Introduction

Revelation 22:20-21 ESV  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  (21)  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

• Well guys, that’s it! WE HAVE FINALLY DONE IT! WE HAVE READ THROUGH ALL OF REVELATION.
  • If you have been with us from the very beginning, then you know that this special blessing is for you:

Revelation 1:3 ESV  Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

• I want some of that blessing! I read every word of this book out loud, every single word! Lord give me some of that blessing!
  • And if you were here, you stood and heard the words of Revelation, you get that blessing too!
  • “Father, we have honored your word, bless your people who have faithfully gone through the book of Revelation. Bless this church with knowledge, wisdom, and joy… and Father, while you are blessing, send down some blessings of healing and financial peace in Jesus name! Oh God, let CLC BE A BLESSED CHURCH!”
    • Y’all if you want that blessing, if you agree with that prayer, would you say amen?!
      • Come on, you want to be a blessed church, let me here an AMEN!
      • AMEN!!!!!!
        • That is what we are going to talk about today, we are going to talk about AMEN!

• Amen, the Last Word… When and Why we Say Amen

• And I titled this sermon “Amen, the Last Word” because it is literally the last word in the Bible, it is the last written word of God, the last word He breathed out as Scripture…

Revelation 22:20-21 ESV  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  (21)  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

• So scripture ends with Jesus reminding us once again “Surely I am coming soon” and John’s response which is “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”
  • We preached a sermon about Jesus coming soon just a couple of weeks ago, go find that on our website CedarRapidsChurch.com if you missed it and want to know what soon means…
  • After this, John addresses everyone reading this book of prophecy, that includes you and me… He writes to us in closing “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all”… and let me tell you, it is my greatest desire as a pastor that the Grace of the Lord would be with all of you, church…
    • It is why I preach the Gospel every Sunday and ask people to give their lives to Jesus and be born again…
      • Because the Grace of Jesus starts on the cross, the grace of Jesus Christ starts in your life when you accept the free gift of salvation, when you are born again, when you decide once and for all to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, and when He enters into you and makes you new.
      • That’s where His grace starts, but it is certainly not where it ends…
      • That’s one of the reasons we continue to come to church after we are saved…
        • We come to worship Him, to glorify Him, to hear His word preached, to apply it to our lives and change to be more like Him… but we also come to encounter His grace afresh…
          • Grace for healing, for forgiveness, for peace.
          • Grace for freedom, for redemption, for restoration.
          • Grace for encouragement, for joy, and even for energy.
          • Grace for today, grace for tomorrow, grace forevermore!
        • May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all! That’s what John says…
• And then, there it is, the last word in the whole Bible… “Amen”.
  • Now of course the word “amen” is found all over scripture… it is found two times in these final two verses…
  • In fact it is found in scripture 182 times!
    • It is clearly an important word, you have said it multiple times today already.
      • It is a common word for the Christian.
        • We say it when we listen to preaching…
        • We say it after we are done praying…
        • I say it often when I am preaching…
          • We say it daily, we say it often, and we say it repetitively…
• But do we know what it means?
  • And let me just be straight with you for a moment… let me spit some conviction… not condemnation, but conviction…
    • If you don’t know what it means… why are you saying it?
      • If you don’t know what amen means… why do you say it and say it so often?
    • “Well pastor I think I know what it means”
      • Yeah but you say it like you DEFINITLY know what it means…
  • And this is something that frustrates me as a pastor… so many Christians uses words they don’t know the meaning too…
    • Repentance, sin, righteousness, faith, even the word Lord is one I hear misused all the time…
      • And look, guys, it’s not hard to look these words up… or just shoot me a text and ask… but be honest with yourself, if I quizzed you on what these words mean, would you pass?
    • If I asked you point blank “What does the word amen mean?” would you have a biblical and true answer… or just something vague?
  • Well good news… we are going to answer that question right now! Pay attention for the next two minutes and you won’t have to guess what the word Amen means any more.

