Our focus scripture states that God relates to creation in time, through the past, in the present, and toward the future that is to come. He walks with us in relationship, as is demonstrated throughout the Old Testament. This eternality of God is applied to Jesus in Revelation, highlighting the divine transcendence of the slain lamb.

We are told that we are blessed if we hear and keep the words of Revelation. These words will challenge the norms of the culture that shape us, which means that we must be open to ways that we don’t know we are deceived. But even more than hearing, we must practice keeping these words, internalizing them in such a way that they become part of us.

Many read Revelation as a predictor of the future. This turns God into a fixed, wooden object who does not actually relate to a living creation. But this book was never meant to be read this way. Instead, it points to a living God who relates to a living creation and calls us into a living faith.

This sermon addresses the meaning of “the end is near.” Many explanations that the church has offered have caused great confusion because the book of Revelation has been used as a predictor of the very end of time. However, such explanations misunderstand the genre that Revelation is. When we read this book as apocalyptic literature, we can interpret the symbols rightly and see how it can serve to encourage the church to be faithful to Christ in the midst of spiritual warfare. 

In this first sermon of our new series on the book of Revelation, we are introduced to how this book has been taught in ways that do not represent its meaning. We learn about its true meaning, and we discover why this message is so crucial to our present time. In a time when hope is waning, Revelation points us to the hope found in Jesus so that we might see the way that God brings victory when all seems lost.

While we are to invest in our individual Christian formation, we are also responsible for our formation corporately. We do not live out our faith merely as individuals. We live out our love for Christ together and work out our salvation as a group.

The struggles we face offer us a choice: avoid them or use them as an opportunity to develop antifragile faith. Pain avoidance will keep us fragile, but when we press on with Christ as the goal, we can develop perseverance or what Dan calls, antifragile faith.

In this sermon, Greg shares how God uses afflictions to form our character, if we have a vision for God’s ultimate goal of life and set aside the common goal of the pursuit of happiness. A vision to know God and live in his love will motivate us to enter into training that will shape us to love God and others. This training moves us beyond the never-ending chase of happy so that we might find joy in all things. 

In this sermon, Greg paints a picture of what God is doing now and what God will do at the end of history. He does this by providing three snapshots found in three passages that describe what the end will look like and how God will redeem all things by the power of his love. This gives us a reason for hope in the midst of any current suffering and pain. 

This sermon addresses how God uses the suffering we face in this world to form us so that we might know Christ and his glory. While the sufferings we face are not orchestrated by God, God meets us in these situations and provides us with the opportunity to meet Christ in the midst so that we might be transformed into his likeness.