Recorded November 24, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FM Good morning

and welcome to Champions in Christ. We're so

glad you joined us today This is the day the

Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad

in it Hallelujah. This is a wonderful week. We're

leading up to Thanksgiving, but every day should

be a day of Thanksgiving. We have so much to

be thankful for. And you say, well, I don't really

have anything to be thankful for. Are you breathing

today? Yes, indeed. Are you above and not beneath?

Yes, you are. Hallelujah. Do you have a roof

over your head or food in your belly? Are you

is your body strong today? Well, guess what?

We can always find something to be thankful for.

There's so, so many things. Do you live in the

United States? Yes, that's something to be very

thankful for. If you've ever been to a foreign

country, you come back, you hear a military say

many times when they go to a third world country

or some of the other foreign countries, they

come back and literally kiss the ground because

they're so thankful for America. Sometimes we

don't know what we have until we almost lose

it or until we visit someplace who does not have

what we have. And so today we're going to go

to the end of the book, right? Because in the

book of Revelation, there's so much to be thankful

for. And the book of Revelation was written by

John and the Apostle John. And he starts off

in chapter 1 verse 9, he says, I John, who also

am your brother and companion in trials in the

kingdom. patience of Jesus Christ was on the

aisle called Patmos for the word of the Lord

and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He had

been exiled to that aisle and it continues in

10 says I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day

and heard behind me a great voice and so this

revelation the whole book of Revelation is from

John and written from John it's what God had

shown him while he was in the spirit on the Lord's

Day. And so we're going to turn to Revelation

22. And Revelation 22, we're going to start in

verse 1. It says, And he showed me a pure river

of the water of life, clear and crystal, proceeding

out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. You

know the Bible. is so clear. It talks about the

rivers of life. This is talking about a river

of water of life. Back in the book of John, there's

a place where God begins to tell us that he that

believes on him, talking about Jesus, these are

his words, as the scripture has said, out of

his belly will flow rivers of living water. And

it said, but this he spoke of the Holy Spirit

which they believe on him should receive for

the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus

had not yet been glorified. So the life in this

river in Revelation 22 is the Holy Spirit. You

know, it may be literal water as well, but the

life that's in it, that's the Holy Spirit. And

that same life as we just read, we receive after

we get born again, if we ask. will be filled

with that and out of our belly will flow rivers

of living water. Why? Because we need the river

of life constantly flowing in us, flowing out

of us to other people. Excuse me. And verse two

says, in the midst of the street there was on

either side of the river, there was the tree

of life, which bore the 12 manner of fruits,

yielding her fruit every month. And the leaves

of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

You know, God's healing power is in that river

of life, which is the Holy Spirit. And that's

why we can believe God. You know, Jesus took

those stripes on his back. 39 of them that by

those stripes we were healed. We were already

healed back when he took them. We just have to

receive it. It's a part of our salvation. It's

a part of a benefit. It's a part of living in

the kingdom of God. It's a part of being in the

family of God. It's part of his provision. Wow,

what a thing to be thankful for. We have so much

to be thankful for. Verse three, and there shall

be no more curse, but the throne of God and of

the lamb, who's the lamb, the lamb of God is

Jesus Christ, shall be in it, and his servants

will worship him. You know, heaven is full of

worship. Sometimes people get uncomfortable in

worship. They're not sure how to or what to do

and really all worship is is loving on God for

who he is and for what he's done, for who he

is and what he's done. He's your heavenly father

and whether you had were raised by a father on

earth and whether it was a good or bad situation

doesn't change God's love for you as your heavenly

father and he loves you and will nurture you

will he correct you absolutely because he's a

loving dad and he says in his word he he corrects

those he loves and so he will definitely love

on us and correct us but the great thing is is

this is another thing in God you know we will

worship him because he first loved us it says

in verse four and they shall see his face and

his name shall be in their foreheads so in our

foreheads when we get to heaven we will have

the name on our face and on our foreheads and

it says and there shall be no night there there's

no need of candle nor light of sun for the Lord

God gives light, and they shall reign forever

and forever. That's right, we will rule and reign

with Christ. And he said unto me, these sayings

are faithful and true, and the Lord God of holy

prophets sent his angels to show unto his servants

the things which must be done shortly. So he

is giving us all this exciting information that's

gonna happen. as john saw it right we are going

to rule and reign with christ what a thing to

be thankful for it doesn't end in this world

no way this world's just one dimension we're

going into another dimension the spiritual world

which that world is more real than this you are

a spirit you live in a body and you have a soul

your mind your will and your emotions this body

