WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.280 Good morning. 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:04.000 My name is Druss Masterson, the pastor here. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:13.359 What we love to say every week is that we are more broken than we originally thought, but we are more loved by God and Jesus than we ever dare to dream. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:14.560 That's really important. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:16.719 It's the thing we say every single week. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:17.679 We mean it. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.000 It's what we talk about. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.000 It's what we grow in and rest in. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:30.800 Even what Albert was talking about, you know, all of our desire and attempt to be great fathers is still filled with a journey of failure. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:36.880 So we need this good news of God being our ultimate heavenly father. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:44.399 Today's message could be titled Hope for a Weary World, which I really need that message. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:46.479 As a father, I need that. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.119 Just as a human being, I need it. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:56.240 I have weariness in all different parts of my life and weariness in my heart, and so do you. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:02.240 Eleven years ago, my oldest daughter had just learned to ride her bike. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:04.319 She was three and a half years old. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:05.840 I started her off early. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.719 No training wheels, we're going straight for the bike. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.560 About day five on her new bike, took her out to the park. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.439 It was time to conquer a hill, day five. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.159 So I took her to the top of an asphalt hill. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:19.280 Thank you very much. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:21.439 And she was ready. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:23.040 She was ready, which is amazing. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:32.719 Shows you just her complete naive trust and her father mistake, you know, of one million right there in my life of just pushing her off down the hill. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:34.159 And she was looking good at first. 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:43.680 Like at first, it was looking nice and straight, and then she hit the steep part of the hill, and the front wheel started to swerve back and forth, and you know what was coming, right? 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:56.159 Because you might have made the same mistake with your little kid, or you took that bust on a bike when you were little, and she just finally just kind of laid that bike down and kind of skidded to a stop on the hill, and she started to cry, right? 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:03.680 And I did that, not really her, I did that because I'm the one to push her down the hill, and there was that nice Zoija grass, soft hill over to my right. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:05.200 And I don't know what was wrong with that hill. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.519 I could have used that hill for this experiment. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.680 But I sent her down that hill. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:16.479 So then I ran over and I did what all of us parents have done at some point. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:18.159 Scooped her up. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:18.960 Right? 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.080 You scoop them up and they're crying and you scoop them up. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:32.080 And I took the soft parts of my fingers, which you've you've done this with your children, or maybe you remember your parents doing it with you. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:32.719 Right? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.800 You might have even done it this morning. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.240 And you just you just wipe the tears, right? 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.479 As they're coming down, you just wipe the tears. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:44.800 And you just say, you're okay. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:46.800 You look over her pain. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.120 I mean, I've even said that when there's a broken arm. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:50.240 You're you're okay. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.240 You're walking off. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:53.280 Walk it off. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.120 You're okay. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:59.120 And isn't that what we all long for in our hearts? 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:06.719 Under all the distraction, under all the mess and the difficulty, the pain, the heartache, the disappointment. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:08.879 To be safe. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:12.240 To be at peace. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:14.639 Right? 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.520 To really know everything is okay. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:18.960 Everything's okay. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.439 Because maybe you're here and you wish life was a little different. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:31.199 Maybe you wish your father was better to you, or maybe you wish you were a better father, or maybe you wish your father had lived longer. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:35.199 Maybe you wish you didn't yell so much. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:36.960 Maybe you just wish you were different. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.280 Maybe you wish you didn't drink so much. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:42.719 Maybe you just long for a do-over. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.520 Like, man, I wish I could do that over. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:52.879 Maybe your heart's just crying out for a healthy marriage or healthy friendships or healthy finances. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:53.840 We're all weary. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:54.479 That's my point. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.080 We're all weary in some part of our life. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:04.000 We need hope for a weary world. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:06.479 We've been studying this fascinating book of Revelation. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.000 We're all the way through chapter 20. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.039 And what we've said from the very beginning is like, this is a strange book. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.639 Like a lot of us don't read this book because it's been so strange in our lives. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:20.560 Either we read it, we're like, and I'm done, I'll go back over to, you know, the book of John or James or something like really safe. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.360 Colossians, you know, like that happens, right? 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.680 And then there's so much debate with the book of Revelation. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:27.439 I mean, that kind of feels unending. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:35.839 But what we've seen is we've gone through it, it's taken some measure of humility with this book, and it's opened up to be really beautiful for us. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:40.480 Revelation 20 begins with an angel seizing the dragon. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:45.680 Now, the dragon's a symbol of Satan, of evil. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.800 And this angel binds him for 1,000 years. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:58.240 And now, this is where the story gets interesting, and there's certainly lots of debate here as we enter Revelation chapter 20. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:01.439 I'll read our way through chapter 20. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.399 Verses 4 through 6. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:05.839 Then I saw thrones. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.519 Remember, this is John writing. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:13.199 He's having these different visions, and he's writing them down for these churches, seven churches he's writing to. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:18.720 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:30.160 Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.160 We've talked all about that in past sermons. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:36.480 They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.639 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:42.720 This is the first resurrection. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:46.879 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.439 Over such the second death has no power. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:54.560 But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.000 Now remember, John's a pastor, and he's a poet. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:01.759 He's writing here in a poetic way. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:22.240 And we've been taking what we've been calling, and it's called the covenantal amillennial view, really big words, which just means that we don't believe everything is literal as we read our way through Revelation, but we believe so much of it is symbolic, and John is communicating something pastorally, but as a poet. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:26.560 And he's recapping over and over again throughout this book. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:36.800 He's recapping the brokenness of this world now, the redemption we have fully in Jesus alone, and the restoration that's to come in the next life. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:41.519 We get in verse 4 this 1,000-year reign. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.319 This is known as the millennium. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.839 Now you can get some really weird late-night preaching teaching on the millennium. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.680 I mean, we can cover a range of views and debate on this. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:57.199 And here's where the different views do, in fact, come in. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:58.800 A lot of debate here. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:03.519 Here's another big term, the dispensational premillennial view. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.759 You don't have to remember those terms, but this is a view. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:07.279 Maybe you hold this. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:18.959 It's a literal view of a thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth at some point in the future, toward the end of the world, before Christ restores this earth to be a new heaven. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:23.680 Just like there was a beginning of the world, there will be an end of the world. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.800 Now the Amillennial view sees this differently. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:34.959 The Amillennial view sees the thousand years like a songwriter saying, I will love you for a thousand years. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:37.920 Which, in fact, there is a song by Christina Perry. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:38.800 Anybody? 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:40.399 It's a great song. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:41.920 I went back and listened to it. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:43.920 Darling, don't be afraid. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:45.920 I've loved you for a thousand years. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.160 I'll love you for a thousand more. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:48.879 Right? 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:53.680 She's saying, I'll love you with all of me for all of my time. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.319 Poetically, she's saying this. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:02.560 The Amillennial view sees it the same way as what Christina Perry's doing. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:09.600 John's saying Christ reigns fully now, yet the story's not over. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.680 There is restoration to come. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:22.800 In the text, Satan will eventually be released, unbound, but only to be eliminated from having any influence on a renew, renewed, restored world to come. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:34.879 So finally, your trauma, your questions, your disappointment, your heartache, your hurt, your pain, your guilt, your shame, the exhaustion, the weariness, all of it. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:36.080 All of that gone. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:37.039 All of it. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:40.639 There is an end to the story just like there was a beginning. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:43.440 Revelation 20, verse 11. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:47.440 Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:51.840 From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.879 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:00.080 Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:05.360 And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.120 And the sea gave up each one of them according to what they had done. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.399 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.639 This is the second death, the lake of fire. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:20.480 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.799 So here's the overarching point here. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:36.000 For us, those of us who are Christians in Christ, point number one, are welcome in heaven, secure belovedness to God, secure, is fully at rest in Christ's work for us. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:41.440 No worries, no anxiety, no fear, not even of a future judgment. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.200 Verse 15 says that anyone who's not in relationship with God is separate from God. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.840 You have a relationship with God, you're separate from God. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.799 As a person desires to live independent from God, eventually you get exactly what you want. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:56.639 You get independence from God. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.799 Separation from God is a disintegration. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:10.720 It's not the integrating of the soul, it's a disintegration of the soul from the very thing you and I were created to be, children of God. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:17.039 Now, the dominant image here in this text is not fear, it's the book of life. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:18.960 That's the dominant image. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:25.039 As to say, by his astonishing grace, we are permanently gods. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.120 We are in his book. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:45.200 And I know some of you struggle with worry or doubt or fear of what might come one day, and maybe that comes from a background, a religious background that motivated decisions for Christ via fear and judgment, and even once you're a Christian, more fear and more judgment. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.279 But if you're in Christ, all the judgment is handled. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:55.679 You live in lavish love, perpetual welcome. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:57.679 The cross really is enough. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:02.480 Fully forgiven, full imputation of righteousness. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.320 All of our judgment has already been handled in Christ. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:12.399 All that awaits us is restoration. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.240 A year after my daughter wrecked on the hill, there was a big bike race. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:19.919 Four-year-old preschool. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.039 Big, big bike race. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:24.080 I mean, we're ready. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:30.000 We've been training on steep asphalt hills, you know, for a solid six months for this race. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:35.039 We show up in the parking lot of the North Side Drive Baptist Preschool. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:41.600 We get there, all the kids line up, but they're, well, there's a bike race. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:42.720 She's the only one on a bike. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.519 All these other little losers show up on scooters. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:53.360 And I see what's going to happen right away. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.279 There's like 20 kids. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.240 My daughter, thank you very much, is on a bike in a bike race. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:59.279 It's a bike race. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:04.639 19 of them are on scooters, and I see the route, and it's down the parking lot. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:10.480 You kind of make a little curve, and then there's a finish line, and you've got to cross over the line, you have to turn around, and you have to come back. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.240 And I already see what's going to happen. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:16.799 She's going to start slow because she's on a bike in a bike race. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.639 So they start. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.919 The scooters take off quick lead. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:24.159 She catches them on the straightaway. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:33.360 She passes them, but then you cross over that line, and she takes a big loop because she's on a bike in a bike race, thank you very much. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.960 And all those little wimps, they whip their scooters around. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.799 They're halfway back before she gets any momentum coming back. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.480 And I don't remember if she comes in second or third. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:50.799 I just remember she didn't win, and I remember the kid who won, and the parents are celebrating on a scooter. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.440 That's been ten years ago. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.440 That's how shallow I am, still burning me up. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:05.919 A decade. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:12.159 And I'm still waiting for Northside Drive Baptist to set this right, to set it right. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:13.919 I want it set right. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:16.159 I want restoration. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.960 That's silly, isn't it? 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.879 But we all uh we all want restoration. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:32.240 Because you were hurt, or you were rejected, or you did it all wrong. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:36.879 Or you lost it all. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:48.799 Maybe you're afraid or you're insecure, or you're anxious, or you're sick, or you're tired, or you're lonely, you're sad, and you just want it to be set right. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.600 You want it restored, you want it to be whole. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:54.000 We do. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:00.159 Even the fact that we are longing for that shows you that we weren't created for this weary world. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.159 We are created for a world to come where there will be restoration. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:09.919 And our hearts long for that day where the tears will be wiped away. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:12.799 So, what happens when we die? 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:15.919 Well, I haven't done it yet. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.440 Uh, so I'm just kind of going off the scriptures here. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:30.799 A couple helpful hints that we certainly have that the Bible teaches that if we pass before the second coming of Christ, just like Jesus came once, Merry Christmas, Jesus will come again. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:37.360 And the Bible teaches that if we've passed before the second coming of Christ, that heaven is an immediate presence with God. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:42.480 You can see that in Philippians 1.23, 2 Corinthians 5, 6 through 8. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:44.720 It's pure delight with God. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:46.480 Ecstasy. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:48.320 Pure delight. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.559 Rich community with saints and loved ones. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:08.799 Then after the second coming of Christ, where there is restoration, there'll be a new heaven, which is a restored earth and restored physical existence. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.200 Here's a bit of reading. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.200 Kind of piece this together a little bit. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:19.360 Romans 8, 19, and then we'll jump into verse 22 through 25. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:28.799 For the creation waits, so our world, our earth, waits, eager, longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:41.440 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who are the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:47.360 As we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:50.720 For in this hope we were saved. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:55.279 Now hope that is seen is not hope. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.000 For who hopes for what is what he sees? 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:03.200 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:12.480 So Paul's saying there's a restoration to come of the creation of our world, of our bodies, a new heaven. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.399 The end of the story. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:18.000 Here's what John writes, Revelation 21, verses 1 through 5. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.159 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:25.600 For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:38.000 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.600 He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God will be with them as their God. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:53.279 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.799 For the former things have passed away. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:03.039 And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:08.000 And he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.440 Point number two, just a two-point sermon this morning. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.440 We live in joyful anticipation now. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.599 In hope of our heavenly home to come. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.400 We have a hope beyond this world. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.880 And that actually fuels and gives us joyful anticipation now. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.640 Verse 1 here says, the sea was no more. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.440 It's a way to say, all your seas of chaos. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.079 That's what the sea was to these ancient people. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:39.599 An image of chaos. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:44.799 The sea was no more is to say, all your seas of chaos will be no more. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:47.839 This brings us hope. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.640 This creates joyful anticipation now. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:55.200 It's like the days before a big amazing trip, right? 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.200 And you've been planning it. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:09.519 And you got it all planned out, or maybe you're not the planner, and somebody else, your friend's the planner, your spouse is the planner, but you know the trip's coming, and finally you get to the week of the trip where your mind and your heart starts to actually get into the trip a little bit. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:20.960 Work's been hard, kids have been hard, there's been financial stress, but the trip's already prepaid, and you're ready, you're starting to pack, and you're starting to do your laundry, you're starting to, you know, when you do your laundry, but you don't fold it and put it back in the drawers, right? 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.480 You're setting aside for the suitcase, you're starting to get a little excited, aren't you? 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:30.000 Joyful anticipation that this is coming, this is real. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:35.759 And our hearts begin to rest and operate in a growing sense of hope. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:43.440 In the summer, when I'm hiking high in the Teton Mountains, I find myself pondering. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.920 I find myself pondering if heaven is forever like this, I'm all in. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:49.359 I'm all in. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:54.880 Now, I thought that a few times in worship settings. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:56.640 Like in a church. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.240 And I work for a church, right? 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:00.079 I mean, church is like my life. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.799 I've only thought it a few times in worship settings. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.119 Maybe for you, you think it all the time in worship. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.240 For me, I think it more when I'm in the mountains. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:16.319 But even then, even then, like I flash back to a mistake. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:25.519 I flash back to some anxiety, some disappointment, some pressure, some stress, something I need to do, some list of things I need to do. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:32.400 Some relationship that's strained, or I wish it was healed, or I wish it was better, some financial anxiety. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.799 Or I see a bear, right? 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.480 And you're just, I'm just kind of wondering, like, he looks like he's into the huckleberries, but is he? 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.240 Is he really into the huckleberries? 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:43.440 Is he gonna follow me? 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:44.880 Is he following me now? 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:46.480 This will ruin a hike. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.400 This will ruin that moment in the mountains all of a sudden, it's gone. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:52.880 But can you imagine? 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:59.279 And we just flashed the image, can you imagine wandering the paths of Switzerland? 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:04.720 Can you imagine wandering the paths of Switzerland and never tiring? 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:21.279 Or walking through the streets of Paris and being able to stop at every single cafe and eat every single pastry and drink every single glass of red wine and never even care about the calories? 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.640 Can you imagine how good that would be? 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.799 Or paddling the fjords of Norway, or sitting on the beaches of Maui, right? 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:32.000 Such paradise. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:36.880 Now, all of a sudden, for me, I've had such a hard time generating excitement for heaven. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:42.799 I mean, the idea of forever church to me, I like church to be about one hour. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.480 Like I'm good. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:46.319 I really like it. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.480 I really like it for an hour. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.200 And then let's go to lunch. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.279 Uh, let's go do something else. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:54.960 There's other things to do. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:04.640 But this idea of what the Bible's giving us a feast, a celebration, a city, a creation renewed. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:07.599 It's much bigger than a big church service. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.240 It'll be worship, but all of existence will be worship. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:16.079 We won't be stopping our existence to go worship. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:20.559 Such a grander view of the restoration of the world. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.960 This kind of paradise will be all around us. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.200 And you'll never be in danger. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:34.799 You're never gonna be weary, you're never gonna get bitten by a mosquito right when you're like really enjoying the moment. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:40.319 You're like, this is so great, and then all of a sudden you can't get cancer. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.839 Your child can't get hurt. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:50.000 People won't be abused or manipulated or addicted. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.799 You won't have to worry about provision or fulfillment or wholeness. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.880 You no longer have to wonder if you're enough. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:12.160 We will celebrate and we will play and we will love and we will serve and we will sing and we will dance and we will feast and the exhausting inner chatter will be gone. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.400 The embarrassing, shameful temptations will be gone. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.119 They'll be wiped away. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.640 The old order will pass. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:36.960 The image of restoration that John's giving us is us being scooped up by a Father, a heavenly Father, who has given the gift of grace to us in Jesus. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:41.279 Say, in Christ, it's perpetual welcome. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:49.200 That He scoops us up, and that we are at peace in His embrace, and the Heavenly Father will wipe away the tears from our face. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:55.920 It's a beautiful image for us, a way to say that God will heal all the pain. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:03.039 The day is coming, the end of the story, all the pain will be healed, and all of it will be set right. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.240 All the pain behind the tears will be set right. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.079 That's our heavenly home to come. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.720 Gives us some hope now, doesn't it? 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.599 For your weariness, your exhaustion, your burden, guilt, shame. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:22.799 It starts to fuel in birth a little bit of joyful anticipation of such a place. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.839 It's a vision of hope for us. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:29.759 And I close just reading verse 5. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:39.039 He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:40.880 Let's pray together. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:47.680 God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us, the sufficiency of Jesus. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:58.559 That in him there is not a scorecard that you are waiting to score on us and our rights and wrongs. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:14.240 But in Jesus, you are fully forgiving us, and we are fully righteous, and all that awaits us is a perpetual welcome, lavish love, and restoration of our pain. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:20.640 What a vision for us of a home to come. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:27.200 Help us in these days as we move through weariness and exhaustion, burden and guilt. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:34.799 Would we have hope not in this world and not even in ourselves, but in your love for us and for the restoration to come? 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:37.599 Would this be our story? 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:46.960 Created in your image, imperfect by the fall, redeemed by the sufficiency of Jesus, and a restoration to come. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:25:06.160 Help our hearts to remember more in these days that can feel so permanent and so long that the day is coming where every single one of us will be wonderfully welcomed in heaven by the power of Jesus as we have given and surrendered unto him. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:19.599 May us in these days have such hope and such joy because you are good, and because you are sufficient, and because you are lovely, and you are enough for us. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:21.519 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:22.160 Amen.