The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: The End in Mind

Episode Date: January 26, 2020

In every square inch of the Earth (and cosmos), Jesus rightly declares MINE. Missions and church planting are a worship issue.

Amen. We do please stand for the reading of God's word. In all of our campuses, from Bay Meadows to Bakers and everywhere in between. We are in the fourth and final week of this series that sets the trajectory of all of 2020. Lord, here I am. Send me. And week one, we talked about the reason that we are sent is the glory of God. And week two, we said the reason that we are sent is the lostness of man. And last week, we talked about the role of the church. And this week, we're going to talk about the talk about what we have been eternally called to, which leads me to Psalm 148 and 149 and 150. God's word says, praise the Lord.

The Hebrew for that is hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in all the heights. Praise him all his angels. Praise him all his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth. You great sea creatures in all the deeps, fire and hail, snow and mits, stormy wind fulfilling His word. Mountains in all hills, fruit trees, and all.

cedars, beasts and all livestock, creeping things, and all flying birds, kings of the earth, and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is exalted. His majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people. Praise for all his saints. For the people of Israel who are near to him, praise. the Lord, praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song. His praise in the assembly of the godly. Let Israel be glad in his maker. Let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. Let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing. Hear that, Baptist? Let him praise his name with dancing, making melody in him with tambourine and lyrean for the

takes pleasure in his people. He adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly exalt in glory. Let them sing for joy in their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and the two-edged swords of their hands. To execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their noble with fetters of iron to execute on them the judgment written. This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the trumpet sound. Praise him with the lute and the harp. Praise him with the tambourine and dance. Praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with sounding symbols. Praise him with loud crashing symbols.

Let everything that has breath. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen? The reason that we are. We have spent four weeks talking about missions, and the reason that the next series we're going to do is studying the missionary Jonah. And the reason that we're not just trying to increase our seating capacity, but our sinking capacity is because the whole world is not praising the Lord as the Scriptures command. My hope and prayers in our time together today, something supernatural happens in your vision.

Not just with your physical eyes, but deep down in here that God would open up our hearts to see the way he sees what we have. been called into. Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we are asking for the impossible that you would help us see this world and our place in this world the way you see it. But God, we know that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. So God, in this time together, would you expand our vision for our own lives and help us see our place in your story for your glory? We pray this in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen. You basically. You basically, be seated. You are in trouble today. I have eight pages of notes. I have been on airplanes for 40 hours over the last 10 days, and all I did was we're going to cover six chapters of the Bible.

I normally do about six verses in about 45 minutes, so 1122 service may be sitting on your lap. I'm not sure how this will go. If you got your Bible, go to the book of Revelation. If you're a new believer, I would not encourage you to begin your Bible study in the book of Revelation, but I'm a professional and I am going to bother and weave and take you in and out. Some of you are very excited that we are going to be in Revelation here, and you are the people that always make me nervous. The people that tend to most know about the book are the people that often know the least about it. It is a revelation. By the way, it's not Revelations. There's only one revelation. It is the book of the Revelation that Jesus gives to John, and John writes this.

down for the edification of his church. The reason I want to start here is, again, we're talking about in this series, Send Me, and like I said, we started with the reason that we are sent is the glory of God. Week two, a reason that we are sent is the lostness of man. Week three, the role of God's church in the ever-expanding gospel throughout the ends of the earth. And today, I want to begin with the end in mind. When I kind of moved out of student ministry and started leading adults, some people said there's some books on leadership you need to read.

And the first book I was given was a book by Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Now, everybody else read it in like 1986 or whatever whenever it came out. And I didn't because I was doing student ministry. So the kind of books you read when you're leading student ministry is like, what do you do when somebody toots you're in the message? There's like a chapter on that. Because if you've got seventh graders, then that's a thing, right? And so I was at that level of leadership. And then somebody hands me this book.

