WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.760 Well, good morning. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:03.279 Breaking news. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:06.639 May not be breaking, but it may shock you. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:07.200 I'm not sure. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.679 It depends how delusional you are. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.480 The world is not working perfectly this morning. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.080 I don't know if you're aware of that. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:19.440 Even the fact that we have to have a child safety committee, that's sad. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.839 That means that the world doesn't work perfectly. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:26.800 And maybe your world is not working perfectly this morning. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.320 There's wars going on right now in Ukraine and in Ethiopia and in Yemen. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.799 And those countries' peoples and lives just being broken apart, torn apart. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:47.920 There's brutal and violent conflicts in Gaza, in Israel, in Haiti, and in Myanmar right now. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:57.759 The UN says perhaps about maybe half the population in Afghanistan is suffering from hunger. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:00.560 And the U.S. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:02.159 has our problems, right? 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:04.719 I mean we could we could list those. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.079 We know those. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:16.159 And you have your problems, and I have my problems, and we have our own weariness, or we have our own disappointment, our own loss, our own hurt, our own pain. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:24.400 So how is hope working in the world today? 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:29.519 And how is hope working in your world today? 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.280 Christy showed me this video this week. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.640 It's really cute video, if I can use the word cute for video. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:50.719 This is Bonnie, a grandma, who every morning she walks out onto her front porch to wave to the school children and the school children waving to her on a school bus as they pass. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.040 Let's watch this quick real quick. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:09.199 So this is hope, but it's not like optimism, right? 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.039 We're like maybe, maybe not. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:18.159 It's not like a, you know, like a little boy taking his baseball glove to the ballpark like he's actually gonna catch a foul ball, right? 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:19.039 Like, really? 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:21.439 Like the math on that's not real good. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.680 The math on this is really good. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.879 Like the school bus is going to come by. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:32.080 It's confident expectation of something good to come. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:37.120 That's hope, rock solid hope, something grounded and firm, something assured. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.639 Author John Eldritch says this about hope. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:46.319 Hope is confident expectation that good is coming. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.639 Something rock solid, something that we can build our lives on. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:57.120 What would you say is the great sustaining hope your life is? 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:59.840 What is the great sustaining hope of your life? 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.319 So we've been studying the book of Revelation. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:07.520 As soon as you enter the book of Revelation, maybe you recognize how weird and strange that book is, and maybe you've never read it. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:19.279 We've been studying it for weeks and weeks and weeks, and as we've been studying it, we've realized it's not as strange as we originally thought it was, and it's opening up some really beautiful ideas about God and our lives. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:23.839 Now, there's all different views of the book of Revelation, and maybe you have a particular view. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:24.879 We love that you're here. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:30.079 We are taking, as we've learned, these two big words, the covenantal, a millennial view. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:40.000 Big words, which means that we don't see all the language in the book of Revelation as literal, but we see a lot of it as symbolic for us. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:51.519 So John is being a, there's the writer of Revelation, he's a pastor and he's a poet writing the seven churches, not describing a tribulation to come, but our actual tribulation. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:56.000 These seven churches, hurt and pain, what's going on in their lives. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:58.000 And then also the hurt and pain we have now. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:04.000 So all the hurt and pain, disappointment from the first coming of Jesus to the second coming of Jesus, the reality of the world. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:05.759 That's what John's writing about. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.879 And last week we looked at the seven bowls of wrath. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:16.079 I mean, that's really the sermon I want to wake up and preach, and I'm sure you just can't wait to go re-listen to that on the podcast, the bowls of wrath sermon. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:17.439 That's a popular one. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.199 But we did get this story. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.160 We got this imagery of a prostitute named Babylon the Great. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:30.879 And John's using this as an image of the evil and the oppression of Rome and the evil and oppression of the world. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:36.000 And then in Revelation 19, it opens up with this prostitute being defeated. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:41.920 And then we jump into verse 6 as we begin to get a vision of heaven. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:44.720 So let's read our way through this. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:48.720 Some Brian read for us, we'll reread some of that and we'll work our way through the chapter. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.199 Revelation 19, 6 through 10. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:06:02.399 Then I heard what seemed to be a voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:09.040 Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:16.319 It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:23.279 And the angel said to me, Write this Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.000 And he said to me, These are the true words of God. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.839 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:29.680 But he said to me, You must not do that. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:35.199 I am a fellow servant with you, and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:36.639 Worship God. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.319 For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:47.199 So there's going to be two feasts that we see in Revelation 19 as to begin to even imagine what heaven might be like. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:50.800 And so feast number one is the wedding supper of the Lamb. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:53.279 This is the imagery John is building for us. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:54.800 To think about heaven. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:04.240 And the point number one coming off of the first feast is that heaven brings us forever union with God and forever peace and wholeness for our hearts. