The Missing Revelation

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the YouTube recording's caption track, read through the transcript panel — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

Because of the Times 2016 · The Pentecostals of Alexandria, Alexandria, LA Topics: Oneness of God · Holy Ghost · Faith

One God, said every way the Bible says it.

Williams opens with the Shema — hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord — expressly framed as the first of all commandments and the fountainhead of all truth, and then builds the case the way the Bible builds it: in chains. Isaiah's chain runs first, with Isaiah named mid-chain as the sayer: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me; I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God; I am the Lord, and there is none else. Then the New Testament chain, each book named as he voices it: Romans on the one God who justifies both circumcision and uncircumcision; Galatians on the mediator who is not a mediator of many, but God is one; Corinthians on there being no God but one, one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ; Ephesians on the one God and Father of all; Timothy on the one God and one mediator; James on the devils who also believe there is one God, and tremble. The movement closes with two prophet-named seals: Isaiah's song of salvation — God my salvation, Jehovah is my strength — and Zechariah's word that the Lord shall be king over all the earth, in that day one Lord and his name one.

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 44:8; Isaiah 45:5-6, 21-22; Romans 3:30; Galatians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; James 2:19; Isaiah 12:2; Zechariah 14:9

The Word made flesh.

The one God of the catena is then traced into the Gospel: John named as the Gospel's writer, the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, the Word made flesh dwelling among us, and the declaration that no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son has declared him. (Two of Jesus' own sayings in the exposition that follows — the oneness saying of John 10 and the Philip exchange of John 14 — are voiced without locators and are priced in the packet, not indexed here.)

Scriptures: John 1:1; John 1:14; John 1:18

The fullness dwelling in Christ.

The sermon's strongest chain is Paul's, with Paul expressly named as the writer: Christ the image of the invisible God, by whom all things were created and for whom, in whom all fullness was pleased to dwell — voiced verse by verse through Colossians 1 — and the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in him. Between that chain and its completion, Williams voices the risen Christ's station — gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers made subject to him — and his far-above-all-principality exaltation, before returning to Colossians for the warning against philosophy and vain deceit and the answer to it: in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him.

Scriptures: Colossians 1:15-19; Colossians 2:3; 1 Peter 3:22; Ephesians 1:21-23; Colossians 2:8-10

Made in his image.

Because the one God is Creator, man carries his stamp: the Creator's own words at the creation — let us make man in our image — and the generations-of-Adam summary, in the likeness of God made he him, male and female created he them. Around these two texts Williams fires the sermon's rapid identity catena — a "we are…" roll of who believers are in Christ, clause on clause. The clauses are list-woven fragments without locators, so by the packet's class ruling they are priced as a class and not indexed severally here; the two performed texts carry the movement.

Scriptures: Genesis 1:26; Genesis 5:1-2

Whose earth it is.

The temptation narration — the kingdoms of the world offered in a moment of time — is retold as narrative, and against every claim on this world Williams sets the psalmist's settled sentence, voiced entire: the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. A second rapid chain, of what believers have in Christ, runs in this movement and is priced as a class with the first, in the packet.

Scriptures: Psalm 24:1

Fear is the thief of revelation.

The sermon's long centre names the enemy. Fear is everywhere now — in the food and the air, in schoolyards and headlines, in panics that morph out of ubiquitous dreads — and it heads the Bible's last-page list of those who have their part in the lake: the fearful and the unbelieving lead that list. Against it Williams stacks the antidotes in chain form: perfect love casting out fear, voiced twice; the psalter's confession, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear; Isaiah's strengthening lines for feeble hands and weak knees — and the lame leaping and the tongue of the dumb singing when the ransomed return; the spirit God gave, which is not fear but power, love, and a sound mind; Isaiah's fear-not with its upholding right hand and its promise that those who wait on the enemy's ruin shall see it; the great and mighty things shown to those who call; the flood-lifting standard of Isaiah 59; the gathering of his sons and daughters from the ends of the earth; the valleys exalted and the glory of the Lord revealed, and the word that stands forever while the grass withers; Malachi's named seal, I am the Lord, I change not; and the Hebrew letter's unchanging Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, with God himself bearing witness by signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Ghost. (David's valley clause, named to David but voiced only at its middle, is priced in the packet against Malachi's opening predication, which ships.)

Scriptures: Revelation 21:8; 1 John 4:18; Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 35:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:7; Isaiah 41:10-12; Jeremiah 33:3; Isaiah 59:19; Isaiah 43:6; Isaiah 40:4-5; Isaiah 40:8; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; Hebrews 2:4

Ask, seek, command — the kingdom posture.

Out of the fear chain the sermon turns aggressive: Isaiah's invitation to ask and command concerning the works of God's hands, voiced at full extent and argued; the eye-has-not-seen passage with its turn — but God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit; Zechariah's not-by-might saying, the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel; and the Bible's own summary of the first preaching age, the Lord working with them and the word confirmed. (The rock-and-keys saying of Matthew 16, expressly attributed to Christ in this movement, is priced with its family in the packet, its long interlock stated there.)

Scriptures: Isaiah 45:11; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10; Zechariah 4:6; Mark 16:20

The missing revelation, recovered.

The close returns to creation — the Spirit moving on the face of the waters and the first let-there-be — and then to the catalogue of what the revealed Christ did: miracles retold as narration, wonder on wonder, until Williams lands on the sermon's real subject. What is missing tonight, he says, is not information; it is revelation — Christ revealed in the believer, the thing the eyewitnesses had. He ends where Peter ended at the Beautiful Gate, with Peter named as the sayer and the words performed: silver and gold have I none, but such as I have — and the upload closes on his prayer appeal that this house receive the same revelation, here and now, tonight.

Summary scripture index (the exact union of the sections above): Deuteronomy 6:4 · Isaiah 43:10-11 · Isaiah 44:6 · Isaiah 44:8 · Isaiah 45:5-6, 21-22 · Romans 3:30 · Galatians 3:20 · 1 Corinthians 8:4, 6 · Ephesians 4:6 · 1 Timothy 2:5 · James 2:19 · Isaiah 12:2 · Zechariah 14:9 · John 1:1 · John 1:14 · John 1:18 · Colossians 1:15-19 · Colossians 2:3 · 1 Peter 3:22 · Ephesians 1:21-23 · Colossians 2:8-10 · Genesis 1:26 · Genesis 5:1-2 · Psalm 24:1 · Revelation 21:8 · 1 John 4:18 · Psalm 27:1 · Isaiah 35:3-6 · 2 Timothy 1:7 · Isaiah 41:10-12 · Jeremiah 33:3 · Isaiah 59:19 · Isaiah 43:6 · Isaiah 40:4-5 · Isaiah 40:8 · Malachi 3:6 · Hebrews 13:8 · Hebrews 2:4 · Isaiah 45:11 · 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 · Zechariah 4:6 · Mark 16:20 · Genesis 1:2-3 · Acts 3:6

Scriptures: Genesis 1:2-3; Acts 3:6