Gateway Church's Podcast
Faithful and True
How are you? Well, this is Jesus, a.k.a. week two. And today we're going to talk Jesus also known as Faithful and True. And I want you to turn into your Bible to Revelation chapter 19. We're going to begin there this morning. Her to story is supposed to be a true story about a soldier stationed in Iraq. He was over there. And he gets a letter from his girlfriend back home here in the United States. And the letter was not good. She said, I've met someone else. I'm going to marry this person. And by the way, I need the picture that I sent with you to use in my bridal announcement. Cold blood, isn't it? Well, the whole platoon gets upset. And they rally around their friend, their comrade. And they came up with this idea. So they brought all the pictures of their girlfriends and put them in a big box. Send it back to this girl over here in the United States with this note attached. Please take your picture out of the box and send the rest back to me. It calls for the life of me. I can't remember which one you are. See, we're not supposed to be laughing at that. But we love revenge. And that's not a godly trait, by the way. You should be ashamed of yourself. But we love revenge because that's why we love Revelation 19. So stand up and cheer part of Revelation. And that's why we love Revelation 19. The stand up and cheer part of revelations. Where Jesus comes out on the great white horse, faces Satan, the Antichrist, the beast, the dragon, all of them are there. All the forces of evil against Jesus owns white horse in Revelation 19. Now, by the way, Jesus doesn't come here to make peace in this story. There's no peace negotiations about to happen. This is the war to end all wars, the battle to end all battles. It's about to happen right here in Revelation 19. Now, there's four different traits. Remember, there's about 350 names and descriptions of Jesus in the Bible. And that's what this series is about describing Jesus to us. And there are four different names and descriptions listed in just this one passage. So let's go to Revelation 19. We're going to pick up the story in verse 11. John's on the owl of Padmus. He gets this vision of what's going to happen in our future. Verse 11. "Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named faithful and true. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven dressed in pure white linen followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he tried the wine press of the fierce wrath of Almighty God. And on his robe and thigh was written this title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus comes out on a white horse, and there's lots of people that try to describe why did Jesus come out on a white horse. A lot of people say that's the reason he's on a white horse, and the armies of heaven are all on white horses. It's because they're holy, and they represent holiness in this battle, and that's possibly true. Remember when John wrote this story, he was still living in a time of Roman occupation where the Roman army was still the greatest army on the earth. And what happened when the Roman army went to a country, conquered it, came back. The winning general, whoever was the hero of the battle, got to lead the army through the main street of Rome, riding a white horse. So a white horse was a symbol of victory, it was a parade horse. Most of the time generals did not actually go to war riding a white horse because it made you too much of an open target. It made you too conspicuous to the enemy. So there was generals usually had a horse that they rode in battle, their battle horse that blended in with the rest of the horses, and then they had a parade horse. So Jesus, when he shows up in this battle, in my opinion, is saying this, this battle is over before it ever starts. It says in this scripture that Jesus had a sword coming from his mouth, and that he destroyed the armies that were gathered in front of him with the sword that comes out of his mouth. He had the armies of heaven behind him, but we don't read in this story or in this scripture where the armies of heaven really had much a role in the battle. It seems like they were there more to be spectators and participants. By the way, I personally believe that Jesus doesn't need anyone's help in this battle. He didn't either gather a big force, he didn't have a big recruiting campaign in heaven. "Who wants to go with me? I'm not sure how this is going to turn out." He said, "Hey, who wants to go along? You want to watch something? It's going to happen very quickly." And that's what happened. They all showed up, and the battle happens very quickly, apparently, because there's not like a long explanation of a long, grown-out battle that happened. Jesus didn't ride in on a young cult here. He rode out on the victory horse. He's here because he's ready to end this battle, the battle that we're all in today. Let me ask you a question. If he's facing Satan himself, if he's facing the Antichrist, the false prophet, he's facing all of these adversaries, and he's facing all of the deceived masses