Embracing God's Love and Our Mission for Christ

Mr. Thompson:

It's the Rapture, Shawna! The Rapture! The virtuous have gone to heaven, and the rest of us have been left below.

Left below? Where have I heard that before? It's the title of the movie. We were fools, and because we rejected God, tacitly accepting Satan, we must suffer through the apocalypse.

I thought all religions were a path to God. I was wrong.

Technology... okay, that's enough of that. I know we're going to get emails, and that's fine. Send your emails to Pastor Jason Berry at 12stone.com. Just as many as you possibly can.

You know what's interesting? When Revelation makes it into animation, and it's even on The Simpsons. By the way, they got a few things right. I mean, what's true? Jesus is coming back. The Rapture that way, when your Christian limo driver disappears.

The closer left... I don't think we got that all right, but Jesus is coming back. Yeah, we got that right. They got that right.

Oh, that little moment of, "Hey, we tacitly accept Satan when we choose to reject Jesus." It's actually true. And when Jesus said, "At my coming, many will lament and mourn," well, that's true.

And God didn't leave us in a collapsed place as a culture or as a person without inviting us to rebuild the foundation. And at the foundation is knowing where we come from and where we're headed.

So, Revelation is hard to understand in many respects. Let me just do the diagram again. If you were here last week, we're on week two of three. Get your cameras out again. You're not going to remember this. Or if you didn't get a photo of this, wherever you're listening in, if you're online community, great to have you. If you're 12 Stone Home, wonderful. If you're new and visiting today, you can go back to last week if you didn't get this picture.

Let me just remind us. This line across represents a timeline in eternity past that leads ultimately into where we're going to start. Jesus, who came from heaven to earth, God embodying human flesh, voluntarily dies on the cross.

Why? Why? Why?

Because our sin brings about our death. It's what collapses everything. We undid the foundations, so we live in confusion as a culture. We live in confusion about where we came from and where we're going. We live in confusion about our identity. We live in confusion about identifying things. We've lost clarity on definition.

What is marriage? What is family? What's man? What's a woman? What is life? What is true? What is a lie? What is good? What is evil? We just... and of course, it's difficult if you're a rising generation and you're like, "I don't know how this goes together. I'm confused from the inside out." Of course you are.

And so Jesus is setting this right. And when he does, he rises from the dead, sends the Holy Spirit, and it's the launch of the church.

And so we're in this, if you will, this era of the church. Now, it's believed by some that when Scripture describes this coming back of Jesus, that first there's a Rapture where he takes the church up out before the tribulation, which sounds awesome. I hope that's true. That's my preference.

Is there really a Rapture separate from the second coming? That's not entirely clear, but his second coming is clear. And in Revelation chapter 6 to 18 is the description of the tribulation, the horrific times that build this suffering and this rise and fall of Satan's work in the seven years called the Great Tribulation.

And then the coming of Jesus. And so Scripture confirms it. Don't be confused. He is coming. And then there will be a war, and Satan will be bound, and the Beast, and the false prophet, and all that mankind has attempted to do in following Satan, even when we said we're neutral. We're not even in this. Oh, we're all in this.

And then Jesus is going to triumph. And then there's going to be the millennial reign, which is a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. Is it a literal thousand years or symbolic? Up for debate, but let's call it the full thousand years.

And then Satan is re-released for just a short season. Why? I don't know. Ask Jesus later. And then in this battle of Gog and Magog, the final war.

And then we all stand before the throne because there is a final day. And in the final day, if your name was in the Book of Life, you get to go to the new heaven and new earth because you've been walking with God. If not, Lake of Fire.

This whole storyline is to bring together with clarity where we come from and where we're headed.

Now, obviously, we're tackling a pretty hefty scripture in a short period of time in three weeks, so I can only hit the meat of this conversation. The meat of Revelation, the meat of tribulation, the meat of the final day.

The meat... the what? The meat! Let me just make sure I understand what I'm... the meat means you hit the main thing, and you got to keep the main thing the main thing.

So how many of you love burgers? Like, you would take a burger. Here's a picture of a burger. I'm just helping you out. I just want to help you understand where we're going. That's a burger.

He said, "Good meat." Oh, that looks... it might be a little early for some of you. I don't know when you're listening in, but that might make you hungry.

But when we say, "Have a burger," there's no burger without the meat. You understand? Now, if you go to the condiments, like, who cares? But we all dress our burger different, so it doesn't matter if you put ketchup or... how many of you are mayo or mayonnaise?

