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Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000688S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:07 Sermon #B688 - The First Angels Message 00:20 Dr. Byrd: We want to get right in the word of God today, a very familiar passage of scripture. 00:26 All of us know this from memory, but just in case, I invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Revelation; 00:32 turn to the Book of Revelation. If you will, turn to the Book of Revelation Chapter 14. 00:39 And we are going to just read verses six and seven, Revelation 14:6 and 7. 00:50 And we will read what the first angel's message is to us today. Revelation 14:6 and 7. 00:58 The word of God says, "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 01:03 having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, 01:09 and people saying with a loud voice, fear God; give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come; 01:18 and worship Him that made heaven and earth, the seas, and the fountains of water." 01:24 Today, we want to begin our three-part series and challenge you on the subject, The First Angel's Message, 01:31 The First Angel's Message. 01:33 Let us pray. God, come now and be with me. Speak through me, and I pray that your Holy Ghost run all up 01:42 and through me today. I pray for those who are watching right now. 01:47 I pray that the same spirit that we have asked for to be with me right now that God you would send your same 01:54 spirit to be with your people. And may we be able to say today after the word of God has been preached that 01:59 it was good for us to have listened, to have heard this word. Forgive us of our sins. 02:05 And when the appeal time comes, move God, move by your power; sprinkle out your grace. 02:10 And we pray for the Holy Ghost to just rain down today. Thank you for hearing this prayer. 02:18 Thank you for answering this prayer. Thank you for forgiving us of our sins. 02:23 Thank you that you have made us worthy to be able to say a word for you today. It is in Jesus' name we pray. 02:31 Amen, and amen. 02:34 The First Angel's Message. It is only fitting that the Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible, 02:48 because it bears God's last-day message to God's last-day people. Revelation is a prophetic book. 02:58 In other words, it tells us how the end is going to be. 03:03 Revelation was written by John the Revelator after he was banished to the island of Patmos to die all by 03:11 himself on volcanic ash, because he kept talking about Jesus. And because he kept talking about Jesus, 03:19 the Romans wanted to crush his religious influence. But even though John was banished to Patmos, 03:29 God still had a work for John to do. 03:33 Let that be a lesson for somebody right now today. God still has a work for you to do. 03:42 I do not care how untalented you think you are or how unfit, how old, or how young you think you are. 03:50 I am here to let somebody know today that God still has a work for you to do. 03:56 John is banished to Patmos. But God still has a work for him to do. 04:02 And it is on the island of Patmos that the Lord has told John several things in vision that soon are going 04:10 to come to pass. The Lord tells John to write down what he sees and record what he sees in a book, 04:19 a book we now call the Revelation. 04:22 Now, throughout Revelation, there are always messages from angels which is why in our text, Revelation 4:6, 04:31 it begins with, "And I saw another angel." But in Revelation 14, 04:38 there are three specific messages from three angels who have been commissioned 04:44 by God to deliver three specific messages. Revelation 14:6 and 7 give us the first message 04:54 from the first angel. Revelation 4:8 gives us the second message from the second angel. 05:03 And Revelation 14:9-12 give the third message from the third angel. 05:12 Now, you need to know that these three angels' messages represent a symbolic vision. More specifically, 05:23 the angels represent God's saints. Hear me well. 05:27 That is us who are engaged in the task of proclaiming the everlasting Gospel. 05:34 And while heavenly angels assist us in the task of proclaiming the Gospel, 05:41 these three messages are to be proclaimed by us. 05:47 Message number one, "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 05:54 having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, 05:59 kindred, tongue, and people." 06:02 Now, let us stop there. When the Bible says that the angel is flying in the midst of heaven, 06:09 friends of mine, we need to know and understand that the area of flight indicates the worldwide nature of the 06:16 angel's work and message which means this message needs to be brought to the site and hearing of all humankind. 06:27 But not only that. The movement of this message flying in the midst of heaven must be swift. 