The Church Will Win

[0:00] My name is Alan, as Ellie just said. I'm one of the pastors here at One Arbor Church. Thank you so much for being here. It's just a great honor that you chose to be with us this day, especially with the weather and everything, so thank you so much.

[0:12] We are working through the Advent series, which we do every December. Me personally, I didn't grow up knowing about Advent. Maybe you did or didn't. However, I've really come to love and appreciate it so much.

[0:27] When I was younger, all I can remember was the little calendars, and you pop the little box and get a little chocolate. Can't get a thing, but it's obviously so much more than that. If you don't know about it, what we talk about may even seem a little strange considering the lead-up to traditional Christmas services.

[0:45] Advent is the start of the traditional church calendar. Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, all follow as they follow chronologically Jesus' life.

[0:58] By definition, Advent means coming, and that separates it from the other events because it's a looking forward to the return of Jesus. Christians have always believed Jesus' promise to return in glory to just the living and the dead, and Advent is when we consider that.

[1:17] So this year, we will be looking at what will happen when Jesus returns by reflecting on some passages in the book of Revelation. But if you don't know what Advent is about, that will seem strange.

[1:29] However, many of the songs we sing at Christmas don't just celebrate Jesus coming once, but reorient our hearts toward his return. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

[1:50] It's one of my absolute favorite songs, Oh Holy Night. Yeah. On your knees. That's right. Has all the hope been fulfilled? No.

[2:02] Is the world still weary? Absolutely. Do we not long still for resolve and renewal, for a new and glorious morn? Absolutely, I do.

[2:13] So why use the book of Revelation for Advent? The book is a revealing of Jesus, the church and the end of all things. In fact, that's what apocalyptic means.

[2:24] It means revealing, not end of the world. However, the end of the world is one of the things it reveals because the book of Revelation is hard to understand. It is neglected.

[2:36] But if we want to know about what we should look forward to when Christ returns, Revelation is one of the best places to look. During the Christmas season, we do want to consider who Jesus is, but also remind our weary hearts that he is coming again.

[2:51] But what will happen when he comes back? There's three things we're going to see. The world will be judged. We looked at that last week. Thank God I was in kids' ministry and missed that. The church will win, and all things will be made new.

[3:06] Raise your hand if you were here last week. Awesome. You came back. This is week two. The church will win. I praise God.

[3:17] A little bit happier. Normally, when Jesse asks me to preach, it's on a difficult situation. Like the first time I ever preached here in Havelock, it was on the Antichrist. I was like, seriously, Jesse? I was like, really? And then I've had to preach on divorce and all these wonderful subjects that we love to talk about from the pulpit.

[3:32] But I finally get a good one. So thank you, Jesse, from afar. Jesus has already won. The revealing is that we, you and I, we win too.

[3:46] We are going to look at a few of the passages that show us this. But first, I want to start with where we left off last week. And like I said, what a doozy. Revelation 19, 1 through 9.

[3:57] It should be up on the screen behind me. After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven and crying out, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God.

[4:08] For his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up forever and ever.

[4:23] And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.

[4:39] Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of many peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

[4:51] Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And his bride, that's us, the church, has made herself ready.

[5:02] It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, Write this, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

[5:16] And he said to me, These are the true words of God. Let us pray. God, we're just so thankful for this opportunity to come together during this holiday season, this Christmas time where we get to remember the birth, which is where our hope began.

[5:31] I pray that we would never forget that, God, that you were the ultimate gift. God, I pray as we go along during these times, we exchange gifts and we remember, you know, dealing with our families and good and bad and ugly and all those kind of things.

[5:47] We, first of all, thank you for who you are, for what you've done in our lives. And where we're going to go because of you. We ask all these things in your name we pray. Amen. Last week was a lot of really heavy stuff.

[6:01] But bad news helps good news shine much brighter. Like how much brighter does the sun appear after a storm? The same is true here when we first look at judgment, and now we look at victory.

[6:15] However, this passage and others like it reveal something else. We win. As I said, there's debate about the metaphors, but also the timeline. Way smarter people than anyone in the room, including myself, have debated over this for centuries.

[6:30] And at the end of the day, we really will not know the answers to some of these mysteries until we meet Jesus. Are these events past, present, or future? And without getting into that right now, we can say that even if these realities are in some sense already true, they will become more vivid when Jesus returns.

[6:49] This is kind of like a tension that we live in today. The already has happened and the not yet. What this passage shows us is that the church will win when Jesus returns.

[7:02] That is the crux of our hope for eternity. Jesus won the war, and we reap the victory and all of its rewards. This passage also gives us a glimpse of what eternity will look like when Jesus returns.

[7:15] Well, Alan, you must be getting your news from the Sci-Fi channel. Because if you look at social media or any reputable news source, it's obvious that it's really bad out there, and the church is not winning.