• Ok, so there it is… amen in Greek and the Hebrew… (*read fast*) it comes from Strong’s G281 and H543 and means “properly firm, that is, (figuratively) trustworthy; adverbially surely (often as interjection so be it): – amen, verily.”
  • Ok, I know that doesn’t mean a lot to most people… but that is what I am here for… a preachers job is not to reinvent what the Bible says… a preachers job is simply to make it plain! So let me make it plain…
  • Amen means one of three things depending on context…

• It either means “Let it be”, or “It shall be”, or “it is” (I was goanna right for the third one “It does be” but y’all ain’t street enough for that action…
  • But seriously, it really is that simple, it just has three meaning… let it be “Yes I want this to happen, let it be!”
  • Or “It will happen, it shall be, it is as good as done!”
  • Or “It is, it is done, it has happened, this is truth!”
• Now that we know what it means, let’s talk about when we should use it… there are two appropriate times to use the word Amen…
  • We should use it in agreement, and we should use it in faith
    • Again, we should use the word amen in agreement, and we should use the word amen in faith…
      • And that is two separate kinds of amens, often times they overlap, but they are still distinct, the amen of agreement and the amen of faith.
    • Let’s talk about these two things… point one this morning, the amen of Agreement…

Point One – The Amen of Agreement

Revelation 22:20-21 ESV  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  (21)  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

• Jesus says “Surely I am coming soon” and then John gives an amen of agreement.
  • This is a “Let it be” kind of amen…
    • Jesus says “I am coming soon” and John says “I agree! Come soon Jesus! I want you to come soon! I am with you on this! LET IT BE! COME SOON JESUS!”
  • Then John says “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all of you. Amen”
    • He is saying “Let it be! Let the grace of God be with you!”
      • If he didn’t agree with that statement he would not have said amen…
        • He is kind of Amening himself like pastor Mike… but you know, good enough for John, good enough for me Pastor Mike!
        • (Ok, that’s the only shot I will make about Pastor Mike in this whole sermon about amen! I promise! I poked fun at you too much last week… where is pastor Jared, I will pick on you instead…)
• You see, the only time you should be saying “Amen” to a prayer church, is when you agree.
  • If you disagree with their prayer, DO NOT SAY AMEN!
    • Unless you are a hypocritical crazy person… why would you say “I agree” with something you don’t agree with?
    • Why would you say “let it be” when you don’t want it to actually be? When you do want it to actually happen.
• There is an EPIDIMIC of Christians agreeing with things they don’t actually agree with… and you wonder why the world thinks we are stupid… because we do stupid stuff like this…
  • And it all comes down to vain repetition… doing things just to do them… saying amen after the prayer because that’s what we do…

Matthew 6:7 ESV  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

• Let me bring that verse to you in the King James, he has a little more fire in his translations sometimes:

Matthew 6:7 KJV  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

• Stop saying Amen just to say amen! You are not impressing God by using a word incorrectly… don’t say it just to say it and certainly don’t say it if you don’t mean it…
  • If you are praying with someone, and they are praying… listen to what they are praying and then decided if you agree… if you agree, say “Amen! Let it be father! I agree! Add my name to that prayer too Father! I want you to answer this prayer, AMEN! LET IT BE!”
  • But if you don’t agree, then don’t say amen! What do you think God is going to do with that amen that you are saying vainly?
    • Is God real? Is He alive? Is He listening to your prayers? Do words matter? YES YES YES YES!
• Eww… I am going to give it to you this morning… can y’all handle it?! Here it comes…

James 1:26 ESV  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

• Ahh… we gonna preach on this in a few months for sure… but for now, just think about this…
  • If you don’t control your tongue… your religion, your faith… it’s worthless…
    • If you are just saying amen to say amen… YOUR AMEN IS WORTHLESS…
• Now what about this… what do you do if you can’t hear or understand the person praying?
  • If you can not understand what the person is saying because they are praying in a different language, do not say “Amen”…
    •  you don’t know what they are saying so how could you possibly agree?
  • If you can’t hear the person because they are praying to quietly, don’t say amen… how can you agree with their prayer?
    • If you don’t understand the prayer request because it is too vague… don’t say amen, because you don’t know what they are praying… how can you agree?
    • “Well I just want to lift up my secret prayer request” well you can lift it up all you want, but I am not saying amen…
      • I knew a preacher who said amen to a woman’s secret prayer request for years, finally he asked her what she was praying for and she said “I am praying that your wife would die so I can marry you”. NOPE! Not saying amen to any secret prayer requests…
    • And listen, if they are praying in tongues, don’t say amen unless you have the gift of interpretation… because you can’t agree with something you don’t understand…
  • “But my spirit is jumping out of me to agree pastor” what, you think you are more spiritual then Paul?

