown

In the letters to the churches in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, he always begins with a name that states his right to speak, then an assessment, a conclusion of challenge, and an expectation, “let anyone who has ears listen”. To the church of brotherly love, Philadelphia, beginning in v7 he identifies himself as The Holy One, the True one, the One who has the Key of David (Authority) to open and close doors definitively, decisively, then, I place before you an open door that no one can close…

He says in v8, you have little power… YET… Oh I love the conjunctions of God. Yet. Listen, don’t pray for tasks that equal your power, but for power equal to the tasks, because, you have little power. YET, remember Paul said that God chooses the weak to confound the strong… So, when he says you have little power, it isn’t a “diss” but it’s not a call to get stronger, but it’s just a statement of reality, that God has opened a door of opportunity that we cannot open.

Why? v8, You have kept my word, you have not denied my name… We often close our doors of opportunity because we won’t stay the course, and stay with The True One. When we do not stay with him, we become liars and make him appear to be a liar. He is calling, Keep my word… keep to my name… Our Relationship is important. V9 those who claim a relationship, but don’t have it are in fact satan worshippers.

Yet, in the midst of a lying generation – lying about the authority of God, lying about the nature of God, lying about the coming of God… We have held to his word. That is, our actions as obedient followers are true to his name and his word. In our expectation, believing that he is coming, in our surrender, knowing he is God, Good, and Gracious, we have NOT denied him, but instead freely confessed him. So…

Because… there ARE Conditional Promises – Except a man be born again… no one comes to the Father BUT BY ME… So because, in spite of little strength, we have kept to his word, name, commands, it is not saying we are perfect, or even “good”. But notice the command was to endure – hypomone = a remaining behind, a patient enduring, steadfast, perseverance. Oh, I like that picture, remaining behind, enduring. He doesn’t say “keep up with me”, he says “keep coming AFTER / BEHIND me.” Keep coming child of God. I can’t always “keep up”, but I can get up and Keep Coming.

Because you have kept (guarded, watched – tereo) …I will ALSO KEEP… Oh we could talk about what we THINK this means, and there is a time and a place for that eschatological discussion, but for NOW… know this, God always KEEPS MORE for us, gives more TO us, than he asks from us. And so here he says I will ALSO KEEP you from the hour of testing. Oh, I certainly have what I believe this means in the short term of a 7-year period… but ultimately those who endure, who keep going, will find that what we have endured is nothing in comparison to what he has kept us FROM because we obeyed him. What we have endured is nothing compared to the joy set before us, what he has prepared for us… and then just know this…

I Am Coming Soon

The world is hard, just like he said it would be in John 16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world, but Be Courageous! I have conquered the world. Jesus is not GOING TO Win, he has ALREADY WON, he just hasn’t come to complete the transaction yet.

So, Hold On to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. Oh they can’t steal your salvation, they can’t steal what’s in my heart, but they may try to steal my hat. They might take my opportunity to be a pillar in the Temple of God, my place of honor and recognition. What do you have? Faith, Courage, Strength in Suffering, and a stephanos – Crown of victory, medal of valor if you will. But I am mindful of Hebrews 10:37-39 – we are not of those who shrink back…

Jesus is Coming Soon – “coming “- erchomai = to arrive, to be center stage, – “Soon” = quick, swift, faster. Certainly, he is coming sooner than yesterday, but when he comes, it will be swift, quick, fast so

Be Ready

Be Faithful

Be Obedient

Be Persistent

Be Expectant

Be Encouraged

He is Coming, and he has more for you, than you have given him, so much more than we could ever imagine.
“Let’s Go to Judea Again”- John 11:7

March 30th, 2022

John 11 is famous for the death and resurrection of one of Jesus’ close friends, Lazarus. Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick and dying. But Jesus, in his Omniscience, knows that Lazarus is already dead. He says “this sickness will not end in death, but is for the glory of God”.

The last time they had been in Judea, they had attempted to stone him to death in John 10. So, when Jesus says, “Let’s go to Judea again”, the disciples aren’t keen on the idea. “uh, Teacher, they tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?” I like that “you’re”, meaning, “we’re”.