06:34 And remember, you fly faster than you walk. God's messengers, God's last-day messengers, that is us. 06:43 We must move with expedition. Time is short. Life is uncertain, uncertain both for the human messenger 06:52 and uncertain for the human hear -er. And so we must work while it is day for when night cometh, no man can work. 07:00 Now, let us unpack the text. First, the message of this first angel is the everlasting Gospel. 07:09 It is everlasting, because it has to do with eternal truth. In other words, the Gospel has never changed. 07:17 The Gospel does not get old. The Gospel was good for my Mother and my Father. 07:20 But the Gospel is not only everlasting and eternal. The Gospel is not only good news, 07:26 but the Gospel is also universal in scope. 07:30 The first angel's message is to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, 07:37 and people which means this is a worldwide Gospel message. This everlasting Gospel is not for a select group, 07:46 a select sect, a select color, a select class. This Gospel is for everybody: young and old, black and white, 07:58 rich and poor, educated and uneducated, professional and common laborer. This Gospel is for everyone. 08:08 Sin is universal. And the Gospel is universal. Sin has afflicted all men, but the Gospel can redeem all men. 08:18 Jesus commanded His disciples, "Go, ye, therefore. Teach all nations baptizing them everywhere. 08:25 The Gospel is for everyone." 08:29 But the text continues, "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having 08:33 the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, 08:37 and people saying with a loud voice, fear God, give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come, 08:49 and worship Him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters." 08:57 The day is over where you are fearing men. 09:00 The day is over where you are fearing people. The day has to be over where you are fearing what is popular. 09:07 It is time for the people of God to fear God. 09:11 People are doing whatever they want to do. People are as bad as they want to be. But in the name of Jesus, 09:17 it is time to fear God. You better recognize who God is: King of kings, Lord of lords, CEO of the universe, 09:27 President of all galaxies. You did not vote Him in, and you cannot vote Him out. You cannot impeach Him, 09:33 and He is not going to resign. He is God. He made you. He raised you. He fed you. He kept you. He saved you. 09:40 He redeemed you. He died for you. And He is coming back to get you. He is God. 09:44 God is calling us today to fear God. To fear God means to reverence God. It does not mean to be afraid of God. 09:52 But you cannot come to God. You have to come to God with reverence and awe. 09:57 You cannot come to God any old kind of way. God is not your homeboy. He is not your homegirl. 10:04 God is not your guy. He is not your girl. God is God. Stop fearing everybody else, and fear God. 10:13 Start obeying God 10:15 Too many of us are fearing the gods of materialism, the gods of pleasure, and the gods of convenience. 10:21 But in the name of Jesus, it is time for the people of God to fear God. But not only that. 10:27 It is time to glorify God; give glory to God. 10:31 I love what the Psalmist said. He said, "Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, 10:38 and for Thy truth." When God is glorified, His people are edified, and the devil is horrified. 10:45 It is impossible for God to be glorified and we not be edified. And let me say this. 10:51 God will not share His glory with anybody. God will not share His glory with anything. 10:57 If you want miracles to happen in your life, if you want to deliverance to come in your life, 11:02 you have got to learn how to glorify God and lift up the name of Jesus. 11:06 Jesus said, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me." 11:11 Jesus says, "I will begin to do something when my people stop glorifying themselves.' 11:17 Stop glorifying individuals. Stop glorifying the car they drive. Stop glorifying the clothes they wear. 11:23 Stop glorifying the house they live in. Stop glorifying the job they go to. 11:28 Stop glorifying self if they can just say, "God, I glorify you for who you are. 11:33 I put nothing above you. You are my everything. You are my sustainer. You are my provider. 11:41 You are my Healer. You are my banner. You are my bill payer. You are my cancer killer. 11:48 You are my coronavirus stopper. You are my God." Fear God. Give glory to Him, 11:53 because the hour of His judgment is come 11:58 Now, let me stop here notice. Notice the text does not say His day of judgment has come. 12:04 But the text says the hour of His judgment is come. You all do not hear what I am saying. 