is just an earth suit that keeps you living and

moving in in earth helps you function in earth

but the life that's in you is your spirit and

when you get born again that spirit becomes new

glory to God and your old things are passed away

in verse 7 he says behold and this is Jesus talking

I come quickly that's right you know we look

at time time table and God's time table are a

little different but we are in the last minutes

of the last day of the Lord Jesus Christ and

that's why he says behold look and see I come

quickly blessed is he that keeps the sayings

of the prophecy of this book we are blessed when

we keep the word of God we are blessed when we

obey God we are blessed and you know there's

only two commandments where all the other commandments

hang off of or are included in. One is love the

Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul,

and strength. And the other is to love your neighbor

as yourself. When we do those things, we won't

make wrong choices. We won't come against God.

We won't defy his word. and again remember what

we just read blessed is he that keeps the sayings

of the prophecy of this book glory to god you

know he didn't just give us life to live on the

earth he gave us eternal life through his son

jesus christ that if we believe on him and receive

if we believe in our heart and confess with our

mouth jesus is lord repent of our sin we will

be born again hallelujah and then all this other

is just icing on the cake right we're going to

live in eternity and then he goes on to say and

i john saw these things and heard them and when

i heard and what i heard and seen i fell down

to worship at the feet of the angel which showed

me these things and then the angel said to me

do not do this for i am a fellow servant and

of your brother and the prophets and of them

which keep the sayings of this book worship God

only you know angels are not to be worshiped.

They also are servants of the Lord, and they

excel in strength and are obedient to the voice

of God, but we are not to worship them. And so

he said to me, seal not the sayings of the book

of this prophecy, for the time is at hand. And

he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He

that is filthy, let him be filthy still. And

he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.

And he that is holy. let him be holy still and

behold I come quickly and my reward is with me

to give every man according to his work will

be given so here the angel is saying you know

I'm sorry the Lord is saying that that let those

that are walking on godly continue to walk on

godly if they've denied Christ if they have not

chosen this free wonderful great gift that we

are so thankful for, then let it be so. But he

says, behold, I come quickly. If you are righteous,

it's because of him. It's because you've given

your life to Christ. We can't be righteous on

our own. No, the Bible says all have sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God. But you who

are righteous, you who have given your heart

to the Lord, that's That's who he's talking to.

We are going to get a reward. It's either going

to be a reward, one for evil, or it's going to

be a reward for good. You know, you can't earn

your way into heaven. It's a free gift, the Bible

says. Not of works least any man should boast.

but what we do with that gift when God gives

you the gift of salvation and it's all encompassing

with healing, deliverance, freedom, freedom where

the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. He

will set you free from what's hindering you,

what's tormenting you, but you know He gives

us instructions on how to receive it. So everything's

included. It's His reward. He goes on to say

in 13, I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning

and the end, the first and the last. Blessed

are they that do his commandments, for they have

the right to the tree of life. And we read about

the tree of life, right? It has the 12 manner

of fruits in it for the healing of the nations.

So we have a right to that and we can enter into

the gates. enter in through the gates into the

city, for outside of that are dogs, sorcerers,

whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, whosoever

loves these and makes a lie. All of these things,

these people who are walking this out and not

living for God, they are on the outside. They

will not enter in. It says right here, and an

idolater. An idolater is making anything else

of God that's not him. You can't serve God in

money. Money can't be your God. You can't serve

God and be homosexual. Homosexuality is idolatry.

It's worshiping the creation over the creator.

You can't put your family ahead of God. It's

becoming an idol. You can't put your business

ahead of God. That's idolatry. Anything we place

before the Lord. You know back in the day and

even today in other countries that don't know

of Christ and even some that do, they do worship

other gods. They worship you know mythology and

they worship statues and all of that goes on.

But our gods in America They're more of convenience.

You know, God wants us blessed, but he doesn't

want the blessings to have us. He doesn't want

our focus to be on that. He wants our focus to

be on him. In verse 16, he says, I, Jesus, have

sent my angel to testify unto you these things

in the churches. I am the root. and the offspring

of David and the bright and morning star that's

right God was in the offspring of David he was

down in the lineage and the spirit and the bride

say come the spirit he's talking about the Holy

Spirit here the bride that's the bride of Christ

that's the body of Christ that's the body of

believers around the world it's not singled out

to one denomination denominations were made by

man God never separated the body. We are all

one family of God and we say come Lord Jesus

let him that hears say come and let him that

is thirsty come and whosoever will. That's anybody.

