Who? Me?

Text: Romans 8:17-27

Focus: The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Function: To empower people to use their gifts

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

Children love birthdays.

• The first birthday I remember is my third.
• I was looking out the front window of our house when I saw Jim and Meredith (the Meredith mom has us praying for) Knott pull up and their arms well full of toys.
• I remember thinking how odd that was.
• And then they gave the presents to my twin and me.
• It wasn’t until the next year that I realized just what had happened.
• A birthday occurred, and it was a very special time for me, every year.
• I didn’t do anything to deserve it except be born into the family.
• But that first year, I didn’t know what it was about; I didn’t understand what I had coming, every year.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.

And, I need to emphasize that the coming of the Holy Spirit is to bring Glory to Jesus.

Still, it is pretty exciting when we get into partnership with God and He uses us beyond our human ability.

The first year that I remember getting presents, I still didn’t understand because I didn’t know what a birthday was.

That is opposite to the Apostles on the first birthday of the Church. As soon as it happened, they understood exactly what was going on.

They were excited, because not only had Jesus rose from the dead, but He had indeed came back to them in a greater and more real way than when He was walking with them.

So, I ask the question, do we regard this birthday like I did with my 3^rd, or like the Apostles did with the Church’s 1^st birthday?

Jesus was living inside of them in a powerful way. (SHOW) Jesus is living in us in a powerful way.

This passage of scripture is one of many descriptions of just what is happening when God dwells inside a believer.

• Initially, we need to clear up a little bit of the theology of the Holy Spirit.

(SHOW) John 20: ²¹After Jesus had greeted them again, he said, "I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me." ²²Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone's sins, they will be forgiven. But if you don't forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven."

Now, there are several sermons to be preached on this passage alone, but I want to point out 3 important things:

(SHOW):

1). The Holy Spirit gives us real authority.

2). The Holy Spirit is given to every believer.

3). The Acts 2 passage is a different event
than this one.

Real authority: Authority to forgive sins.

Given to all: A measure is given to each.

Different than Acts 2:

• In John, a measure of the Spirit is given to everyone.
• But in Acts 2, a special empowering, for the moment was given to all.
• This second act is considered the Birthday of the Church:
• (SHOW) The Apostles were continually being filled with the Holy Spirit.
• This miracle marks the beginning of the Church.
• Up until this time, as the apostles were waiting, Peter said: “I go fishing.”
• Jesus told them to wait for the Holy Spirit.
• He told them they would receive special power for the purpose of building the Church.
• Everyone has the authority and seal of their faith, but at times, God gives a special empowering.
• (SHOW) God’s special empowering is available to all believers.
• That is the day we celebrate as the birthday of the church.

Now I know that this doctrine has divided churches and families. The devil himself has twisted it into groups of the haves and have-nots. What a tragedy.

Because (SHOW) The Holy Spirit is given to build up the Church.

So this morning, on the day we celebrate the birthday of the Church, I want us to look at what this passage of scripture says about the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit “The Comforter.” (read from bible).

Romans 8 speaks to us about this need of comfort and God tells us just exactly how it works.

Vs 18, we are suffering now, but heaven is coming. It’s the same thing, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a comin”!”

But then he says something odd.

• (SHOW) God’s comfort is not about heaven only.
• The whole creation is waiting for the revelation of Christians.
• In other words, God has appointed the time of the Church as the time when God would be very visibly present in the lives of believers.
• I believe, because of Christian’s prayers and faith, God will be bringing a blessing to the whole wide world.
• And indeed it has.
• Because of Christianity, slavery is illegal across the world.
• Because of Christianity, democracies are being founded in places where people are oppressed.
• Because of Christianity, women no longer are treated as possessions. (Were still working on that one).
• But Jesus included the women.
• Jesus put a human face on women.
• Paul included women in Christian leadership.
• How many times have you found yourself praying about the oil spill in the gulf over the last month?
• We see the politicians slugging it out with their mean remarks to each other, and we bow our heads to pray for peace.
• We hear of innocent families, forced to be human shields, being killed by drones in Pakistan and we pray for peace.
• The whole creation needs what we can bring to it, by the power of the Holy Spirit, right here on Third Street, right here in Drexel, New Lebanon, Trotwood and in our counties, state, nation and entire world.
• However, we still have a long way to go.
• I mentioned slavery. I heard a statistic that there are actually more slaves in the world today than there has ever been.
• That is mainly because there are close to 7 billion people in the world, so the percentage of slaves is way down; the actual numbers is way up.
• The director of Linden Life recovery center told me that statistics show that the Dayton area is 3^rd largest in actual sex trafficking in the US.
• This is just one example of how we are called to be salt and light, a city on a hill that brings a blessing to the people we meet.
• Think about it, every single person you meet is someone that God wants to bless through you.

Now to the Title: “Who? Me?”

The apostle Paul is prophesying here and he is telling us that God has subjected the world to the hope that Believers would change their world.

One of the prison guards was very angry with us last weekend for giving the prisoners hope and for contradicting the structures that they use to dehumanize the prisoners.

The prisoners kept asking us, “Why would you give up 10 Friday nights, a whole weekend to be in an uncomfortable room, all the while paying out of your own pockets and those who are generous to help you over $7,000 to spend this time with just 30 of us?

Because, (SHOW) God has subjected the world to its sorrow and then sent the Church into the world to bring God’s hope.

And hope is a huge thing for the hurting world.

I am not allowed to do marital therapy, because I do not have a license in it.

However, I do 2-4 sessions in order to build hope.

The prisoner beside me had 5 children, the oldest of which is 6, with cerebral palsy.

He thinks that the 2 years he has left in his sentence is eternity as he recounts all the things he will miss out on because of his crime.

He wasn’t complaining about his sentence, he wasn’t claiming to be innocent. He admitted he needed God. He admitted his sentence was just.

And for him, the moment that he placed his trust in Christ, it came with his decision to allow God to build his hope.

He was so covered with shame, mainly from his own sins, but also from a terribly abusive childhood that he just couldn’t believe that anything would work out for him.

God gave him hope.

(SHOW) Christians have the power to bring hope and blessings to the world.

That is what the initial part of this scripture talks about.

In one sense, most of you cannot go into the prison setting like I was last weekend, but be assured that you were very much a part of giving hope. The ministry of cookies is a metaphor for the hope and joy God brings.

Thank you for sending me there, you too can stand with the sheep, instead of the goats at the final judgment when Jesus says, because you visited the prisoner, you visited me.

God wants us to ask that question: (SHOW) “Who? Me?

Do you see yourself as one whom God has empowered to heal the world?

As one whom God has called to proclaim His salvation from sin?

Looking at People Through A Mothers Eyes.

Text: Luke 7:36-49

Focus: Focusing on the person.

Function: To help the congregation understand my vision of caring for the “one.”

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

I Come to the Garden’s purpose

• A woman loving her son.

Mothers believe in their children.

When no one else believes in them, a mother and a good wife know how to believe in and trust.

It is a special quality that women have.

Jesus was going through this time when people did not believe in Him.

He had enemies. The only people Jesus had conflicts with were the religious leaders of the day.

When a “sinner” came to Jesus: He welcomed them. So, the leaders condemned Him for being a Friend of Sinners.

I like that term.