that have gathered against him, do you think that if he wins that battle, that decisively, that quickly, that he possibly could win the battles that we're facing today very quickly? See, this is the hope that we have when we read stories like this in Revelation. This is the part of the story when pastors say, "I've read the end of the book and we all win," they're referring to this story in Revelation 19. And so, the first thing that is described, Jesus is described here as faithful and true. In other words, when he speaks, it is true, and when he promises something, it will happen. That's the first title that's given when he steps out in this battle. I want to take these two characteristics today, and I want to talk to you about them in reverse order. And the first one is, Jesus is true. Jesus is true. Now, last week, we said that the center of all absolute truth rests with God the Father in heaven with God in heaven. Do you agree with that? And that the only way to that absolute truth is through the teachings of Jesus, because Jesus is the only way to God the Father in heaven, according to John 14. And so, that was last week. So, when Jesus speaks, it is true. That's what it means when he says Jesus is faithful and true. The word true means when he speaks, it's true. And so, when I was growing up, my dad would say this to me, "Son, say what you can do and then do what you say." I remember him repeating that to me almost daily when I was a teenager. "Son, say what you can do." In other words, tell people only what you know you can do for them, but if you commit to something, then do it. You know that the world does not follow my dad's teachings. You may be like the little boy in Sunday school when he was asked about lying, what God thought about lying. He said, "Well, I think lying is an abomination to God, but an ever-present help in time of trouble." And that's really the way the world thinks today. You know, we know that lying's wrong. We know that we should tell the truth. But, you know, there's more cheating going on today in college and high schools than ever before, according to recent studies, that where high school students actually admit, college students actually admit that cheating is at an all-time high. Cheating is on the front pages of our newspaper every day. Cheating, lying, deception is rampant in the marketplace for sure. It's an acceptable practice most of the time, but if you have to bend the truth just a little to get ahead, it's okay. And most people don't even frown on it even more. But let me tell you something. Jesus is faithful in truth today. His truth still stands, and he requires us to tell the truth. But let me tell you what the real tragedy of Revelation 19 is. Now, this, as I said, is to stand up and cheer section where Satan is finally defeated. All the enemies of hell are defeated. But you know what the real tragic story or the real tragic part of this story is? Is that we don't know how many people, but I would guess that there's possibly millions of human beings who have also gathered themselves to fight against the faithful and true God in this story. And according to Revelation, there will be many, many people who are completely deceived into thinking that God is on the wrong side and they are on the right side. How did they get there? How did they become so deceived to think that they could fight against God and win? Do you think it happened overnight? I don't think it happened overnight. There are two ways I believe that people are deceived, that we can be deceived. And here's the first one. I think we can be deceived by deceptive people. I believe that people can talk us into things and deceive us by deceptive words. Now, turning your Bible to Ephesians 4, because not only does God tell us that we can be deceived, but he gives us the way out. God never tells us, "Listen, don't sin and then doesn't give us an answer to it." Ephesians 4, God is describing the local church. God is saying, "Listen, I'm going to give you apostles and prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists, and these people are going to lead the local church and their leadership out of their leadership, they're going to teach the people in the church how to discover their gifts, how to become mature believers. They're going to be responsible for raising up a mature body of people." Do you agree with that? That's what Ephesians 4 is talking about. And he says, "Now, if you will commit to God's plan, which is a healthy local church, if you'll commit to that plan that God has, and you'll dive into that plan, the chances of you being deceived are slim to none." And so let's read now what will happen in Ephesians 4, verse 14, if we buy into the plan of the church. Verse 14 says, "Then we will no longer be like children forever changing our minds about what we believe, because someone has told us something different, or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." Now this is what Paul was saying, "Don't submit to someone who is not themselves submitted." That's why he said, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, do