From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Mon, Jan 8, 2024 at 5:09 AM

Subject: 1-8-24 THOUGHTS

1-8-24   THOUGHTS

Seeing the big picture is necessary now and then.  It is easy to read into a spiritual vision. It is not my mind that matters, it is God’s mind.  John is where he is because of “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” He is told to write a book to some churches in Asia.  Revelation 1:19-3:22 give us that book, or those letters.  There is much correction there!  Our reading goes on to describe “one like a son of man,” the “first and the last, and the living one.”   John says “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.”    He says “I have the keys of death and of Hades.”   Shouldn’t we be ready to hear and listen to “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus?”   It is available!  We must seek it with all our heart, soul and mind.  
Col 1:9-12  For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and   understanding,  10  so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  11  strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of    all steadfastness and patience; joyously  12  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

Rev 1:9-19    I, John, your brother and fellow partaker  in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11  saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." 12  Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13  and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14  His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15  His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16  In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17  When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,  18  and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19  "Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

My Prayer:
Father, keep our reverence for You intact always.  Thank you for the reading above that we might catch a glimpse of Your glory and majesty in Jesus.  By our diligent search of Your word, may we absorb Your awesome mind.  Write it on our hearts, O God!  Take away all the distractions that we allow to hinder this process.  In the name of our Savior,   Amen.

Read psalms 119...