Revelation: Rediscovering Love in Our Faith Journey

1) "Revelation is an apocalypse and when we hear that word we usually think of Armageddon we think of the four horsemen of the apocalypse the Antichrist we think of the number 666 the second coming judgment fire beasts worms that never die just go down the list we think of those things gnashing of teeth but there are also amazing things that we don't often talk about at length when we come to the book of Revelation no one ever approaches the book of Revelation and says oh let's talk about the new heaven and new earth but there's justice and there's mercy and there's a look into a very patient and loving God one who seals believers with his mark we're all so concerned about the mark of the beast right God seals believers with his mark and he gives them strength to stand firm regardless of what difficulties they encounter and what this book shows us it shows us an amazing God." [56:04] (70 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Apocalypse means unveiling it means unveiling and this is what the author does he's preaching to us he's pulling the veil back to show us who's really in charge he shows us that Jesus is king of kings lord of lords he unveils and reveals this fact that God loves us so much that he is making eternal life available with him for everyone who believes no matter what you've done this is what Revelation is really about it's a book of Revelation it's a book about how God wins how he's ready to bring us along on his victory parade Revelation is encouraging the church to stand firm and so he begins this entire book with some direct messages to seven specific churches." [57:01] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "I believe every church faces a crossroads they come to this crossroads in their existence every believer I believe comes to this crossroads I believe every believer comes to this crossroads our church our church has come a long way we're going to be 125 years old next year can you believe it one of the oldest churches in St. Angela and we have similarities to that early church in Ephesus you know we have similarity to that church in this letter as well we've relied on the faith hope and love of those who have come before us we continue to reap the benefits of some bold moves of faith people who were willing to sacrifice and reach their neighbors even to the point of death a church who sacrificed to reach out to our young people students and young adults our history shows that we have had a love for the poor we still do we have a love for the marginalized and our elderly brothers and sisters our young families we have a heart for those people struggling to make ends meet and for those people struggling to end their addiction we have a long history of that and people who've given us story after story after story to tell." [01:11:01] (75 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "What if we chose to lean into that love even further once again recommit to that what if we chose to make that love our defining characteristic common hatred or dislike is a poor marker of unity love however love for God love for one another for old, for rich, for poor for young, for sick for healthy, for addicted for the well put together what if love is what bound us together and what if we leaned into that so that that love could help us stand and I think as we listen to these letters in the next several weeks my hope is that we do what John tells us to do and that is to know this is from God himself and we need to listen to it and take it to heart and it will bless you and it will not only bless you but it will allow God to channel his strength through the love that you have so that it will help us endure whatever difficulty lay ahead it's the power of revelation it's not meant to scare it's meant to inspire to show you that with God we can stand through the love of Jesus Christ amen." [01:16:00] (88 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)