You Have Received Power to Be a Witness, Not a Lawyer // Revelation 11

REVELATION IS NOT A SCARY BOOK…IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER…CHRIST REVEALS TO US WHO HE IS…IN ALL OF HIS GLORY…HE REVEALS TO US HOW IT ALL ENDS…AND WE WIN! IT WAS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH TO BE AN ENCOURAGEMENT Acts 1:8-11 ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." YOU HAVE RECEIVED POWER TO BE A WITNESS, NOT A LAWYER…AND YOUR SOLE PURPOSE FOR EXISTENCE IS TO BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST TO BRING GOD GLORY CHRIST MARKS AND MEASURES HIS WITNESSES Revelation 11:1-2 ESV Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, [2] but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. CHRIST GIVES HIS WITNESSES POWER TO PREACH Revelation 11:3-4 ESV And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." [4] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. CHRIST GIVES HIS WITNESSES PROTECTION TO FULFILL THEIR PURPOSE Revelation 11:5-6 ESV And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. [6] They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. CHRIST GETS TO USE HIS WITNESSES IN ANY WAY THAT HE CHOOSES…BUT IT IS ALWAYS FOR HIS GLORY Revelation 11:7-14 ESV And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, [8] and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. [9] For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, [10] and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. [11] But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. [12] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. [13] And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. [14] The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. YOU HAVE RECEIVED POWER TO BE A WITNESS, NOT A LAWYER…AND YOUR SOLE PURPOSE FOR EXISTENCE IS TO BECOME MORE LIKE CHRIST TO BRING GOD GLORY