And the first thing he says is that you've got to begin with the end in mind. And it's one of the very few times I've actually done what a book says. You ever read a book and it says, put the book down and do this activity. Do you ever do that? I never do it. Because the point is not to learn. The point is to finish. And so that takes too much time.

So I usually skip that for one of the very first times I put the book down. And Covey's idea is this, is that to define what success is in your life. You've got to begin with the end in mind. And so, picture yourself at your own funeral. What do you want people to say about you at your funeral? So it's a very, it is a legit activity. It's what led me to Acts 1124, the verse that they preached over the guy that led me to Jesus. He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

And a great number of people were brought to the Lord. I hope somebody can say that about me one day when I'm dead. However, that is a great exercise. The problem is that is not the end. that is not the end. Your funeral is not the end. It is just a comma in the eternal existence that you will have. You will either eternally be separated from the almighty God enduring his full wrath

because you chose to atone for your own sin forever and ever in a literal place of suffering called hell. Or we will be caught up in this very thing that Jesus revealed to John in the book of Revelation. Eternity is the end. And so I believe that if we can get a glimpse of what forever will be like, it will help us see what we should be like today and our role in God's cosmic story. Revelation chapter four says this after this, the this that has happened.

It's three chapters of Revelation. John is on the Isle of Patmos. He gets a revelation, a dream, a divine vision, whatever you want to call it, from Jesus. He hears a loud voice, he turns, and he sees Jesus glorified, and John falls down on his face as if he were dead. Now think about this. This is Jesus and John. Remember, John says that he was the one that Jesus loved the most. He only said that when Jesus was like fishing and stuff with him.

Now he sees Jesus with his eyes ablaze and a sword coming out of his mouth and tattoos on his quads. And now when he sees him in his glorified state, he falls down on his face as if he were dead. He's not like, what's up, home boy? That's not how it goes. He falls on his face. And the Bible says in Revelation chapter 1 that Jesus puts his hand on John and says, don't be afraid. The most commanded thing in all the scripture. He says, get up.

Everything I'm about to tell you, write this down. In chapters two and three, he writes seven letters to the seven churches of Asia. For Lent this year, we're going to study those seven letters to the seven churches. And then that's the this that has happened, Revelation chapter four. And after this, I look and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here. And I will show you, literally I will reveal or give you a revelation of what must take place after this. And at once, I was in the spirit.

And behold. And what John is brought up into is a heavenly worship service that happens over the next bunch of chapters in the book of Revelation. There's a throne that stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. Is he the one thing that drives everything? Because that is the one thing that is the center of heaven. And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnilian and around the throne was a rainbow. that had the appearance of an emerald and around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders. That's 12 Old Testament, 12 New Testament.

In other words, all of us are saved by one name, his name is Jesus. They're clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. And from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. By the way, the way we're going to end this service is we're going to sing a song called Revelation Song and all the words from the song, most of the words from the song, come from these words from Revelation chapter 4. And before the throne, we're burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. We find out from Revelation chapter 1 verse 4 and Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, that God sends His spirit, these seven spirits, you can't really think of numbers as

numbers in the book of Revelation, every number has a corresponding meaning, and the number seven is the number of perfection or completion. So God's perfect spirit goes out from his throne as a torch lights these lampstands in the seven churches that he just wrote letters to. In other words, number seven is the number of completion, and there are seven churches that are talked about in Revelation chapter two and three. I think what he's talking about here is that the spirit of God goes out to fill up gospel-centered, spirit-filled churches to the very ends of the earth. That's what he's talking about. You see, the church is not a business.

The church is not a club. The church is not just an organization. The church is definitely not a building. The church is not a denomination. The church is not a thing you do. The church is this spirit-filled movement of God to take the good news. news that the gospel of Jesus Christ, through his spirit-filled people, to the very ends of the earth, to call to himself all of his sons and daughters that bear his very image.

