Christ Presbyterian Church | Bible books Revelation

What Heaven Will Be Like

Bible Text: Revelation 21:22-27 | Preacher: Nick Whitaker | Series: Visions of the Coming King

Because God has revealed what is to come, we can wait with eager expectation and hope

Revelation 21:22-27 22
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

A Vision of the King Who Comes to Satisfy

Bible Text: Revelation 5:6–10 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Visions of the Coming King

Because the king enthroned is also a slain lamb, we must give him the worship he deserves.

Revelation 5:6–10

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 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.”

A Vision of the King Who Comes to Judge

Bible Text: Revelation 19: 11-21 | Preacher: Nick Whitaker | Series: Visions of the Coming King

Because Jesus is good, we must trust him to judge all evil in the end.

Revelation 19:11-21
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

A Vision of the King who Comes to Restore

Bible Text: Revelation 1:12-20 | Preacher: Nick Whitaker | Series: Visions of the Coming King

Because Jesus is sovereign over all, we must trust that he is able to give us all that he has promised.
Revelation 1:12-20

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

A Vision of the King Who Comes to Rule

Bible Text: Revelation 12:1-6 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Visions of the Coming King

Because Jesus’s rule is contested, we must trust God to be victorious in spite of appearances.

Revelation 12:1-6
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Waiting for a New Home

Bible Text: Revelation 21:1-3; 9-11 | Preacher: Joshua Burdette | Series: Advent: What Are We Waiting For?

The fault lines in the family become more obvious around the holidays. We anticipate the arguments around the table, the patterns that get reinforced, and the fights over which side of the family we are going to see. Others go home alone, dreading the insensitive questions from family. During the pandemic, we have experienced a loss of community and civil life that has lasted for almost 2 years and left many of us weary, isolated, and lonely. What does Advent have to do with our longings for home and community?

Waiting for New Creation

Bible Text: Revelation 21:1-5; 22:1-3 | Preacher: Johnathan Keenan | Series: Advent: What Are We Waiting For?

Take one look at the world around you and you’ll come to the conclusion that something is wrong. Things don’t work they way they are supposed to. Machines break down, promises fall apart, goals fail to be reached, plans get thwarted. It appears that there is a force in the world working against even the best intentions and strategies we employ. The result is a sense of futility in every human enterprise. What would it be like if things were different? If things didn’t fall apart? Join us this Sunday as we continue our Advent series from the last pages of the Bible.

Waiting for New Life

Bible Text: Revelation 21:1-5; 22:1-2 | Preacher: Joshua Burdette | Series: Advent: What Are We Waiting For?

We don’t like to think about death around the holidays. We bring evergreen trees into our homes to remind us of life during a dormant season. We don’t like to think about death, but it seems to have a way of getting into our thoughts anyway. We see the empty chairs around the dinner table and the extra wrinkles on our loved ones faces. We may even wonder if this Christmas will be our last one together. But what if death isn’t the end? What if there’s a world waiting beyond death where life lasts forever? Join us this week as we continue our Advent series, What Are We Waiting For?

Waiting for New Communion

Bible Text: Revelation 21:1-7 | Preacher: Reed Jolley | Series: Advent: What Are We Waiting For?

Around the holidays we try really hard to make things special for our children and ourselves. Even the most secular person among us wants to feel something bigger than herself. Billionaires fly to space looking for transcendence; the rest of us take up hobbies or consume art. We have a deep longing for transcendence because we were made to be in relationship with God. When Christ returns, we will see our savior face to face. Join us this Sunday as we begin our Advent series “What Are We Waiting For?”

To Him Be the Glory

Bible Text: Jude 24-25; Revelation 5:6–13 | Preacher: Joshua Burdette | Series: Jude: Exhortations for Tenuous Times

We are worshippers. Everywhere you turn will see people praising things, admiring them. We have an innate need to get caught up in something bigger than ourselves. Praise gives meaning and purpose to our lives, and it puts things in perspective. This week as we look at the final verses of Jude, we are given that kind of perspective.