Happy Labor Day weekend to you all! Labor Day is a day where we honor and celebrate the social and economic achievements of our labor (translation = a day off!). I hope you enjoyed our summer message series as we “labored” through Revelation! Today we are going through a number of questions that you submitted about Revelation. We will cover topics of heaven and hell, when Jesus will return, and more.

Do you ever read a book a sneak to the last page to see how it all ends? Today we look at that last page of the Bible, Revelation 22, and see how the book ends. What does God leave us with? What do we do now? We’ll find that out today!

Have you heard the joke about the rich guy who makes a deal with God before he goes to heaven? His deal allows him, when he dies, to bring a few things with him in the coffin. Many years later he arrives in heaven with his negotiated valuables - five bars of pure gold! One angel says to another, “Did you see the guy who just got here? He actually brought something from earth!” “What did he bring?” replied the other angel. “Asphalt! Why would he bring asphalt?” Well I don’t if every street is made of gold in heaven, but the Bible says at least one is. “The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” God will create all things new. Today we look at this new heaven and new earth. An original masterpiece by our limitless God!

“It’s the end of the world as we know it… and I feel fine…” Remember that song from R.E.M.? No one has a clue what the verses say, but just about anyone can sing that chorus! We jump back into Revelation this week and literally come to the end of the world as we know it in Revelation 18-19. What will happen? Will people really “feel fine”? We’ll find that out today as we dig into the last pages of the Bible.

God created man in His own image and placed him in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Adam had a perfect relationship with God, a perfect relationship with his wife, and anything he could ever want or need in the paradise around him. We all know what happened next, though. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s one rule: they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Suddenly, everything changed for the worst. What was once so perfect swiftly became a place of corruption, pain, and shame. In the midst of all this strife, though, God offered hope to Adam and Eve. We’ll explore that hope and how it affects us and the troubles we experience today.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We’ve all heard the story of Creation before and learned how God created the plants, animals, and humans and put them in this perfect paradise called Eden. It’s such a familiar story, but what could it possibly have to do with us? We’re not Adam and Eve. We don’t live in a sinless world or a pain-free environment. Though Creation happened a long time ago and there are many ways we can’t relate to Adam and Eve, the account of how God made the universe is in the Bible for good reason. There’s more to it than just reading about what God created or knowing that He created them. If we dig deeper, we can see more of God’s desire for how we should live today within the first two chapters of Genesis

In one of the vast lands of Africa people are singing joyfully with intoxicating rhythms. In a underground church in Syria, a gathering of believers are fervently praying. There are thousands gathered in a modern large church in South Korea. In a hot and humid cinder block church in the Dominican you hear the distinct sound of a gira and other instruments through the streets. Around the world and in this country, right now, people are gathering to worship God. Their churches and form of worship looks vastly different. There are as many styles and forms of genuine God-glorifying worship as there are colors of the rainbow - and all of them are pleasing to Him. In many Western Countries, churches have bickered and argued over these forms of worship for many decades. How we miss the point. In the last days of Revelation there will be a battle for worship. It won’t be about having a band or a choir, drums or a flute - it will be a battle for who you worship. Jesus or Satan. Just two options to choose from. We’ll see that today as we continue in our summer series through Revelation.

It is mid-July… the beaches are busy… the backyard bbq’s fill the air with aroma of Christmas! Christmas? In July? Oh yeah! As we continue our summer quest through the book of Revelation we find two Christmas-like stories in chapters 11 and 12. We will meet two witnesses and obscure story of a pregnant woman and a dragon. These are the players in this twisted and future Christmas. Often in Revelation, Satan is depicted as a dragon. How much power does Satan have? What can he do? We’ll answer these questions and learn how to fight Satan’s schemes today with these Christmas in July accounts!

Today we continue in Revelation in chapters 7-9. When the tribulation begins no army or government will be able to stop what God has said will happen. Yet even in God allowing this judgment to occur, we see constant interludes of His mercy and grace. As we will find today even a “great multitude” of people will come to trust Jesus as Savior in the last days. His judgment is relentless… but so is His grace.

Seal Team Six is the United States Special Warfare Development Group. While most of their missions past and present are classified, we know that it is one of the elite special forces units in the military. As we continue in our summer long journey through Revelation today, meet a foe that even Seal Team Six is incapable of stopping - the first six seals of Revelation. While there are seven seals in all, today we will look at the first six that commence the tribulation and the end of days. As emotionally difficult as these seals are we will see images of God’s grace and mercy through it all.