Confidence in Troubled Times

Write This Down: The Instructions of Revelation 1  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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CIT: Because the time for the events described in this book are approaching, the way people can remain happy and blessed are to be readers, listeners, and followers of what is in this book THESIS: Every person can live with confidence as the last days approach by taking the following steps: 1) Become Readers; 2) Become Listeners; 3) Become Doers

Notes
Transcript
Perhaps an understatement:
These are troubling times
We have experienced all sorts of bad news in the past year
Today, we are going to look at something happy

Write This Down

Revelation 1:3

Revelation 1:3 NKJV
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
“Blessed”
“Happy”
Important to understand something about being “happy”
Dependent upon outside conditions
Happy comes and goes
Yet this “happy”
“Blessed”
Is a “happy” that can remain
It can withstand even the worst of news
It can instill in you a confidence
That you won’t find anywhere else in life

Confidence in Troubled Times

Occurs when we do the following:

1. Become Readers

“Blessed is he who reads...
“the words of this prophecy”
Reads
present active participle
anaginõskõ [ἀναγινώσκω]
“the one reading”
Readers are learners
When I learn more about the Person, the Work, and the Ways of the Risen Christ
The more I love Him
The more I want to obey Him
The more He reveals of Himself to me
The more I learn of Him
Starting point:
Read

2. Become Listeners

“those who hear”
“the words of this prophecy”
those who hear
present active participle
akouõ [ἀκούω]
“the one hearing”
Perhaps the primary reason for us becoming cold and distant from Christ
Is that we are distracted
We have so many other things competing for our attention
According to various studies, the attention span of the average American is now down from 12 seconds in 2000 to around 8 seconds in 2015
Goldfish has a 9-second attention span
So enormous is this onslaught of “information” demanding our attention
Even in the time that you have been listening to this message
What else is competing for your attention?
So these now have become Satan’s weapons of choice
Weapons of Mass Distraction
How?
Do a time audit
Go research how much time you spend on your screen each day
How frequently you pick up your phone to look at it
Turn off notifications
May need to turn them all off
May need to focus on those most vital
phone calls, text messages, emails
limit notifications to those most “vital”
might be family, boss, etc
Plan the times you will look at your phone
This way, you control your phone
it works for you
Instead of the other way around
Important to keep in mind
We say “no” to certain things
In order to be able to say “yes” to the things that are truly vital and important

3. Become Doers

“and keep those things which are written in it”
“the words of this prophecy”
keep
present active participle
tëreõ [τηρέω]
Tied directly to “those who hear”
“those who hear…and keep”
Hearing will directly lead to keeping
Makes eliminating distractions all the more vital

Now What?

Take a look at your own life
Are you able to look at all that is happening around you and STILL find a joy, a confidence, a happiness, that defies those circumstances?
Then
Become a Reader
Become a Listener
Become a Doer
Are you 100% confident that the Lord Jesus is doing EVERYTHING He desires to do in/with/through you?
Then
Become a Reader
Become a Listener
Become a Doer
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