you see the team there? It don't ever go to a place and submit where there's only one person in charge, where it's led by a maverick person or a by a lone ranger organization. Gateway Church, from the very beginning, has made a commitment that we're not going to be independent. As elders and pastors, as leaders of the church, our own lives, our personal lives, and the church life that we have will be submitted to other people outside the church. It's been like that from day one, and will always be that way. Do you know why? God says that if you will submit to others and submit to God, then the chances of you being deceived go way down. But if you don't do this, he says you are open to deception. You're open to people telling you deceptive things that sound like the truth, but they're not. You know what the problem with deception is when you're deceived, you don't know you're deceived. Because if you knew you were deceived, you wouldn't be deceived. If you're deceived, you think everyone else is wrong and you're right. You don't know you're deceived because if you knew that you were deceived, then you would repent because deception's not good, right? So how do you know if you're deceived or not? You need to be submitted to other people who will tell you. And you need to trust the counsel of God's people that he puts in your life. This is what Paul is saying. Dive in to the local church. Don't stand on the outside. Don't live a life that's not submitted to someone who's also submitted. Because the first way that you can be deceived is by deceptive people. Here's the second way that you can be deceived. We believe deceptive thoughts. Now we know that the origin of all truth is God, so the origin of all deception has to come from our enemy. And he has a great way of planting thoughts in your mind that seem like the truth, but they're not. So we can be deceived by deceptive people, or we can be deceived by deceptive thoughts. Now turn in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and I want to read a scripture to you that explains this process of how this happens and how God has engineered us to overcome this. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 it says, "The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments. We pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. Now keep that on the screen, I want you to look. It says, "We take every thought captive." You know what the key word in that scripture is? Every. All of them. We cannot assume that any thought that we're having is obeying Christ until we capture it, interrogate it, and torture it if necessary. All thoughts that come through my mind have to be made to obey Christ are it's possible that I could be deceived. That's what this scripture is talking about. Now as a pastor, I have lots of people that come to my office because they have fallen in some kind of pit or trap that the enemy has set for them. And that's why the shepherd's rod has the curved end. That's to reach down and help the sheep get out of the hole. You know, a sheep doesn't fall into a pit because they want to try that out. They fall into a pit because they were tricked or trapped. They fell into it by accident. Do you agree with that? No one just walks into a pit and falls and says, "Let's see if this feels good afterwards." So they come to my office many times. They send appointments. They come to my office. We talk. And a lot of times they confess to falling into a trap, being deceived and falling into a trap. Let me give you one example. This is something that happens in our culture quite often. Women and women fall into an adulterous affair. They find another person that they think will make them happy. Do you know that the act of adultery did not happen when another person came into their life? Do you know when the act of adultery starts with a thought? And here's the thought, the lie, the trick of the enemy. The lie that the enemy tells you that you believe, you think it's truth, so you begin to believe it. Here's the thought that he plants in your mind. I would be really, really happy with another person. Boy, if I could have married someone like that, I would be much happier right now. Now, that thought comes to every one of us. And don't shake your head at me like you've never had that thought. You've ever argued with your husband or your wife, the first thought that comes to you is, if they were different, I would be happier. Come on, shake your head at me. I've had that thought. I've had the thought that when I argue with Pam, when we've had strong discussions. That the enemy comes to me and says, if Pam were different, you would be a lot happier, Brady. If she were like this, you would be happier. You know what I do to that thought? I capture that thought, and I beat the stew out of it. And I say, you obey Christ, or you have to leave. Normally it says, I'm not obeying Christ, so I'm leaving. That thought's a lie. Now, I don't think the enemy is patient because patience is a gift of the spirit. So I don't think the devil is patient, but he is very strategic. Now, I'm 39 