Church, you have no idea what we're caught up in today. You just, we wake up in the morning and think, I think I'm going to go to church. We have no idea this spirit-filled cosmic vision of God that you and I have been called up into. You see, this is why church planting matters so much. In fact, on your way in, you got a card. I want you get it out right now? It is addressed to a church planter that we partner with somewhere. Could be in Jacksonville, could be in, this one is in Nigeria, West Africa.

I got another one here from a brother and his wife and family in Kuwait City, Kuwait. You have been given one of these. By the sovereign choice of God, he predestined that you would get the right cards, so don't switch. And I want you. to begin to write a letter, a note to the pastor and their family. Because what these pastors are doing is they have planted churches on the front edges of taking the gospel to the very ends of the earth. And I don't know what you do with your life all day, every day.

I did the church planning thing, okay? And there are times, there are so many times where we, as church planners and pastors, that it's real easy to forget the cosmic global, eternal thing described in the book of Revelation that we are caught up into and we can get all down into like how many people are there and how long did the songs take and can we just get the children back to their correct parents and those kind of things. And so throughout the sermon, I want you to write to know, okay, if something gets confusing or if you get bored

or don't have anything to do, start writing this down. Because a part of what your offering is going to be unto the Lord is that we are going to collect all of these letters and we are going to send them to all of these church planters all over the world. And the reason that we're going to do this is because before the throne we're burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. That it has been God's purpose and plan that he would send out spirit-filled believers to plant spirit-filled churches that would send out spirit-filled believers that would plant spirit-filled churches to draw to himself all people. And before the throne, there was, as it were a sea of glass like crystal, so there's no more chaos. Now it's peace. And around the

throne, on each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. Just to mean they see everything. And the first living creature is like a lion. That's the king of wild beast. I saw some this week. The second living creature is like an ox. That's the king of all domesticated or tame beast. The third living creature with the face of a man. This is the king of all the beasts. And the fourth living creature is, is like an ox. It's a like an eagle. This is the king of the flying beasts. And so these kings of all the beasts, here's what they do,

and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around them. And day and night, they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy,

is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. They never cease singing this. The Bible says they do this two times a day, daytime and nighttime. That's when they do this. If it's one of those times, then these creatures, these four creatures are singing, holy, holy, holy. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, which is when?

Always. So whenever that's happening, which is always, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power? For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. There's a couple things here.

First of all, maybe you've heard if you've ever done a good deed and you grew up in church and somebody says you're going to get a jewel in your crown in heaven for that. All right, you've heard that. Or maybe you grew up under a teaching that led you to believe if you do really good here on earth, you're going to get a big mansion in heaven. It's kind of a terrible way to think about heaven as if God is trying to keep up with our Western comforts, but whatever. according to the scriptures that any kind of obedience here on earth that would store up for us treasure in heaven just gives us a greater ability

to surrender and sacrifice it to the king of kings over and over and over and over. So I need you to get this picture. You've got these creatures and they're singing holy, holy, holy, and you've got these 24 elders that are singing worthy, worthy, worthy. And every time the creatures sing holy, the elders sing worthy, and every time the elders sing worthy, the creatures sing holy. This is like a Kanye song. You understand what I'm saying?

It's just going on and on and on circled around the throne. And it's an all-out heavenly worship experience. But what's missing? At this point, at the end of Revelation chapter 4, there are no normal people. There's these six-wing, bunch of-eyed, crazy-faced creatures that we can't understand. and these 24 very, very anointed and appointed special people, but there's something missing, just the regular sons and daughters image bearers of God. So you get to chapter 5, and it says then, as if that wasn't enough.

And then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll. The scroll is very important. A scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals, and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice. who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals. And no one in heaven or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look in it. This scroll is, it's sort of like the last will and testament of God,

except it's not the last will and testament. It's the eternal will and purposes of God. This scroll written on front and back, it represents God, God's plan for the cosmos. God's eternal wishes and his redemptive purposes for all of the cosmos. And it's rolled up and it's sealed with seven seals. You ever seen like Braveheart one of those great movies? And the king writes something on a scroll and he rolls it up and he takes a signet ring and they put some wax on it and he puts his little signature on it.

