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What Preview Are You Watching? (Revelation 5:8-13)

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What Preview Are You Watching? (Revelation 5:8-13)

December 29, 2019 | Jake Mitchell | Revelation 5:8-13

What causes someone to lay down their lives in sacrificial obedience to a cause? What causes someone to move forward in giving up their rights to themselves, their futures, and their dreams? Specifically for us, Church, what causes someone to live a life of total surrender and pursuit of Jesus? The answer to that question lies in another question: What preview are you watching? In Revelation 5, God, in His kindness, speaks a preview of hope to people who are struggling to hang on in faithful obedience amidst suffering, persecution, and temptations to compromise in their faith. This preview of hope to them is also a preview of hope to us. And if we allow this reality to grab hold of us, it won’t just transform us for the new year, but it will transform us for every year to come.

8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 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!”

13 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 and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Unto Us A Child Is Born: Week 2 (Luke 2:22-33)

Unto Us A Child Is Born: Week 2 (Luke 2:22-33)

December 22, 2019 | Kyle Brenon | Luke 2:22-35

I have never been able to sleep on Christmas Eve and I fully expect this year will be no different. As a child, it was always the excitement of waking up Christmas morning anxious to see what would be under the tree. The anticipation usually began a few days after Thanksgiving when the Sears catalog came to the door (Yes… I am THAT many years old). Each day the excitement would build until finally, it was Christmas Day. As an adult, the excitement is still there though the reason for it is quite different. The anticipation still builds but it’s not the gifts under the tree that fuels it. 

There is great value in building towards Christmas with a season of celebration. Each year the faithful looking forward, eagerly waiting to celebrate the arrival of the promised King, just as the faithful did that first Christmas morning. Although their wait was MUCH longer! This week we look at Christ’s arrival through the eyes of a faithful man named Simeon. One who eagerly waited with anticipation, one to whom the Lord had said… Christmas is finally coming!

Luke 2:22-35

“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought (Jesus) up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord), … and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

 

Unto Us A Child Is Born (Isaiah 9:2-6)

Unto Us A Child Is Born (Isaiah 9:2-6)

December 15, 2019 | Kyle Brenon | Isaiah 9:2-6

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given!

Christmas season is now in full swing and my prayer is that we are all ready for it! I don’t mean ready for the big morning, or ready for the parties and events that surround it all. I mean ready for our hearts to be quiet and our minds to be focused on truly celebrating the arrival of the promised King.

With all the activities and expectations surrounding the season, not to mention the memories and difficulties it can often bring, there is no time of year that we are more in need of this focus. To know what Christ’s arrival truly means, and by faith to be able to call Him our “Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and our Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:2-6

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Things Jesus Never Said: Wk 9 (John 15:10-11, 1 Corinthians 1:28-31, Romans 3:21-24)

Things Jesus Never Said: Wk 9 (John 15:10-11, 1 Corinthians 1:28-31, Romans 3:21-24)

December 8, 2019 | Kyle Brenon | John 15:10-11, 1 Corinthians 1:28-31, Romans 3:21-24

This week we wrap up our sermon series, “Things Jesus Never Said,” with a look at a few things that tie them all together. With each subtle lie that sneaks its way into our minds, the truth we know begins to erode. With each twist of the truth, a false gospel is formed in our hearts, and they all proclaim the same thing. That is that Jesus, is not quite enough…

Oh, but He is! He is our wisdom, He is our Joy and He is all we need to make us right before a perfect and Holy God.

John 15:10-11

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

1 Corinthians 1:28-31

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Romans 3:21-24

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"

"Things Jesus Never Said": Week 8 (John 15:18-21; John 16:1-4)

"Things Jesus Never Said": Week 8 (John 15:18-21; John 16:1-4)

December 1, 2019 | Kyle Brenon | John 15:18-21; John 16:1-4

This week we near the end of our sermon series, “Things Jesus Never Said.” For the past two months we have been learning to recognize some of the lies that we have picked up along the way. Lies that we find ourselves believing about God and about His word that very much effect our relationship with Him. Many of these lies sneak in because we have formed unrealistic expectations about what it means to follow Jesus. What it looks like, what it costs us, and even how it will inevitably affect the relationships we have with everyone else. Sometimes we find ourselves surprised by the way other people view us simply because we bear the name of Christ… This week we will see that Jesus clearly never said, “If you follow me, everyone will love you!"

John 15:18-21

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

John 16:1-4

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.