12:09 In other words, the coming of the Lord is sooner than we think. The days of playing church are over. 12:15 The days of playing holy are over. The days of playing righteous are over. 12:20 The days of keeping up mess are over. The days of confusion are over. 12:26 The days of worrying about what everybody else is doing and not worrying about what you ought to be doing 12:31 are over. The hour of God's judgment is come. 12:35 If you do not believe that, just look around the world today. 12:38 Look around at what is going on in our world today. The hour of God's judgment is come. 12:43 We can look around the world and know that the 12:46 hour is late. Jesus told us in Matthew 24 that just before His coming, 12:52 there will be lying; there will be deception on every hand. 12:55 Jesus said, before His coming, nation would rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. 13:00 There will be wars and famines and pestilence and earthquakes. The hour of His judgment is come. 13:08 surprise." The hour of His judgment is come. 13:13 Oh, you are watching. But you are still not getting it. Let me try it this way. The hour of His judgment, 13:19 mentioned here by the first angel, began in eighteen-forty four. 13:25 It represented the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary. 13:28 Daniel 8:14 says, "And He said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred days, 13:32 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 13:36 Now, we already know in Bible prophecy that one day is the equivalent to one year. 13:42 So if we are saying two thousand three hundred days, the sanctuary should be cleansed, 13:47 we are, in essence, saying in two thousand three hundred years, the sanctuary would be cleansed. 13:54 This prophecy began in the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes in the year four-fifty seven BC. 14:02 And we understand it was on that date that Jerusalem's walls were ordered to be rebuilt. 14:09 When you count two thousand three hundred years later and move from BC to AD, 14:16 you come to the year eighteen-forty four. 14:19 Now, study history. Many people thought in eighteen-forty four that Jesus was going to come, 14:24 because they thought that the earthly cleansing, earthly sanctuary being cleansed meant Jesus was coming. 14:33 But while they have their calculations right, the event was wrong. 14:38 Jesus was not coming in eighteen-forty four. And they should have known that 14:43 because Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, but the Father only." 14:50 Jesus was not coming in eighteen-forty four. 14:53 But God the Christ was moving from the holy to the most holy place. 14:59 Remember, the earthly sanctuary back in the Old Testament was a type or a model of the heavenly sanctuary. 15:07 And throughout the year, the priest would forgive sins on a daily basis in the earthly sanctuary. 15:14 But once per year on the day of atonement, the priest would go in 15:19 and cleanse the sins from the most holy place. 15:23 In eighteen-forty four, God moved from the holy place to the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary. 15:31 And right now, God is engaged in judgment, the investigative judgment, over His people. 15:39 And the standard by which God is going to judge His people is God's Ten Commandment Law: 15:45 Thou shall have no other gods before me; thou shall not make unto thee any graven image; 15:49 thou shall not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain; remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; 15:54 honor thy father and thy mother; thou shall not kill; thou shall not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; 16:01 thou shall not bear false witness and lie; thou shalt not covet. 16:04 That is the standard on which God is judging His people in the investigative judgment right now. 16:10 And you better believe. 2 Corinthians 5:10 makes it clear that we all must appear 16:15 before the judgment seat of God whether we are good or bad. 16:19 That is why I have learned as I am now getting older, I do not have to worry about judging people. 16:24 I do not have to worry about setting folks straight or telling them all. God will deal with them. 16:30 Pay day is coming. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 16:38 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 16:41 Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment." 16:49 1 Peter 4:17 is clear that judgment begins with the house of God. 16:53 And it follows with those who do not obey the voice of God. 16:57 And God finished His work in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary. 17:02 You better believe Jesus is soon to come. And the thing about it is Jesus could pass over our name. 17:08 And we do not even know it. That is why we must live every day as if it were our last. 17:13 Text says, "Fear God. Give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come. 17:23 The text continues, "And worship Him that made heaven and earth, the seas, and the fountains of waters." 