So this means that only someone who has the king's seal is able to break the seal. it identifies who the scroll belongs to. And there are seven seals on this scroll. And the angel asks, who is worthy? Who is worthy of God's plan and his inheritance? And John's response. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. You see, here's what John knows.

John realizes his utter depravity and helplessness in regards to his salvation and God's plan for the redeeming of all things. You see, this is the beginning of the gospel. Not when you look at your life and you think I got this, but when you look at your life and you think there's no way I got this. This is why Jesus will say in Matthew chapter 5, blessed of the poor and spirit, for theirs will be the kingdom of God. John comes to a place of weeping because he realizes he needs someone to do for him what he could never do for himself. And he realizes for all people and all humanity in all time that we need someone to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and at seven seals.

And John thinks, oh yeah, that's right. We've got this entire Old Testament messianic prophecies that all of the Jewish people were waiting on, that one day the Son of God would come as a hero or a Messiah, and he would make all things new. And he's called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David. In between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw. and he's looking for Aslan. That's what he's looking for. He's looking for a lion, a conquering, crown-wearing lion

with like a sword in his hand and the devil's head in the other one. You understand? That's what he's thinking of. Power and might and conquering and victory. But look what he sees. And between the throne and the four living creatures, and among I saw the elders a lamb as though it had been slain. a lamb standing as though it had been slain.

You see, according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the lamb that conquers is the lion that conquers is the land that has been slain. Now, here's what's different. Have you ever seen a slain lamb? I've seen very close. White tail. Slane. You know what they don't do?

Stand. That's what they don't do. They're just slain. Then they're done. In fact, in Africa last week, in connection with the gospel of Jesus Christ, I've slain a couple things, three, four, okay? It was awesome. And I'm telling you, they do a lot of things. They don't stand.

But this lamb that was slain is now standing. that this lamb, when John saw him, he must have thought back to the Exodus. When Moses told the people of God, get a perfect spotless lamb, bring it into your home, and shed the blood of his lamb and put it on the doorpost of your house because an angel of death will pass over, and everyone will be judged rightly, except those of us who stand under the banner of the blood of the lamb. and he must have thought of the temple on that day of atonement where once a year a lamb would be slain for the forgiveness of the people of God

and he must have thought of John the badness when he declared of Jesus behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world and when Jesus pushes up on his nail-pierced feet and he says these words to tell us die. It is finished. Not only in our individual lives does it mean that our sins are paid for it and our guilt is taken away. It means that for sure. It counted for me. But it's also a part of this cosmic event for the glory of God where the lamb who was slain is also the lion of Judah who conquers sin and death. And because of the lamb who is the lion of Judah who conquers sin and death. And because of this, he and he alone is worthy to break the seals of the scroll of the will of God for all eternity.

Let me ask you this. What kind of king is this? What kind of king is the king that would step off of his throne to sacrifice himself in order to justify and adopt a traitorous race of people like me and you? It's scandalous. And that's our king. There's one word that describes the king of kings and the Lord of lords in regards to his love for his people. And that word is simply grace. And so the angel asks, who's worthy?

And John begins to weep because he goes, nobody's worthy. And the angel comes back and goes, no, no, no, no. There's a lion who is a lamb standing with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. This is the second time. How's your letter writing going? Where are you out on your letter? I'm telling you, man.

We are a part of this cosmic advancement of the kingdom of God. That I know, like, we see buildings go up, and we see church plants, and we see people get baptized, but the things that we can't see is that we are in active participation of the Lamb of God breaking the seven seals of the... the scroll for the glory of God. And I know that doesn't make sense to all of us. And none of us can get our minds around all of that.

