Revelation

Father in heaven, as we come to Your Word, we pray now that You would give us good hearts to receive just what you have to say to us. Guard us from distraction, from defensiveness. Help us to listen, to receive, to worship, and obey. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Our text for this morning is…

You and I are in the midst of a cosmic conflict that is profoundly and irreducibly spiritual.

On that day, the Lord will take His power, the nations will no longer rage, the saints will be rewarded, the wicked will be destroyed, and God Himself will be with us.

Christ died and rose again so that the Church, which is his body, will live forever.

Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens, Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth and it stands fast. We pray now that You would give us ears that we might hear this Word, that You would keep distractions to a minimum, that You would keep our stomachs…

Our Father in heaven, how grateful we are that we can have Jesus as our friend, what a friend of sinners. God, through Your Word now we pray that You would give to us spiritual life, that every soul in this room might truly see, understand, and know You. If any are but once born,…

Satan has no authority over you if you are a Christian, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get up into your business and tell you things. Through thoughts, through media, he accuses. So it is possible that Christians feel this same sense of despair, but you ought not. God has not granted to the devil any authority over you in your life. We may suffer in most of the same ways that the world suffers, except for this one chief way – we are not meant to suffer from the despondency and the despair of guilt.

Father, we come to You at the beginning of the sermon not simply because we think that’s what we ought to do but because we need Your help, I need Your help. Father, give us good hearts. May we put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word which is…

And that’s what we look forward to when we talk about the blessing of his presence, to spend eternity with God and with the Lamb. Yes, it means no more tears. Yes, it means no more suffering. Yes, it will mean being reunited with loved ones who dies in Christ. But most of all it means that the waiting is over, and the wife (the church) and the groom (Christ) are together again and truly there is a happy ever after ending, and everything sad will come untrue.

Let’s ask one more time for the Lord’s help. Heavenly Father, help us now to love you with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind. Help us to think clearly. Give us good heads to understand your words, discern what is true, and then to live according to that…