Revelation

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#DislikedWord

Thursday, August 17th, 2023

Talk about God and we like to speak about His love, His grace, His faithfulness, and so on. All positive attributes of a God who is beyond description. But there is one word associated with God we DO NOT like to talk about.

WRATH

Say what? You get the point I’m sure. The last thing we want to talk about is that God is also a God of wrath. Of all the topics and discussions about God, the wrath and judgment of God are probably hands down the most avoided. We want to put it on the backburner of “things we don’t want or like to talk about.”

IT. IS. UNAVOIDABLE. when talking about God. To leave it out is like leaving a lop-sided God.

This Sunday my sermon from Revelation 11 is entitled The Word Everyone Dislikes. I’d like to invite you come visit us in person or online via live stream. The church’s website http://ovcf.org has the links to the Facebook page or YouTube if you prefer that medium. We meet at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

#HeadsUp!

Thursday, August 3rd, 2023

Picture yourself on April 12, 1910. You have paid the fare on the maiden voyage of the unsinkable ship. Your evening is rudely interrupted by someone knocking on your cabin door telling you to put on your life vest and come to the bridge. Little do you know that the unsinkable ship had struck an iceberg and would soon make its grave at the bottom of the icy Atlantic. One passenger left his cabin for the last time, leaving behind some 300,000 dollars in stocks and bonds and took with him 3 oranges.

Life throws us curves. We all know that. Big and small, those curves will awaken us from our complacency. It might be a coronary, a cancer diagnosis, unemployment, or hundreds of other scenarios. We might suddenly find ourselves floundering and in some cases, searching for answers.

Chapter 8 of Revelation is like that. It is a chapter of upheavals. One after another of a different nature. And they are there as warnings, much like a fire alarm or smoke alarm might do. I’ve titled my sermon Sunday Heads Up! in light of the multiple warnings in Revelation 8. Please join us in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.

 

#HereComestheUmbrella!

Thursday, July 20th, 2023

Perhaps you have seen it. I can’t say I have heard it since I turn off commercials. One I saw recently and can only guess what it said 🙂  was one for an insurance company.  It began to hail and while others were lamenting the state of their cars, this particular man was driving through the hailstorm under the covering of a roof. The point was obvious, even from a silent screen: “Get our insurance and you are covered.”

I also read about a boy who was bullied by an older kid on the bus. This older boy grabbed the boy’s papers and notebook and wrote some vile things on them. That evening at supper his dad asked for his papers and he hesitated. When his father pressed the issue, he brought his papers and watched his father’s facial features change. When his father wanted to know more and who wrote those words, the boy told his dad everything. His father quietly got up from the table and told his son to get in the car and drove to the other boy’s home. He purposely left the window down, knocked on the door and told the boy’s father that if that ever happened again he would be coming after him. The  man wilted under that father’s strength. As they drove away, they heard the boy’s father making sure it would never happen again.  It never did.  That boy knew his father had his back and he was under his protection.

Revelation 7:1-17 shows us that without question we are under God’s protection, His umbrella. To borrow a phrase from the chapter, we are under His seal. What exactly does that mean and what does it tell us about God?  Tune in this Sunday in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45 to find the answer.

 

HereCometheHorses!

Thursday, July 6th, 2023

 

Welcome back! I feel like I ought to be singing that song from “Welcome Back Kotter” by John Sebastian.  After a two month hiatus, I am back to my series on Revelation. I don’t regret the side detour though. It was something I felt God was leading me to do and over the two months I had it confirmed multiple times. But I’m back to Revelation and will be starting at Chapter 6.

I’ve titled this sermon Here Come the Horses! for an obvious reason.  Let me just state the obvious as you read this chapter: white, red, black, and pale. There are several different interpretations for the appearance of these horses and I plan to bring them out. I have my personal belief but that ruins it if I tell you ahead of time. 🙂 

We all have expectations. Every sermon I prepare I have an expectation that a life will be touched, maybe changed or rearranged. What type of expectations do you have concerning the Christian life? Is it what you expected it to be? We all wonder about the future. Truth is: none of us knows what the future holds, but there are some expectations we can count on. I plan to probe that in this sermon as we talk about the horses and what they mean.

I hope you will join me in person or via live stream.  If not, then please pray for me. Honestly, it is a struggle getting back to Revelation after the series on Anxiety and Worry and Fear and Depression. I feel like it helped some people and wonder about this series on The Lamb Wins!

 

#TheLambisWorthy!

