Reflections on Revelation

Just a couple of thoughts and then encouragement to make it count . . . .

God Holds Nothing Back In Order To Bring Clarity . . . There's all the detail of the brokenness of the churches; the seals, bowls, trumphets; the Dragon and the Beast; the 2 Witnesses; the justice; on and on. Why? God desperately wants us to latch onto Truth!
Are you willing to live your life before others with that kind of clarity about God?

Sin is Expensive . . . On Sunday I talked about Achan and how he (and many around him) paid for his sin in the Valley of Achor. This is a picture of the Valley of Achor. A Creeker sent it to me and told me that he put it as the background on his computer to remind him of the price of sin.

God's Future Includes Everyone You Know & Love . . . And this will become more clear this Sunday as we look at Revelation 20:11-15. Read it.
Who needs to hear it? This will be an incredible Sunday to invite people around you who are seeking, or confused, or hurting, or lonely, or wondering about God! Go pick them up. Bring them. Love them.
Why hold anything back?


Praying.

Repent

Over and over again this word keeps showing up as we go through the book of Revelation.

"Repent and do the things you did at first." (1:5)
"So be earnest and repent." (2:19)

It's what Jesus asked of people: "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matt 4:17)

Peter's first sermon had it as a central them: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)

Repentance is HUGE, because it unlocks the power of God in our lives!

Repentance is the moving away from the status quo in our soul, and then in our life.

Very simply, repentance begins as we have a holy dissatisfaction with the direction of our life, or an area of our life. As this dissatisfaction brings us to a decision point, repentance is birthed with one word in our mind, that eventually spills out onto our tongue.

That word is: 'God.' 'God, help me.' 'God, please.' 'God, change me.' 'God, have mercy.'

Only God can change us. Repentance is the human yielding that opens the gate for the power of God in our lives.

And repentance doesn't just happen once. It's a heart attitude that (should) happens over and over. Every day.

What are your thoughts? What is God speaking to you about repentance?

Powerful Weekend

There was some great connecting and equipping that went on this past weekend!

Kim Galloway did an incredible job with our Equipping Track class - How to Study the Bible - on Saturday. We had a great crowd and everybody left with a larger understanding of how God's Word can really impact our life. (And thanks to Maria Brandt for doing a great job filling in all the admin details!)

It was a great start to the book of Revelation on Sunday morning. If you missed it, I encourage you to click here and listen to the introduction of book and series that's gonna bring incredible blessings!

And then on Sunday Night we had an awesome Discovery Dessert with a bunch of new families who barely fit in my house! New Creekers ready to take on the journey with us!

Revelation!

I'm pumped that beginning on September 20th we are going to demystify the New Testament book of Revelation!

Jesus: A Future Worth Living - that's what I'm calling this series that is going to help us understand why we have so much to live for!

Be praying about who you will invite to come with you. And then invite, invite, invite . . . Above all other things, people around us need to know about the Hope of Jesus!