Has God ever called you to go back to a place where things were hard the last time? Have you been asked to revisit a place where you were attacked before?

I once got invited to come back to a church shortly after being at a camp with them where a person got angry with me over a minor sporting event and things got out of control. “Well Lord, ok”. Then when I got there, the issue hadn’t blown over. While I was speaking the Lord told me to do something. He told me to give my check to that person. You should know at this moment, coming out of a natural break in my schedule as an evangelist, I hadn’t worked in 6 weeks. This was my first check in 6 weeks. Ultimately, I did what God told me to do. The person didn’t want it, but I gave it anyway, publicly, and told them God told me to, and just to pray and ask God what to do with it. Then I had to go home and explain to my wife what I had just done, which of course she said, “maybe he needed it.”

Well the disciples said, “Jesus is this a good idea?” And Jesus response is a bit cryptic at first, v9 “aren’t there twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the LIGHT OF THE WORLD” (emphasis mine). Later he explains, “Lazarus is dead… let’s go to him” and Thomas replies, “let’s go too so that we may DIE WITH HIM”. Not sure if he was expecting to die with Lazarus or with JESUS. But “let’s go”.

What does it mean to “walk in the day”. I don’t think it means from 06:00 to 18:00. It means to walk in the “light of the world” the “light of God”.

1 John 1:7 says, “if we walk in the light we have fellowship… the blood of Jesus cleanses”

Isaiah 2:5 says “come let us walk in the Lord’s light”

Psalm 56:13 “you rescued me to walk before God in the Light”

Psalm 89:15 “happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord they walk in the light of your face” – what is the joyful shout? “Jesus Saves”

Isaiah 9:2 “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light“

John 8:12 “I Am the light of the World”

are you with me? Jesus IS the Light. He doesn’t just contain light, give light, he IS Light. If we walk in HIS revelation, we can trust where we are going. But often he doesn’t “shine” light on everything, just the area he wants obedience, “Let’s go to Judea”. That was the only light he was giving them at first. He didn’t tell them the whole situation, or what he was going to do. Yes, an Amazing thing was going to happen. Perhaps the greatest act, before the Cross and Resurrection, was Jesus raising Lazarus. They were going to see the high point. And yet that High Point was also going to bring about renewed effort to KILL him, which was a LOW point for Him and a HIGH Point for all of us who would receive.

They had no idea what he was going to do, what would happen, maybe they will kill us… but if “failure” is the result of OBEDIENCE, then it is never failure, it is following in faithful obedience, and he will say “well done.”

That Wednesday night, I gave some money to a student, and went home with the satisfaction of obedience, and didn’t give it a second thought. Flash Forward 4 years. I was speaking at a Youth Camp. One Evening outside, I heard a voice say, “Pastor Jim can I talk to you.” The person was shadowed in the night. I came over, and stepped into the light and saw the face of that young man from 4 years before. He looked at me and said “I don’t know if you know who I am…” I said, “Yes I know who you are.” And then he said, “The last 4 years have been for this moment… You were right, I was wrong, I’m sorry, but you should know that God has called me into the ministry and I’m in school studying to be a youth minister.”

Yes Lord, where you go, I’ll go

“Let’s go too, so that we may die with him.”
Jacob took a stone

November 15th, 2021

I was reading again this morning a favorite encounter with God in Genesis 28

Jacob came from that wonderfully dysfunctional family in Abraham’s line. They certainly put the fun in dysfunction didn’t they? Well they aren’t so much different than we are, are they? Jacob had tried to arrange his future, even though God had already declared that he would be the lead, even before he was born, but he tried to “work it out” for himself. Hmm, I wonder where he learned that from? (Abram). But after he stole his brother’s birthright, Isaac sent him to find a wife among his family relatives in Paddan-aram. Along the way to Haran, he stopped to spend the night. Genesis 28:11 says he took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

On my desk, I have a little collection of stones. They are from different places where I have been, reminding me of things I have done places I have gone. There is a piece of coral I got with my wife in Tulum, Mexico, there is a stone from the place where Paul met Lydia, outside of Philippi, there is a piece of volcanic rock from a hike with my wife in Guatemala to the top of an active volcano, there is a little piece of tile from near the Inn where the Samaritan brought the man injured by thieves, and several others, even a piece of salt rock from the Dead Sea. They remind me of things that have happened in life. When our sons were little we collected a rock from ever state we’d been to, every significant place, and we would carry them home and place them in the rock garden in front of our house.