17:31 The first angel of Revelation 14 calls us back to worship but not just any type of worship. 17:40 God is calling His people back to true worship. 17:44 Jesus said in John 4:24 that they they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. 17:52 A lot of people just want to worship God in spirit, but they do not want to worship God in truth. 17:57 If I would ask one hundred people what worship was, 17:59 I would probably get one hundred different answers from the one hundred different people. 18:03 And the primary reason is because of the wide range of backgrounds, attitudes, interpretations, experiences, 18:08 and preferences about worship. 18:10 But more than that, we have such a wide range of views on worship 18:13 because of the never-ending list of worship misconceptions. 18:18 And probably the biggest misconception about worship is that worship is for us. That when I go to worship, 18:29 it is all about me. Too many of us when we worship is all about us. 18:35 We are trying to draw attention to ourselves. But worship is not about you. 18:42 Worship is not about me. Worship is about God. People cannot see God because you will not get out of the way. 18:51 But maybe another contributing factor to worship misconceptions is our expectations of worship. 18:57 Some people expect intellectual stimulation from the sermon, and if they are not intellectually stimulated, 19:03 the worship has not taken place. Then there are others who expect a form of entertainment, 19:09 and though they would never call it that, if they are not entertained, worship has not taken place. 19:14 But worship is not about intellect. Worship is not about entertainment. 19:20 Worship is about an encounter with the Living God. God wants to communicate with us. 19:26 God wants to commune with us God wants to live in us. That is worship. 19:32 We need to understand worship is not always about what we know. What we know can get us a long way in life, 19:38 but it will not get us a long way in worship. You see, I can know the policies. 19:42 I can know the procedures of a company, but that does not mean I am ready to run the company. 19:47 I can know the rules and regulations of basketball, but that does not mean I am ready for the NBA. 19:53 I can know the Lord's Prayer, but that does not mean I know the Lord. I can know the twenty third Psalm, 20:00 but that does not mean I know the shepherd. I can know the commandments, 20:05 but that does not mean I know Christ. We can know the order of service. We can know the scripture. 20:11 We can know the hymn. We can know the praise songs. We can know what to say and what to do. 20:16 But that does not mean we worship. In worship, it is not about what we want, but it is about who we know. 20:23 And I am so glad today that I know me Jesus. I know I serve a risen savior. 20:31 I know the doctor in the sick room. I know the lawyer in the courtroom. I know who woke me up this morning, 20:38 who started me on my way. When I know Jesus, that is when I worship Him. 20:46 But not only that. Number two, worship is not our idea. Worship did not start with us. 20:53 We did not think of the need for worship. Worship, my friends, is not a human innovation, 21:00 but it is rather a divine invention. God made worship. God made us to worship Him. Worship begins with God 21:10 and ends with God. He is alpha and omega, the first and the last, the beginning. and He is the end. 21:19 Some of us, what we do in worship is born out of human creativity. But worship was not born with us. 21:26 Worship is for God's benefit, not our benefit. It is not about what we can get out of it, 21:31 but it is about what we give to God. When we worship, we are supposed to give God what God wants, 21:37 not what I want. And I am going to come back to that. 21:40 Number three, worship is not a spectator sport. 21:44 Many times people look at worship experience as a spectator event. They see themselves as the audience, 21:49 the person up front as the performer, and God as the prompter. But that is not the case. When we worship God, 21:54 God is the audience. The person up front is the prompter. And the congregation members are the performers. 22:01 Number four, worship is not just about singing. I hear people say all the time, "We had church today. 22:09 We had worshipped today. We enjoyed the worship part of the service," meaning they enjoyed the singing. 22:18 And while singing is a part of worship, singing is not all of worship. 22:24 Too many people think worship is just good when the singing is good. I love to sing. And I love the music. 22:32 But let me help somebody today. You can sing good. The song may sound good. And the song may be good. 22:39 But that does not mean you had true worship. True worship calls for sincerity of heart. 22:44 You have to really mean what you are doing. That is why you can have a good singer 22:48 and they can sing a good song, but there is no anointing, no power, no transformation. 