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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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Living with Coming Wrath (Revelation 6:1-7:17)

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  Living with Coming Wrath ( Revelation 6:1-7:17 ) MAD Magazine's Four Horsemen of the Metropolis   I once saw a flyer pinned to a cubicle wall that said,  “Jesus is coming! Look Busy!”   Of course, the humor is poking fun at tactics used by some to frighten people into obedience. It’s like that favorite Christmas song for children. You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout? I’m telling you why! Jesus Christ is coming to town! He knows when you’ve been sinning. You know that He can tell. You better straighten up right now, or you’re gonna burn in hell!   John had a vision of the very throne of God . God held a scroll sealed with 7 seals, completely shut and secret. But remember, Jesus brought John to heaven to reveal what is to take place. Jesus revealed God’s message with each crack of a seal.   The vision of the seven seals is told with great drama. As Christ breaks each seal, one of the four living creatures calls out...
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Living With Heavenly Worship (Rev 4:1-5:14)

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  Living With Heavenly Worship (Rev 4:1-5:14)   ChatGPT's Artificial Intelligence Image Generator created this image based on John's vision of God A Catholic Church experienced a squirrel invasion in their house of worship. The rodents were crawling all over the sanctuary. They came up with a creative strategy. They baptized all the squirrels. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.   John is taken to heaven in a vision where he witnessed glorious worship of the One on the throne and of the Lamb who was slain.   John describes the scene. The One on heaven’s throne is the Lord God, creator of all. God’s body looked like Jasper and carnelian which is sardius. Jasper can be a red rusty color, yellow, brown, green, or even crystalline with stripes. God also looked the color of carnelian or sardius, which is a deep reddish brown, even blood red. Some translators even call sardius a ruby. Both jasper and sardius are gemstones which adorn the breastplat...
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Living With The End (Revelation 1:1-20)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Living With The End ( Revelation 1:1-20 )   What do you call it when pigs fly? The aporkalypse   A man on a tractor drove by yelling, "The end of the world is nigh!" I think it was Farmer Geddon.   Mark Twain reportedly wrote, “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky. They're always 20 years behind everything.”   John's vision of The Risen Lord Jesus Revelation 1:12-16 Today we begin the study of the Book of Revelation, aka The Apocalypse of John. Revelation comes from Jesus Christ in a series of visions to John. John was worshipping in exile on Patmos when he received his visions.   In the first century the western half of Turkey was known as Asia Minor. Patmos is an island 37 miles west of the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. Located in this region were seven churches. John names these Greek communities.   Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelp...
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