It is like Susan’s sign, “No Sin is Greater that God’s Forgiveness.”

On the other side, “be safe, pull in here to text or make a call.”

The message is that we care for holistic ministry: body, spirit, mind and soul.

So Jesus upset the status-quo of society.

He called the rich to be generous to the poor.

He commanded people to stop using their religion as an excuse

And He was making enemies pretty fast.

READ LUKE 7:36-49

He is in the house of His enemy, Simon the Pharisee. Simon is hoping to trap Him in something. He is also being rude to Him.

A woman walks in, a prostitute. She is crying, she washes his feet with expensive perfume; she dries them with her hair.

Simon thinks he has Jesus trapped. He says to himself: “If Jesus were a prophet He would not let such a person touch him.”

But look at verse 36, first statement: Behold.

• Not a literary device to open a new story, but a command to really think about this next story. God says, “Look at this. It is a visual image. When you see it for what it really is, you will understand. (That is, provided you are willing to let God be the one to lead you).

Then again, Verse 44: Do you see this woman?

Everything changes when we stop to consider the consequences of our actions, the consequences of the way we judge people, the consequences of the way we justify ourselves.

Simon has just “justified himself” by objectifying this woman.

To objectify a person is to ignore them, or not love them as a neighbor, or condemn them, or mistreat them because they are “less.”

It was easy for Simon. Although he was wealthy, arrogant, proud, an abuser of the poor, a religious hypocrite, at least he wasn’t her.

That is the beauty of mothers, or what mothers are supposed to be. They always see the potential inside someone. They have that quality of being able to love unconditionally.

He said to himself, at least I am not her.

And, that sinful human device continues today.

My mom gave me permission to say this.

• Raised in Clyde, Ohio, in Sandusky County.
• Unlike where she raised me, in the middle of an inner city-
• Because of the location where she was raised, she did not have the pleasure of knowing and learning to appreciate people of different races.
• Until her and my dad took on their first pastorate.
• They moved to Brownsville, Tennessee and started a church in an old storefront right downtown.
• Her first reaction to people of different color was fear. She did not know them.
• All she heard was stories about them.
• But she quickly changed her mind when she lived in a multi-cultural community.
• And she was terrible grieved at the way the African Americans were treated in the South, in the 50’s.
• BEHOLD THE PERSON.
• She was incredulous –I mean she found it incredible that people could treat their fellow people that way!

This Pharisee used the term “sinner” in order to justify himself.

I have fought racism my entire life. It is a big part of my calling. And it comes from the way I see Jesus looking at people.

The Pharisee was looking for any excuse to continue his lavish lifestyle, his control over the people. He needed to not feel bad about taking advantage of others, so he uses this term: Sinner.

Jesus, uses the term: Woman. Neighbor.

Terms have been used throughout history to objectify others.

Have you ever heard the term: Cretan?

• If you watched Mash, Charles Winchester, the snobby doctor would use that term any time he felt someone was acting out of the common class.
• It is actually a biblical reference.
• Titus 12, Paul criticizes a church because one of their pastors said, “all Cretans are liars, lazy and worthless.”
• That term, in that day, wasn’t any different than my mom hearing the “N” word in the South.

Hitler’s propaganda minister, Goebbels, started the Pollock joke as a way to objectify the Slavic people in Poland and Czechoslovakia. They were white, like his beloved Aryan race, but he wanted their land for himself and he figured his soldiers would have a moral problem with killing similar peoples, so he started the jokes in order to help his troops see another person as less than human.

He did the same thing with the Jews.

I hate it when I hear believers call Homosexuals: “Queers” and “Fags.”

It keeps us from seeing others as people that Jesus died for.

The Pastor Parish committee asked me to articulate a little more clearly what my vision is as the pastor of this church.

And if one statement could sum up how I believe the Church should do its ministry it is this: “Look at the woman.”

I could add, “Simon, look at the woman.”

Do you see the difference?

I want to look at the woman the same was Jesus looked at her, not the way Simon looked at her.

In Korea and Vietnam, the enemy was referred to as Gooks. It is another objectifying term used to dehumanize the other.

Those words should not come out of the mouths of believers.

No less than 8 times in the New Testament, does the command from Jesus get said and repeated: A new command I give you, Love one another.

In Romans 13 Paul said, all the commands about how we live with others is summed up in the one command, Love one another.

The change starts with language. When I stopped telling Pollock Jokes, my whole attitude towards everyone began to change.

I began more and more to see everyone as my neighbor.

I was working on this language thing with one of my parishioners in Indiana, and he said to me: “But my whole life, I have comforted myself with the knowledge that at least I am not a ***** (you can fill in whatever racial slur you want).

I believe it was Charles Wesley, the preacher of the Great Awakening who commanded his pastors to prepare sermons with “a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.”

If the preaching isn’t relevant to the culture, then it is mere theory and there is nothing practical about it.

So here goes, and I am not being political.

Two weeks ago on facebook I was called a liar, a heretic, a twister of scripture and unpatriotic.

I was told this by a friend of a friend who posted a question on her facebook page.

• She said, “what do you think of Arizona’s new immigration law.”
• I am sure we would have a variety of opinions here.
• I am sure that everyone has reached their conclusions with sincerity and integrity.
• My twin brother is pretty far right in his politics, and next to my wife and my mom, he is one of my most trusted friends.
• He keeps telling me, “Phil, we need a balanced approach to our news outlets, in order to make good choices, the way our democracy and press work, two sides speak their minds and the population then makes decisions.”
• And he agrees with me that the conversation has gotten so mean-spirited that we are stuck.
• The rhetoric is too strong.
• So, on this friends Facebook page, I simply asked this question: “Would Jesus call them `Neighbor’ or `Illegals?’” I said, the whole discussion changes for us Christians when instead of objectifying them, we use Jesus terms.
• Apparently, that makes me a heretic and a liar in the eyes of the woman who bitterly opposed my question.
• You see, she just objectified me by calling me names that are not true.
• Given the other Pharisees question, right before the story of the Good Samaritan, “Who is my neighbor?”
• I can’t in any universe picture Jesus using any other term for her.
• Jesus told him the foreigner, the alien, the despised, and for lack of better terms, the despised illegal alien –there was real hatred between the races- was his neighbor.
• But please, I know you are smart enough to consider this: I hope you are thinking how deep this goes.
• Because not only did she objectify me, but I objectified her.
• That woman isn’t my enemy, she is my neighbor and I didn’t treat her like one.

I learned this from my mother. She taught me how to love others unconditionally.

Sometimes, when we point to “the enemy, the other” and say to someone else: “Is that person your neighbor?” it works.

In John 8, there was the woman caught in adultery.

It is easy to blame the woman in that sense and you have all heard about the hypocrisy of the men condemning her when they didn’t bring the man to Jesus as well. I have heard sermons “Where was the man?”

And Jesus, in her defense says to them, look at the woman, and then look at yourselves and if you are sinless, cast the first stone.

From the oldest to the youngest, they were convicted and left her.

For once, people looked at the woman and recognized that they too, needed a savior.

Let us never cast stones, at anyone.

The story had an happy outcome when the people gave up self righteousness.

That is my vision. I believe that ministry will begin to flow out of it.

