6:35 O Maranatha Bible Church. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Welcome to the Lord's day. Welcome to the Lord's day service with your brothers and sisters in Christ where we get to unite our voices, unite our hearts as we worship King Jesus.
6:56 I hope you've come expecting great things from the Lord. I hope you've come excited to hear from the Lord through the proclamation of his word today. Read from first Corinthians chapter one, a very familiar passage, but a passage that we do good to remind ourselves over and over again as we gather as the Lord's people on Sunday. So will you please stand for the reading of God's word? First Corinthians chapter one starting at verse number 18.
7:34 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
7:56 Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
8:36 For consider your calling brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
8:56 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. We will glory in our redeemer as the bride of Christ.
9:30 Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you. Lord, we come before you with humility, reverence, and awe because you alone are worthy of all glory, all power, all dominion, and authority. And father, we acknowledge that joyfully today. And Lord, we do boast in Jesus Christ.
10:00 We do not boast in our own works. We do not boast in our own intelligence, or our own careers, or our own desires, or accomplishments. We boast in Jesus Christ because he is our life. He is our salvation. And through him, we have redemption and reconciliation with you.
10:20 May you have your way in the service today. May you incline our hearts to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. May you open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your law. May you unite our hearts to fear your name and may you, as Moses said in Psalm 90, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. In Jesus name we pray.
10:45 Amen. Amen. Church, will you please sing? Sing with your family in Christ. Sing to the Lord today.
11:58 Holy Spirit living breath of God renew life in to my willing soul. We've come to crown him. Lord, Lord of all, Lord over our hearts, Lord over this church. Can we pray and thank him for that? Lord, we thank you that you are indeed the Lord of all, That you are the Lord Jesus Christ who rose on high after purchasing our redemption and who promises to return again.
19:42 Lord our heart cry this morning in this very turbulent world is come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord, interrupt the service. Come, Lord, interrupt the sermon. Come, Lord, and invade our lives in the way that the prophets have spoken. We long to see you face to face.
19:59 We long for you to rule and reign. We long for you to subdue every rebel, every rival, everything that has stood against you, Lord. We pray. Oh, how we pray that you would come in your victory and your complete and total redemption. And until then, Lord, we ask you keep us faithful and that you instruct us and you help us be in the ambassadors that you have privileged us to be.
20:25 And so Lord, meet us in this service in a real way. Change us because we are in continuous need for that changing, and we thank you in advance for all the glory that awaits us in this service. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Before you're seated turn to somebody and greet them to this Lord's Day service. Welcome, Maranatha Bible Church, to this Lord's Day service.
21:08 We are so thrilled to be able to worship the Lord together. Thank you for using your voices, this morning to sing to the Lord. The scripture commands us to sing ultimately to the Lord, but there's even instruction to sing to one another. And that's what we're doing here. We're singing yes to the Lord ultimately, but also edifying one another with our voices.
21:27 And that's how, we we sing in this church. We use our voices, and we continue to worship in our giving. And so the ushers will help us with that at this time, and we're so thankful for your partnership with your contributions. Ultimately, it goes to the advancement of the kingdom of God. And what he's doing here through Maranatha Bible Church, we are a church that emphasizes the teaching and the proclamation of God's word.
21:50 And by his mercy, yes, we are primarily here as a church to gather and to be fed as the flock that God has brought together, but we're also seeing the word of God go throughout the nations, and that is no exaggeration. Your contributions help make that possible. So thank you for your partnership in this way. And while that is taking place, allow me to make a few very important announcements for the next really few weeks, days actually coming up here. We have today for those who are planning to be baptized at the end of the month, you're meeting with pastor Mark Griffin at 1PM in the Conference Room.
22:24 If you don't know where the Conference Room is, just approach any one of the elders or any one of the deacons or any one of the ushers and they can direct you there. But 1PM, you'll be meeting with pastor Mark, and this is mandatory for you to know exactly what it is that you are pursuing in this ordinance of baptism. So please join us for that 1PM after the service today. Besides that, we have a busy, next week, especially on the fourteenth. We have a couple things coming up, and because of the two events that I'm about to explain, Bible study on the thirteenth will be canceled, and so that will resume in the following week.
22:58 So please make sure that you let other people know that there will be no Bible study here next Friday. But what we do have is on the fourteenth, our 9AM outreach with Love Life, and we're gonna show you a clip here in a moment that I I hope will stir your heart, but we're gonna put up that slide just for you to take a picture of the address there. And also later in that, afternoon at 4PM, we have our Thanksgiving anniversary celebration, and registration for that has been open the last week and a half, two weeks or so, but it's closing tonight at midnight. And so if we reach capacity, first, then it will be closed, but if you, want to still make it out for that wonderful banquet, it's just going to be a time of food, a time of testimony, a time of singing, a brief word in the in the fellowship hall downstairs, and just for us to relish in the faithfulness of God, especially as he has brought us to this new place and has answered our prayers really for this building to be a reality. Join us for that.