[7:28] And that's one of the things that we look at during this time of waiting, that in the season of waiting, the church often looks like it is losing. If you watch the news, listen to podcasts, especially in Christian circles, you'll pick up on a lot of panic with Christians.

[7:44] I'm not trying to pick on any particular organization, but that is exactly what you will see and hear. The church is being persecuted around the world, and it is getting worse day by day, even here in America.

[7:56] It's not false news, but what it's doing is causing our perspective to shift away from the hope of Jesus' return and our subsequent victory. Being a successful Christian has a lot to do with perspective.

[8:09] Are we going to have a ground-level perspective where we're down in the weeds and all we can see is what we can see, or are we going to be like Christ and have the perspective of God? That's hard to do. Especially when we're walking through a difficult season.

[8:22] We seem to be on the losing end of cultural wars. We are portrayed as being superstitious, fear and hate mongers, hypocrites, ignorant, et cetera, et cetera.

[8:33] It seems secularization is a rising tide that won't quit, and we are about to drown and be a thing of the past. This specifically manifests itself in politics, which really scares us.

[8:48] We want different people in charge and different policies in place. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's good. But something about it can be when we become so captivated by it that we miss what is the main thing.

[9:01] We can even subconsciously begin to hope in those victories, and we can embrace hatred towards those who have different political opinions. Forget loving our enemies.

[9:14] We hate Americans with other opinions. Right? We can imagine if we had all the policies we wanted and the people in power all agreed with us on what our nation should be like.

[9:25] Many of us might say, well, that'd be heaven on earth. That's putting too much hope and trust into something that will let us down. Yes, our wonderful nation will let us down.

[9:38] However, even if that's not really true, and even if it were, here's a reality check for us. We'd all still die. And dying is the ultimate loss.

[9:52] You can't lose more than by dying, especially from the world's perspective. In fact, Jesus' disciples, these guys walked with this man, this God, for three years.

[10:04] And on the road back to Emmaus in Luke 24, they had to reckon with this death. Jesus had just been crucified. They are all scared for their lives.

[10:16] They don't know what to think. He died. Therefore, in their minds, he must have lost. In their minds, they had to be thinking they were dead men. Thinking, why did I leave my job and follow him?

[10:29] I can see Peter saying right now, I could have kept my fishing business. We embrace this mentality all the time when we don't get our way or when we hear of Christians being literally killed for their faith.

[10:42] Lost again. We keep losing. We may even need to fight dirty to win. Well, my friends, this kind of losing has kind of been happening for a long time, at least for the last 2,000 years around the rest of the world.

[10:57] And what did Jesus have to say about it? On the night he was arrested, Peter breaks out a sword and slices off a guy's ear.

[11:08] Jesus tells him to do what? Put down your sword. And then heals this guy's ear. He willingly allowed himself to be hauled off to be murdered.

[11:21] Was that a misstep? Was that a mistake? Was that a loss? It was precisely so he could win. And then in a world that picks up swords, Jesus who dies invites his followers to follow him by daily picking up their crosses.

[11:37] Man, that sounds awesome. Lay down your life and follow me. That is the exact opposite of pick up your sword and get your way. To be fair, even when you know the gospel, even when you love the gospel, even when you embrace the gospel, this is a hard truth to swallow.

[11:57] I do not like losing and this feels like losing. Even the Christians, dying looks like losing. So hard to accept, isn't it? Well, it would be much harder to swallow if we didn't have Revelation.

[12:10] When preparing for this sermon, I thought to myself that I oftentimes avoid or skim over books of the Bible like Revelation or Daniel or the Thessalonians because they are filled with metaphors, complicated imagery, and mysteries.

[12:24] Why do I do that? Why do we do that? If they help, if they truly help shift our perspective to the future and the victory we will receive, which should increase our hope and cause us to live a bolder gospel-centered lifestyle, isn't that a good thing?

[12:39] Do you think the enemy could be influencing us not to want to dig deeper? Remember, when we're tempted to think we're a minority that will be snuffed out, we can peer into the future and find out exactly what will happen.

[12:55] Revelation reveals the ones on bottom will come out on top. A lot of attention is given to martyrs in Revelation, which is appropriate because in the eyes of the world they are the biggest losers.

[13:07] They died. It cost them everything to believe this. But look at what Revelation says about them. In 7, 9 through 17, it says, After this I looked and behold, step back, take a look at the big picture.

[13:20] 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 Lamb 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.

[13:38] 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 worshiped God saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.

[13:54] Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, Who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know? And he said to me, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

[14:07] They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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.

[14:20] They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. 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 springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[14:35] This radiant multitude before the throne of God seem like a bunch of losers, don't they? Sufferers, martyrs, losers on earth but winners in heaven.

