Our morning church began a new sermon series yesterday morning. Andrew Heard kicked off the series preaching from Revelation 1. I didn’t hear the talk (we have yr 7-9 Bible study during 830 and 1030 church) so I’m listening to it now. Want to listen? Get it from here or directly from here.
Our church has a wonderfully diverse mix of people from different theological backgrounds. This series will be confronting for some, but my prediction is that it will be a fantastic series. Stay tuned for more!
Has your church preached through Revelation? How did it go?
Our church has a wonderfully diverse mix of people from different theological backgrounds.
That sounds very interesting – care to elaborate? You think it’s a good thing?
We haven’t done a sermon series on Rev in an actual service, (atleast, one that i can remember) but we did do one in youth bible study. It’s very cool, abit odd, and a bit confronting, but is one of my favourite books. The image of Jesus, while kinda freaky, is very powerful and encouraging, but even more encouraging is the bit at the end about how all the tears will be wiped from our eyes. Very good book
Our church has a wonderfully diverse mix of people from different theological backgrounds.
That sounds very interesting – care to elaborate? You think it’s a good thing?
hey john. yes i think it’s a good thing. why? because our church is gathering a group of people who have been brought up in lots of different theological contexts – some quite bizarre! the good thing is that now people who once didn’t take seriously the Bible are. people who had odd views about the bible are now been shaped differently after having sat under the word been taught faithfully.
the other exciting thing is that we’ve got people with no theological background. people who haven’t read the Bible… but now have! we even have one guy who used to read revelation for fun as a non-Christian because he thought it was a great read!
hey nick.
i admire your youth leaders.
we’ve never tackled it in youth group!
Haven’t seen it done at church I don’t think, but I have sat through a Revelation series at uni probably close to 15 years ago now. Phillip Jensen was preaching. It was truly amazing. I was struck how simple Revelation really is – once you pare back all the apocolyptic imagery and get to the core of what it’s really all about, you’re pretty much left with the heart of the gospel, the message about the lamb who was slain and now reigns on his throne in heaven, pure and simple as that. The trick of course is not to get hung up on all the imagery.
Yes, I agree, Andy – we can’t get caught up in the details. And yet if we believe it to be completely straightforward, I can’t help thinking that we’re missing something. After all, why is all the imagery there? Why didn’t John just write another epistle telling people that God is in control?
We just finished a series on Revelation – you can get the notes here.
i agree it’s right to step back and look at the big picture.
but the danger is to think that it’s all so simple.
hey ian (rodeo) how did the series go?
Do you really think the danger is to think it’s all so simple? I think people fall into the opposite trap with Revelation – they think it’s all so complex and we need to pin down what all these details mean, but they miss the central message.
And I agree John Dekker that it is not necessarily completely straightforward. But I think where people have fallen down in the past is to use the imagery to make it even less straightforward than it has to be, and confound the masses.
Very nice! I like it. bachelorette parties