Understanding Revelation: Hope and Anticipation in Christ

1. "And so this is one of the reasons I want to get into it, because God has given this book to us for a purpose. And so as we get into it, here's my goal and prayers as we study the book of Revelation. The first is I hope and I'm going to try to equip you to be able to read the book on your own. That would be awesome if you were interested in from these messages, because we're going to do like a big picture overview of the book of Revelation." [10:23] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "My prayer is this, because I believe it's useful, is that it would cause you to wake up to the reality that Jesus Christ is coming soon. I don't, you know, this is for Christians who have been Christians a long time. This is useful for those of you who are trying to, who are searching for the truth. You're like, I'm here because I'm interested in Christianity, but I'm not sure I fully believe this is the way, the truth, and the life." [12:30] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "The book of Revelation has real hope, real hope that when Jesus comes back, he's going to conquer, he's gonna conquer evil once and for all. Then he's going to judge the world, and he's the only one equipped to judge. And then he's going to establish his kingdom on earth forever. And that desire that we are looking to be fulfilled in the world for justice and fairness and equity and all those things and love cannot come from human governments. It can only come from God and when his kingdom is established, all our heart's desires will be satisfied." [13:47] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "And so, before we get into it, and this is what today is about, it's an introduction. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use chapter one, pretty much everything I'm saying is coming from chapter one or resources about the book of Revelation. And so this is an introduction message, and the deal is you need to know a couple real, really important things to be able to read the book so that you're not completely confused." [14:28] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "And so that's what was going on with the Christians at that time and those are the kinds of things in John's mind when he's relaying this vision this revelation to the churches in Asia Minor and so why is it so important to understand who wrote the book the original audience of those churches and the historical context it helps us understand the motivation and intent of behind John's letter but it also helps us understand what the Christians the people who received the letter must have been thinking about when they received it." [22:20] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "And so I don't say like hey it doesn't have anything to do with us I don't believe that I think it does have I think it has to do God is preparing every generation for the last times because last days because we don't know Jesus said you don't know the time or hour and so we have to be careful and so I love this quote from the Bible Project the Bible Project is a great resource but they lean heavy on the symbolic view but what they say about the importance of the historical context understanding it when you're reading scripture is this is that although the book of Revelation has a lot to say to us and potentially later generations if Jesus doesn't come back right we have to anchor its meaning in John's day and time time and place." [27:13] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "And so here's what you got to remember because if I'm in your shoes and I didn't get all that I'm thinking wow Brian that's a lot and you lost me a little bit what's the point even though it's confusing to read we have to remember that the book of Revelation is God's word and that he gave it to us for a purpose and that purpose is one to encourage us when we're in a situation you know to be prepared for the last days and to encourage us to overcome when the world starts going crazy but also to give us a glimpse of the heavenly reality of the fact that yeah we're all living our lives here but guess what God is in charge God has a plan he's ruling and reigning right now even though he's allowing all kinds of craziness to take place and he's going to take us and he's coming back soon and he's going to do everything he intends to do he's going to overcome evil he's going to judge the world and he's going to establish his kingdom on earth forever and we need to remember that that he's given us this heavenly glimpse of the future." [35:25] (84 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "And so the message right there is very simple I've been saying it this whole message is that God is God but Jesus is coming soon we forget that as Christians you know Jesus and his teaching and then all the disciples after and all the traditions of churches after have been saying hey you must be prepared for Jesus' return because it could be at any time like a thief in the night you don't know and so we must be prepared Jesus is coming back soon and when he comes he's going to rescue his people from evil once and for all he's going to rescue he's going to judge the world and here's the deal like there's time now there's a way out now but no matter what you believe this revelation and the Bible's message is that there will be a day when every knee bows believer and unbeliever and you will face King Jesus and your only hope is did you believe in him and receive his work for your salvation on the cross that is the only thing that matters." [38:33] (79 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "And so our response should be to fall on our knees every morning and worship our king and in response to that live to the best of our ability as his ambassadors as his people representing his way of life on this earth those are the purposes and if you do that you will be blessed by God and that means God's got your back and he helps you along the way amen so today was all about chapter one which was a big introduction and so what I would love to see us do as a church is to go through this book together and read it and study it look at the resources available to us and to talk about it with one another to debate it in a healthy way that pushes us towards worship so that we can be better followers of Jesus." [47:30] (68 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Father God thank you so much for your word that has been written down gotta pray that as we take time to read your word and try to understand it I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would make it known to us help us to read it humbly not knowing everything and help us to hear what you have to say and respond and worship in obedience God I pray that the words of this book would come true that as we read over the next couple weeks that this book would be a blessing to each one of us and to us as a church ask all this in Jesus name amen." [48:56] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)