I think about next weekend, sitting in a room with people who are guilty of murder, rape, theft. God keeps speaking to me, when I look into the face of those men, I am looking into Jesus face.

The more we adopt this spirit, the more God will send His hurting babies, His tender sheep, His lost souls for comfort and rest.

God Has Broken Through

Text: Acts 11:1-18

Focus: Salvation

Function: To help people see that salvations is open to all

Form: Story telling

Intro:

In order for people to prepare, I picked this subject a couple of months ago.

I titled this message GOD HAS BROKEN THROUGH because that is the title of this passage in The Message.

I love this title for this passage. Most translations, rightfully so, give us a heading intended to help us find a specific verse. In 1 Corinthians 13, you’ll read something like: “The importance of Love.” In Revelation, you might read something like: “The letter to the church in Laodecia.”

But Peterson, the translator of the Message uses a unique phrase here. God has broken through!

This isn’t “humanity broke through to God.” But (SHOW) God broke through to us!

He is excited about what it means.

And, it is an interesting story. It is a story full of miracles, visions, mystery, conflict, legalism, judgmentalism and finally, reconciliation.

Here is the story:

• Peter is a fine, upstanding Jew of kosher reputation.
• He has never eaten anything unclean by Jewish dietary standards.
• They are complex. My brother sold a bunch of houses to a resort community for orthodox Jews and he had to design units with 2 separate sinks in order to fulfill their interpretation of the dietary laws.
• Because of Paul’s persecution, Peter has fled to Joppa and is staying a Simon the Tanner’s house.
• Perhaps they weren’t fulfilling the great commission to go to all the world so God permitted persecution so they would spread out.
• While there, he is praying and he sees a vision of a sheet lowering from heaven with all kinds of “unclean” animals to eat.
• The voice tells him to kill and eat.
• He refuses because he is pure according to dietary restrictions.
• Peter is very literal in his theology.
• He loves God and wants to obey.
• (SHOW) But God changes His mind.
• God says to him: The previously unclean things are now made clean.
• God tells him that by faith, everything is clean.Peter doesn’t understand. It is a mystery to him.
• Right away, men from a Roman Centurion arrive at Simon’s house and ask for Peter.
• These people are Gentiles. That means they are not Jewish.
• The Jews also had very strict rules about being in the houses of Gentiles.
• Gentiles were unclean and to go into their house was a sin by to most of the Jews.
• But Peter understands the meaning of the vision, and I believe hope is born in him.
• I believe he understands the meaning of Jesus command to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
• He understands the promise to Abraham given 3600 years before: (SHOW) “I will bless you so that you can be a blessing to the world.”
• You see, that was problematic because if they weren’t allowed to mingle with Gentiles, then ministering to them is almost impossible.
• The Jews had a law that makes Christian Charity a criminal act.
• And God quickly and completely countermanded it by saying: “These are people, and people are not unclean anymore.”
• (SHOW) Even the foreigner, the stranger, and in this case, the enemy is considered “neighbor” and worthy of the gospel.
• So Peter, in his love and devotion to God’s word, has a hurdle overcome and chooses to go with these men.
• Now Cornelius the Roman Centurion is a beautiful person as well.
• Remember who had Jesus judiciously murdered?
• The Jewish leaders used the Roman law to murder Jesus.
• Why?
• Jesus’ gospel really upset them.
• All of a sudden they couldn’t use their religion to justify the way they held the poor in bondage.
• Jesus preached to them that they are to love their neighbors as their selves and they didn’t want to do it.
• Jesus upset the status quo of the rich and ruling class and they had Him killed for it.
• So this is interesting for the Roman Centurion.
• He associated with the ruling class.
• He was a big reason why they had so much power.
• There was a Roman sword behind these rules.
• But this man doesn’t not see Judaism as a form of civil religion that was used to justify greed.
• This man saw the genuine nature behind the law of God.
• As Jesus said, its intention was to help the people see how to love their neighbor as themselves.
• In Matthew 5:22 (SHOW) Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the leaders, you cannot have a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
• Jesus’ statement was that one could follow the letter of the law and still be greedy, wicked, judgmental, legalistic and sinful.
• That whole Sermon on the Mount teaches us that we follow God in His intent.
• So, although the Jewish leaders didn’t get it, Cornelius, the Roman Centurion does.
• This is how his righteousness is defined: (SHOW) Acts 10:1-2 In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer, Cornelius, a captain of an Italian regiment. He was a godly man, deeply reverent, as was his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man of prayer.
• He was reverent, godly, prayed hard and regularly gave to the poor.
• So, even though the Leaders who stood to lose financially if they followed Jesus refused to see what Jesus was about, this man did.
• 2 days before Peter has this vision, Cornelius sees an angel who calls him to go to Joppa and get Peter.
• Peter walks into the house, remember up until that point, he was sure that this would be a sin.
• Cornelius falls down and starts worshipping Peter.
• Peter refuses the worship and starts telling them about Jesus.
• Peter’s sermon is interesting:
• Peter reminds Cornelius of what has just happened in Israel.
• He reminds him how Jesus was baptized, taught, did miracles and was arrested and crucified.
• He explains how Jesus rose from the dead.
• How they were appointed to preach Jesus.
• How the Holy Spirit comes to believers.
• How Jesus washes away the sins of those who believe in Him.
• And right at that point, the Holy Spirit comes inside Cornelius and his family.
• Let us talk about that:
• I remember during my first ministry, there was this kind old Pentecostal preacher who took me under his wing.
• I asked him one day: “You know, I never know how to end my message.
• I get done, I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, but I do not know what to say.”
• He said, “in other words, you just prepared a meal and it is now time to invite them to come and eat it.”
• I said: “something like that; I really don’t know how to give an altar call.”
• He gave me some sound advice about relying on God’s Spirit and being careful not to manipulate anyone, but trusting in a genuine work from God.
• He told me that numbers, and personal responses to my preaching were not as important as people coming closer to God.
• In other words, (SHOW): Bringing people to Jesus is God’s job.
• Not mine.
• So what is the point?
• Cornelius got saved long before an altar call, or any outward confession.
• Somewhere in that story, while he was listening to Peter preach, he decided to believe and God, as soon as he believed in Jesus God sent the Holy Spirit into him.
• And the proof of their acceptance into God’s family was this powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
• Cornelius made it easy for God, he was searching pretty hard and God showed up, broke through the barrier between God and man in a pretty wonderful way.

So, at this point, one would think the story is over. But that is where our text begins.

