Rev 1:3, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. 
	As with every time a message or a series of messages is given to the church in the name of the Lord, it must be with intense prayer, seeking, fear, and trembling. No one should ever present the Word of God before anyone without intense deliberation into that which pleases Him and is fully in line with His Word and Heart and Plan and Purpose. For many, many months, we have been keeping in prayer that which would please God in this fellowship. We do not want to be complacent in our Christian walk. We do not want to take the things of God and what He does and Who He is for granted. There must be a diligent earnestness in our walk with Him, individually and corporately. In that prayerful desire, we come to the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 
	I must confess that it is with an immense sense of fear and trepidation that I have given myself over to the study of this Book. There is something about this apocalyptic book, or book of prophecy, that has put me off to this point. It is unique within the New Testament as its only prophetic book. There are seemingly endless commentaries and other books written based on the writings of the end times in the Book of Revelation. Many people have given their interpretations as to the prophecies recorded by John. There are even numerous writings in argument about who this John was, ranging from the more accepted Apostle John, to some other wise elder of the church named John, to a person who wrote down what they remembered being spoken by a man named John. 
	I do not propose to try to interpret or to put a spin of my understanding of what is before us in this last book of scripture. Rather, my heart is simply to read the Word together as fellow Christians, as the gathered body of Christ, and to spend our time in this Book, with whatever the Lord deems fit to reveal to us. Some of it may be prophetic, as He chooses to address us. Some of it may be very basic truth, review of the very tenets of our Christian beliefs. Some of it may not even be directly connected to the passages of our reading, but following a direction in which He decides to take us. I do feel that we will be covering the effective prayer of the church, at least in the beginning chapters of Revelation. We will count on the Lord, as always, for His guidance and direction.  
	Initially, we will spend this week and the next time I am before you in our introductory remarks and considerations of this book with particular regard to this passage before us. Its message pertains to our every contemplation of scripture and it is a vital truth that must be instilled into our minds and hearts whenever we read the Word of God and reflect on what He has to say to us. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. 
	There are three major areas into which we will delve, Lord willing with regard to this introduction. They will be under the broad category of the blessings that are promised to those who read, hear, and obey the Word of God. This is such an important reality that it is at the very beginning of this Book of the Revelation. It is therefore a most appropriate manner in which to start to seek God for His plan and purpose in our corporate concern and reading of His Word.  
	The first aspect deals with the blessing of reading the Word of God. Throughout history, from the giving of the Commandments to Moses, onward, the Lord has blessed His people with His Word. He has given us instruction, admonition, lessons of reality, truth, letters of His love, accounts of His faithfulness, revelations of His plan and purpose, and so much else in the life that He has instilled into His instruction manual for our lives on this earth. It is living and powerful as we are told in Heb 4:12. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 
	As we learn to read it and to obey Him as He directs us by His Spirit, through His living Word, we begin to treasure it beyond any value of this earth. It blesses us with the truth and reality of God’s so great love for us. The key, however, is that we need to read it. We cannot just assimilate it by having a copy of the Bible in our homes. It is not enough just to be told about what it says. There is a required reading that must de done, where we pick up the Word and we open its pages and we spend time with actually reading the books, chapters, and verses. It needs to be done with the prayer that the Holy Spirit will minister that which He determines for our lives. It must be with the reverential consideration that we are reading the very Word of God given to fulfill His purposes. 
To truly read the Word takes commitment and determination. It takes pondering and prayer. It takes effort and struggle. We will often read it, following the prescribed layout of the Word, book by book. Sometimes, we will be led to read other passages that become linked together in our hearts for a fuller picture to develop and to deepen our understanding. Yes, we can read it casually as it tells us stories, but it is truly meant to be read for the understanding of the heart of God, and that is never a casual thing. It is a vital and urgent priority. We should be reading it in our personal time and we should be reading it with our family. It should be a time of individual study and of corporate study. That is why we have chosen to read it together as the Body of Christ on a weekly basis, but it needs to be feasted upon daily as well.
	Consider the urging given to us in Josh 1:8+9. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." 
	The Psalmist knew the value of reading and meditating upon the Word of God as we see in Ps 19:7-11. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. 
	One of the great blessings of reading the Word was detailed for us by Our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt 7:24-27. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall." 
How can we face the trials and the tribulations that will come our way if we do not have a solid foundation built upon His Word? Clichés are easy to banter around, but they do very little in the face of the tremendous gale force winds and storms of this life. It is in the midst of the fiery ordeals and sufferings that the Holy Spirit is free to comfort us with His Word of truth. He brings back to mind those things that we have read and studied. He faithfully encourages us with His truth and power as evidenced in His Living Word. But, if we have never read them, if we have never studied them, if we have never eaten His Word for our nourishment, we do not have a basis of understanding that which will sustain us.