Well this stone, was just a place to lay his head. And yet v12 says and he dreamed…

Oh my my my, do you take time to dream? You should dream, we should dream more. We should imagine the things that God can do because of what Ephesians 3:20-21 reminds us. Paul said, “now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us – 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.(CSB)

We need to dream more, we need to imagine what God CAN do because he CAN do MORE than we can ask or think, dream or imagine, exceedingly abundantly, immeasurably more than … so we need to dream.

But THIS dream was more than just thinking, or imagining, but God was at work revealing himself to Jacob. Jacob needed to begin to understand who God was, and what he could do. And he saw, in his dream, a stairway from the earth reaching to heaven. And there were angels of God, that is messengers of God, and they were coming down and they were going up. Messengers of God and Messages of God, come FROM God, do his work, and Isaiah 55:10-11 tell us that things from God, do what GOD plans, and then they return to God. God is both the source and the destination. The messengers and messages of God are also for God’s intentions, that passage in Isaiah says that God’s word DOES what God INTENDS, what he purposes, what pleases him.

And seeing this amazing scene, v13 says, there above it stood the Lord (NIV) or The Lord was standing there beside him. Oh wow things are more than they seem. This is a Christophany, a Theophany. This is an appearance of God, God the Son, because John tells us John 1:18 no one has seen God (the Father). So if we see “God” in the Old Testament, it’s Jesus. So there is this beautiful revelation of the working of God, but it’s NOT about the working, it’s about The LORD! And his message for Jacob is, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for you I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.

Wow, if you look back Isaac had sent Jacob to find a wife and told him he would receive “the Promise of Abraham.” And now, here is the LORD himself confirming that this promise is an eternal promise to the offspring of Abraham through Jacob.

And Jacob Woke up

Oh we should dream, but we have to wake up and come back to the world in which we live. And Jacob woke up and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it… What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God… the gate of heaven.

Oh folks. Do you realize the door to heaven, is right beside you? The place where you are IS the House of the LORD. That’s not just a church thing, it’s a world thing. What makes it so? The recognized presence of God. We need to recognize that God is right here. Jesus said, My father is always at work, and I too am working. When we walk into work, walk the streets of our neighborhood, we need to recognize that God is HERE, and he is Working, this is the house of the Lord, the Gate of Heaven, this is a HOLY PLACE. Our question needs to be, not, “is God working”? But, “Lord, what are you doing here, and how can I join you?”

Let’s get with God and ask him to open our eyes to see what he is doing. Ask him what he is saying about you, and what he is inviting, and then commit to join the messengers of God, coming and going From God, To GOD, FOR GOD.

And when God speaks, and when we join, and when God moves, REMEMBER. V18 Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named the place Bethel (House of the Lord)

Make note of the revealed presence of God in your life. Make a memory.

Then REMEMBER what God says, and speak it back as Truth – v20 If God will be with me and watch over me… That’s exactly what God had just promised to do… if he provides… if I return safely… then the Lord will be my God.

Oh we don’t have to make God prove himself, but when God gives us a promise, and we abide by the promise, and God does what he says, we need to be READY TO GO and to DO, according to his Word.

V22 this stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me

Hear, Commit, Obey, and Give – Surely the Lord is in this place, and it is AWESOME!
Did I Not Tell You

August 29th, 2016

John 11:30 “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

“If you believed” certainly Jesus is talking about faith, the word Pisteuo means to believe to be true, to be convinced. But I don’t believe that it is simple faith, or even committed faith. That is not the key to getting a God to whatever you want. Faith is based on many factors, not the least of which is the plan, purpose, and character of God. You can believe all you want, but if God is not purposed to do it, if it isn’t in his nature, he isn’t going to do it. You believe all you want but it isn’t going to happen.