• Peter comes back home and the legalistic Christians, who still don’t quite understand that salvation is a free gift…
• Who don’t understand that salvation is: “simply believe…”
• Or who think it is believe and you get the free gift of salvation but as soon as it happens, you have to earn it.
• They taught, and we see this later on in Galatians and 2^nd Corinthians that they had to believe and then follow all those legitimate Jewish customs.
• They felt this way because they loved God, but they forgot about grace.
• They don’t understand that the gift of salvation is free, and it is open to anyone.
• That question: “Who is my neighbor?” is answered by God, and the answer is, Everyone.
• It isn’t just people from their town, their family, their nation, but everyone.
• Gloria gave me a Green Card last Sunday.
• The Green card symbolizes that I am a member of the Kingdom of Heaven.
• The story should be over.
• God showed by His power, by a vision to Cornelius, a vision to Peter, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that salvation is open to anyone who believes.
• And you would think it was over, but the rest of the Apostles, and James, Jesus’ brother called Peter on the carpet and accused him of sinning, lowering the standard of faith, compromising with the world, making salvation too easy and cheap, disobeying God’s law and the list goes on.
• Brothers and sisters: Remember this: (SHOW) Satan hates grace.
• And the devil whipped up the religious spirit, the demonic religious spirit inside the rest of the apostles so that they would do something about it.
• This is a big conflict. The Holy Spirit was leading and they were too afraid to follow him.
• It still happens.
• I got into trouble at my last church because this young man, who played softball got saved and called into the ministry.
• He got saved right at the time that he did the wrong thing and divorced his wife while she was going through post-partum depression.
• He felt terrible about it after he realized the wrong that he did, but it was too late, she was remarried.
• So he married a real nice Baptist gal.
• All of this happened before I came to the church.
• I didn’t go through the pain of that divorce and the way it affected the congregation.
• The woman who chaired the committee that secured preachers for when I was gone suggested we ask him to preach.
• So we did.
• And a great thing happened.
• At the end of his message, a couple of the youth came forward and gave their lives to Christ.
• And, the sad thing was, that was the last time anyone came forward in that church.
• Two people on the board were really mad at me for letting him preach, even though it wasn’t my call.
• The woman who asked him to preach was divorced herself and there were bitter words between the people at the board meeting.
• Another woman had a brother in law with a real heart for Jesus and worship.
• Before he was a believer, his wife left him and after he got saved, he met a woman whose husband left her.
• He is a talented musician, so one Sunday, when he was visiting from Florida, they asked him to lead worship.
• But before that could happen, they made him stand beside the pulpit.
• And they made sure that I never asked a divorced person to preach again.
• And that was the last time anyone came forward at that church.
• Was I a lousy preacher?
• Several people were saved in my office
• They left grace for the law and decided that only certain people could become believers.
• They would say, “I know that he is saved, but we don’t have to worship with him.”
• It became a big fight.
• Someone said, “I would rather worship with 10 people who are “sold out to Jesus” than a 100 that are mediocre.
• I said in response, I would rather worship with 100 sinners who know they still need a Savior that with 10 who are so self-righteous.
• I remember that woman, hurt because of the way her brother in law was treated saying: “But if the Holy Spirit called someone to Christ during the message, how could it have been wrong?”
• They wouldn’t listen, but this group did.
• The apostles quickly abandoned their prejudice and learned to love everyone.
• It was a clear case of racism being destroyed.
• More than that, this man was their enemy, and they loved and embraced him.
• They understood that they are residents of a bigger nation: The Kingdom of God.

God broke through.

And it wasn’t just a break-through between the racial divides of Jews and Gentiles, but He broke down the things that keep us from loving one another.

(SHOW) Ephesians 2:14: For Christ himself is our way of peace. He has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family, breaking down the wall of contempt that used to separate us.

By breaking down the barrier of salvation to Gentiles, He also broke down the barrier of separation.

In light of a greater presence, two great things happened: Salvation is opened up to us, and a huge wall between people of different cultures was torn down.

That greater presence is Jesus.

And it started when Christians loved their enemies.

I think Peterson, the translator of the Message, is being prophetic when he says: “God has broken through.”

There is an obvious spiritual thing here. Sin, when in the presence of God flees away.

And before Jesus, we sinners, couldn’t have direct access to God.

So, when Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom.

From top to bottom because God did it.

That veil had separated the people from the presence of God.

Once a year, the High Priest would go into that place and would tie a rope to his ankle and had bells on his robe. If the robe stopped ringing, he was dead and the rope would pull him out.

But now, since Jesus paid the price for our sins, the Holy Spirit left that place and dwells in the hearts of everyone who believes in Him.

And in that passage, one of the first changes that happened was reconciliation, not only with God, but with fellow man.

Last weekend, at the Intercultural celebration in the mountains of Western PA, the director asked all the churches in the area to bring food for Friday night.

So, the majority of leaders in our churches that are integrated got to spend time with people who do not get a chance to mix interracially.

It was a great time of celebration.

(SHOW) God broke down the wall of division between people.

Go broke through the hearts of the legalistic, proud, patriotic and religious folks to bring peace between them and their former enemies.

(SHOW –same slide) God broke through the barrier of sin that keeps us from Him.

He changes us. He first changed Peter and then He changed the apostles and in the process, changed Cornelius’s last name to: Christian.

(show) Have you been changed?

A View From Heaven III

Text: Revelation 7:9-17

Focus: The glory of heaven

Function: To help people worship God’s glory.

Form: teaching.

Intro:

A Baptist minister said:

A pastor who teaches or preaches from Revelation (at least one who doesn't always agree with the most commonly held view in America today) better have a second career close at hand. No matter the level of theological or Biblical sophistication, it seems that everyone has an opinion about Revelation! And theirs is always right!

I know what he is saying, I have had more people leave the church because I wasn’t true to their understanding of this book and therefore I may not be trustworthy to preach any part of the bible.

I am going to do a teaching again this morning.

You might call it: (SHOW) “What do we do with Revelation?”

But I am keeping true to the title, a view from heaven.

Why these images of heaven? Why the mystery?

One of the greatest dangers is to interpret the book as book only for the end times. And because the images and symbols can be interpreted in many ways, many people are convinced that now is the time. And that has happened to every generation since Christ Jesus ascended to heaven.

It does speak about end-times prophecies, but God included it in scripture because it speaks to every generation.

All of the original titles of the book say that it is a revelation given by God to John, the theologian. It is a supernatural book that explains theology from the aspect of the mysteries of heaven. It is hard to glean a lot of the theology, because the mysteries were left to us to be just what we call them, mysterious.

That is why it is a book of worship. (SHOW) Revelations helps us to see the majesty and glory of God and our hope for the future.

When we study Revelations, we are studying the place where time ends and eternity begins.

I picture a road that stops in heaven because time stops. And heaven, then is the place where light flashes out of and the light encompasses everything. The light enfolds, everything, even the road that signifies time.

I wonder if these events that John sees are in the past, or in the future. I wonder if we will be able to go back and see the garden of Eden, Solomon’s great temple and throne room, the pyramids, right when they are built, the birth of Jesus, even the terra-forming of earth in the 6 days of creation.

The fact is, we have no reference in our human experience to the ability to go anywhere in time at any time. For those who study logic, that statement in itself is illogical.

But we know that God is the Alpha and the Omega. That God existed in eternity past, He is different than us in the fact that although we will live eternally into the future. (SHOW) We have a beginning, God does not. God always was.

And that doesn’t seem logical to us either because of our human experience, there has to be a beginning point, even to God.

But if there was a beginning point to God, then who created God? Was it God the father 1, and this is God the father 2? Who then, would have created God the father 2; God the father 3? It gets ridiculous unless there is a first cause. (SHOW) The first cause is the one thing that has always existed.

There are two choices, God or matter.

The universe appears very old, so maybe that is a good argument that matter is eternal.

Some Christians say, “Well God created it to look old.” And He may have.

Evolutionary science seems to point to the fact that God created us to adapt and evolve.

(I talked to my son whose first major at his Christian college was biology, and he explained the difference between macro-and micro evolution.)

