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Revelation: Blessed?

We are headed for an apocalypse. Science and religion both agree. So in the midst of what seems to be cursed, and all the voices claiming to have the answers, how do we find and know what is really BLESSED? God has John write the book of Revelation to answer the question of “BLESSED?”      #revelation #2022

STARTER

PRAY

Father, we bow before You to ask You to help us have an eternal perspective on blessings. As we go through the book of Revelation, help us to understand that we will not know the times or seasons You have set by Your own authority, but we are commanded to be Your witnesses as you were the faithful witness. Help us to READ, HEAR, & KEEP what is written in Your word so that we might be trully blessed.

STUDY QUESTIONS

"Read, Hear, & Keep”

As you read through Revelation, remember that John has been serving God faithfully for decades in the midst of persecution, death, and blessing as many others choose to follow Jesus. He has watched faithful people, including his fellow apostles, be killed for claiming and proclaiming Jesus, and John has been exiled to an island (Patmos) full of criminals and sick people because of his faithfulness to Jesus. John is writing what he is seeing and trying to use his limited vocabulary to describe things no earthly language can fully describe. Revelation is meant to be a blessing of a literal and symbolic meaning. It is meant to call us to the blessing of surrender to a God of pure love and justice. It is for us to read, hear, and keep so that we and others can see that true blessing is knowing Jesus and His plan for eternity.

READ Acts 1:4-8

  1. What does Jesus command of his disciples and us in this passage? How is this still very important and applicable for us today?
  2. Jesus says, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority.” Why do we have such a hard time accepting that?
  3. These Jewish disciples likely thought that receiving the power of the Holy Spirit would automatically lead to earthly kingdom restoration and blessing in their day (1:6). Instead, Jesus said, “you will be my witnesses (martyrs).” How do God’s people still struggle with this same question and answer today?

READ Revelation 1

  1. God had John write Revelation as a testimony for the church to READ, HEAR, and KEEP as an encouragement and witness in the face of compromise and persecution. The book is the “testimony about Jesus” “the faithful witness.”
    1. How should READING, HEARING, and KEEPING the testimony and witness about Jesus encourage us?
    2. Why are we fearful of being clear witnesses, especially about Revelation, in a culture where we aren’t physically persecuted?
  2. How can the READING, HEARING, and KEEPING of the book of Revelation encourage and challenge people who find themselves in difficult circumstances?
  3. God has John write “grace and peace” before explaining some very hard and terrifying things in the rest of the book.
    1. What are the truths about God in 1:4-8?
    2. How should READING, HEARING, and KEEPING the truths about God listed in verse 1:4-8 be the source of our blessing especially of grace and peace?
  4. How is the Jesus who is walking among the lampstands very different from the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? How is He similar?

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