Bible Encounter LIVE!

Tonight's Bible Encounter centered on Revelation 1:18, with Bishop Stephen Yates teaching that the verse identifies Jesus as the one who lived, died, and now lives forevermore, proving that the passage is speaking about Jesus and not God the Father. Bishop Stephen Yates emphasized that Jesus was fully human and fully God, and that the humanity of Jesus was necessary for the sacrifice, temptation, obedience, death, and resurrection to have saving power for humanity. 

A major theme was that Jesus has authority over death and possesses the keys of hell and death, meaning Jesus has authority over the state of death and resurrection life. Bishop Stephen Yates connected this to Matthew 16 and taught that Jesus also gives keys of the kingdom of heaven, which operate in the earth through binding and loosing. 

Another major focus was the meaning of "rock" in "upon this rock I will build my church." Bishop Stephen Yates taught that the rock is not Peter as a person, but the foundational teachings of Jesus Christ, revealed by the Father and received by believers. The church is built on those teachings, and a believer's life must be built by both hearing and doing the Word. 

Bishop Stephen Yates also stressed the importance of digging deep in Scripture, building life on a real foundation, and maintaining a personal testimony of faith even when facing opposition. The meeting closed with the idea that the church is the resurrected church, founded on Christ, and that death will not prevail against the church.