1 Corinthians 14:15-17 ESV  What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.  (16)  Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?  (17)  For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.

• I think Christians would do a whole lot better practicing some holy silence more often so when we say Amen IT MEANS SOMETHING.
  • “But I don’t want to offend the other person pastor” I DON’T WANT TO OFFEND GOD!
    • Let man be offended but let God be proven true!
    • My prayers are holy, your prayers are holy, the one who answers our prayers are holy… I am not worried about offense when it comes to me lifting up thanksgiving and petition to my holy father… but I am concerned with keeping the prayers holy and true… so I am not going to muck it up with vain and hypocritical repetition.
  • Let us practice holy silence more often so when we say Amen IT MEANS SOMETHING.
    • So when you pray with others, just say enough for them to understand and agree… don’t preach in your prayers, don’t get long winded… God already knows what you need… it’s the others in the prayer circle who need to understand so they can decided to say amen or not”.
• Remember, Amen means one of three things…
  • Let it be.
  • It Shall Be.
  • It is.
• Use Amen as a prayer of agreement.
  • When someone prays and you agree with that prayer, you want God to answer that prayer…
    • Amen God, Let it be!
  • When someone is preaching, use an amen of agreement as well.
    • When they are preaching blessings over the church
      • Amen Pastor! I AGREE! LET IT BE!
    • When they are preaching fire from the prophetic words of Jesus:
      • Amen Pastor! I AGREE! IT SHALL BE!
    • When they are making the truth of scripture plain…
      • AMEN PASTOR! I AGREE! IT DO BE ! (Sorry, got street there) AMEN PASTOR, IT IS! WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS TRUE! I AGREE!!!!!!!
• That’s the amen of Agreement… start using it correctly and you will start seeing this one little word become very powerful!
  • And I want us all to be powerful prayer warriors!
  • And that brings us to point two… because powerful prayer warriors need to be praying in faith…
    • So point two is the amen of faith…

Point Two – The Amen of Faith

Revelation 22:20-21 ESV  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  (21)  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

• Point two is the amen of faith, it is really similar to the amen of agreement, we are just adding a little faith on top.
  • When John said Amen to Jesus’ “Surely I am coming soon” he was doing so in faith.
    • “Yes I know you are coming soon! Not only do I desire it, not only do I agree with it, but I KNOW IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!”
    • Jesus is coming soon “AMEN! IT SHALL BE! I KNOW IT SHALL BE! AMEN!”
  • And then there is that last word in the Bible… Amen…
    • I wonder if John was praying that in faith as well… not just about the grace of the Lord Jesus… but what if He is praying “Amen… every promise in this book, the Bible, is going to come true… every blessing God said for all of you, it shall be… every thing God said He will do for all of you… it will happen. Amen, It shall be, it is! AMEN!
• You see that is the amen of faith… it is a little different than the amen of agreement, though often times they are one in the same… but they can be different.
• Watch I will show you…
  • Five plus Five equals twenty five, amen?
    • THAT WAS A TEST!
      • Five plus five equals ten. Amen. Five plus five does equal ten, I agree pastor.
        • That’s a prayer of agreement, I don’t need faith to say amen to that. It is a statement of fact and I agree with it.
        • Some may not agree, because they hate truth, but I agree, so I add my amen.
    • When the pastor is preaching straight from the word, you can add your amen, because the pastor is preaching truth… an ament of agreement… doesn’t take much faith to know that truth is truth… some may not agree… but I agree so I add my amen…
• But that’s preaching… when it comes to prayer we start to see the crossover of agreement and faith when it comes to amen.
  • Like when someone is praying “Father I pray that you would heal this cancer, in JESUS NAME CANCER BE GONE! BE GONE IN JESUS NAME! FATHER HEAL THIS CANCER”
  • Now to that prayer you say amen… but why are you saying amen?
    • Well for starters, you agree “Amen, let it be, let this cancer be healed”.
    • But what if you added faith to your amen?! What if you meant more when you said amen then just “I agree”.
    • What if your amen meant “Yes lord, I agree, let it be… moreover, not only do I ask let it be, but I declare that IT SHALL BE! I speak the things that are not as if they are! IT SHALL BE! THIS CANCER SHALL BE HEALED IN JESUS NAME! IT IS AS GOOD AS DONE! LET IT BE LORD, LET IT BE, IT SHALL BE, LORD, IT SHALL BE! THANK YOU LORD FOR DOING IT!”
      • THAT IS WHAT YOUR AMEN COULD MEAN IF YOU STOPPED USING IT VAINLY!
        • ONE WORD WITH SO MUCH POWER!
        • AMEN!