years old. The devil has seen guys like Brady Boy come and go for thousands of years. He knows how I'm made up. He has defeated God a lot better than me. And he knows the weaknesses that I have. He sees my strengths. He can't see my future, but he can sure see the horizon. And he is very strategic with my life. Here's what he does. At 39, if I could get Brady to believe that lie at 39, maybe at 49, or even at 59, when he's really just about to step into the fullness of his spiritual destiny, I will play the trump card on him. Because he has all the time he needs right now. But the key, the first step to giving him that trump card, by the way, I'm the one that would give him the trump card by believing the lie. 2,000 years ago, Jesus defeated death hell in the grave and got authority over Satan on my behalf. And so the only authority that Satan has now in my life is the permission or the authority that I have given him by believing some of his lies. And so if at 39 years old, I believe that lie. Man, someone else that acts like that probably would make me happy. 10 years go by. I still believe the lie. But I'm fighting. I'm still fighting a good fight. But I believe the lie. 59 years old. Suddenly, I've bought into it. But now see, if you believe a thought, it then becomes a part of your belief system. And eventually, you will act on your beliefs. But all of the actions that you're doing today started with a thought that became a belief which turn into actions which turn into habits. You understand, that's the process that the enemy takes us through. But it all starts with a thought that maybe someone else will make you happy. Now, I want to tell you something today. There is a way out. Take the thought captive. So I'm praying this weekend. I'm standing before you. And I said, "Lord, I don't want to stand in front of those people up there on that stage and tell them not to be deceived if I'm deceived." Because remember, I don't know if I'm deceived unless I'm deceived. If I'm deceived, then I don't know it. I think all of you are wrong and I'm right. So Lord, what's the way of escape? I'm trying to take all the thoughts captive. But Lord, have I believed a lie somewhere in my life? Is there something that I've believed that's not of you? And then I'll wait patiently for the Holy Spirit to come and speak to me. Well, what happens then if the Holy Spirit speaks to you, but you can't hear him? Well, he gives us a written word. So Lord, if I can't hear your spirit, then obviously I want to go to your word. In fact, I want to go to your word first. And I want to read your word. Do you know that a lot of deceived people are daily Bible readers though? You can read the Bible every day and still be deceived. And so Lord, if I can't get free by reading your word or by hearing your spirit, Lord, here's the next thing I want to happen. I want you to line up several thousand people in front of me and on a daily basis, I want someone to tell me the truth. Lord, whatever it takes, in other words, I don't want to believe a lie and live a life of deception. And all of us have to get into the habit of asking God that question. Lord, am I deceived? Have I believed a lie? And if I've believed some lie, if I've not taken all my thoughts captive and made them obey Christ, Lord, would you send your Holy Spirit? Lord, would your word come alive to me? And Lord, would you line up hundreds if not thousands of people to tell me the truth? Because Lord, my goal is not to be deceived. You understand, that's the way out. That's the only way out. But it is a battle worth fighting. By the way, if you believe a lie, you walk down that road, disaster is in front of you. And so in Revelation 19, that's how every person gets to that place in Revelation 19. They believe the thought which turned to a belief, which became an action, which became a habit. The good news is, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. And Jesus is true and faithful. If He speaks, it is true. Jesus is also faithful. And I want you to turn to Romans chapter 4, and I'm going to share a story with you this morning. Pam and I were married in August of 1989, August of 12, 1989. I gave the wrong date last night because her birthday is on August the 6th, and I said it like three times, and she was sitting right there. She was smiling the whole time, smiling. So as soon as I get in behind stage, my phone rings, she says, "Brady, it's August 12th." My birthday is on August 6th. You see, I'm just conditioned. I buy something expensive on August 6th, and I buy something expensive on August 12th. That's not fair. August 12th, I know, is her at our anniversary. (Laughter) Come on, guys. You all know what I'm talking about. It's her anniversary. (Laughter) I'm grateful. Well, so August 12th, 1989, we were 12 years old when we got married. We were married 17 years in August. This August will be married 17 years. And so we had this idealistic goal. We're going to be married a couple of years, and then we're going to start having children. We want a house full of children. So we were married two years, and then we