	Another of the great blessings that we receive in reading the Word is the reality that we are no longer under the curse of sin and death. John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Judgment is no longer our destiny. We are now partakers of eternal life. As such, we are alive forevermore in Christ. The Word of God gives us the promises and the details of the life that we now have and it shows us the blessings of that life in Christ Jesus. All of eternity will be insufficient to detail every aspect of who we now are in Him, but His Word sets us on the course of that knowledge and opens the doors of the understanding of our hearts and minds into the fullness of Christ. That is a living blessing that fills our every waking moment, if we set our hearts and minds and souls on that course. 
	As well, a further blessing of reading His Word is detailed in John 8:31+32. Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." To know the truth means that we have to read and to study the truth. As we do so, we find out that there is a tremendous freedom that is ours in Jesus Christ. We are freed from sin and death, as we have mentioned. We are freed from the judgment that is to come. We are freed from the restraints and the cares of this world. We are freed from the confinements of the Levitical laws and ordinances. We are freed from the prison of guilt and anguish. We are freed from the emotional terrors that can rule our thoughts and rob us of sleep. We can know the truth and live in the freedom of it for all the eternal ages to come. 
	As we read in this morning’s passage, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. This tells us that not only are we to read the Word, but we are to hear the Word. This is another aspect of the value that God places on the gathering of the saints and the sharing of the Word. Too often we do not listen when God speaks to us. Yes, He speaks to us in our diligent reading of His Word. He also speaks to us in the counseling that He provides through His teachers and ministers. He speaks to us in the preaching of the Word as it is delivered prayerfully before Him. He speaks to us in the actions and lives of others, their testimony of the work of love that He is. The key is that we need to listen and to hear His Word.
	Hab 2:20 "But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him." This passage gives us one aspect, as we have considered, of the true hearing of the Word of God. It is a matter of our silence before Him. In order to have anointed hearing, which is a complete matter of prayerful seeking after the Word of God, we need to be silent in our selves before Him. We need to set aside our arguments and our thoughts of what should be said and just listen with hearts that desire nothing less than to hear.
	As the writer of the Proverbs states in Prov 8:32-35, "Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways. "Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it. "Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts. "For he who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord. It requires an active listening on our part to hear what God has to say to us. Notice the watching, the heeding, the waiting, the not neglecting, and the listening. Our ears need to be attuned to hear and to listen, not giving ourselves over to that selective hearing which we so often learn to effectively practice. Many times, the Lord speaks things that we do not want to hear, that we do not want to have to obey. He tells us truths that we would rather never have heard because we know the road that will be required of us. Therefore, we stop our ears, like the Israelites of old, not wanting to hear the Word of God as He speaks to us.
	Prov 15:31-33 He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof Will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility. One of the blessings of hearing the Word is the wisdom of the Lord. He reveals Himself and His heart to us and we become partakers of His blessing of wisdom. In Him, in hearing His Word, we receive instruction for the life that we are to live and we begin to understand how all things work together for good in our lives because of His great Love with which He has loved us. That is wisdom that sustains us through the hard times and enables us to encourage others going through those times of difficulty and strife.
Eccl 5:1+2 Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few. When we gather together, our hearts should be to listen, to hear what the Lord has to say to us. Sometimes it might be a whole message or a portion of a message. Sometimes, it might be but one word that strikes to the very core of our heart’s anguish and struggle. If we do not come prepared to listen, prepared to hear what the Lord has to say to us, we will often leave unfulfilled and unfed. It is not that the Word was not delivered, even if it were in a less than dynamic manner. It will be our fault for not coming into His presence with hearts that wanted to hear what He wanted to tell us. 
Notice the parable that Jesus gave concerning those who heard the Word of God. They all received the same seed, the same Word of God. But some were prepared to receive, to hear it, and others were not. Luke 8:11-18 "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. "And those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved. "And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. "And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. "And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. "Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, in order that those who come in may see the light. "For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. "Therefore take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him shall more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." 
… Therefore take care how you listen… Let it be our earnest desire and heart that as we gather together to read this Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, that every time we are gathered together to hear the Word preached, we are prepared, we are taking care to listen in order to hear that which the Holy Spirit has to say to us. So be it! 
Next time, Lord willing, we will continue with our introduction, hearing and obeying the Word that is given to us by God.
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Rev 1:4b-6. Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.