I'm just telling you it's what's happening in the heavenlies in the places where we can't see. That the spirit of God is going out through his bride, through his church, into all the earth. So again, write these letters, encourage these brothers and sisters. That spirit-filled people are sent to start spirit-filled churches to send out spirit-filled Christians to plant spirit-filled churches. church are you seeing what we're caught up into you see how this is not just like you show up and try to find your parking spot and get your kid checked in hope they sing your favorite three songs and you hope it's a funny one this week and not kind of too intense because you cried too much last week and then you try to get your people out of here in time that is not what church is

it's what church is for a whole bunch of people especially in the south but that's not what this is talking about this is talking about the spirit of god moving out through spirit-filled people to declare the gospel to the very ends of the earth. And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. I don't know how they can ever fall down

because it never says they get back up. Okay. So I'm not sure exactly how this happens. But they just continually worship and continually worship and continually worship. And now they've got a harp and a golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of his saints. What a beautiful picture.

of our prayers being delivered by these creatures and the 24 elders, our prayers being delivered to the throne of God in the midst of this cosmic advancement of God's glory to the ends of the earth. What kind of king is like that? What kind of king is in the middle of warfare where they're conquering, where they're pushing back darkness and taking over for the sake of their kingdom, and right in the middle of it, they allow themselves to be interrupted from all the important decisions so that they can just get the prayers of their people. The kind of king that 189 times in the gospel says that we should refer to him as father, as father.

Look, man, I'm a father of two. The busiest part of my week is right after I get preaching here, and I stand down there and bunches of you show up to say whatever you're going to say to me. It's very important. It's very important. And I take it very, very seriously. But there are two humans that can cut in line and get to me in front of you. And who is that?

It's those two little ones that have my last name and half my chromosomes. They don't have to wait in line for their dad. Here's what God Almighty is saying. Okay, I know there's a whole bunch going on in this world, but you don't have to wait in line for your dad. You know that thing that we do at the end of our services when we invite you to come and pray? I always wonder why there's only like nine people up here, or even 19.

I always wonder why every single one of us that come to worship him don't get, and you don't have to do it down here, but we don't bring our prayers to him. In fact, by the time you get to Revelation in chapter 8, verse 1, the Bible says for 30 minutes in heaven, everything is silent so that God can hear the prayers of his people. That he shuts the whole thing down. And he goes, no, no, no, no. I know I'm the king of kings. I know I'm the Lord of Lords, but I want to hear the prayers of my people.

What a beautiful picture here of the prayers of the saints being brought to the throne room of God. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals? For you were slain. And by your blood, you ransomed people for God. You know what ransom means? Ransom means. to buy back.

Everybody's seen taken. One, two, three, four, five, six. They keep making them, all right. And this is the picture that we have been stolen by the enemy and that God Almighty was willing and was pleased to send his son to be slain and by his blood pay the ransom to buy us back into his family. And then here's why we're studying this passage right here. from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God. That if this is true, then we've got a lot of work to do, church. He says, see, again, Revelation chapter 4, you've got these lots of eyeballs, six-wing creatures. You've got 24 elders bowing down, bowing down, worthy, holy, holy, holy. But the thing is missing is God's sons and God. daughters, just regular people like us. But by the time you get to Revelation chapter 5,

because of the lamb who has been slain, then every single one of us, no matter who you are and where you're from, what your tribe is, what religion you were brought up in, no matter what your sin list is, no matter who your mama and daddy are, anyone who would believe that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me, then you are a part of that every tribe and every language and every people and every nation. But notice what it says. It says from. This is not universalism. That God doesn't save every tribe language in people. He saves from every tribe language and people. And the ones that he saves are the ones that understand that they are not worthy for salvation in and of themselves,