[14:49] Towards the end in Revelation 20 we read of martyrs reigning with Jesus. The climax of Revelation is not the enthronement of the Lamb. That is the premise of Revelation.

[15:00] John witnessed the Lamb's ascent to heaven early in the book. Revelation is not directly about the coming of Jesus' kingship. It is about the coming of the kingship of his followers, the martyrs, those who follow his path of tribulation that leads to glory.

[15:17] We, especially Americans, have the will to fight for our rights and even lay our life down for the rights of others, other countries. How noble a task is that to fight for the liberation of others?

[15:33] Give me liberty or give me death. To lay down our wants and desires just goes against who we are. This is just not how our world works, so it's hard to imagine heaven being like this, but Revelation shows it again and again.

[15:50] Even if you lose your life in this life, for his sake, you will win. A famous American missionary to Central and South American native people groups once said, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

[16:07] This guy was even speared to death by the people groups he was trying to reach. Is he a loser? No. This perspective only works if you and I fully get the gospel, if we fully embrace this, if we fully believe scripture is correct when Jesus returns.

[16:26] If not, we will continue to doubt, question, and fall to the same lie Adam and Eve fell to. Does God really love me? Now, that kind of makes sense.

[16:40] It feels right to honor martyrs, right? I mean, these people are incredibly courageous. You know, William Wallace types, Braveheart. But many of us aren't martyrs.

[16:51] So, what about everyone else? Well, good news. Revelation 11, 15 through 18 says, Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

[17:08] And the 24 elders who sit on the thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

[17:21] The nations raised, but your wrath came. And the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.

[17:37] Who's rewarding here? Who's getting the reward? Servants, prophets, and saints, small and great. Revelation also reveals that the whole church wins.

[17:50] It's not just the martyrs, it's everyone who fears him, small and great. This is another thing that needs to be said because, especially here in the south, we tend to put pastors and, you know, Christian authors and other influencers on pedestals.

[18:07] We seem to think that the small people will probably be eating happy meals and the great people will be eating prime rib and lobster in heaven. That's just not the case.

[18:18] In fact, as far as we can see, if there's a distinguishing, it's people who laid down their life for their beliefs, people we don't even know or think of. When we say the church will win, I bet most of you think of someone else or something else.

[18:34] But it's talking about you. It's talking about me. You may be thinking to yourself, well, I certainly don't deserve to win. Guess what? You're absolutely correct.

[18:45] Neither you nor I deserve victory. No, we deserve judgment. We deserve what was discussed last week. But that is not Jesus' plan. You are the church and you will win.

[18:59] You will be rewarded. Jesus did the impossible work, but you get the victory. Maybe no verse gets at this miraculous irony better than this one. Romans 16, 20 says, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

[19:16] It doesn't say will soon crush Satan under his feet. Your feet, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. So the church will win at some point, but what will that be like?

[19:28] Something about visualizing the finish line is powerful. Revelation doesn't just tell us we win. It reveals what winning will be like. What I do not want for you today when you leave here is to believe that there will be clouds and harps and maybe a halo involved.

[19:45] No. In each of these passages we get a glimpse. We look at Revelation 7, 7 through 9 says, after this I looked 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 Lamb.

[20:02] We will see the church is bigger than we have ever imagined. The church isn't limited to what we can see now at local level like here on a Sunday morning.

[20:12] It's not limited to what we are doing right here and during the week at community groups. Now it's much bigger than this. You may remember several times where we have prayed for other churches around the world that we partner with.

[20:25] That is exactly why we do that. We see the church as a global entity, a whole planet bride and it does you and me good to get a glimpse of what Revelation is talking about here and now.

[20:38] Not just when Jesus returns but right now. I hope those moments when we pray for other churches will encourage you to change your perspective and look forward to the day when we will all be together.

[20:51] It's global all over the world from every nation, tribe and language. That will be a sight to behold. Every single color and language I think that will blow our minds.

[21:02] We don't have a clue but wait we got more. It's not just global it's historic. Every single follower of Jesus from all of history will be there. A multitude that no one could number will be revealed.

[21:18] What else is revealed as we peer into what it will be like? Revelation 7-9 says we're going to be clothed in white robes. Revelation 19-7-8 says let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride us has made herself ready.

[21:35] It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. There's a lot of talk in this passage about clothing.

[21:46] White robes bright and pure. What does this get at? Even in this life we are easily defined by what we wear. Maybe even obsessed over this image.

[21:59] Even maybe subconsciously we are trying to project some kind of image. I have no idea what I'm trying to project. Who knows? However, clothing can be much more definitive than that.

[22:14] Think about when someone becomes incarcerated. The clothes they are given is meant to identify them as a prisoner. It is meant to stand out from the norm. And then back in the day scarlet letter that was used to mark shame.