23:50 Registration closes at midnight. We need to know the number of seats, the number of, the number of people for the food that we'll be serving that day, and, we're looking forward to seeing you there. Another exciting endeavor that we have here is a coat drive, and that is going to be taking place on November 15, next Sunday. It's starting, and it will go through December 13, and it's just a chance for you to be able to give to those in need, and we're accepting coats and hats and boots and gloves, anything that you think would be of value to somebody during the winter months. And you'll you'll see the the box out there in the lobby, but just for you to know in advance so that you can prepare some of your your garments and gifts for those who can benefit from it.
24:28 We have the baptism service, as I mentioned earlier, just to remind you on the twenty ninth. And, because of that week, we have Thanksgiving. We also will not have bible study on the twenty seventh, and that's something that we do every single year. So we're missing a couple of bible studies this month, but we hope that you'll be blessed and edified with your families, and as you plan to be with us on the fourteenth. I have more announcements here.
24:52 I'll just leave it for next next week, concerning the month of December. What I would love for us to do is just kind of get our hearts stirred for this love life outreach. If you've never been a part of it, this is not a protest. We're not going there to picket anything. We're not there with signs and bull horns or anything of the sort.
25:07 It's a prayer march. It's a chance for us to be able to go and worship together with other churches. This is the last outreach of the year for Love Life, the chapter in Chicago at least. And so we just go and we pray and we worship and we sing and we make our presence known. And, Love Life has seen incredible testimonies.
25:25 And what I would love for us to do here is just see a recent testimony out there in New York and how Love Life has seen a remarkable answer to prayer, and, we're believing that God would do something similar here in Chicago. So just pay attention to the to the screens here at the sanctuary.
25:50 Today has been an incredible, incredible day. It's the first prayer walk since the closing of the Margaret Sanger Center that happened on October 31. Here we are now, six years later after being out here praying and asking God to shut this place down. And you see the prayer warriors over here, we're celebrating, we're rejoicing in what our Lord has done in this place, shutting down the seven story building that's been around for thirty six years, that's killed over 250,000 children here in Lower Manhattan, but no longer is death happening in this place. God has answered the cries of his people, and it's officially closed, the Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood, which was the crown jewel for Planned Parenthood.
26:33 It all started right here in Lower Manhattan, but our God is bigger, and our God is stronger than any other. And this place of death is no longer a place of death. Now it's a stone of remembrance, a remembrance of what our God will do when his people cry out to him and cry out in repentance, to not just confess our sin, but to live it out as the church has been mobilizing in the city, not only to pray, but also walking with these families, families that have chosen life. Over 200 families that have made the choice for life. The church is discipling them, walking with them, throw them baby showers, and God has heard the cries of his people.
27:37 That's what we're believing God to do in our own city, and prayer contains such power. I was reminded of Acts chapter 12 when Peter was imprisoned by Herod and the church we're told there in verse five gathered together to pray. And when they prayed, it penetrated through all the guards, it penetrated through the iron gates, it penetrated through Herod's command, and it brought liberty to Peter. And so there is no building strong enough. There is no law that stands long enough that is able to resist what happens when God's people cry out to heaven, and heaven moves on behalf of God's people's prayers.
28:14 So join us for that. Let's see a miracle in our own lifetime. And I'm also reminded of this verse. In Psalm one nineteen verse one twenty six, It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken. It's time for the Lord to act.
28:30 Here's the psalmist believing God we need something different. We need a direct intervention because your law is being broken everywhere. And and that is something that God is willing to do when we partner with him in prayer. Can we pray before we continue to sing to the Lord? Lord, we think about all the bloodshed in our own streets.
28:48 We think about all the loss of life, all the callings, the potential ministries, all those who are created in your image, all those who are destined to walk in this life and to reflect a measure of your beauty and glory. We know that the enemy of our souls hates life. He loves death, and we know that he has no mercy, that what is to be the safest place in the world, the womb of a mother, has become tombs all over in this nation. And Lord, you and your providence have allowed us to partner with a great and wonderful ministry like Love Life to see this come to an end, and we believe that you can put a stop to it. And so we ask in advance for that march as different churches will come together that you would make your presence so known, that neighbors and onlookers and even commuters would would see us, and they would see something more than just people.
29:46 They would see a people who are possessed by a love from God. They would see a people who contain a fearlessness and a courage and a love for life, so much so to get up in that morning and to make their presence known. May we, Lord, see a similar testimony. We thank you for what you've done in New York. May you do it in Chicago.
30:07 May we have our own highlight reel of how you've answered our prayers. And so bless Love Light. Bless those who volunteer. Bless those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. We ask that you continue to expand their efforts and mobilize even more churches in this hour.
30:20 And so Lord, we sing to you now. We sing to you in thanksgiving for this testimony and what you will do in the years ahead. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. If you haven't seen it yet, Love Life is with us today. They have a table out there.
30:33 If you want more information, if you wanna ask anything, feel free to join them after the service. But for now, let's continue to sing to the Lord. Let's stand and worship them together.
37:29 Yes, lord. We want all glory to go to you today in our gathering, to your name, and to your beauty and your majesty, and we give this time to you. We give ourselves to you, lord, in our worship, and we ask, Lord, that you would remove every hindrance that would not give you glory, not allow your word to go in power today. Remove every distraction in us, Lord. Give us the focus and attention we need to hear from you, lord.