but they trust that Jesus has done it on their behalf. And they shall reign on the earth. This is the heart of missions. God sends out his missionaries and plants churches to make for himself a people from every tribe and every language. listen, when we take the gospel to unreached people groups, there's some language to use 100 years ago, 200 years ago that I really despise. And they would use language like converting the pagans. That is not what you do. You're not converting pagans. What you are doing is inviting God's children to come home to him. And God has children in every tribe and every tongue and every

nation. The gospel would never allow any believer to look down their nose at any other culture or any other people group. And if this is true, we have so much work to do, so much work to do. Because let me ask you parents, what would you be willing to do to rescue your child? If you had a child that was lost, what would you be willing to do? I told you about the couple of times that I've lost my kids. I know it's sad. It's happened more than once. Once I lost JP and Dick's sporting goods years ago. And I was the I was the chaplain for Jack's Beach PD

and they gave me a badge. And I'm standing there and I couldn't find him. And so I think this is a federal offense. I actually do. I believe, but I think the statute's limitation is probably over. And I went to the manager and I showed my police badge. It said chaplain, but it looked real, man.

And I got one of those Starsky and Huts wallets where you could just like pull it all out. 1825. Star Skins were missionaries. Back in the day. And I did. I was like, Jacks Beach,

P.D., shut her down. We got a missing child. They shut the whole store down. Okay, I did that to find it. This year, October, we're in Tower of London, looking at the crown jewels and Los Reagan. Came find her.

And I'm telling you, I didn't go international with my shut her down deal. But I do remember thinking we're looking at these priceless jewels and I can't find my little girl. And the thought just went through my mind. if somebody offered me all of these jewels to quit looking for my daughter, would I do that? I would punch you in the face for even considering such an offensive offer to me. A bunch of worthless gaudy hats and stuff when I need my daughter.

This is how God feels about his people all over the world. And currently there are over 7,000 people groups that have never heard the name of Jesus. And how in the world could they ever put their faith in them if they've never heard? You see, every tribe, every language, every people, every nation. This is why 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And then I looked and I heard around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

There are seven praises there. That means we give him our perfect praise in heaven. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worship. Again, I've never seen him get up. They keep falling down and worshiping. Now here's the thing.

Worship as described for eternity, it's not a duty. I know a lot of times our understanding of heaven is so limited. You're like, I don't even don't really like to sing. Are we just going to be a choir practice looking at lights the whole time? if that's you right now, you will be transformed in such a way that this will be the happiest, most natural, and fulfilling response that you have ever had in your entire life. Like if you love your dog a bunch and you see your dog, you hadn't seen them in a while, and you just instinctively pet him and play with them, or like when you have a baby and you see the baby

and you just want to like, chew the face off, you know what I'm talking about? or like your child wants to reach out for you, this thing in you, that will be the normative and natural and eternal and fulfilling response of God's people to God for all eternity. In chapter six, all the seals start breaking. This is where most people want to spend all their time at the book of Revelation and try to line it up with the current events. I'm going to do that, I'm going to skip that and go to seven. Chapter seven and after this, after the six of the seven seals are broken, I saw four angels, four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,

holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree, and then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on the foreheads,

and I heard the number of the seal, 144,000. That's 12 times 12 times a thousand. This is God's complete number, all the people that would put their faith in Jesus from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And then it lists the tribes. I'm not going to read them. Verse 9. And after this, I look, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne. and before the land.

Are we spending on our lives on things that are far too small, like comforts and vacations, and what are we going to do next, and what are we doing this weekend? Do you realize there will come a day, if you know Jesus, that you will stand before His throne, and you will look around, and people will be distinguishable? People ask me this, will I recognize my family,

will I be reunited with my family? Yes, you will, because we will be able to tell tribes and tongues, and nations. And if you have lost a loved one, it will be a glorious fellowship for all of eternity, and that reuniting with that person will be secondary to you being in the presence of Jesus. And you'll be cool with it. This is why Jesus says, in heaven we are not given to marriage. As important as it will be for your husband or wife to be in heaven with you, and you will find joy in that, it will not be the fulfilling thing. The only way I know to describe it is this. If you were three years old and I tried to describe to you, listen to a three-year-old, there will come a day where this random girl you've never been for in your entire life, you were going to leave these two people that you love more than anything right now and you're going to think living with her is better than living with him.