(SHOW) Evolutionary science still leads to the fact of a Creator.

It fails in explaining two main points: The origin of life, and the beginning of male/female reproduction.

They speak of a primordial soup, a pond somewhere full of the right minerals, that if broken apart and joined with other just right minerals, on an atomic level, and then something improbable happened, a flash of lightning, some energy surge, or a miracle happens and proteins are created and those then, become single cell organisms.

The odds of probability of that happening are beyond the realm of possibility.

They say, “Well there are billions of years and gazillions of stars, the universe is big enough to extend to that possibility. But even the calculated size of our universe extends beyond the realm of possibility.

Then there is a second component to Evolution that still cannot be explained.

Evolutionary theory states that genetic mutations happened, and some of them improved the individual’s ability to survive, so eventually more and more individuals with that enhanced ability crowded out the earlier species and it died out and the process continued on over billions of years until we get to this modern age.

Remember, this is a theological book about God the beginning and the end.

That theory of genetic mutations giving species an advantage over their predecessors appears to be obvious in the fossil record. Science shows that it happened. But the theory of evolution doesn’t explain the jump from mitosis to meiosis.

Sorry about the big words. We have people still working on their education, people who have other interests and we have professors here, so I want to be able to appeal to everyone.

Mitosis happens after the baby is first conceived. That first cell produces an exact copy of itself, which produces another exact copy until a living being is created.

Meiosis is when male and female cells combine half of their genetic material to form a new life that is a unique and different individual.

So here is the point, in order for a mutation to begin reproduction by inheriting genes from a mother and a father, then a father mutation would have to occur at the same time a mother mutation occurs and those two would have to find each other, mate and that child would have to be given new characteristics that would make it better able to survive than its parents.

Of course, it started on a cellular level, so specific reproductive organs didn’t mutate, just the ability for the DNA to unwind, leave the cell wall, join another cell with the same mutation.

But that is just part of it, at the same time, RNA had to evolve with some sort of ability to trigger the mechanism that started the deconstruction and reconstruction of the DNA.

Again, the odds of that happening go beyond the realm of possibility.

And you may be saying to yourselves, why am I wasting your time with a science lesson when I, as a theologian studied scripture, psychology, English and philosophy? Am I not here to learn about God, His word, His grace? Are we not here to worship?

It is like Jeremiah’s description, (SHOW) “We are fearfully and wonderfully made!”

Many of the great inventions were achieved by clergy. Even Wilber and Orville Wright’s father was a Methodist preacher.

Solomon, the preacher, theologian, philosopher was also a great scientist. When we see the glory of God in creation, we worship. So bear with me because this is going somewhere.

The Revelation is given to John the theologian not only to comfort God’s people in the midst of their trials, but also to explain to them who God is.

These three images of God we are looking at in this study are images of God in His glory.

This last one is a picture of how we are included in it.

I do love science, because in it, I see that God is fantastic.

I am not a biologist; I took 2 courses, 9^th grade biology and biology with a lab in college.

In those I saw, God is fantastic.

I remember it because the first day of biology in the 9^th grade:

• The teacher asked the class: “How many of you are Christians and believe in creation?”
• My twin brother, Nick Federspiel, a devout Catholic boy and I raised our hands.
• She said, “Mark my words, by the end of this semester; you will no longer believe that God exists.”
• Her challenge wasn’t to us, it was to God.
• My best friend died crossing the street coming to school that year. And God held us up in the midst of that tragedy. The day after the funeral, she came to Pete and me and said, “I believe in God because of the way I see the hope inside of you.”

Here is the thing: Some people consider a study of Revelation and the concept of prophecy as superstition.

But science needs philosophy, theology and faith to help it through.

The philosophical questions in science such as: (SHOW) Does God exist? If He does, why doesn’t He show Himself to us? If He exists, then where did He come from? If He exists, what is heaven like?

Revelations gives us a picture of all of that.

So why talk all this time about evolution and creation and intelligent design?

Because: (SHOW) Intelligence and the miraculous still describe these origins.

Somewhere the answer to the question, which is eternal: God or Matter has to be answered for rational people, who think about these things in order to be able to believe in God.

In that phrase: “I am the beginning and the end” God is answering that age old question.

God can answer the tough questions. In this book, especially this passage, we see the answer to the questions: “Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God allow the wicked to prosper, and if so, why?

Throughout the history of humanity, people have cried out for God to manifest Himself and show us what to do.

So, in Jesus, God became a man. And He isn’t just a person who showed us the values of love and compassion that are important to God, but He also came as Savior. He saves us, after all, what else could He do? He is God and thankfully, God is Love.

Those who worship Satan worship evil.

This is a theological book, in spiritual terms, God is trying to explain the mystery of eternity and He admits that He is the one who did it. I am the First and the Last. To Moses, He said: “I AM that I AM.”

I love this answer to Moses. Moses was no rube. He had 40 years of probably the finest education that anyone could have at that time. The Egyptians were great scientists. Their Pyramids still stand.

They didn’t know as much as we know, but they had the same brains we have. They asked the same questions that we ask.

So, somewhere there has to be a first cause, something that started all of this. It is described right here in the Book of Revelation.

Moses, I am sure had wrestled with this very question up until then. (SHOW) How did we get here?

Revelations, in its mystery gives us a glimpse of the glory of God.

Nature, in its complexity, gives us a glimpse of the glory of God.

We don’t understand Revelations because our thought processes are still limited by logic of time. However, although we can’t comprehend it, we imagine that eternity must be.

Something has to be eternal. It is either God or matter.

The book of Revelation says it is God.

And, again a skeptic trained in logic would say that the book testifying about itself is circular logic; we need independent confirmation, for many, science is doing a good enough job.

But that is why I love science. (SHOW) In science we see the intelligence of God’s design.

I do not see intelligent design as something that destroys the theory of evolution. It explains the parts that evolutionary science cannot explain.

God created in evolutionary processes.

People, who want to believe in God, who want to understand the spiritual nature of our existence because although they cannot define it scientifically, can feel it.

Again, that is one of the reasons why reading Revelation is a special blessing.

The problem, at the height of the day of Modernity was that science, a great thing, couldn’t answer spiritual questions. And the world admits it. Watch the TV show Bones, and see the interplay between the 2 lead characters, the genius doctor and the passionate FBI agent who is spiritual.

The TV shows no longer mock the concept of faith.

Even modern science has added Philosophy in the theory of the big bang.

It is the theory that the universe exploded out of the smallest particle, expands, then shrinks into that particle and explodes again.

Science sees a beginning and tries to explain it.

So, the big bang theory explains the origin. But it doesn’t explain the beginning.

(SHOW) There is really only one logical explanation for the beginning. It is God.

Matter couldn’t just decide to create itself.

Something beyond our comprehension and the rules of Logic has to have started it.

The most logical conclusion is God, the Creator.

The wonderful thing about this is that God could be just like us, with good and bad thoughts, with evil and good living in tension within Himself.

God could be a despot, a mean dictator, but He isn’t.

(SHOW) God is love, Pure and Simple.

This eternal picture of the Lamb slaughtered is a demonstration of His love.

Some people have the attitude that Revelation is a prophecy about events that will happen in our lifetime.