began trying to have children. Only to discover that we could not have kids. So we went to doctors who sent us to specialists, who sent us to really expensive specialists, who sent us to even more expensive specialists. Have you noticed that every referral gets more expensive? And so at some point, after we'd run out of our money, we're in our mid-20s, we didn't have any money. We ran out of money. Every specialist we'd gone to told us the same thing. It will be a miracle of God if you have children. Physically, neither one of you can have children. You're not going to have children together. So we're devastated. We're just totally devastated by that news. I mean, we didn't want to go to church on Mother's Day. We didn't want to go to church on Father's Day. All of our friends are in their mid-20s, late-20s, and they're having children. They walk by each other and get pregnant. That's the way it goes. We've been to the hospital. We go see all their kids. We go to all their birthday parties, but we don't have children. And that's a heartache. It's painful. And the Lord took us to Romans chapter 4 and gave us this promise, as the Lord directed us to this Scripture. And we began to read this Scripture together, pray about this Scripture together, and believe that this Scripture was for us. Romans chapter 4 verse 18 says, "When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, comma, Abraham believed him." Now, there wasn't a long stretch of time between God promising Abraham something and Abraham believing, in my opinion. Immediately, Abraham believed the promises of the Lord. God had also said your descendants will be as numerous as the stars, even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible. And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of 100. And I said, "Lord, I don't want to be a hundred." And Sarah, his wife had never been able to have children. Verse 20 is really key. "And Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger. And in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. And because of Abraham's faith, God declared him to be righteous." Now, when I read that Scripture, I said, "Lord, I'm believing that that's for me. That Pam and I are going to have children. We will have children." So, Lord, I'm even going to be more specific. I want a little girl with red curly hair and blue eyes. And I begin to pray that way. Pam and I begin to pray like that as a couple. For two years, we prayed just by ourselves. We may have told a couple of friends, one morning our phone rang real early. You know, when you get a phone call early in the morning, it's not normally good news. Well, this was good news. My friend, he said, "Listen, I've been up all night. I had a dream. I woke up after the dream and I've not been able to go back to sleep. And here's the dream I had. I saw you playing in the backyard with a little girl. She had blue eyes and red curly hair." Have you been praying for that, Brady? Only for about two years. I had not told him this. But the Lord then, not only had you given me a scripture that we would have kids, now the Lord gives me a very specific confirmation. You're going to have a little girl with red curly hair and blue eyes. And so, we begin to pray. We begin to ask God, Lord, I believe Romans chapter 4, and I'm not going to waver in unbelief regarding your promises. And Lord, you know my heart. I want a little girl with red hair and blue eyes with curls. So in October of 1998, we had a son with green eyes, dark hair and dark skin. And we were thrilled. It was a miracle. At some point, I'm telling you, the way that happened is the most miraculous. I've never heard a story similar to it. It was a miracle how this happened. We had a son, and it was unbelievable. We were thrilled to death, not disappointed at all. In fact, we were so thrilled. We named him Abram after this promise in Romans chapter 4. Because that was Abraham's name when he was little. So we named him Abram. And we were thrilled. We said, "Lord, if this is the only child you'd give us, then we'd just trust you." But you know, honestly, six months later, I said, "Lord, no, I'm grateful for Abram. He's my little buddy." But Lord, I'm born a little girl with red curly hair and blue eyes. And for two more years, I prayed that not being disappointed with Abram because I wasn't. But knowing if there was something else that God wanted to give me. And so in November of 2000, November 17, the Lord gave me a little girl with red curly hair and blue eyes. Isn't she beautiful? Her name is Callie, and every time I play soccer with her in the backyard, that's her little soccer outfit. I'm her soccer coach, and I'm the best soccer coach for five-year-olds in color. I've got the best player. Every time I play with her in the backyard, I remember my friend's dream. I see you playing in the backyard with a little girl. She's got red curly hair and blue eyes. And here's the reason I'm telling you that story today. It's not because I'm trying to work in pictures of my family into the message. Next week, I have vacation photos. Bring a friend. The