Revelation: A Guide for Hopeful Living Today
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "Escape rooms are this curious thing going on, a fad that's been going on for several years in our country where you and a group of your friends get locked in a room. I know the claustrophobic people are like, not me, it's not going to happen. You get locked in a room, and you have to figure out how to get out. There are clues and mysteries and keys and kind of mysterious, bizarre connections that you have to make. And if you can get them all right before the time runs out, then the door swings open and you win, right?" [31:29]
2. "The story that many of us have been told is that this odd, bizarro book is intended to give us the inside scoop on the events that have not yet happened, but soon will. That's the story that many of us have been told, which, by the way, has led many of us to believe and many people to say, you know what? I'm not buying it. I'm just avoiding that. I don't know what to make out of that book. And when I read the Bible, that's one of the ones I just skip over." [34:51]
3. "What if this book was not given to help us predict the future? But what if it was given instead to help us know how to live in the present, in 2024? I believe that it was. I believe that's the way it is. I believe that's part of what we've been missing. The story that we've been missing. And so we want to explore that." [41:27]
4. "A dissident is a person of hope who imagines a better future world and then begins to embody that world. A dissident is someone who sees a better reality, a better world, and begins to live that out. And they're saying, you know what? In the midst of what I am, there's a better way to live, and I'm going to proclaim that with my words. With my words and with my actions." [47:23]
5. "Imagination is at the core of how we engage with the world around us. And imagination is required for us to understand this revelation that John has written. One author puts it this way. Imagination does to revelation what music does to words. Think about that for a moment. Think about how music takes words and it gives them a whole new way of you understanding them." [55:44]
### Quotes for Members
1. "But there's the story that we've been told, and then there's the story that we've been missing. And I want to explore the story that we've been missing. Today, we're launching, on a journey of discovery of the story we've been missing. Because I believe this odd little book actually has not only been seriously misunderstood by many of us, but we've missed out on some of the most helpful and timely and insightful guidelines on how to live as followers of Jesus now in 2024." [35:33]
2. "Revelation was not written for speculation. It was written for dissidence. One of the most reliable and interesting, insightful resources that I've come across about this book is a book called Revelation for the Rest of Us. I have a copy of it up here. And if you are interested in finding a little bit more about it, you can just text the word resources to that number. And there's a link there on that webpage that will take you, if you have an interest and you want to find out a little bit more, fascinating." [46:10]
3. "John was speaking out against Rome. But he was also speaking out against the creeping influence of Rome in the churches of Jesus Christ. He lists seven churches and he calls each of them to account for ways in which they are not. In which they have also begun to absorb the culture around them that was in conflict with the call of following Jesus. He was calling them to be dissidents in the midst of their own people. Come to think of it, those same powers of corruption and exploitation and injustice that John saw in the Roman Empire and that he saw creeping into us, those same powers are still present." [48:47]
4. "John saw a vision and he tried to capture what he saw in words that he could put on paper. John was using the lexicon, the vocabulary that he was familiar with as someone steeped in the Jewish tradition and all of the prophecies in the Old Testament. These were the images that he was pulling from to try and put words to what he was seeing. He saw something in his vision that had not been seen previously. A vision of God's plan for his creation." [52:40]
5. "The story we've been told is that Revelation is for speculation. But the story we've been missing is that Revelation is a handbook for dissidents living in this world. It's intended to inform Jesus' thoughts. His followers. His church. And how to discern this world. How to discern the corruption and the injustice, whether they're in the church or whether they're in the world. And how to embody a different kind of world." [59:43]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "Escape rooms are this curious thing going on, a fad that's been going on for several years in our country where you and a group of your friends get locked in a room. I know the claustrophobic people are like, not me, it's not going to happen. You get locked in a room, and you have to figure out how to get out. There are clues and mysteries and keys and kind of mysterious, bizarre connections that you have to make. And if you can get them all right before the time runs out, then the door swings open and you win, right?" [31:29]
2. "The story that many of us have been told is that this odd, bizarro book is intended to give us the inside scoop on the events that have not yet happened, but soon will. That's the story that many of us have been told, which, by the way, has led many of us to believe and many people to say, you know what? I'm not buying it. I'm just avoiding that. I don't know what to make out of that book. And when I read the Bible, that's one of the ones I just skip over." [34:51]
3. "What if this book was not given to help us predict the future? But what if it was given instead to help us know how to live in the present, in 2024? I believe that it was. I believe that's the way it is. I believe that's part of what we've been missing. The story that we've been missing. And so we want to explore that." [41:27]
4. "A dissident is a person of hope who imagines a better future world and then begins to embody that world. A dissident is someone who sees a better reality, a better world, and begins to live that out. And they're saying, you know what? In the midst of what I am, there's a better way to live, and I'm going to proclaim that with my words. With my words and with my actions." [47:23]
5. "Imagination is at the core of how we engage with the world around us. And imagination is required for us to understand this revelation that John has written. One author puts it this way. Imagination does to revelation what music does to words. Think about that for a moment. Think about how music takes words and it gives them a whole new way of you understanding them." [55:44]
### Quotes for Members
1. "But there's the story that we've been told, and then there's the story that we've been missing. And I want to explore the story that we've been missing. Today, we're launching, on a journey of discovery of the story we've been missing. Because I believe this odd little book actually has not only been seriously misunderstood by many of us, but we've missed out on some of the most helpful and timely and insightful guidelines on how to live as followers of Jesus now in 2024." [35:33]
2. "Revelation was not written for speculation. It was written for dissidence. One of the most reliable and interesting, insightful resources that I've come across about this book is a book called Revelation for the Rest of Us. I have a copy of it up here. And if you are interested in finding a little bit more about it, you can just text the word resources to that number. And there's a link there on that webpage that will take you, if you have an interest and you want to find out a little bit more, fascinating." [46:10]
3. "John was speaking out against Rome. But he was also speaking out against the creeping influence of Rome in the churches of Jesus Christ. He lists seven churches and he calls each of them to account for ways in which they are not. In which they have also begun to absorb the culture around them that was in conflict with the call of following Jesus. He was calling them to be dissidents in the midst of their own people. Come to think of it, those same powers of corruption and exploitation and injustice that John saw in the Roman Empire and that he saw creeping into us, those same powers are still present." [48:47]
4. "John saw a vision and he tried to capture what he saw in words that he could put on paper. John was using the lexicon, the vocabulary that he was familiar with as someone steeped in the Jewish tradition and all of the prophecies in the Old Testament. These were the images that he was pulling from to try and put words to what he was seeing. He saw something in his vision that had not been seen previously. A vision of God's plan for his creation." [52:40]
5. "The story we've been told is that Revelation is for speculation. But the story we've been missing is that Revelation is a handbook for dissidents living in this world. It's intended to inform Jesus' thoughts. His followers. His church. And how to discern this world. How to discern the corruption and the injustice, whether they're in the church or whether they're in the world. And how to embody a different kind of world." [59:43]
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