22:55 But then you can have a not so good singer singing the same song but the anointing will fall. 23:02 Lives will be changed. Yolks will be destroyed. And souls will be saved. 23:09 Every part of the worship experience, my friends, is worship: the singing, the praying, the scripture, 23:17 the offering, the preaching, and everything else. Worship is not just music. 23:23 But then number five, worship is more than a building. 23:28 If we ever learned anything else through this COVID-19 period, 23:31 we have learned that worship is not just done at the church building. 23:35 Now, do not misunderstand me. Do not misquote me. Do not get me twisted. 23:39 I am not saying you do not have to go to church. In fact, when this pandemic is over, 23:44 you are supposed to go to church and worship God. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25, 23:48 "Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together." That means do not stay at home. 23:52 Do not stay in the dorm. But go to church. Leviticus 23:3 says, "The Sabbath is to be a holy convocation." 23:58 The Bible says in Psalm 122:1, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." 24:06 When COVID-19 is over, go back to church. And you should go to church to worship God, 24:10 because the church is God's house. And there is power when you go worship in God's house. 24:15 But let me remind you, worship is more than a building. I can worship God in my car, in my house, on my job, 24:24 in the classroom, in nature. You are watching right now and you are Hearing this sermon on a computer 24:32 or a television screen. And somebody, you are worshipping God. 24:35 God is omnipresent which means God is everywhere at the same time. And everywhere you go, 24:41 every hour of the day, you ought to worship God, my friend, 24:44 because if you cannot worship God where you are going, 24:46 then you have no business where you are going in the first place. 24:49 Worship is a lifestyle that should be done everywhere. 24:53 Our lives should envelop worship. When we walk up, people are going to walk up to us 24:58 and know that we are worshippers of the most high God. So worship is not about what we know. 25:07 Worship is not our idea. Worship is not a spectator event. Worship is not solely about singing. 25:18 Worship is not limited to a building. Because the greatest way we can worship God is through our obedience. 25:29 Give God what God wants. 25:34 for everything God has given us is true. The devil has a counterfeit. 25:41 And the central issue of this world is worship. At the end of the day, the great controversy, 25:50 the cosmic conflict, the central issue of this world is worship. 25:57 Who are you going to give your worship to? God wants your worship. The devil wants your worship. 26:07 But who today are you going to give your worship to? Choose who this day whom you are going to serve. 26:14 But as for me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord. 26:19 And serving the Lord is going to pay off after a while. 26:26 And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 26:32 having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, 26:36 kindred, tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, fear God; 26:39 give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, 26:49 the seas, and the fountains of waters. 26:51 The first angel, the message of the first angel for us today is to fear God. 26:57 The message today is to glorify God. The message today is to worship God in spirit and in truth. 27:06 The past couple weeks, I have been preaching on social justice. And social justice is good. 27:12 But I am here to let you know, I have also been preaching on compassion. And compassion and grace are good. 27:19 But somebody, somewhere, has got to stand up 27:23 and preach the Gospel message of these three angels in Revelation 14: fear God; glorify God; worship God. 27:32 Because the hour of His judgment is come. 27:37 Thank you very much for tuning in to this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 27:41 We hope and pray that you've been blessed by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 27:46 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 27:48 please feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 27:54 Or, call us at (256) 929-6460. 28:07 Dr. Byrd: Pain, loss, trama, 28:16 in life we experience these things. 28:20 My wife and I have a story, 28:23 we have a testimony of how we lost 28:27 our first born daughter in a horrific car accident. 28:34 We have this new sharing book, its en-titled “Gone.” 28:39 And, in it I want to share with you 28:42 how God has helped me, 28:45 how God has helped my wife, how God has helped us, 28:50 as we had to endure the fact that our first born daughter is gone. 28:58 www.breathoflife.tv 29:03 [END] |
Revised 2020-10-07