Then also, faith has to be combined with action. If I believe God for rain, then I better bring an umbrella. If I am a farmer and I am believing God is sending rain, then I need to get busy planting. What good is the rain if you aren’t going to plant?

So Jesus says in v15 that the purpose behind the death of Lazarus was “so that you may believe”. In this tragedy God was at work.

So then Martha is with Jesus questioning him about the death and Jesus says “your brother will rise again”v23 then that he is the Resurrection and life. And then he asks “Do you believe this?” And Martha has an interesting answer. She says “yes Lord, I believe you are the Christ …” And I sort of hear Jesus saying “that’s not what I asked you. I asked you if you thought I could change your circumstance.”

So through the mourning and the questioning, he ends up at the tomb, with Mary and Martha and he says “take away the stone” … ” But Lord … There is a bad odor … It has been four days.”

Can I ask you, what has God told you to do? Did you do it, or did you have a list for God about why you couldn’t, or shouldn’t, why it wouldn’t work? I seem to remember a God saying “who has counciled me? Who was there when I laid out the Heavens?” It is sort of like giving Steph Curry tips on shooting a basketball or a lesson on physics to Einstein. I heard that once the King told Mozart that his music “had. Too many notes.” To which Mozart replied “how many notes is the right amount?”

Jesus says “roll the stone away” and she says “but Lord” … And so then v40 “Did I not tell you …” Listen, faith is not blind trust. It is about accepting and acting on Divine Revelation. God reveals, he instructs, and that revelation is an invitation. The equation is this

Revelation = Invitation to join him

Invitation = Expectation to respond in faith

Expectation = Provision by God of what we need

Provision = Subtraction of Excuses

Jesus didn’t ask Mary or Martha to raise Lazarus, he just asked them to believe him enough to show up and watch him work. We often miss the glory of God, not because it isn’t there, or isn’t available, but because we don’t believe and show up.

v41 “So they too the stone away”. They did the one thing he asked, an act of faith in action, obedience. And then I love the next two words, “Then Jesus” …

“Then Jesus” … MAN THAT’S THE STUFF RIGHT THERE!!

If I will believe God and show up, and act in faith, then a Jesus will take care of the “Jesus stuff”. He is the miracle worker. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. Ephesians 1:19-20 says “his incomparably great power (is) for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead …”

His is the Power

His is the Glory

We simply must listen, believe, and show up acting in obedience … Jesus will take care of the God stuff

Hallelujah Thine the glory

Hallelujah Amen

Hallelujah Thine the glory

Revive us again (W.P. Mackay-1863)
God is Revealing What are you Doing?

April 19th, 2016

So God is here, God is At work … God is always here, Always at work. I guess the question is, will he choose to reveal himself to us, and if he does, what will we do with the revelation?

God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3 as The Angel of The Lord … pre-incarnate Jesus … through this bush on fire, but not being consumed
v2 – though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up
v3 – Moses SAW – are we paying attention?
v3 – Moses THOUGHT – I will go over and see …
v4 – He had gone – Action

How many times have we noticed God at work or wondered if God might be at work. We see something and we are considering, “is this God, should I check it out”. “I really should check that out … TOMORROW”. And tomorrow never comes. A friend of mine used to say “I’ll do that on the 12th … the 12th of never.” Well it’s “1/2 past never” and “1/4 till when”. Are we going to see what God is doing and investigate how, when, we can be involved.

Notice, it wasn’t until Moses came over to investigate that God spoke. If his revelation doesn’t have our interest then why would he bother to speak?
So Moses investigates … God speaks “Moses! Moses!”
Moses answers … I know that’s a simple thing, but sometimes God speaks and we RUN or we pretend we don’t hear, but Moses answers.
Moses responds “HERE I am.”
Not to overplay the simple … but this statement of being I think was deep
HERE I am –> In Exile
HERE –> seeking to know what you are doing
HERE –> in confusion about who I am or what I am
HERE –> near to you, far from home
HERE I am