Romans 4:17b NKJV  God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

• AMEN! Call those things that do not exist as if they did God, AMEN!

James 5:15 ESV  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

• AMEN! I got the faith for this healing! You are going to heal! AMEN!

Mark 11:24 ESV  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

• AMEN! I believe that I have received it! The healing, the provision, the grace, the promises… whatever, I believe that I have received it. AMEN! IT SHALL BE! AMEN! IT IS!
  • “Well you sound like a prosperity preacher now”
    • NO! I sound like a BIBLE preacher, this is the word of God and I believe it! AMEN LORD I BELIEVE IT!
• This is what 2 Corinthians 1:20 is all about…

2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

• When God makes promises they are always answered through Jesus Christ…
  • That is why when God makes a promise we can say “Amen” it shall be…
• I will tell you what though, this is another one that ol’ king Jimmy just says better…

2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

• ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES ARE YES AND AMEN!
  • God’s promises are not “Maybe” they are not “We will see” They are not “I hope so”.
    • When I was a kid I hated it when I would say “Mom, can we go to the park” and she would say “Maybe” or “We will see”… she might have just as well said no!
    • But God is not like that! When He makes a promise it is YES AND AMEN!
    • When He makes a promise that promise will come true, YES, that promise shall be! AMEN!
    • That promise shall be! THAT PROMISE IS YES AND AMEN!
• And if you believe it, you can say amen to God’s promises too! That’s that amen of faith!

Conclusion

• So church, in conclusion, amen means one of three things…
  • Let it be
  • It Shall Be
  • Or It Is.
• And there are two appropriate times to use amen, when you are using it in agreement… agreement to a prayer request or agreement to what people are saying…
  • Or use it in faith… not only do I agree, but I believe! Amen!
    • I urge you to stop using amen as a period at the end of prayers… to only say it when you mean it… to mean it powerfully, in agreement and with faith…
    • And if you struggle with faith I want to pray for you, but before that we need to preach the Gospel.
• Gospel Call
• There is a story in scripture about a demon possessed boy.
  • The father of the boy sought out Jesus so that Jesus could cast the demon out…

Mark 9:21-24 ESV  And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.  (22)  And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  (23)  And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”  (24)  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

• The end of the story is that the boy was completely healed. No more demons, no more seizures… complete healing.
  • But do you see the fathers doubt turn into faith…
    • He starts with “If you can do anything, please help Jesus!”
    • Jesus says “What do you mean “If I can do anything… Anything is possible for him who believes”
    • So the Father cries out “I do believe… but there is part of me that still does not believe… help my unbelief… heal my unbelief… bring me to a place of believing!”
      • And so Jesus did.
      • If you are struggling with faith today, faith for healing, faith for miracles, faith for provisions… be honest with God…
        • Don’t fake it and hope for the best… be honest…
        • Lord I believe, help me in my unbelief…
        • That’s the prayer I prayer when we asked God to heal a blind man… and then you know what… God healed the blind man right then and there…
        • Now anytime I struggle with faith, I make this my prayer… I believe help me in my unbelief…
    • If you are struggling to believe today would you stand up so I can pray for you? When you are standing you are saying “I believe, help me in my unbelief…”
    • PRAY A PRAYER OF FAITH.