Are you a whosoever? I am. Whosoever will, let

him take of the water of life freely. That's

right, again, the water of life is free. You

know, as soon as you pray, as soon as you press

into God, as soon as you begin to worship, you

feel his presence. Why? Because he lives in the

praises of his people. We have so much to be

thankful for, so much to be thankful for. And

we have to worship, we have to love on him, and

why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't I? He's been so

good and so gracious and so kind to us. Doesn't

mean our life is without trial or tribulation.

It's through the trial and tribulation that we

get a testimony. You can't have a testimony without

a test, and it's all to the glory of God. So

we have to come thirsty and hungry for the Spirit

of God. Verse 18, for I testify unto you, every

man that hears the words of the prophecy of this

book, if any man adds to these things, God will

add to him plagues that are written in this book.

And if any man takes away from the words of this

book, of this prophecy, God will take away his

part out of the book of life and out of the holy

city and from the things which are written in

this book. And he will testify of these things.

Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord

Jesus. You know, here he's giving us promises

for both those that add to the book and those

that take away. We are not to add or to take

away. If we add, those plagues can come upon

you. If you take away from this book, you know,

if maybe someone says, oh, you don't need Jesus

to go to heaven, that's taking away from the

Word of God. That's taking away from the Word

of God. You know, we don't want to add or take

away. We want to receive it and be blessed. We

want to receive it and be blessed. And again,

he says, surely I come quickly. You know, and

they go, oh, well, you know, Jesus hasn't come.

I heard about that when I was a kid and when

my grandmother, my great, great grandmother,

guess what? The only reason he hasn't come yet

is he's waiting. The Bible says for the precious

harvest to come in. You know, he doesn't want

any to perish, any, but if you don't receive

or if I don't receive him as my savior, your

church can't save us. My church can't save us.

My friends can't save me. No one's going to stand

before the Lord on that day. But you by yourself

me by myself will all be individuals before the

Lord actually will probably fall on our face

because of his greatness. We worship him. We

worship that grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He wants with all of us. May it be with all of

you. Why? Because His goodness, His goodness

and His grace, the goodness of God, if you look

back, you'll see it all through your life and

you say, well, I haven't had Christ in my life,

but His mercy, His mercy. His mercy is the one

that chose to let the Gentiles come in. Gentiles

or anyone that aren't Jewish. And guess what?

We've been grafted in through the blood of Jesus.

Hallelujah. We get to walk in the glory of God

here on earth. We get to participate in all that

he's doing. And we get to go to heaven when the

time comes, all because of his goodness and his

mercy. His goodness and his mercy shall follow

us all the days of our life. We will dwell in

the house of the Lord forever. Glory to God.

He said even so come Lord Jesus, you know, he

comes quickly and yet we say come why We want

to get up there. We want to rule and reign with

Christ. So let's get the job done here. Let's

share Jesus Share your testimony. You say I don't

have anything to share. I don't know the word

very well get in there and read it. And guess

what? Your testimony of how you got born again

is the greatest thing you can share with someone

because you're pouring into someone else what

someone poured into you. You know, how can they

hear unless there's a preacher? You know, unless

someone preaches the word of God and you preach

the word of God by your testimony, that's another

way to preach the word because you are living

testimony of his goodness. And so you go, I don't

know what to preach. You just tell people God

loves you and has a plan for your life. Let me

tell you what he did for me. And then you share

it. And then they'll want to receive it because

they see the goodness. They see the fruit. The

Bible says the people will know you by the fruit.

You know a tree by its fruit, right? Well, we're

going to go to a song, a couple of songs about

the goodness of God and thanking him. And I'll

come back. on the other side I know you're showing

me You are there when I am down For your mercy

never fails me All my days I've been held in

your hand From the moment that I wake Until I

lay my head. Oh, I will sing of the good You

are close like no other I'm known you as a the

goodness of God, the grace, the mercy, the love

of God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you.

A million times thanks. And wouldn't you want

to receive him as your savior during this time

of Thanksgiving? If so, just pray this prayer.

Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sin. I am a

sinner and I repent of my sin. I turn my back

on the world. And I right now receive this free

gift of salvation. I thank you for it, Lord.

I thank you that you are my Lord and my Savior,

because I believe in my heart and confess with

my mouth. In Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed

that prayer today, you can contact us at ChampionsInChrist3

at gmail .com. We'll send you a free Bible. We

want you to go out today, make it a great day.

Enjoy your friends, enjoy your family. Love on

someone today. Remember, God loves you, we love

you, and you are a champion in Christ.