How many of you like... you put... you know? How many of you think that's disgusting? You're like, "What is wrong?" See, we're already divided as a church.

It's Mark Barster and I. We would put Miracle Whip and olives. Oh, glory to God! Wait, right, baby? Listen, when you get to heaven, you'll get to try it. You can try it before. It's fantastic.

Look, I don't care how you dress your burger. Here's the point: if you get so wrapped up in the condiments that you forget the meat, you just have a bun with condiments.

A whole lot of people, they're understanding Revelation. They're so lost in the symbols and the details, they miss the whole big point.

So let's state what the main thing is. The main thing. Let's get to the meat of it. Let's get to... and put it this way for our conversations: let's get to the meat of Revelation, the meat of tribulation, and the meat of the final day.

We're going to do all that and be done. And some of you will say yes to Jesus today, and some of us who are walking with Jesus got some things to clean up.

So let's have the conversation. What's the meat of Revelation? What's the meat of Revelation? In fact, I've put the answer right there: Jesus is Almighty.

That's it! Everybody say it with me: Jesus is Almighty! Not with passion now that you know what we're doing. Jesus is Almighty!

See, what you need to know right at the beginning, just the meat of Revelation is just one clear thought: Jesus is Almighty. Mighty over all that are mighty.

Let's look at the scripture. Jesus, the ruler of the kings of the earth, meaning literally the emperors of the earth. If you're in Forbes Magazine and you're at the top, most wealthy and influential, you too, like however high or low you are, whatever you think makes you mighty, wherever you are on the scale, just know this: Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, which means I'm the beginning and the end. Just so you know, it's foundational because the foundation is necessary to hold the whole thing together.

I'm the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. The what? Everybody? Almighty! Jesus is the Almighty!

Now, at the time of the writing of the Book of John, the emperor of Rome was Domitian. And Domitian, from around 81 to 96 A.D., eventually, like most of the Roman emperors, encouraged emperor worship.

And then he built a temple, some historians would say, in Ephesus. And in Ephesus, he pressed people into emperor worship, which was a little bit rough, as you can imagine. He thought himself divine.

And curiously, the Apostle John lived in Ephesus. In fact, we believe that he wrote the Gospel of John, first, second, third John, the letters when he was at Ephesus.

So now he's speaking for the Almighty Jesus and against the emperor. And so the emperor banishes him to the island of Patmos. It is there at the island of Patmos that the Holy Spirit speaks to him and through him to write the Book of Revelation.

He's writing it to the church, the seven churches of Asia Minor. And in writing it to them, he's writing to real people that he knows and has a relationship with, people he cares about, and he knows their burdens.

And he's writing it in a way that they would know how to receive and interpret and understand the majority of it. And it was to encourage them. After all, they're living in the season of oppression where the world and the culture is confused, and the world is saying to the church, "You got it all wrong. You're fools for following Jesus."

And you feel the oppression. And John's writing, "Listen, Jesus is Almighty!" Just the world is confused. I know the world acts like they're certain, and they mock our faith, but they're confused. Their lives have collapsed. The world has collapsed. The world will ultimately collapse.

They've removed the foundations of life, but they're so certain. Have you ever been certain of something? Of course you have.

I was certain a couple of weeks ago when I was traveling to Canada, speaking at a friend's church for a weekend men's retreat. And it was two flights to get there, and there's eight hours of travel. But it was going to be worth it to be with a friend and be with those guys and be of some encouragement to them.

So, I get down to the airport early, and when I got there, I'm thinking I'm just going to buzz through the TSA security. When I get there, it's probably the longest line I've seen in like five, six years.

Like, I don't even know what... did everybody get a memo and say go now? And I know the fruit of the Spirit is patience, but I have none. None!

And I think the tribulation is TSA. I just think that the trip through TSA is tribulation, and that the longer the line, the greater the tribulation. And I'm just not good with it.

So, the line was long, and then it snaked around. I mean, what are we doing? I'm never going to get through. So, I rushed to the Delta self-kiosk thing, and I put in my flight, and it doesn't come up.

And I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to go..." Yeah, usually I lose my Christianity before I go speak somewhere because travel undoes me, and then I have to come to Jesus just before I speak again.

So, it's already starting to happen. And then I put my passport in, and it's sending me to Fort Myers, Florida. What on earth? Delta is confused!

So, I do this four times, and now I'm just losing it. I can't go get in the line and wave because I'll never get through that line to get through that line.