And God says
v5 “Don’t come closer … take off your sandals”
Such a humbling thing here. I personally can relate to this because I am a “shoe wearing guy.” Taking off my shoes is a humbling thing.
We need to see that before Moses could draw near there had to be humility. Humility and Brokenness come before Intimacy. I know that Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and grace. But that confidence is based on the completed work of Christ at the Cross.
But approaching the Work and Revelation of God is a bit different. When God reveals himself, that he is at work, he is inviting us to JOIN him. So, we have to be careful, because we often storm into his presence with our plans and big ideas. Or maybe that is just me. I know I am guilty. I am an idea guy. I get a sense of God’s move and my mind races and I come racing into God’s Throne room with a plan for him. Instead we need to humble ourselves, take off our running shoes, and recognize that God is not wanting to do something, but hoping that I will come up with a plan. God is not hoping that I have an idea so he can bless it or better yet so he can DO it for me. Be certain that God HAS a plan. So we need to humble ourselves and say “speak Lord, your servant is listening.” If you have ideas, ask God, “is this your plan or mine?” Then SCRAP YOUR PLANS and embrace his.
Pray: “God reveal yourself to me”
v6 God says “I am the God of your father … of Abraham … Isaac … Jacob …
i.e. I have been here, I have been working, I can and will continue.
Then God begins to reveal his plan vv7-10
v7 I have seen … I have heard … I am concerned …
It had been 400 years but God wasn’t oblivious, he wasn’t lazy, 400 years is a snap of a finger to him, he had a plan
v8 I have come down to rescue … bring them out
v9 the cry has reached me … I have seen
v10 So, Now Go, I am sending you …

So, then back to the Revelation of God in the Bush. It burned but was not consumed, because God was IN it. God did not need the Bush for fuel, but it was simply a container as he displayed his revelation. God does not NEED us, or our abilities, but if we surrender he uses us.
Moses was worried about his ability … but he needed to look the Bush. Moses goes on to give lots of excuses, and statements of inability, but Look at the Bush. The same God who does that can use me. God didn’t need his ability, but his availability.
As you enter the realm of God’s work this week …
See — God is at work, pay attention to what he is revealing, what he is doing
Think — God wants me to come over there
Draw Near in Humility — take off your running shoes
Listen for HIS Plans — Scrap Yours
Join him and Watch in Wonder at what he does through you.
Pleased to Reveal … So That …

October 14th, 2014

Galatians 1:15-16 (NIV84) When God … was pleased to reveal his Son so that I might preach

Oh how mysterious, marvelous, merciful, manifest, and majestic is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we were going to create a religious, it would have been altogether different that the Gospel of Jesus. Look at all of the man made religous. They are either weird, lenient, or legalistic. But the gospel of Jesus is rigid, as is all truth, and yet it is free. If you can understand it, then you don’t understand it. So many theologians want to make the gospel cut and dry, but then it loses its marvelous nature. Two of the great mysteries of the gospel are seemingly contradictory. They Bible declares that God has known and called his own since before time began. God has predestined his people to be formed in the image of Christ. And yet we cannot get around the needed faith action of mankind individually called to respond to the wooing of God and say “yes Lord, I believe, I receive.” Jesus died for all mankind, and yet this is not experienced unless it is received. The gospel is a mystery. So, Paul is preaching to the Church in Galatia who is being assaulted by some who would take the gospel of Jesus and pervert it into something that man made up. This non-gospel they were preaching was not good news, it was full of legalism.

So here in Galatians 1:12 he says the gospel I preached is not something man made up” v13 says I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ

Wherever the gospel is preached faithfully, the revelation that comes is from Jesus Christ himself

v15 but when God, who set me apart from birth, and called me by his grace, was pleased

eudokeo = well pleased, consented, enjoy

Every time I preach, I do my best to be faithful to preach what God would have me, but I cannot move their soul. I cannot change their heart. So, I preach faithfully and I pray that God move on a heart, woo them, and they combine it with faith. It is not only that he decides to do it, but he knows the right time, the right place. But not only is it the time he is pleased with, but also it pleases him, it makes him smile. So Paul says when God smiled and revealed himself, v16 to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him …

Paul understood that he was part of something bigger, something outside of himself. God revealed Christ TO him … SO THAT He could reveal Christ IN him.

