Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide (NASB and ESV) Jesus’ Message to the Church (Revelation 1–3) i Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide (NASB and ESV) © 2004, 2008, 2013, 2016 Precept Ministries International Published by Precept Ministries of Reach Out, Inc. Chattanooga, Tennessee 37422 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible® © The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. www.lockman.org Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 4th Edition (2/2016) ii USING LEADER GUIDES Leader Guides are intended for you, the leader, to guide your Precept Upon Precept® and In & Out® discussions. They are designed to help you reason through the content of the lessons and to ensure you have understood what your group should have learned from their study. The guides offer effective plans for leading discussions. The Holy Spirit is your guide as you prepare. He is the one who knows what your group needs to apply to their lives. Pray for them as they study and for yourself as you prepare to lead the discussion. These guides can be used for either the NASB or the ESV edition of the courses. ESV words follow the NASB after a slash / or are set off with parentheses. Leader Guides include the following: • Lesson emphasis • A logical order for the discussion • Discussion questions • Suggested visual aid(s) Practical tips for using the Leader Guide: • Don’t simply “do” the lesson. Stay with the lesson until you have a good understanding of it. This will give you a better grasp of how the Leader Guide takes you through the lesson. • You don’t have to ask every question in the guide. Often one question will be covered while discussing another question so there is no reason to ask it. Your goal is not to ask every question, but to ask enough questions to make sure your group understood the lesson and to help them apply the truths to their lives. Using the Leader Guide with In & Out When your entire group uses In & Out Compare an In & Out lesson with the Leader Guide. Use what relates to the In & Out lesson as a guide for the discussion. Don’t teach what’s not in In & Out lessons. Remember your goal in the discussion is for your group to discuss what they’ve learned, not for you to lecture on what you learned. For groups studying both Precept Upon Precept and In & Out Use the Leader Guides as designed for PUP, knowing that the In & Out assignments will be covered in the discussion. Make a note in the Leader Guide of what is not in the In & Out. iii PRINTED L ESSONS PDF PAGE NO. PAGE NO. 1 LESSON ONE: Overview of Revelation 1–5 5 7 LESSON TWO: Revelation 1 11 13 LESSON THREE: Ephesus 17 19 LESSON FOUR: Smyrna 23 25 LESSON FIVE: Pergamum 29 31 LESSON SIX: Thyatira 35 37 LESSON SEVEN: Sardis 41 45 LESSON EIGHT: Philadelphia 49 51 LESSON NINE: Laodicea 55 57 LESSON TEN: Overcomers 61 To locate a particular lesson in the pdf, click on in the grey bar on the left side of the window. Bookmarks will appear for each of the lessons. Select the lesson you need. iv 2016 Precept Ministries International Jesus’ Message to the Church Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide Lesson 1, Overview REVELATION, PART 1 LEADER GUIDE Lesson 1 Lesson emphasis: • Overview of Revelation 1–5 To begin this discussion, you might ask your group if there was anything in Revelation 1–5 or 22 which caught their attention. Give a few minutes for them to share. Tell them to look at their “Revelation 1–5 at a Glance” chart to use as a visual aid for this discussion. REVELATION 1 Ask your group what this chapter is about. What did they note as the theme of this chapter on the At a Glance chart? They probably put something like: Revelation given to John; he was told to write, saw Jesus What was the chain of communication in verse 1? What was communicated? You might draw a diagram using arrows from one down to the other as a visual aid. God gave to Jesus ↓ Jesus gave to an angel ↓ Angel gave to John the Revelation to write ↓ To the seven churches in Asia The revelation is to show to Jesus’ servants, believers, the things which must soon take place. That’s why it was written, and that’s also what it’s about. What kind of writing is this, according to verse 3? It’s prophecy. What does it say about the one who reads this? Blessed is the one who reads (ESV—reads aloud), hears and heeds / keeps what is written in this prophecy. 1 Jesus’ Message to the Church 2016 Precept Ministries International Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide Lesson 1, Overview The time for these things to take place is near. What does Revelation 22 say about this prophecy? Verses 6-7 emphasize this is prophecy from the God of the spirits of the prophets. God sent this prophecy to show His servants the things which will soon take place. The one who heeds this prophecy is blessed. These are almost the same statements as in chapter 1. Verses 8-10 are about John. He heard and saw what he was told to write in this prophecy book. Again it says the time is near. Verses 18-19 contain warnings about adding to or taking away from the words in this prophecy book. You might ask your group if they get complacent about the nearness of this fulfillment. Ask what they think about the blessing attached to reading, hearing, and heeding / keeping this prophecy. Give them time to discuss how all of this relates to them. Lead your discussion back to Revelation 1. NOTE: You might tell your group the next lesson will thoroughly cover this chapter. They’ll do more study on Revelation 1. So, don’t ask about all the details in this chapter or you will lose your time for the rest of this discussion. What else does this chapter say about John writing the Revelation? John was on an island named Patmos because of God’s word and Jesus’ testimony. It seems from the immediate context that he was there because of persecution against the gospel. John was persevering / enduring in tribulation. There was persecution at the time he wrote this revelation. A voice told him to write what he saw and send it to the seven churches which are named in verse 11. He saw Jesus in the middle of these seven churches. There is a map in the Appendix of the Precept Upon Precept workbook which will be helpful for your group to look at as they discuss the places mentioned in Revelation 1–5. What specifically was John told to write? The things which you have seen John saw the vision of Jesus in chapter 1. He was worshiping the Lord—he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. Then he heard a voice and saw Jesus Himself in the midst of 7 lampstands. This description of Jesus is awesome and will be studied more in Lesson 2. 2 2016 Precept Ministries International Jesus’ Message to the Church Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide Lesson 1, Overview The things which are The things which will take place after these things (ESV—after this) REVELATION 2 What is this chapter about? Ask what your group put as the chapter theme on their At a Glance chart. Something like: Write to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira How does this chapter relate to the first? These are four of the seven churches in Asia at the time John was told to write to them. This chapter contains the messages from the Lord Jesus to those churches. Ask your group if they think these messages are relevant for churches now. Give time for them to briefly discuss this. REVELATION 3 What is a possible chapter theme for Revelation 3? Write to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea What is a repeated statement in chapters 2 and 3? “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Ask your group if they have an ear to hear. REVELATION 4 How does this chapter begin? Compare verse 1 with Revelation 1:19. After being told what to write to the seven churches, John saw and heard from heaven. The voice said John would be shown what must take place after these things. This is the same terminology as in Revelation 1:19. 1:19 gives the main parts or segments of what John was to write in this Revelation What he saw—Jesus in the midst of the seven churches, Revelation 1 The things which are—the seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3 The things which take place after—Revelation 4–22 3 Jesus’ Message to the Church 2016 Precept Ministries International Revelation Part 1 Leader Guide Lesson 1, Overview NOTE: Be sure your group has the above information noted on their Revelation 1–5 at a Glance chart for the main segment divisions.