Gulf Coast Community Church Podcast – St. Petersburg

Text: Acts 26:16-23

Revelation is a bloody book, to be sure. In fact, we are told in 14:19-20 that in the process of harvesting the earth, the blood flow will rise so high that it will spread the distance of 1,600 stadia (it doesn’t really matter what a stadia is… primarily that it is 1,600 of them), and up to the level of a horse’s bridle! That’s a lot of blood!

Is this a declaration that the Lamb slain is now slaying a bunch of others in order to harvest the earth? Has he finally become the Lion we really wanted after all and given up on this silly lamb-like behavior? How are we to read this harvest of the earth and all this blood?

This Sunday we will slow down a little in our series, our text overlapping with last week’s text, and explore other themes that have to do with how the Lamb intends to harvest the earth and our own role in it. We will learn,

“Revelation’s visions of judgment do not ultimately conflict with the central and centering vision of God and the Lamb in chapters 4 and 5.” (Michael J. Gorman. Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation. 185)

Join us in worship as we explore afresh Revelation 13:9—14:20.

In 1937, referring to the increasing tensions in Europe with Germany, Winston Churchill used near biblical language when he said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.”

In our study of Revelation, this Sunday we arrive at the account of the Beasts out of the Sea and the Land. Who are these beasts? What is this meaning of 666? How do we the church do battle in the ways of the Lamb rather than succumbing to the ways of the Beasts?

The beasts of imperial worship in John’s day have morphed into new disguises today, but that is exactly what Babylon has done throughout history. It is important that we, the church, don’t get distracted by trying to figure out who the beast is, or when he will arrive, all the while he is present among us and we may well be bowing in worship without even thinking about it.

Join us in worship as we explore the two beasts of Revelation and our call to patient endurance and faithfulness.

Lampstands, fire-breathing witnesses, a pregnant cosmic woman, and a water-spewing dragon. It’s no wonder Revelation isn’t the easiest book to understand. Yet, since it is God’s Word, we have to persist in it because it reveals something about how God is at work in the world that, though consistent with what is revealed elsewhere, presents its own unique facet.

Revelation takes off the sheet from the masterpiece of history, and shows us what is really going on. That Jesus Christ as the center of history and the transformer of history. The Lamb slain and risen, murdered yet alive, reveals not only the truth about God but constitutes the truth about all of humanity and creation. Jesus is not one of many ways to God; He is the center of history and the sum of its meaning.

In a world which is in idolatrous pursuit of freedom, personal kingdoms, and (most importantly) self-realization, Revelation calls us to come out from among them. We must witness in word and by our lives that Jesus is the only true King of the world, the promised good king for all.

Join us in worship as we continue our study of Revelation in chapters 11-12.

“Are you pre-trib(ulation), mid-trib, or post-trib?” or, more generously, “Are you premillennial, amillenial, or postmillennial?” The 1st question more or less assumes an answer to the 2nd. The latter question focuses on only one chapter in Revelation (20) and doesn’t say much of anything about how one reads the rest. They are largely unhelpful questions.

A more helpful approach might be to ask, as we would about any other book of the Bible, what its purpose is. Why it was written to the churches of Asia minor? What would it have meant to them? I find that when I approach the book with this in mind, I find a lot less to argue about and a lot more to agree on. It doesn’t solve everything but it’s a step.

This Sunday we begin with a half hour of silence (no we aren’t leaving out the singing… I’m talking about the half hour of silence in the text), work through one of the noisiest sections in the Bible with trumpets blaring, and will think about one seriously massive angel and his tiny little book-snack.

Join us in worship as we explore Revelation 8—10 paying attention to the silence, the sound, and the sweet-n-sour scroll.

Our text begins with the Lamb, looking as if he had been slain, opening the seals which will allow the scroll to be opened. It ends with the sealed people of God who suffered through the events of the seals standing on the side of the sea, before God’s throne, giving praise for their victory.

What are these “seals” and how are God’s people “sealed”? Who are these four horsemen? What’s the meaning of the 144,000? Who is this great multitude? We will explore the answers to these questions and God’s promise to His suffering people.

Why do God’s people need to be sealed? Why do they need a promise? Because of what it looks like to follow the Lamb. Because as Dana Harris writes:

“The power and strength (political, military, or other) of a lion is not what is needed to defeat evil kings or kingdoms. Instead, it is the surprising vulnerability and weakness of a Lamb, who was slaughtered and resurrected, that vanquishes evil and ushers in the new creation.”

Join us in worship as we explore Revelation 6—7 in our series Worship and Witness in a Winner-takes-all World.

What is the purpose of the book of Revelation? If, as we discussed last week, it is not to provide a timeline for when Jesus is coming back, then what is it? To understand this, we need to think about what a suffering church needs. What would a church tempted into the idolatry of the empire need? What would a church following a suffering Lamb need in a world in which power and wealth hold sway?

They would need the book of Revelation, which takes the cover off what we see to show us what is really going on in the world. In it we discover, as it were, that the emperor has no clothes! We learn to worship day and night in a chaotic world. We learn that the ways of the Lamb who was slain, though they require patient endurance, will win in the end.

Revelation comes at the end of a collection (the 65 others books of Scripture) that is about a cosmic war. The rulers of the world rage against God and His messiah and God laughs (Psa. 2). The rulers of this world conquer while God’s ruler is slain. Yet, in the end, the last laugh is God’s.

Join us in worship as we continue our exploration of Revelation focusing on chapters 4-5.

A couple of weeks ago I was wrestling with what our next sermon series should be at Gulf Coast Community Church. A thematic study of patience and the need for it as God’s strategy for mission and witness, or to finish our series in Revelation (recall that we left off last year after the 7 messages to the churches). Of course, the two themes aren’t unrelated. The events of last week made the decisions easy.

I don’t say that because the attack in the Gaza Strip is somehow predicted in Revelation, but because it isn’t. In fact, while all the frenzy is being stirred up about these events and how they (supposedly) relate to Bible prophecy, the church needs a good dose of sobriety. There is never a better time to focus on what Revelation is really about.

Let me be clear: there is no timeline in Scripture to tell us when Jesus is coming back. Unless you think telling us repeatedly “it will be a long time in coming” is a timeline. So if the book of Revelation isn’t a timeline of end time events, then what is it? Now that is an important question.

Join us in worship as we begin again our series: The Revelation of Jesus Christ: Worship and Witness in a Winner-takes-all World.

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-21

I thought we finished the series, Imagining the Kingdom, last week. However, I was encouraged by one of our members last week to consider covering these final verses on prayer (I won’t mention any names, Reggie). I immediately knew I would.

In fact, prayer is essential for a genuine kingdom imagination, and it is essential to experiencing the culture of the Gospel of peace. There’s no wonder that Paul’s message to the Ephesians has prayer woven throughout. It ends encouraging us to pray for one another and that the secret will be fearlessly be made known. That will require fearless words and fearless lives.

Join us for worship as we hear from Ephesians 6:18-20 and about an essential for Gospel culture—prayer. We will also hear from the book of nature, from ants in fact (thanks to An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Reality Around Us, by Ed Yong), about how essential prayer is for Gospel community.