And I... how? I dealt... the agent's walking by. "Oh, can I... do you understand these machines?" He says, "That's why I'm here."

I said, "What a nice guy, Delta! Love you guys. Can you fix this for me?" And he said, "What's the problem?" I explain it to him, and I put my passport in. It's Fort Myers. I'm not going to Fort Myers. I'm going to...

He said, "You have an itinerary?" I said, "I do. It's in my phone here." He said, "Great." I said, "I've already put the number." He said, "Can I look at it?" I said, "Sure."

He looks. "Mr. Myers, can I help you today? You're flying Air Canada."

Laughter. You know the thing in your phone that says Air Canada and then has the... I said, "I always fly Delta." Apparently not today!

Now I remember we did this months ago. It had to be two flights, and I could... ah!

How many of you have ever been so certain to discover you were wrong? I want to see your hands. Now keep them up. Keep them up.

I want you to look at the people whose hands are not up. They're so certain, and they're so wrong. So you get your hands up too because we've all done this.

He said, "Air Canada is way down there in the corner. Have a great day. Thanks for your patronage."

See, I love Delta. I only fly Delta. If you work for another airline, good for you, but we fly Delta.

See, I was confused. Listen, I thought Delta was confused, and I was confused. God is not confused. We are! Jesus is Almighty, and there's no confusion.

That's the meat of Revelation. The meat of the tribulation. The meat of the tribulation is that the mighty rise and fall. The mighty rise and... what? And you got to get both of them. They rise and fall.

What you experience in the middle of this tribulation is the complexity of understanding how it is Jesus is Almighty, but then there's factors of those that are mighty who... the rise and fall of them.

It doesn't make sense. These are the end times, and the world is collapsing. And you get the seals, the seven seals, and the trumpets and the bowls and the symbolism, and you get lost in all that, and you're like, "What's really going on?"

And what's really going on is it seems that Satan rises, and proud people who are unknowingly or knowingly following Satan, and he's empowering them. And the world that's collapsed, he actually seems to gain ground.

In fact, it's sort of going to be confusing as John is writing to the church and saying, "You're following Christ, and Christ is Almighty, but you're going to feel for a season of time like Satan's Almighty, like sin is mighty."

In fact, literally, chapter 13 describes that the Beast, this being that's empowered by Satan, that elevates into this one-world government stuff, rises up and has great power.

And it literally says in the middle of chapter 13 of Revelation that he's given power to conquer the saints, meaning there's a season of time that he rises.

And you can feel like, "My gracious God, if you're Almighty, how is this possible?" So he's telling us ahead of time so that you will know that human might and Satan, they will sizzle but then fizzle.

It's the only way I can remember it. It's going to look like they're all-powerful, Almighty, and then they're going to fall.

And listen, if you don't know that when you experience sin gaining ground, you'll start thinking that's the end of the story. And you don't stop the story in chapter 13 when Jesus wrote 22 chapters.

You got to get all the way to the end. You live through tribulation with the awareness of the new heaven and the new earth. You don't live for tribulation; you live through tribulation because your eyes are on Jesus all the way at the end, chapter 21 and 22, the new heaven and the new earth. Amen?

So, you got to know what you're living for and what you're leaning into. Now, to interpret it, it is a big story. And if you've been around 12 Stone over the years, we have taught this mirror image of Scripture.

And honestly, the seals and the trumpets and the bowls are probably cyclical more than they're linear because you read it, and it looks like it says the same thing with trumpets, and it says the same thing with bowls. It's kind of weird, but they're probably just layers of telling the story again and again and again because of the way in the Jewish culture they would have told the story.

The way we have taught it is so you would understand that what's happening in the Book of Revelation, you can't understand without the Old Testament.

In fact, you can't understand Revelation as a book unless you understand it in the context of the whole book. Revelation is just bringing an end to a story that began way back here.

See, the Bible is... if you want to do this with me, you just follow along. The Bible is one book. You can all put your hands together and just follow. The Bible is what? One book, one story, and two halves.

Two halves making one whole. One book, two halves, five major events in the Old Testament, five major events in the New Testament.

The five major events in the Old Testament, which are right here for you: God and righteous people in paradise, Satan and sin enter, the world is judged and destroyed, there's a one-world government, and then the whole rest of the Old Testament is the old covenant God makes with Abraham and the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes, God's holy people.

And all of it points to Jesus. All of the Old Testament points to Jesus. And then the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.