38:00 We believe that you have a word for each of us today and as as your church. And we ask that by the power of the spirit, your word would go forth in power today to every heart, every mind, every person here today, Lord. And so we ask, Lord, that, again, all glory would go to you. And we love you, and we worship you today. In Jesus' name, amen.
38:39 Amen. Can we come together now to the book of Revelation in chapter 22? Revelation chapter 22. Many people struggle to appreciate the value of Bible prophecy for various reasons, and one of them is that they fail to recognize its practical value. And I hope that our study of this book over the last year, really over a year, has proven otherwise.
39:17 That even within prophecy there is incredible encouragement, there is so much instruction for our lives even now. And if you are among those who still doubt that, or wonder if there is any application or relevance that we can gain from this prophecy, that doubt will be put to rest, I'm sure, in the remainder of this chapter. Because the final thoughts of the book of Revelation as we're about to see is essentially a call to action. And that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? We have seen what God said about the tribulation period.
39:55 We've seen what He has said and revealed about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've gotten many glimpses into the millennium. We have seen what the eternal age will be like, though a fraction of it certainly. What now? What do we do with this information?
40:15 How do we respond to it? How should it shape our lives moving forward? That is precisely what the Holy Spirit desires to convey through his servant the Apostle John. And we will look at some of these things now beginning in verse six of Revelation 22. Let's read it together down through verse 11.
40:36 And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, you must not do that.
41:06 I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoers still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Father, we ask that you would help us understand these concluding thoughts, these exhortations, these commands, these instructions.
41:41 And Lord, as the angel told John, worship God. We pray that the fruit of our time in this book would be greater worship, greater adoration for you. Use this message to awaken new heights of worship in each of us. We gladly admit our weakness, our weakness to speak on these things, our weakness to understand these matters, but, Lord, we trust that in our weakness, you meet us with your perfect power, and we believe that you'll provide that power even now. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
42:18 You know as I meditated on this passage, there were a few words that came to mind. Reliability, urgency, idolatry, and gravity. Another way to put it, what these thoughts really present us. One, greater worship for the one true God, greater commitment to obedience to him, a call to absolute trust regarding the faithfulness of its message, and even a warning of how all of us should respond to its overall message. This will begin to make more sense as we look at these things separately.
43:09 And so we have reliability, we have urgency, there is idolatry even mentioned here, and there is a weightiness, a gravity to these words. And I want us to begin with the first thought that is highlighted here in verse six, and that is the reliability. Seems as though John by the Spirit wants us to know the trustworthiness, the reliability of everything that we've studied up to this point, and we're gonna look more carefully at this, but look at verse six with me yet again. And he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. So as the record of all these predictions are coming to a close, one of the last things that the Holy Spirit wants to convey, yes, to John, but ultimately to God's people throughout the ages is that you can actually trust in what you just read.
44:03 You can actually believe in everything that you heard. So as mind bending as some of these visions are, as staggering as they may be to our imagination, what we're finding here in this single verse is that they are all genuine, they are all dependable. You have no reason to doubt any of them. Now, there are a couple of things that are said to make that point even stronger. First, notice this phrase.
44:32 These words are trustworthy and true. That statement, though with various spelling or words, is found a total of four times in the Book of Revelation. We see this declaration mentioned four times from beginning to end, and the last time that we saw something similar was what God had said himself after introducing the new Heaven and the new Earth back in chapter 21. The other two occurrences where you find something with that ring is actually ascribed as titles to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Trustworthy and true.
45:14 Again, with slight variations. Let me show you that. Go to chapter 19, look at verse 11 with me. Revelation nineteen eleven, Then I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse, the one sitting on it called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. Rewind all the way back to Revelation three, and look here at verse 14 of Revelation three.
45:46 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. So this statement is strategically placed in our Bibles, especially in this book. What is it saying? This is lovely. All the predictions, all the prophecies, every vision contained in this book are every bit as trustworthy as the character of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
46:25 In other words, you can accept the reliability of this prophecy because the one who revealed it was Jesus himself. And his credibility is beyond question, which presents a warning. If anybody is to dismiss the truthfulness of the Book of Revelation, you are essentially calling it to question the faithfulness of Christ. Are you willing to do that? Trustworthy and true.
46:55 Who's trustworthy and true? Who's faithful and true? Jesus Christ, and so is this prophecy. Now the angels is something else to speak to the rock solid authenticity of this incredible prophecy. Look at the second part of verse six with me.
47:13 And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, underline that. What a way to describe God. The God of the Spirits of the Prophets has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. Do you know what he's saying here? The same God who spoke through the holy prophets throughout the ages is the one who spoke to and through the Apostle John.
47:41 Now, consider the implications of this. John's word carries the same divine authority and accuracy as that wonderful roster of prophets that we are all familiar with. The words of Isaiah, the words of Ezekiel, the words of Daniel, the words of Hosea, the words of Jeremiah, the same authority that they carried, the same thus says the Lord.