But that attitude may be arrogant, as if all of this (hold up bible) is only about us.

Last week we made a reference to the special place beside the throne of heaven that is reserved for the Martyrs and God said: “the vindication will come when the number of martyrs is completed.”

From the beginning of the Church, they have been saying, “God is fairness going to reign in the end?”

In chapter 7, their number is complete. It won’t be complete until the multitude that gets saved out of the 7 year tribulation joins them.

Now this isn’t the end of the book, and in the book, more martyrs are to come. The mark of the beast hasn’t happened yet. So we know more are coming.

John keeps saying, “After I saw this, I saw that.” But he never says that the events are chronological. The gospel of John isn’t chronological either. The order and placement speaks to the relationship and importance of these events.

So, these seal judgments have everything to do with the way that God cares for justice on behalf of His oppressed.

They sing another song:

(SHOW vs 15-17)

¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of
God, and worship him day and night within
his temple, and the one who is seated on the
throne will shelter them.

¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them, nor any
scorching heat;

¹⁷for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will
be their shepherd, and he will guide them
to springs of the water of life, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

It is a picture of comfort, peace, rest and perfect love. They sing about it there.

I almost think I should have named the series: “The Three Songs of Heaven.”

In Chapter 1, we are given a song to sing about the hope of going there, and the emphasis on the song is the way God will bring justice.

In Chapter 5, we sing this song that focuses on Jesus and His salvation.

And in Chapter 7, we sing two songs. The first goes right back to Jesus, because it is all about Him.

It’s about Jesus who saved us.

The second song is about what He saved us to.

He saved us to be comforted. He saved us into His family. He saved us because He wants to be with us forever.

Invitation to His family.

A View From Heaven, Part II

Text: Revelations 5:1-14

Focus: To focus on Jesus

Function: To remind us of our great hope in the resurrection.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

Did you ever see something disappointing, or different than what you expected and then discovered something great?

Show “

Historia de un letrero

” video

As believers, we too hope for what we cannot see.

So, in order to comfort us, God shows John.

But, in his vision of heaven also gets an unexpected result when he sees Jesus.

(SHOW) The Lion is the Lamb.

• The Lion of Judah is the victor from the tribe of Judah.
• He is the one who will establish that eternal kingdom.
• This is the long expected Kingdom that the apostles thought they were going to see and be part of.
• John and James’ mother asked that these men sit at the right and left of Jesus.
• Throughout this time, there was some hope by the apostles that they would get to reign with Jesus in an earthly kingdom.
• There has already been one Lion of Judah:
• King David.
• He was raised from being a poor shepherd to one of the greatest kings of Israel.
• And He was fierce.
• And now, we see the reign of Jesus, not only on earth, but in heaven as well.
• And Jesus’ method is completely different.
• It is an upside-down kingdom.

The Emperor wrote a will, and it was opened by the appropriate heir. The will, called a Testament, was sealed with 7 seals. Only the heir apparent can open the seals.

So, here they are in heaven, all of heaven is waiting and no one is found to open the seals.

We don’t get from the text why this is such a tragedy. But John is weeping bitterly.

And the angel who leads him into this revelation comforts him on his shoulder and points to Jesus and says: “Don’t cry, the Lion of Judah is worthy.”

It appeared that all hope was lost, but not.

The Son of the King is referred to as the Lion.

Obviously, the name implies: Christ the Victorious one.

(SHOW) Lion of Judah… …Christ the Victor!

Again, the hope of all the people when Jesus was on earth, the hope displayed on Palm Sunday is actually coming to pass.

Again, God is comforting His people, He is vindicating their suffering.

John hears the angel comfort him and tell him that the actual Lion of Judah, the prophesied victor is on the way.

John turns his head toward the four, four-headed creatures where the Lion of Judah is supposed to be.

And he is shocked at the image.

The Lion who is coming is actually a lamb.

(show) The Lion is a lamb.

We aren’t talking about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We are talking about an actual lamb.

A lamb is the symbol of weakness, the symbol of sacrifice, and the polar opposite to the lion.

And it isn’t just a lamb, but it is a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. It is obviously a divine lamb.

And there is one more, much more obvious, peculiarity about the lamb. It is slaughtered. Now, I don’t even want to picture this. I got stopped by a school bus the other day and there was a very fresh road-kill beside me. A poor little kitty and I thought that some child coming home from school is going to be very sad.

But, and I don’t want to get graphic, but that cat was to horribly disfigured to look at. It was sad and grotesque.

Don’t think about this image, but understand that John is looking at what looks like a divine, seven-headed, seven-eyed, dead lamb.

I imagine it was a very curious image to him.

He explains to us the mystery of the seven eyes and seven horns. They represent the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

About this time, I am thinking, I am glad he cleared that up for me in the narrative, but wait a minute, God has seven spirits? I thought it was God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity.

I have to tell you, his explanation of it still leaves me in quite a mystery. I am not mocking it at all. It illustrates to me that what we see hear on earth, and what we could see in heaven if we were so gifted have similarities, but also significant, spiritual differences.

John gives this explanation not to confuse us more. And the explanation isn’t there to obscure the point.

So, again, I am glad for the command not to add to or take away anything from the book.

Because I don’t have to tell you for sure what it means.

Most generally, people believe that 6 is the number of man and 7 is the number of God and it somehow symbolizes completeness.

At least, that is what I learned in theology class and that was a pretty thorough study of many possible answers with some conclusions.

(SHOW) Seven symbolizes that God is complete in Himself.

But the speculation as to what it means gets pretty profound and if you Google it, you will know less, than more about what it means.

So, why mention it?

Well, the Trinity is expressed in this scene. John was standing in the throne room of God. The Father is one the throne, the Son, Jesus, the Lamb of God and also the Lion of Judah is there, and the Holy Spirit is there as well.

This image is both glorious, and terrible. God is demonstrating Himself to John, the Father in Glory, with an emerald rainbow and 100 billion angels and people around Him, the Holy Spirit, shown His perfection and completeness and a twist: Jesus is shown as a slaughtered Lamb.

If you remember Easter’s sermon and the scripture that Jesus will be the one Honored in the Trinity until the end of this age, then this is what is happening. Jesus is the center of attention in this room with 100 billion creatures.

(SHOW) God creates this picture of Himself in heaven for us to see: Glory, Completeness and a Slaughtered Lamb.

Isn’t this strange?

A lamb, a symbol of humility, slaughtered none-the-less.

And John, when He sees Jesus in this fashion, rejoices.

The lamb walks up to the angel holding the scroll, the testament, the will for the heir apparent and begins opening the seven seals.

In Revelation, we refer to the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet blast judgments and the seven bowl judgments.

As these seals get opened, we get the four horseman of the apocalypse. But most of these seal judgments are on behalf of God’s people. Some aren’t terrible at all.

(SHOW) Seal 1, horse 1: White, Jesus conquering EVIL empires… …Horse 2: Red, evil empires destroying each other.

The first one, God, as the Angel of God, Jesus on the white horse, conquers the evil empires. The second one, a red horse, God allows those evil nations that are left after the conqueror has come, those who live by the sword to destroy each other.

(SHOW) Seal 3, horse 3: Black, with scales for measuring. God gives just prices for the poor.