reason I'm telling you that is because I won't hope to come alive in your heart again for whatever you believe God has spoken to you. And for years and years, we prayed a specific prayer. And the Lord confirmed us in just one time. The Lord only gave us one confirmation that he had even heard our prayers. But that's all I needed. Maybe you've gotten confirmation after confirmation. Maybe you've gotten, you know God has spoken to you about something. But it hasn't happened yet in your life. And maybe you have gone through a long string of disappointments where you thought you heard God say something, only to realize that it wouldn't happen. And listen, I understand that as well. I thought that I heard the Lord say your dad's going to be healed of cancer. Well, he died of cancer. And so I've had to wrestle with that issue. I understand disappointment as well as anyone right now. I understand disappointment. But here's what I understand more. He is faithful and true. And when he speaks, it is true. And when he promises, it will happen. And I want you to stand this morning and I want you to prepare your heart to receive ministry. I left plenty of time at the end of this message because I want to pray for you today. In the next few minutes, I'm asking God to do something very powerful. In the next few minutes, I'm asking God, in every person's heart in this room, I want you to believe the promises that the Lord's made you one more time. Maybe you're here today to save Brady. I just can't believe that anymore. I believe God spoke, but it's just been too long. I want you to remember that he's faithful and true. I want you to just close your eyes for a minute and I want you to ask the Lord, ask him one more time, asking. Lord, I believe you have promised me this. Lord, I'm asking you for it one more time. Lord, I believe that you are faithful and true to your promises. That when you speak, it is true and when you promise, it will happen. And in just a moment, I'm going to call for all of our altar ministry team and I need every one of you to come forward this morning. We've had lots of people come forward for prayer and there's lots of ways that we want to pray for you this morning. I especially want to pray for every couple here this morning. I want our altar ministry team to pray for every couple. I know it's a very private thing. If you're going through problems with having children, listen, I have an anointing to pray for you over that area. I can believe God with you for that. But maybe you're here today and you're sick. You've been diagnosed with something and you believe God has promised to heal your body. And yet it has not happened. If he promises something, it will happen. If he speaks, it is true. And we want to pray for you one more time because I won't hope to rise up in your heart. I want the Holy Spirit to make a great deposit of faith and hope in your heart this morning. And I want you to walk out of here believing and trusting that he is faithful and true to what he says. That his promises are yes and amen. Do you agree with that this morning? I want our altar ministry team to come forward right now and then I'm going to pray for you. All the altar ministry team, I need all of you to come be prepared to minister. And right where you are this morning, would you just agree with the Holy Spirit with whatever he's saying into your life? If you need prayer for healing, you can come right now because we're about to pray and I'm believing. I had a man come to me this morning and he said, "My daughter has scoliosis and I know God has promised to heal her." And he gave me a very specific promise that he felt like God had given her, him for her. She's 23 years old, she's had it most of her life. And I just agreed with him one more time for that promise that God had given him to come to pass. So whatever you're believing for this morning, I want to pray for you right now. And then when I pray it, if you need ministry for anything, if you need God to restore hope in your heart, I want you to come this morning and receive ministry. Would you do that? Let me pray for you one more time. And when I pray, you come forward. If you want to come right now, come right now and let us pray for you. I want to pray for you that God would bring hope back to every one of you. Lord Jesus, we thank you this morning. Lord, above all else, we know that you are faithful and true. Lord, above all things, we know this morning that you are faithful and true, that when you speak, it is true. And when you promise, it will happen. So Lord Jesus, we ask right now that you would come, Lord, that you would heal our bodies. Lord, that you would come, Lord, that your will would be done on the earth as it's already done in heaven. Lord, we remind you of the promises that you've made. And Lord, it's not that you have forgotten, but Lord, we need hope this morning. We need faith this morning. We need to believe again that your promises are for us today right now. And we receive it in Jesus' name. And thank you Lord, thank you Lord that you are faithful and true. In Jesus' name, amen.