And everything that happens in the New Testament, including the Book of Revelation, happens in reverse descending order. It is a parallel, the New Testament to the Old Testament, which is why just in a few chapters of Genesis are paralleled by a few chapters in Revelation.

So the five major events in the New Testament, the New Covenant, which parallels the Old Covenant, and now we have the twelve disciples in the church.

The next major event is a one-world government. That's what we're reading in Revelation. Then the world will be judged and destroyed in the Old Testament by flood, at the end times of Revelation by fire.

Then Satan and sin exit; they are no more, and God and redeemed people are in paradise. See, to understand Revelation, you have to understand the Old Testament.

In fact, the majority of the symbolism and references in Revelation have connection to the Old Testament, which is why they're complex.

For example, when it says in Revelation 5:6, it says, "And I saw a lamb." So you're getting the symbolism. You're like, "Man, I get lost in the symbolism." It's not that complex. It made sense to the people of the day.

The "I saw a lamb that was slain with seven horns coming out of his head," and you're like, "That's just so bizarre. What does that mean?"

Well, if you understand the Old Testament symbolism, the lamb is referenced to the tabernacle in the temple. If you're not familiar with it, then you wouldn't know how to interpret because the lamb, an unblemished, sinless lamb, so to speak, a physical lamb, would have to give its life blood to cover the sin debt, to cover the sin of Israel repeatedly.

So that by the time you get to the prophecy, it says God will send his son who will be the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.

Then when John the Baptist sees Jesus walking up to him and he's going to baptize him, he says, "Oh, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Was Jesus walking up as a woolly, four-legged creature when John said that? No! No! When John the Baptist said that, he was talking about Jesus.

So when Scripture says now in Revelation, "A lamb looking slain," it's referring to our Savior. When it says seven horns, seven is the biblical number of completion, so it would be complete.

And the horns are biblically always been symbols of power. Oh, Jesus has complete power! Who is the savior of the world? Amen! That's who he is!

So when you get in the symbolism of Revelation, it's not always that complex. It actually makes sense. When it says the dragon, if you go read through chapters 6 to 18, the dragon of Satan, and it describes him for us, and that ultimately the dragon falls.

So let's go back to the diagram. So when we go to this full diagram, we say, "Oh, we have all this tribulation." And just the meat of it is that Satan, for a season of time, sizzles, rises, and then falls because Jesus comes back and he wins the war.

And there's the millennial reign of Christ, and then there is the final war, and everybody stands before the throne. You got to know what's happening in the end times so that you know how to live in the present times.

You got to know what's foundationally true so your life doesn't collapse. And it takes us to the meat, if you will, of the final day.

What is the meat of the final day? This is a sobering read. Well, the first thing I want you to see is what it tells us about Jesus.

What is the meat of the final day? Jesus is what? Again, Almighty! Now, I know that was a little subdued because you're just so in the teaching, so deep right now that you're reflective, but this is an awesome thing.

See, it starts with Jesus is Almighty, and then you wonder, "Hold it, is sin Almighty? Is Satan Almighty?" And you discover, "No, they just rise and fall."

And at the end of the day, you discover that Jesus is what? Almighty! Oh, this is all good!

So look where Revelation 19 takes it. Look how you come to the end. Hallelujah! See, it's praise, it's adoration, it's exhilaration. It's the party of the world of history.

Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the what? Almighty reigns!

Now, you should say that with the same passion in which it was written. So I'll set you up again. Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the what? Almighty reigns!

Oh, he always did. He always will. And then before the throne, we hardly ever read this scripture because it's all at the same time awesome and horrifying, but we're going to read it.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. The books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.

The dead, which means everyone who ever lived, the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

There's a reckoning that she gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person, each person was judged according to what they had done.

How we live our lives will have a reckoning. Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire, where Satan and the Beast and the false prophet were thrown.

So again, then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death.

Anyone whose name, anyone, anyone, anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life, or it's called the Lamb's Book of Life, the book where your name goes when you surrender to Jesus as Savior and Lord, when you recognize he's Almighty and he becomes Almighty in your life, Lord and Savior, that's his invitation.

Your name gets written in the Book of Life. Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Wow! Worst day for Satan, worst day for the Beast, worst day for the false prophet, worst day for everybody who mocked Jesus. Best day for everybody who said yes to Jesus and surrendered to him.

So I know that's sobering. Look, this isn't a Jenga game. This isn't The Simpsons. This isn't burgers and condiments.

This is perhaps the most weighty conversation we can have because it's your soul. So I'm not making light, but you have to decide: what are you going to do with this?