Then the third seal, and the black horse appears, and this is a great thing. The horseman has a pair of scales and as he travels the earth, he establishes fair prices for food. He defends the poor from the rich who are exploiting them.

So, in these first 3 seals, God reigns, just as the Jewish people hoped for. Bad guys choke on their own evil. Justice is given to the poor. Again, this is what the Jewish people hoped for on Palm Sunday.

(SHOW) Seal 4, horse 4: Pale. Death and Hades released.

In the 4^th seal, death and Hades are released. Okay, this is a real live judgment from God. There will be suffering during this time.

(SHOW) 5^th Seal: Martyrs rewarded.

The fifth seal is wonderful. It is one of two references to all the Martyrs in the faith. They are elevated before God, again, they cry out for justice and God gives white robes to them.

And then God tells them to rest until the rest of the people who have the eternal honor of being martyred arrive.

Remember, God gives us this book to remind us that He isn’t weak, He isn’t powerless, He isn’t defeated, He hasn’t forgot about His children, and He does indeed know what He is doing. The martyrs are rewarded in a special way, and later on he tells them they will get the best places in heaven.

God does indeed know how to care for His own.

He demonstrates His power and all the while He is doing it, He does it while taking on the form of a lamb, which has been slain.

God demonstrates the strength we have as Christians. He demonstrates the strength of turning the other cheek. He demonstrates the strength we have in faith instead of human power.

(SHOW) Seal 6: Silence.

The 6^th seal is opened, and there is silence in heaven for half an hour.

God has rewarded His people, it is a solemn occasion. He gives them, the entire universe, all 100 billion creatures time to reflect on His salvation.

All the while they are doing this, the focus on attention is right there, on Jesus and Jesus is in this body that has the fierceness of a lion, but He has chosen this humble image.

Remember the victory song that the Israelites sang when they crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was destroyed without a single blow from a sword, poke of a spear or shot from an arrow?

They sang: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

Do you see what is happening here?

The book of Revelation is about worship.

It contains these tremendous, maybe even terrible, images of God’s glory, power and mystery.

God’s people, all over the earth are suffering an almost global persecution from Caesar. And John gets this vision, this picture of heaven, this image of just rewards for both the good and the wicked and it all points God’s people to remember to look at Jesus.

This is another refocus for God’s people, it is all about Jesus.

It still applies to today.

The book of Revelations was not just written to the persecuted Christians of the 1^st Century. It is written to all of us.

It is here to remind us of what it will be like when we get there. It is strange, mysterious, glorious, wonderful and awesome. But more than anything, God will be wiping away the tears from eyes, so hold on to your faith!

I need to remember that as a Christian. We need to remember that as we think about how God wants us to live our lives.

(SHOW) In light of eternity, how will you spend your life?

We are not currently being put to death for our faith in the United States, but there are millions of Christians, even today who are being persecuted by either their governments, or their neighbors.

I think of this image of Jesus, this slaughtered lamb and just as I had to turn my head away from that poor dead kitty, I wonder how I can keep looking at Jesus, the crucified Lamb of God who took away our sins.

And the story ends with this worship. The elders lead it, they fall down, the crowd, the angels and the beasts fall down and worship.

All they can do in response is praise God for saving them.

A View From Heaven, Part I

Text: Revelation 1:4-8

Focus: Worship

Function: To help people focus on The Kingdom of God

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

Can I do a teaching?

I wish I had a month to go over all the theology in the passage we used for Easter.

It teaches about Spiritual warfare, Jesus’ having the prime place in glory, how He defeats the god of the world –the devil, and it teaches about the meaning and purpose of the resurrection.

The meaning of the resurrection is best understood when we consider where we are resurrected to.

During the sermon, we are going to spend the next 3 weeks in Heaven. (SHOW IMAGE)

The Bible tells us a lot about heaven, but at the same time, it leaves most all of the details out. It is always a mystical place for us to ponder and dream about.

So, we are going to get a view of heaven in this three-week study.

The book of Revelation is one of the most controversial books in the bible.

The interpretations of its prophecies vary greatly. When I was a new Christian, understanding Bible prophecy was my first passion in study. I read everything I could about it. I read from the meaning behind the great Hymn: “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations,” a hymn about how the Church will bring God’s kingdom to earth and the whole earth will be better and better because of Christian influence and the second coming of Christ may only be the time when the values of the gospel are obtained.

This view is the primary historic view of the Church from the beginning.

They call that doctrine a post-millennial view since the events of Armageddon don’t take place until after the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

I don’t think so, but I may be wrong. I find the scriptures in Matthew 24 when Jesus talks about the increase in evil, the increase in world calamities or in Revelation 22 where it says, Good people will get better and Evil people will get worse to mean that there will be a big contrast between good and evil.

The Pre-millennial view has the rapture, the 1,000 year reign of Christ, and then the battle of Armageddon after Satan’s release from the bottomless pit. That view is broken down into three basic categories, Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, and Post-Tribulation. That means that the rapture will happen either before these terrible events in Revelation take place, or during the middle, when the Antichrist turns up the heat so to speak and the mark of the beast is instituted, and post, that believers will be miraculously supplied during the tribulation and the rapture doesn’t happen until “the last trumpet” sounds.

An then there is the Amillennial view which states that the dark ages were the millennium… …if you try putting it all together, it gets crazy.

We have this need, this desire to know about Bible prophecy and what is going to happen in the end.

We care about it so much because we have loved ones that we want to know are ready to stand before God.

And listen, all of this is exciting. Study and academics were generally pretty easy for me. But I found something out, the more that I studied, the less sure I was about any one position.

I question the theologian who thinks his or her interpretation is the only valid one.

Because, being less sure is Biblical.

In the OT, the book that speaks the most about end times prophecy is Daniel. In 9:24 and 11:4, God tells Daniel that these prophecies will remain a mystery until after they are fulfilled.

Jesus repeats the mystery of these visions, prophecies and revelations right at the end of the book of Revelation by warning people not to add to, or take away from the teaching. (SHOW) Revelation 22:18-19 I give fair warning to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.

So, it’s like, I better not preach about exactly how the prophecies will be fulfilled, because 1). By God’s design, they are a mystery until after they are fulfilled and 2). I don’t want all those plagues added to my own life!

But, every time we read it, we get a special blessing. Every time we read it, just like watching the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” we get something new, a different angle, another word or image that was there all along that strikes us as appropriate for the times we are in.

So, what is it that I believe God wants us to see from this passage?

Given the fact it is wrong to get to precise about the meaning of these things, why is this book such a special blessing to believers?

Well, according to Pastor Gavin at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Albert City, Iowa: (SHOW) “The book of Revelation isn’t as much about laying out the future as it is about worshipping God and Jesus. It is a book about worship.”

Then he goes on to say: “Throughout Revelation people are worshipping all sorts of things, and the true church, the real Christians are the ones who worship God alone. And, I think this is where it becomes most clear, this vision was given to a church who was facing persecution and even death for their faith. If they chose not to follow the worship practices of the world around them, they could die for this. And Revelation offers real and strong hope to them. It tells them that the world will seem to get horrible, but in the end they will join with all of God’s saints in worshipping Jesus at the foot of his throne.”