Oh folks listen, we are here SO THAT Christ IN us may be revealed THROUGH us to a world in need. In every circumstance, in the simplest things … SO THAT

Planning an event, wiping a nose, sharing your faith SO THAT

Listening to a child quote a verse, struggling with an unruly 3rd grader, SO THAT

Extra work, patient with personalities, balancing an account, SO THAT

Misunderstood, smiling through it all, SO THAT

This was the life of the apostles, insulted, and persecuted, lied about, but still rejoicing, SO THAT

That was Paul, in prison, hungry, thirsty, shipwrecked, SO THAT

The martyrs of history, burned at the stake, drowned, in prison, boiled alive in oil, killed by villagers, rejected by governments, SO THAT

That was Jesus, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, familiar with our sufferings, not esteemed, taking our infirmities, carrying our sorrows, smitten and afflicted, pierced, crushed, punished, SO THAT

So That we might be forgiven, at peace, righteous, pure, holy, blameless, without spot or wrinkle

Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest) of these verses says “If Jesus is to regenerate me, what is he up against? I have a heredity I had no say in; I am NOT holy nor likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me I must be holy, his teaching plants despair. But if Jesus is a regenerator, one who can put into me his own heredity of holiness, then I begin to see what he is driving at when he says that I have to be holy”

He puts it IN Me

Again Chambers says “The moral transaction on my part is agreement with God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Jesus Christ”

Oh The Mystery and Majesty of the Gospel
Alone With God … What Do you Do?

January 13th, 2014

What do you do when you are alone with God?

Mark 4:10 says “When he was alone, the twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables”

What do YOU do when you are alone with God? The first assumption is that we GET ALONE with God. Alone time with God must be part of my daily routine. Psalm 62:1 says “My soul finds rest in God alone.” Now, I know this is not correct exegesis … and I don’t believe in misusing text, but if we move the words around there is a truth there too … “Alone with God, my soul finds rest.” There is great truth there. So, from the habit of time alone with God, what will I do? What will i make of the great privilege I have to be alone with God?

Certainly rest is a good thing when we are alone with God, rest in him. Be still and know him as God. In stillness we find rest.

What else comes in our alone time with God? Repentance is always appropriate when we are alone with God. Isaiah saw The Lord, alone with him, in a time of great loss in Isaiah 6. He saw the Lord, in charge, expansive, awesome, and Holy. Then he saw himself as he was, a man of unclean lips living among people with the same problems.

Alone with God, then Isaiah was cleansed and forgiven as an angel took coals from the fire and cleansed him.

Then alone with God, he heard the call of God, “who will I send, who will go for us?” Isaiah’s response? “Choose me Lord.” Alone with God, we have a chance to hear his heart, see his view and passion for the world and then we will want to join him.

So, here in Mark 4, Jesus had just told the parable of the Sower and the Seed. When they got alone with him, they asked for revelation . Jesus was speaking in parables and while his message may have been clear, it was somewhat hidden from those who didn’t care to know more. I believe that is still true. There is still a mystery and a hidden quality to the proclamation of “thus saith the Lord.” When God’s messenger delivers God’s message to me, I still need to come before the Lord, alone, and ask him, “Lord what was in there for me?” “Lord what is the meaning and the application?”

Jesus told them basically that the secrets of the Kingdom are for those who desire to enter and live in the the Kingdom, those who desire to live according to the Kingdom. But to those who choose to stay on the outside, in disbelief and disobedience, it is just stories.

Mark 4:11 NIV84 “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables”

So, some of the greatest truth and revelation comes when I take the God given message and go before the Lord and say “Jesus, what is this?” “Holy Spirit, reveal truth to me.” Remember that Jesus said that the work of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into all truth” to “remind us of everything he has said” to take from Jesus and “Make known to you”.

So, it must be our habit, when we hear a message to take notes, or otherwise preserve the message and then go before the Lord and say “teach me, reveal to me” and then let the Holy Spirit do his job and reveal truth and application to our lives. Then enter in to the truth. Live as Kingdom citizens, eager to obey, longing to adjust to His truth, His ways, and then the words of the message are not just stories but Life and Truth.

What will you do when you are alone with God? Will you bring words of a message in and let God speak to you? Don’t go in empty handed.