What are you going to do with the teaching? Next week, we're going to pick up on the new heaven and new earth. That's going to be awesome. That's going to be fun. And it's Father's Day!

We're going to celebrate that. We're going to have a conversation that might just literally be the most eye-opening conversation about heaven and earth, about a new earth you've never had.

And you're like, "Why didn't I know this?" Because we have unimagined what God has imagined. We literally think earth is awesome and heaven is going to be boring.

We have the weirdest, most unbiblical ideas about the new heaven and new earth. I mean, next week is FOMO. I would not miss out.

Got a little something for dads, and I think it will really be cool. A little gift, whatever dads will... ambient on this.

But what do you do with today's teaching? I have two things I think the Lord would say to you. Here they are: clean up your house and surrender to Jesus.

Clean up your house and surrender to Jesus. In light of the end times and where we are headed, clean up your house.

If you know Jesus, your message to be received today and what you go do is clean up your house. If you don't know Jesus, what you do today is say yes to Jesus. Surrender to Jesus.

Let me talk to those of us who are followers of Christ. Clean up your house. Here's all that means: if you knew Jesus was coming to your house tonight, like he was going to appear and come hang out at your house, how many of you would clean up your house?

Like, you would get your house... or like you... okay, mamas, how many of you would make every... how... okay, let me do it this way.

How many of you, growing up, when somebody's coming over, your mama made you clean up everything? Like, okay, you get... because you're hosting, you got somebody, you clean up the hot... where you've been sloppy and where you've tossed stuff around, where you hadn't paid attention, you clean up your house.

Listen, if you knew Jesus was coming tonight and you were accountable for how you were living before the Lord that you love and redeemed you, you would clean up your house.

You'd clean up your life. You'd clean up your soul. You would correct where you're not honoring him.

In 2 Peter chapter 3, he writes about... and this Day of Reckoning will come. And when you know Jesus is coming back, how should you live?

And he literally says we would live godly lives. Of course we would! So your message is go clean up your life. Go clean up your house.

What do you need to clean up? Do you need to clean up your moral purity, your sexual impurity? I mean, where are you adrift? Where are you sloppy? Where are you... are you single and living in a sexual relationship that you know isn't honoring Christ?

Where are you no longer battling pornography and you just jumped in? Where are you in adultery when your marriage relationship needs honor?

Like, go honor Christ! How are you managing your finances? Are you honoring him? Are you working as unto the Lord? Are you cheating anything?

And first fruits to God is your first love. Yeah! How are you doing in your marriage and your family with selfish ambition?

How are you doing with temptation? Is there anything in your life that you just need to clean up? Well, listen, clean it up! Go clean your house!

And then, knowing that he could come any day, keep it clean every day. It simply means this: make him mighty over all things in your life because he's Almighty! Amen?

Second group, if you don't know Jesus, then surrender to Jesus. Oh my gracious, best gift in the world! Can you believe what God has done for you?

2 Peter 3 says, "Listen, the end is coming, and Jesus is coming." And yes, all the scripture is true that those who did not say yes to Jesus spend eternity without him.

But you need to know the heart of God. That's what 2 Peter is talking about. 2 Peter 3 literally says, "Yes, the day of the Lord is coming, but know this, know this: people keep saying, 'Oh, where is he? If he's really going to come, where is he? How come he hasn't come yet? It's been two thousand years.'"

Well, the day... God is like a thousand years. He lives timeless. And it says he's patient. He's what? The thing we're not! He's patient!

Jesus hasn't come back yet so more people can come to Christ because his love is so deep for you that he doesn't want you to spend eternity without him. He wants you there.

It's an invitation, and he's taken... if there's a hundred steps back to God, Jesus took 99 of them. But you still have to take that one step of surrender.

What does that look like? What does it mean to get your name in the Book of Life? It looks like this: "Lord Jesus, I bow to you as God. I worship you. I confess my sins. I repent. I turn from sin and self-worship. Restore me and make me your child. Help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen."

See, right now, and I'll give it a moment, the Spirit of God has been preparing some of you, and this is your day to say yes to Jesus, and you surrender to him.

And it'll be a prayer like that that Jesus... only Jesus made possible. Let me just remind the church, we're in this because we're on mission.

Just tell your neighbor right now, "We're on mission." Just say it to your neighbor, "We're on mission."

Listen, we don't celebrate people not knowing Jesus and spending eternity in hell. We don't run away, "You're going to hell!" There is no joy in that!

God wants... we want everyone to go to heaven! We are on mission to reach people for Christ.