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.839 So John sees two feasts as the welcome of heaven. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:14.560 No suffering, no fear, all joy, all peace, a feast of delight that doesn't end. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:22.560 No walk of shame at the end of the night, no walk of shame the next morning, none of the questions that plague us, right? 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:23.759 You know the questions. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.959 Am I really enough? 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.519 Am I really forgiven? 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.519 Will any of this ever be okay? 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.160 All those questions gone. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:40.399 Wow, that's a party. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.680 That's a feast of delight for us. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:51.680 In 2019, the documentary entitled Fire, the Greatest Party That Never Happened. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.560 Maybe you've seen the documentary on Netflix. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:05.120 The Fire Festival was branded as the most amazing luxury music festival to ever be held, and it was going to be held on an island in the Bahamas. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:23.839 And they spent all their money and all their time in marketing the festival with influencers and models on yachts and putting on social media and they got the hype going, but they spent really little time thinking about what it actually means to host thousands of people on a remote island in the Bahamas. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:30.160 And so as soon as all these people show up, turns out to be misery. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:39.120 There's food issues and security issues and lodging issues, neglect, eventually lawsuits. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.279 This is what they showed up to. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.919 This is the luxury music festival. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.440 Now, most parties of the world are not that bad, right? 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:49.440 Like that's an extreme example. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:54.960 That's not that level of disaster in the parties of the world, but this is an image. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:05.279 The inability of the world to deliver, and we all know this because we've tried it, the inability of the world to deliver this level of perfect joy. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.639 That the images portrayed didn't match the reality of what we actually get. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:17.759 Now, I grew up with heaven being the great escape from punishment. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:19.919 And pretty limited to that. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:27.919 It hasn't been to the last couple of years, maybe being in midlife, I don't know, but also maybe just learning a little bit more. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:41.200 We're actually the beauty of heaven, the promise of it, of what it would mean for my heart that just is plagued with sin and guilt and shame and these questions, to actually be relieved of that. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.840 Oh man, that's something to actually hope in. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.639 Our home of wholeness and restoration. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:52.240 And what I keep learning in these days is that part of my discontentment is my sin. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.360 Part of my need to always just need something else. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:56.720 That is my sin. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:03.519 And part of it also is just my heart longing for home. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.360 That you and I were not ultimately built for this world. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.120 We weren't created for this world. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:19.759 And John's giving us a vision of heaven for us where all things are restored and all things are new and all things are at peace, including your heart. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:37.120 That all the parts of my heart that aren't quite put together and never will be, and your heart that aren't put together and never will be finally is at rest and made whole and new and restored. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:45.200 In ancient Jewish marriage customs, just to begin to think about what John was writing about when he writes Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:49.679 In the ancient Jewish marriage customs, the wedding supper was a big deal. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:51.039 Big deal. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:56.159 An engagement would be made, so there would have been a legally binding betrothal made. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:04.639 The bride's father would pay a dowry, and then preparations would begin to be made for the procession and for the wedding and for the party. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.679 The bride would go and adorn herself. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:12.000 The groom would go and drink beer and play golf with his friends. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:16.799 No, no, the groom would they would sing, the groom and his friends. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:18.159 They would can you imagine us doing this? 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.919 Hey, let's go get some torches and light them and sing. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:22.960 That's what they would do. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.279 And they would walk to go get the bride. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:26.879 It's kind of cool. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.720 Beer and golf, torches and singing, you know. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:43.039 They would go and get the bride, and the procession would come back to the home where a great wedding feast would happen for seven to fourteen days. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:43.600 Right? 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.799 You thought your cousin's Catholic wedding service was long. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:56.639 Like you were like an hour and a half, like let's, you know, like seven to fourteen days, a party, a feast. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:59.759 This is what John's thinking about. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:02.960 I don't know. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:16.879 Like, I don't know where you've been, I don't know what church you've been in, I don't know what you've been reading, I don't know what you've been thinking about, but I know God cannot love you anymore or any less because he already loves you without limits. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.399 And he has a party of grace and welcome for you, a feast of belonging. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.440 This is what, this is our home to come. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.240 And we're getting tastes of it now. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:32.799 And in Christ we have all this. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.080 Our hearts are actually crying out for it. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:46.399 Just don't mistake that crying out for I need a new pair of shoes, or I need a new car, or I need a different spouse, or I need a new job. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:51.039 Sometimes it's just our heart is crying out for our ultimate home. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:04.639 The heavenly taste of this world, which I love, so many of them, the heavenly tastes of this world, they're revealing, they're wooing us towards the hope of heaven. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:12.559 Point number two is this only Jesus can satisfy our cravings for absolution, belonging, and validation. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:19.120 Now, those are the cravings of your heart underneath so many of the other things that we have going on operating in our lives. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:25.600 Last Sunday, Christy and I celebrated 18 years of marriage. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:31.600 We're getting to some legitimate amount of years where I can actually start to give some marriage advice. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:36.480 I mean, I look back 18 years ago. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:38.320 I mean, we were young, right? 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:41.039 We were in the mid-20s, young 20s. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.559 She was sweet and caring, still is. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:46.559 Still is. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.320 I've had to catch myself. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.840 She's not in here. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:52.000 She loved Jesus. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:53.919 No, she's still sweet and caring. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:55.600 She still loves Jesus. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:01.919 But man, she has blossomed into a savvy, smart, and brave woman. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.279 And I've gotten quirkier over the years. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:06.879 And she still loves me. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:08.320 Isn't that amazing? 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.840 And I love her more now because there's more to know of her. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:13.840 So I love more of her now. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.720 And yet, here's the thing about this woman. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:26.080 Even this woman, she cannot solve the deepest longings of my heart. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.879 And it won't surprise you that the reverse is true, right? 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:32.080 Like that's not a surprise. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:38.960 Like that's abundantly clear that I cannot solve the deepest longings and cravings of her soul. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:41.919 And you know this. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:45.759 You know this in your romance. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.080 Or you know this with your spouse. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.279 Don't say amen. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:49.840 Don't say it. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:50.960 Don't don't say it. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:51.600 Don't say it. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:52.320 You're thinking it. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:53.840 We can talk about it later. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:55.360 But you know it. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:00.159 Because they haven't really lived up to all your hopes. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.919 See, in this way, Jesus is our forever spouse. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:11.440 When we use that language, sometimes half the room can just be like, and I'm out. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:12.480 Like, that's weird. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:18.399 Like it's a way to say Jesus is the absolution you crave for. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:21.519 Jesus is the validator you crave for. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:26.000 He's the fulfiller of the deepest longing of your soul that you crave for. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.000 Here's the implication for joy and hope for now. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:32.080 Here's how it kind of works its way out. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:33.600 Long sentence, but here it is. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:40.240 As our hearts are relieved and validated in Jesus, meaning that even your spouse does not relieve and validate you. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.360 And hoping in the wedding supper of the Lamb, our hope of heaven. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:52.320 Our hearts grow in joy and hope now. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.120 That's how our hearts grow. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.759 In joy and hope now. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:00.720 Verse 11. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:03.679 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.279 The one sitting on it is called faithful and true. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.279 So this is Christ. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.320 And in righteousness he judges and makes war. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:20.240 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:27.120 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:33.440 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:41.600 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:46.399 He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:53.440 On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.000 So Christ is the loving spouse. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:57.679 We got that at the beginning of the chapter. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:05.359 And now we get Christ as a heavenly warrior or a conqueror, a conqueror of evil. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:08.880 That finally there's a day where there's no more injustice and pain. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:10.480 That's heavenly. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:18.799 Four names are given for us in this passage of Christ, faithful and true, Word of God, King of kings and Lord of Lords. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.640 And then in there, did you catch it an unknowing name? 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.880 Isn't that interesting? 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:32.240 You see it throughout the scriptures that at times God just floods us with different names for himself. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:35.759 And then at other times he says, I don't even have a name. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.039 He's like, I have no name. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.599 Lots of names, no name. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.119 See, this is God's way to communicate. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:49.279 You will never fully get your hearts and minds around me. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:54.799 I'll give you so many names that you get overwhelmed and you can't understand me. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.400 Or I'll just say, there's not even a name for you to understand me by. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:07.519 It's a way for God to communicate to us a way to begin to understand Him at the same time to say, Don't think you can begin to solve this mystery. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.079 You won't be able to fully get your hearts and minds around me. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.319 Verse 17. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:26.480 As this passage we just read leads into this, then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come gather for the great supper of God. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.359 Okay, it starts to get a little weird here. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:39.519 To eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:46.880 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:58.880 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:07.359 Remember, we talk about anytime the mark is it's just to say that which you are defined by, that which you are giving yourself to. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:22.319 These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was seating it on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:28.880 Let's, you know, that's a t-shirt verse for your next student ministry retreat right there. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.200 Feast number two. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.079 I mean, these are two really different feasts, right? 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.039 Feast number two, the great supper of God. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:40.880 And the point is this, and you can go and pick that apart. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:42.960 There's a great John Stott commentary. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.480 You can go and dig into that for a while, but here's overarching point. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:53.039 Christ welcomes all forgiven sinners home, conquers all evil, and restores all sadness. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:01.039 Feast number one, the wedding supper of the Lamb, which is our welcome and belonging through Christ to us. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.200 No questions asked, no riddle by St. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.720 Peter at the gate. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.000 Just a welcome in Christ. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:19.599 And then the second feast, the great supper of God, which is to say, all sin and all hurt and all evil and all injustice will be finished. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.279 It's a way to say that. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:23.920 That'll be heavenly. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:37.039 Now putting these feasts together, we get welcome and joy and belonging without injustice, without hurt, without pain. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:40.960 See how we need both of these for something to be heavenly? 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.480 Toward the end of last year, Christy and I went out of town with four of our best friend couples. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:50.640 One of those kind of post-COVID trips. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.240 You had it like built up in you. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:54.960 Like, we gotta go somewhere, we gotta do something. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:56.960 So we went out of town. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.400 Our our final night, we we went out for like a big dinner. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:01.599 You know, we kind of ate cheap. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.359 We're like, let's let's let's backload it, let's let's go out one big time. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.400 And I booked the ten of us to the nicest steakhouse in town. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:13.599 Because there's ten of us, they said, Well, you know, we don't really have a table that fits you, we're gonna have to put you in a back room. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:14.799 And I like that kind of stuff. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:22.319 You know, you walk in, you kind of walk by everybody else, like you got something special going on, little VIP room in the back, you know, and so everything was prefixed. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.079 They said, Well, we gotta do prefix, you know. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:35.039 And so, okay, whatever, just like you pay, try to forget the price, and we go back in there, and it's real fancy schmancy, and we sit around this big table, and we eat and we drink. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.960 There we are after the meal, back in our fancy schmancy room. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:43.440 And we laughed, and we told stories. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:49.839 I mean, we've been we've been knowing and loving these people for over 15 years. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.920 And we ate more and we laughed more and we drank more. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.480 And that wonderful thing that ha happens it happens every once in a while. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.759 It only happens at the best of meals, like the best of feasts. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:05.200 And maybe you've had it happen. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:08.000 It doesn't have to happen at a fancy schmancy steakhouse. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.240 It can happen at a backyard cookout. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:20.720 I once had it happen, I was at Long John Silver's chicken plate meal, which is legit, by the way. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.000 That's a legit meal. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.240 With a dear friend of mine. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:26.720 Man, that was a great, it was an early dinner. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:28.319 I can still remember it. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:36.720 In the presence of people who love you, your insecurities and guilt stop. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:40.079 That's powerful. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.359 Your worries and your shame. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.640 They cease in the presence of that kind of joy. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:55.119 And the thing that I love the most inside of that kind of love, that's just the taste here, right? 00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:58.480 Is you lose track of time. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.640 Don't you love that when that happens? 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.200 Right? 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:02.720 You've been to Chili's. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:09.440 And you got the awesome blossom, the baby back ribs, you're eating the molten chocolate cake. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:15.440 You get a second glass of wine, you're there for a while. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.480 You're talking with your friends. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.960 And then all of a sudden you go, oh, man, where did the time go? 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.440 We've been sitting here for three hours. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.640 Because you're in a feast of delight. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:38.160 See, revelation is, John's giving this to us. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:49.200 Just begin to imagine what it might be like to be void of sin and injustice and pain and hurt, all that to be restored and renewed for all the questions inside of us that plague us. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:49.839 Am I enough? 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:50.559 Am I forgiven? 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.079 Will this be okay? 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:53.680 All those to be settled? 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.240 And we're at peace, and we're whole. 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:00.240 That's rock solid to hope in. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:02.559 And that's a feast. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:04.880 That you will be welcomed. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:06.480 In Christ you will be welcomed. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:08.319 No riddle at the gate. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.160 You will be whole, and you will be at peace. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:21.440 And you're going to be caught up in a party of grace and a party of welcome and joy and newness like never before. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.160 And you will feast. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:27.519 That is something rock solid for us to hope in. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.880 Let's pray together. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:48.319 God, thank you for this great imagery for us to even begin to think about how great that day will be when we're actually called home out of a world that makes great promises but doesn't always deliver out of a world where we get tastes of heaven, but they're only tastes. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:59.680 Out of a world that has so much beauty, and yet it's just a glimpse of how perfect we will one day experience beauty. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:10.480 Help our hearts to connect even more in the hope of heaven as to grow today in joy and to grow today in hope. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:17.440 For so many of us this morning, we have some struggle, some weariness, some hurt, some tribulation. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:39.440 And in the midst of that, as to take the next step, take the next breath, help our hearts know that there is a day, there is a day when all things will be renewed, all things will be restored, and it will be like a feast of delight. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:43.680 In Christ's name, we look forward. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:46.000 We look forward to that day. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.440 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:48.319 Amen.