Verses 5-7 are actually a song, given to us by God, a song that we are to sing until we get to heaven. Hear the words in their poetry:

Glory and strength to Christ, who loves us,
who blood-washed our sins from our lives,
Who made us a Kingdom, Priests for his
Father,

Forever—and yes, he's on his way!
Riding the clouds, he'll be seen by every eye,
those who mocked and killed him will see him,

People from all nations and all times
will tear their clothes in lament.

Oh, Yes.

1^st service: We sing a big portion of that in one of my favorite hymns, #336, It is Well With My Soul. That last line about how our faith shall be sight, the trumpet shall sound and God will make sense out of all the pain and suffering we have endured as Christians.

2^nd service: We sing directly from this passage of scripture when we sing:

Behold he comes!

Riding on a cloud!

Shining like the sun!

At the trumpet's call!

Lift your voice!

It's the year of jubilee!

Out of Zion’s hill salvation comes!

This scripture is actually a song given to us to sing until Jesus returns to bring His children home.

Well wait a moment, what about the last verse of that song?

(SHOW) People from all nations and all times


will tear their clothes in lament. Oh, Yes.

1^st service: The hand bell choir and their families, and everyone else who stays will get to hear our first song in the worship set from the praise team, Victory Chant. And if you don’t get to hear it and want to, you can log on to my sermon blog and see the link right to the song.

2^nd service: We started out with the song, “Victory Chant.”

It is a great song. It is called Victory Chant, but it isn’t a song of how we received a victory over all those who rejected what we believe.

No, it’s a song about Jesus and the victory He accomplished by the cross and the resurrection in order to set us free.

We worship Him for what He has done for us.

So what about this song, this line, “everyone else will wail and lament” and we respond with the satisfaction of the words: “oh yes!”

Is he saying that we are to gloat over the fact that the many people who refused to acknowledge Jesus will suffer when He does return, when He appears in the sky, when the entire world hears that last trumpet blast, it is a day of happiness for us because they are not with us?

I tell you this, I am genuinely excited and hoping for my graduation day when I get to be in heaven with Jesus, the child that we lost, my dad and all the others who have gone before me.

One youth who had particularly bonded with me in a former parish really took it hard when God called me on. I remember my last words to him were: “Brother, you better be in heaven with me. Promise me you will make it.”

We want to go to heaven, and in heaven, there will be joy that we cannot imagine. In heaven God will wipe away our last tears, and then there will be no more crying.

(SHOW) Revelation 21:4 …They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone."

I can only imagine that those first tears wiped away will be tears for those who are not there.

I can also imagine that God would never get over the grief of anyone who didn’t choose to go.

Both Methodist and Brethren churches were built so that from the pulpit, the pastor could see the cemetery so that he would be reminded of the fate of every person in that room.

If you love somebody, you don’t want them to go to hell.

Brother Paul said that he loved his people so much; he would go to hell on their behalf if he could.

Well Paul can’t save people. I can’t save people. You can’t save people. Only Jesus can.

And that is what Jesus did.

Jesus went to hell for us.

Except hell couldn’t keep Him there.

Romans 10:7, Colossians 2:15 and Ephesians 4:8:

(SHOW) Jesus descended into hell (Romans 10:7), He disarmed Satan (Colossians 2:15), and He lead a host of captives out of hell into heaven, (Ephesians 4:8).

When He rose from the dead, he proved that God’s mercy triumphs over the shame and evil that Satan puts on us.

So, if you love somebody, even your enemy, you do not wish them to go to hell. How can we sing this song and gloat over those who don’t make it?

I cannot picture God gloating over those who don’t make it.

What does this mean, the people will lament?

The bible is really clear about gloating over an enemy’s failure: Proverbs 17:5, and 24:17 are direct commands for us to not rejoice when an enemy stumbles.

About this point, you are probably thinking, “Stop asking us what you think it means and tell us what you think it means!”

You have to understand the context of Revelations. John the apostle is in prison on the island of Patmos, history says that the Roman prison there was a hard labor camp where they busted rocks from dawn to dusk every single day to provide paving stones for Roman highways. It’s Sunday morning, the day they used to gather to worship, but he is alone. He is somewhere praying; the whole island is a prison. And in this place God gives him this Revelation.

Nero is Emperor. He is so Antichrist that he literally uses Christians who are soaked in tar and impaled on poles, lit on fire as lights for his orgies.

Across the Roman Empire Christians are persecuted because they refuse to worship Nero as their god.

The Christians are wondering if God has this in His plan, or if something has gone wrong in heaven. They have gone from tremendous growth and blessing to terrible persecution.

Satan hates grace, and the church is giving grace from God to everyone. It is multiplying as miraculously as the feeding of the 5,000.

So Satan puts this enmity into Nero’s mind.

God, in response, gives this beautiful Revelation to John. It is a letter from God that Nero isn’t going to get away with his extremely wicked torture of Christians.

(SHOW) Revelations is a letter to the oppressed everywhere that God indeed is a fair judge, and He will set everything to right.

He doesn’t gloat over those who refuse Him, who choose evil over good, who serve themselves instead of others, who have 2 coats and refuse to give one to someone who has none. He doesn’t gloat over them, but He tells His children that He knows how to vindicate them. Revelation is a book about God’s love for the oppressed. It comforts us to know that it isn’t all in vain.

Did you know that Nero’s name is 666?

(SHOW)

Don’t worry, I can’t read Hebrew either.

Much of the language in Revelation is symbolic, mysterious, and cryptic.

God gave a divine revelation to John, it is a miraculous vision, it is given to comfort and challenge his people. God did it in such a way as to keep them from getting into further trouble by using this highly symbolic language.

So what is this challenge?

It has a lot to do with the core of our theology.

From this scripture we teach the priesthood of all believers.

Rome justified its enslavement of the world by claiming that the emperor was god, and it was moral and just for them to rule others. They believed that they had a divine mandate. But history has shown us the truth, that “might doesn’t make right” and people are willing to do anything to justify themselves.

So, when across the Kingdom, Christians wouldn’t bow to Caesar, they were labeled as unpatriotic, traitors and heretics.

That is why, right at the beginning of the book, he reminds believers everywhere, who are suffering terrible persecution, that we are members of a greater kingdom, hold on, God’s Kingdom will reign and God will move to protect His own.

(SHOW) We are a kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. We are a kingdom of Priests.

Question, how can every Christian be a priest?

We teach and emphasize the Priesthood of all believers. We teach and preach the concept that all of us have direct access to God and we no longer need a man to intercede for us, then who are we priests for?

Obviously, we are priests for those who have not yet joined God’s family.

(SHOW) We are Priests to unbelievers.

Jesus said to the disciples right before He left them in the book of John: (SHOW) John 20:22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"

I had to talk to a detective about something a few months ago and I said to him: “You have the power of law; we have the power of grace.”

In my experience, there are two ways to make a church grow. One is, “rant, rave and yell about how bad all the others are and feed on people’s fear and anger.”

But the other, the Biblical one is this: “Do Justice, Love Mercy and be Humble before God.” When we give mercy, God is pleased and the body of Christ grows.

(SHOW –don’t say) Is Jesus your King?

But there is still one unanswered question here. Yes, Jesus is the Firstborn of the dead, the King of Kings and all that. But is He your King? Have you given your life to Him? He said "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me."(John 14:6)