As a three-year-old, you'd be like, no way. As a 28-year-old, you're like, yeah way, okay? In a similar way, in some way, we're going to be so transformed that we will be in fellowship with one another for sure. that just won't be the fulfilling thing. Being in the presence of Jesus will be the fulfilling thing. And currently, there are 7,000 people groups missing from this list of nation, tribe, people, and languages. And I believe that somehow, today we see through a glass dimly, then we will see fully, God will begin to allow you to understand your part in those people being there with you.

I think it will be a part of the crown that you lay down at the feet of Jesus because it will continuously remind you, who am I, that you would use me, that you would use my dollars, that you would use that mission trip, that you would use that missionary support, that you would use me being bold about my faith online, whatever it is that God would use us to reach every nation and every tribe and every people in every language. You see, the Spirit of God is being sent out through missionaries to plant churches to call all of his children home. and they're clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb, and all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures,

and they fell on their faces before the throne, and they worshipped God, saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And then one of the elders addressed me. I think this matters that Jesus is simultaneously about all the peoples around the world, and he's also personal with me and you. And as all of this is going on, the elders addressed me saying, who are these, clothes in white robes and from where have they come? And I said, him, sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the land. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. See, this is the point of all the scriptures. All of the Bible can be summed up with this phrase. God with us. In the very beginning, when God created Adam and Eve, it was just out of an overflow of God's love for himself. And he creates image bearers, and he breathes the breath of life into Adam.

And Adam opens his eyes, and he is with God. And then sin, our own rejection of God, because we believe we would make a better God than him, it fractures that relationship, God with us. And so God sets up this sacrificial system. He sets up this temple. And the whole point of the temple is to make a way for God to be with his people. He would dwell in the holy of holies. And one time of year they would come and make sacrifice so that God could be with his people. And then the Bible says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Emmanuel, his name is Jesus, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world for God's glory, and God would be glorified that he would be with us. And then for all eternity. You see, every single one of us were created at the deepest level of our soul for what Adam experienced when he opened his eyes that he was with God. this is why the things of earth will never satisfy you right your new house your new car that new relationship whatever it is a little bit more cash in your pocket a couple more likes on facebook whatever it is it feels good for a fleeting minute it just can't satisfy you because you

weren't created for that what you were created for is god with us and for whoever would put their faith in jesus christ your eternity is this God with us, that we will be sheltered with his presence. And they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, and the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. And he will guide them to the springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Church of 1122, this is worthy of your life. And listen, and nothing else is.

Nothing else is. Everything else in your life could be a means to this end, your job, your family, your relationships, your hobbies, your vacations, for sure. But if we ever settle for less, there will always be something missing deep down at the soul level. And this is what God has called us to, this eternal worship experience where we are with God, that we see him for who he really is, and we respond in worship for all of eternity. In every square inch of the earth and all of the cosmos, Jesus rightly declares mine. The reason that we are sent, the reason that we plant churches, the reason that we do

missions is because missions and church planning, it's a worship issue. Abraham Kuyper said it this way. There is no square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign overall, does not cry mine. You see, God is sending out missionaries and church planners to accomplish this. And if that is true, if that is true, we have a lot of work to do. 7,000 people groups.