When we do this succession, it's a transfer, it's a shift in life of the church with another senior pastor. I'm so part of another senior pastor of succession for the sake of the next generation.

When we go after this on August 6th, we're not just reorganizing just temporarily because God says, "Oh, right." No, it's for the sake of the next generation.

We're trying to help the next generation come to Jesus so their name gets in the Lamb's Book of Life.

We're doing camp this summer so that more kids discover Jesus and students come to faith in Jesus, and they'd get their Jenga block foundation rebuilt in a world that has collapsed and makes absolutely no sense.

And they can discover their name in the Lamb's Book of Life and Jesus go rebuild their life. As a church, we are dedicated to reaching people who are far from God.

When we take the offering August 6 for the Next Generation, the offering is to help them. You know we're the broadcast campus right here. I'm at Sugarloaf campus.

You know the John Maxwell Leadership Center is just part of this building out of which we equip the international missional organization that natural leads, and we help, we host, we're part of it on the board.

Help do you know since January 1 of 2023, are you ready? You should get ready to celebrate. You know how many people have come to faith across the world through equip?

You ready? Because heaven celebrates over how many? 200,049 people since January 1. We have the names of everyone.

Why are we investing in this? Because some of you listening right now, men, women, dads, moms, students, you've never said yes to Jesus.

If this is your time, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. We're all going to bow our heads. Wherever you are, if you're online community, if you're 12 Stone Home, if you're in-person worship, would you bow your heads?

I just want to take a moment of prayer, and in the middle of this prayer, I'm going to invite those of you for whom this is your day to say yes to Jesus.

You can just look right up at the screen, and you can offer that prayer to God.

So, Heavenly Father, how much you love us is extraordinary, your unconditional love. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us new life and forgiveness and restoration.

Thank you for telling us ahead not only where we came from but where we're headed. For all of us who know you, God, if there's anything we need to clean up, speak to us, Holy Spirit.

If you're willing, say, "Lord, is there anything I need to clean up?" While you do that, I don't know why the rest of us who don't know Jesus... any of you don't... I don't know why you wouldn't say yes.

It's his invitation. Do you even understand the scope and depth and breadth of his love? And your name goes in the Lamb's Book of Life, and you walk with him.

And if that's you, you can just look up at the screen wherever you are, and you can whisper this prayer. Just read it. I've got it right there for you.

"Lord Jesus, I bow to you as God. I worship you. I confess my sins. I repent and turn from sin and self-worship. Restore me and make me your child. Help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, amen."

And everyone said, "Amen!"

Hey, amen! Hey, and we just want to start by congratulating those who said yes to Jesus, maybe just in the last, like, even three minutes.

You know, and so congratulations! If you're like, "Man, what do I do now?" If you're just... I know it's quick, guys. You're stepping out of a prayer, and you're like, "I think I just made a really big decision for my life."

The biggest decision you'll ever make! Hey, and we want to help you. So you can text "Jesus" to 37748.

And you can get out your phone in a home gathering. If everyone wants to get out their phone just so people don't feel awkward, like just get yours. Just get your phone out, you know, and do it.

Don't make other people feel uncomfortable. You can text "Jesus" to 37748 if you just made a decision to follow Christ as Lord and Savior.

You can do that. We want to follow up with you. We don't want you to do this alone. We want to partner with you. We want to pray over you, answer any more questions because we know you got them.

You know, I've been following Jesus for a while. I still got questions. Still have questions! This series has been so helpful to even just me.

Yeah, walking with Jesus a long time, but yeah, I don't know a lot of this stuff. Yeah, especially on someone Revelation because I don't know how to interpret this.

So anyway, hey, congratulations! Text "Jesus" to 37748. We are so, so excited for you guys today.

So hey, we're going to wrap up with a question and conversation. Keep going. You have your home leaders there. Talk to them. Talk to somebody you trust.

This is an ongoing conversation. Just to kick that off, kick off the conversation, we want to ask this question: What do you hope heaven will be like and why?

And we're talking a lot about eternity and the promise of eternity. When Jesus died, he bought us eternal life. We get to go and experience heaven with God.

And so answer that question together with your group. Yeah, what do you think heaven will be like and why?

So anyway, I hope you guys had a fantastic day. Next week is Father's Day!

Yeah, you're a father! I know! Happy Father's Day!

Anyway, that's going to be next week. But right now, go ahead and have your conversation in your group. And until next week, we will see you guys later. Love you! Bye! Thank you!