Our lives are full of struggles. What would make the defining difference in your life? Our world is full of evil and brokenness. What would make the defining difference in our world? This passage, the climax of the book of Revelation shows us. It's the presence of God. It makes all the difference in the world.
It's easy to think of Revelation as a fantastical book that's only concerned with the future, and therefore meaningless for our lives right now. But Revelation gave the first Christians something that enabled them to face unimaginable suffering and persecution. If we see what they saw, we can have what they had.
Stories help us makes sense of our lives. Especially, they give us hope, because we want to imagine that the story is headed somewhere good. If that impulse is just an evolutionary code, then we are fools to believe it. But this passage shows us that every storyline finds its ultimate happy ending in Jesus.
Sometimes things look evil on the surface, but when you dig a little deeper, you find a hidden beauty and power. The idea of God's judgment is like that. Few things are more offensive in our culture. But this passage shows us a God whose justice brings transformative healing.
There are few questions more controversial than that of the relationship between church and state. Should Christians be involved in politics? If so, what should that look like? Revelation 13 offers us some astounding answers!
We are all involved in a cosmic war, whether we like it or not. In this passage, we learn about the start of that war, the weapons of the warfare, and our counterintuitive place in the war.
God wants to use your story as part of his story to change the world. How does he do that? It’s all wrapped up in this idea of bearing witness. This is one of the main themes in the book of Revelation, and this passage shows us three aspects.
Interruption is when something gets off track, but then gets back on track. Disruption is when the road gets blown up. We are living in a time of tremendous disruption. In such times, it’s easy to feel like God is doing something to you. But what if he wants to do something in you? That’s what this passage is all about.
The recent events in our country compel us to grapple with this issue. What does the Bible say about racism? What do we need to see in order to respond? And what should that response look like? Join us as we look at a gospel-shaped response to racism.
Stopping to think about the nature of the Church is a difficult exercise because we all come with our own experiences, thoughts, and questions about the Church. With all of that on the table, the book of revelation shows us a picture of the Church that is more than we expect and calls us to rethink our understanding of the church, whether we’re Christians or not.
Facing the question of evil is a painful question, but one of the most necessary for our spiritual, emotional, and psychological health. Revelation offers God’s answer to evil, and it begins in this passage
When our lives are filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and fatigue, how can we find a different way to respond? Worship can change our life. Because to worship is to get a glimpse of a different reality. And when we change the way we see reality, it transforms the way we respond to reality.
Have you ever felt like you were made for something? Is that just an evolutionary drive, or is it real? This passage is a letter from Jesus to the church. But it’s really all about finding and surrendering yourself to that something you were made for. The church shows us what that is.
Revelation isn’t just about the future. It meets us in the middle of our mess, pain, and suffering and gives us a bigger story that helps us not just to endure those things, but to flourish in the midst of them.
Many think of Revelation as a puzzle book: the goal of reading it is to crack the code and unlock the events of the future. But Revelation is more like a picture book. The goal of reading is to immerse yourself in God’s way of seeing the world. Because when we change the way we see reality, it changes the way we respond to reality.
Polarization is one of the biggest challenges in our society. Some people would say it’s important to take a stand and protect your beliefs and way of life, even if it means polarization. Others would say we should abandon primitive religious belief structures and work together on the things that really matter. In this passage, God offers us a third way. This week we conclude our series on the vision of CWE Church talking about cultural renewal, especially in the city. How do we relate to the city? God shows us in this famous passage.
Life in this world is full of suffering and unfulfilled desires, which can lead us to find ways (sex, drugs, social media, etc.) to escape the pain. It would be easy to think that our big struggle in life is with suffering. But this passage tells us our real struggle is with hope, and that if you can transform your understanding of hope, it will transform your experience of suffering.
We live in a profoundly justice-oriented culture, but it’s still a controversial topic. Some Christians thing the gospel is only about “spiritual matters.” Other Christians think the church should get rid of primitive doctrines like sin, atonement, and conversion. Many other-than-Christians wonder why we should listen to the Bible at all. Jesus, however, has a lot to say about justice, as we find out in this passage.
Suddenly, there are new phrases that dominate our reality. “Essential services” is one of them (e.g. physical, health, and economic needs). Jesus always paid attention to those needs, but also pointed to a need beneath the need. For Jesus, the deepest need of revery human being is spiritual renewal. He came to meet that need, and also called his followers to share his provision of that need with others. “Conversion” is a controversial topic, but let’s see what Jesus shows us about it.
What do you do when your life gets hijacked? How do you respond to fear, vulnerability, lack of control, and worst of all, isolation? This story helps us see how God uses all those things to make Jacob (and all of us) a vehicle of His mission to renew and restore community.