Thursday, February 23rd, 2023

In his book, The Ultimate Priority, Pastor John MacArthur opens with a unique story of worship gone crazy. Maria Rubio said she was frying tortillas when she noticed that the skillet burns on one of her tortillas resembled the face of Jesus. Excited, she showed it to her husband and neighbors, and they agreed. So she went to her priest to have the tortilla blessed. She testified it changed her and her husband saying she was more peaceful, happy and submissive since the tortilla had arrived.  The priest, not accustomed to blessing tortillas, reluctantly did so.

She took the tortilla home and put it in a glass case with piles of cotton to make it look like it was floating on clouds, built a special altar for it, then opened the shrine to visitors. Within a few months, more than 8000 people came to the shrine of the Jesus of the Tortilla.

It seems incredible to me (to us) that this could actually happen. But there have been other instances as well. Images of Jesus in toppings of pizza. Scorched etchings on toast. Spot on a garage floor. Burn marks on a grilled cheese. We roll our eyes and cluck at the gullibility of people.

The final section of Revelation 5, verses 9-14, is full of hymns and is focused on worship. This final sermon in the first section of my series on Revelation will close the door on the whole idea of worship which is taking place in heaven and which John gets to witness. After this (beginning in chapter 6) things change.

We will focus on worship in heaven. We will also focus on worship as it takes place here on earth. Please join me in person or via live stream.

Next week begins a two month series I’ve titled To and From the Cross. More on that next week.

 

#HeKnows#2

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

There are 4 perfections of God’s character that we must know and believe:

He is Immutable- He never changes.

He is Omnipotent- He is All-Powerful.

He is Omnipresent- He is All-Present (Everywhere present)

He is Omniscient- He is All-Knowing.

It was the latter attribute that I focused on last week and will continue that this week-He is Omniscient. I took us through the first 4 churches which are covered in Revelation 2. This week I am going to look at the last 3 churches, which are found in Revelation 3.

Letter #1- Ephesus- He knows what and who we love.

Letter #2- Smyrna- He knows what we are willing to suffer for.

Letter #3- Pergamum- He knows what we really believe.

Letter #4- Thyatira- He knows what we are willing to tolerate.

Letter #5- Sardis- He knows our spiritual condition.

Letter #6- Philadelphia- He knows the state of our commitment.

Letter #7- Laodicea- He knows who we are depending on.

I hope you will join me in our worship this Sunday-in person or online. We start at 9 and 10:45. 

 

#HeKnows

Wednesday, January 25th, 2023

There are certain characteristics (attributes) of God that are non-negotiable.  There are three which always come to the forefront:

His Omnipotence- He is all-powerful.

His Omnipresence- He is all-present (everywhere present)

His Omniscience- He is all-knowing.

To know those characteristics of God AND TO BELIEVE THEM is absolutely essential.  As I continue my series on Revelation, I hit this week what is probably the most familiar 2 chapters in all the book- the 7 churches.  I plan to take chapter 2 this week and follow up next week with chapter 3.  I plan to focus on what God knows, especially on what He knows about the churches (and by proxy…us).

What does it mean He knows? He knows absolutely everything that can be known. He has no need to learn anything. He does not a computer (don’t you wish?) He doesn’t need Google (again…I wish). And He certainly doesn’t need any of us telling him what He must and must not do, or should or should not do!

I’ll be summing up the first four churches this week like this:

  • Ephesus- He knows what and who we really love.
  • Smyrna- He knows what we are willing to suffer for.
  • Pergamum- He know what we really believe.
  • Thyatira- He knows what we are willing to tolerate.

Join us won’t you? We meet in person and live stream at both 9:00 and 10:45.

 

#Revelation#FeastonHim

Thursday, January 19th, 2023

Someone has said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” It is certainly hard to argue with that. I think we might all admit to forming an impression of someone before we were totally informed of who they are or what they do or the circumstances in their life.  When Jo and I first met, she couldn’t stand me. I was a hot-shot basketball player (or so I thought) and arrogance oozed out of my pores.  We hung around with a group of other college students and did a lot of outings together. But she still couldn’t stand me. I’d like to think my lovable charm, my dashing good looks, and my over-the-top humor won her over. But truthfully, I’m not sure what did. 🙂 Maybe I began to grow up??

What do you know about Jesus? What is your impression of Him? How would you picture Him? A handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes. (You would be wrong). Somewhat meek and mild and sort of like a milquetoast? (You would be wrong again).

John’s vision of Jesus is disturbing. Well, it was to him. It was nothing like he remembered from their 3 years together as Rabbi and disciple. John takes us into that vision in this week’s sermon from Revelation 1: 9-20. I guarantee it will wake a few folks up.

Join us won’t you? We meet in person and via live stream at 9 and 10:45.