You see, C.S. Lewis said, our problem is not that we dream too big. Our problem is that we settle for so little. He said we're like kids

in the ghetto making mud pies when our father has invited us to a holiday at the beach. It's so silly. It's so silly. And that describes so often the American church that God has given us unbelievable resources and technological breakthroughs and we can go to any place on the planet within like two days it took me I left here

on like a Thursday and by Saturday morning I was in South Africa that used to take a boat ride six months and you'd lose half your people you understand that now you just sit there and watch a couple of Adam Sandler movies, and you're there. And God has made a way for us to give our lives to something so much greater than what the commercials at the halftime of the Super Bowl are trying to sell to you and me. Church of 1122, may we, may we spend our lives for something that is worthy of our lives. Because there will be a day. You want to begin with the end in mind?

don't think about your funeral. That's not the end. It's actually just the beginning of forever and ever and ever and ever. That what we do in this little bit of our life, whatever you get, what we do in this little bit of our life, whether you get 50 years or 80 years or 100 years or 15 years, whatever we do with this little tiny bit of our life where we're walking around and talking and living life on earth, it impacts all of the rest of how we will spend

forever and ever and ever and ever. And yet some of us get so caught up in the little itty-bitty sliver of life on this side of eternity. Please, please, please, don't be that dumb. Don't be that short-sighted. Don't be that foolish. The crazy thing is, by God's grace, you don't even have to wait until eternity to experience the joy of it now. I've shared this with you before it, but it would be the same.

like if you moved into the Holiday Inn Express for three days, and on the second day, you call down to the front office and you say, hey, listen, there's going to be some Home Depot truck swinging by here. And I'm going to take out the carpet and put in some hardwood floors. And I'm taking out these appliances. I'm going to put in some stainless steel stuff. And I'm going to put in a granite countertop. And I don't like this window. I'm going to bump out the window and get a little bay window so we can eat some breakfast. And the people at the Holiday Inn would be like, we appreciate the upgrades. But it seems like an all-a-old. But it seems like an all-a-old. awful waste of money because you're only going to be here for such a short time.

In church, there are so many people that claim to follow Jesus. And I'm not saying, you know, I'm just saying there's a lot of us to act like we're going to spend forever here. And in the blink of an eye, in the blink of an eye, we're going to be eternity. And everything God has given us, our relationships, our money, our opportunities, our careers, everything God has given us. bring great regret or great reward. May we be the kind of people because of the real end that God is calling to himself of people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. May we be the kind of people that are willing to pour ourselves out for our neighbor at work tomorrow and at school tomorrow and for our neighbor that lives in the Middle East and on

the Amazon and all in East Asia. May we be willing to pour our ourselves out for the glory of God. You see, I don't think like guilt and ought to will ever be enough to motivate and sustain a people. I think that a part of the reason that Jesus gives John this revelation and says, write this thing down. And blessed are the churches that read and do the words of this book is because when we get a vision of who he is worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy. And holy, holy, holy, when we get a vision of what we have been called up into,

then it won't just change our forever, it'll change our today and tomorrow. As a church, what does that mean for you? Would you please stand to your feet at all of our locations? We're going to sing this song, and hopefully you recognize a bunch of the words of this song out of the book of Revelation. And what I'm praying, and listen, man, if you're not into singing, I need you to get into this one.

I need you to lean in. I need you to pay attention to the words. And my hope and my prayer is that our worship teams at all of our locations, as they lead us, that God would expand our vision for our lives so that we could see past just this week, and we could see our role in His cosmic kingdom. Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, He can be God. who are we that you would call us sons and daughters? And God, who are we that you would use us

to take your good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the very ends of the earth? God, I don't just pray for the vision of 1122 to be a movement for all people to discover in deep in a relationship with Jesus Christ, but I pray that you would explode new visions in every single 1122 are within the sound of my voice. The God, you would help them understand in their family and in job and in their schools and in their neighborhoods, how they are an active participant in inviting people into this eternal worship experience forever and ever and ever. And God, there's a lot of things that we need to know from you on how we fully participate in that. And so, God, we lift that up to you in prayer. And we thank you that your word affirms that you hear the prayers of your children.

God, we love you because you first loved us. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, let's pray. Let's sing. Let's bring. Let's respond.