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Living with Renovation (Revelation 15:1-16:21)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Living with Renovation (Revelation 15:1-16:21)   God is the Master Builder What do you call it when a thief robs a house under renovation and leaves his handprint on wet cement? Concrete evidence!   An elephant walks into a bar. The bar is now undergoing renovations   Renovations aren’t fun while they’re going on. They’re disruptive, noisy, messy and expensive. But when they’re done, it makes it all worth it. You can enjoy your newly renovated space. Early in our marriage, I tried to be that guy who does it himself. After a few botched attempts, and a few visits to the emergency room, I conceded. It’s not my gift.   I have worked on mission trips swinging a hammer and cutting with a saw, but I discovered I was way better at demolition than I was at construction. Because when doing renovations, you have to tear down what’s there to build what you envision. While building, you discover nothing fi...
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Living With Judgment (Revelation 14:1-20)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Living With Judgment ( Revelation 14:1-20 ) “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Revelation 14:15  John’s visions from Revelation 10-14 follow the order of Jewish fall festivals. Rosh Hashannah, the beginning of Israel’s civil calendar, begins the Feast of Trumpets, a period of repentance and preparation to meet the Judge of the earth. John’s vision of the 7 trumpets calls the world to repentance. At the sound of the last trumpet Christ is announced as king. Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) follows the feast of trumpets. The high priest approaches the ark of the covenant and makes atonement for the sins of the nation. John saw the ark in the temple in heaven. Mercy is outpouring perpetually through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Following Yom Kippur is Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, or the Feast of Ingathering. Israel just received the last group...
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Living With Evil (Revelation 12:1-13:18)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Living With Evil ( Revelation 12:1-13:18 )   A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.   She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.   Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon  with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads....  The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.   Revelation 12:1-4 John has a vision in the sky. A woman in the pain of childbirth is threatened by a massive red dragon with 7 heads. The child is destined to rule the nations with a rod iron, a reference to the messiah. (Genesis 49:10; Psalm 2:8-9) The child to be born is Jesus.   We might assume the woman in John’s vision is Mary, the mother of...
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Living With the Coming Kingdom (Revelation 10:1-11:19)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Living With the Coming Kingdom (Revelation 10:1-11:19)   A king has 3 cups in front of him. The first 2 cups are full, the third cup is empty. What is his name? King Philip III   Did you hear about the king who was only 12 inches tall. He was a terrible king but a great ruler.   Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven.  He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.   Revelation 10:1 God holds a scroll sealed with 7 seals. As the 7 th seal is broken, seven angels blow seven trumpets bringing plagues, disaster, and war, which unravels the current world, birthing a new one. Soon the 7 th trumpet will announce the reign of King Jesus.   After the 6 th trumpet sounds and hellish army is loosed upon the earth, John sees a mighty angel from heaven standing with one foot in the sea a...
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Living With Repentance (Revelation 8:1-9:21)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC: Living With Repentance ( Revelation 8:1-9:21)   On the breaking of the seventh seal , seven trumpets are sounded which lead to destructions designed to bring about repentance   A man woke up in the morning deeply repentant after a bitter fight with his wife the previous night. He noticed with dismay the crate of beer bottles that had caused the fight. He took it outside and started smashing the empty bottles one by one onto the wall. He smashed the first bottle swearing, "you are the reason I fight with my wife". He smashed the second bottle, "you are the reason I don't love my children". He smashed the third bottle, "you are the reason I don't have a decent job". When he took the fourth bottle, he realized that the bottle was still sealed and was full. He hesitated for only a moment and said "It’s OK. I know you had nothing to do with it." “We’ll talk later.”   Today we contin...
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