[22:28] When we see that we will all be wearing bright and pure it means our righteous deeds will be the only thing we remember. What a powerful picture.

[22:41] On your wedding day to the perfect one love himself Jesus Christ all that's on display is the things that you've done that are worthy of him. That is certainly not how we see ourselves.

[22:54] How many of us have been to weddings and thought to ourselves that's a good one that girl she does not need to be wearing white. She should be wearing brown. I mean come on.

[23:06] We are really good at pointing out others and their faults but when you're really honest with yourself about your sin do you and I really think we deserve to be wearing something bright and pure?

[23:18] You know maybe you think well maybe a beige mother of pearl you know. Okay a light tan. Alright. others of us who live in the real world not even close.

[23:32] I'm closer to filth and dirt. The fact is that we don't deserve it. We don't deserve to even be there let alone be dressed up like people without any sin.

[23:44] But that's another part of the winning. Jesus won and he has made it so that all that will be remembered is what we've done well in his eyes. Can you even imagine being in a world where you have nothing to hide and not in the modern sense but because there's nothing to be ashamed of?

[24:04] Well what will we do? We will enjoy peace and prosperity forever. Back to Revelation 7 16 and 17 they shall hunger no more neither thirst no more 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 springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[24:26] Jesus will be our only shepherd. No more abuse, no more lack, no more suffering. We will be cared for perfectly forever by love himself.

[24:37] We cling rightly to Psalm 23 in hard moments like funerals and sickness because God is with us now. But one day only green pastures and still waters.

[24:51] One day there will be no more sad days. We will win forever. Okay, so the whole church will win, but what do we do now?

[25:02] Revelation doesn't just tell us we will win, it calls us to live in light of that now. We use this analogy when we were working through 1 Peter, hope in exile, in the world but not of the world.

[25:19] What if you found out today you won the mega lottery? I don't even know how many, 300 and some million dollars, I have no idea. Your check is coming, matter of days and you never won again.

[25:35] Think about that. that would undoubtedly change the way you live today. Well, if revelation is to be believed, we have won the mega lottery.

[25:49] In a matter of days, we will never want for anything again. So how should we live now if that's what's coming? Revelation 14, 12 says, here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus Christ.

[26:06] One of our most important jobs is to endure and persevere. Until then, patiently endure hardships. See this life as an endurance race and settle in for it to be hard.

[26:21] Know that one day it will be over, but most days will feel like losing. Hebrews 10, 36 says, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

[26:34] How can we endure that? I mean, this life is full of hardship and cruelty. Some days it feels hard to put one foot in front of the other or even get out of bed. In Revelation 12 we get a powerful picture of that endurance.

[26:49] Verse 9 it says, and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

[27:02] And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God.

[27:15] And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. We are accused day and night by Satan, but we will conquer.

[27:26] Here we see a few things that really help in this matter. The blood of the lamb, that's the gospel. We endure by remembering and holding fast to the gospel. John 1 29 says, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

[27:48] Our enduring is greatly helped when we remember how little power Satan actually has over us anymore. His stinger has been removed. I remember about 24, 25 years ago I was surfing at Shagford Banks with my uncle and cousins at the time.

[28:04] It was just an absolutely beautiful day and we hadn't been there like 10 minutes and I called a wave and rode it in, kicked out and landed in about waist deep water and I took one step and stepped on the stingray.

[28:16] And it landed, stuck his bar right in the top of my right foot and it was like an immediate bolt of lightning, what it felt like going up my leg. I didn't know at the time but it severed the nerve on the top of my foot.

[28:30] And then I calmly paddled back out to my uncle and I was like, I just got stung by a stingray, blood running down my leg and everything and it was like I could feel this burning sensation like my foot was on fire and it was working its way up my leg and it was absolutely the worst pain in the history of my life.

[28:47] There's nothing that even compares to it. Obviously I'm okay now and all that but I just thought about, you know, my family and I went on vacation back in October and we went to a little touch pool and there was stingrays and stuff in there and they're like, yeah, just touch them.

[29:05] They just come by and they touch you and every time I come to those I think about getting stung but now their barbs have been removed and they're helpless. Same kind of thing. Satan's barb has been removed.

[29:15] His stinger has been removed. He's helpless. So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this, I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it?

[29:27] For I know one who has suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where he is, there I shall be also. He knows all.

[29:39] He's forgiven all. Will one day throw the devil down. The word of their testimony, that's the gospel's work in our life. We endure by embracing and telling our stories of receiving mercy.

[29:51] According to this, telling your story of mercy has supernatural power. Something about speaking out loud how God has redeemed you doesn't sound very special, but it's actually sacred.

[30:01] I remember the first time Shelly and I led a community group. I don't know why we did this, but I didn't know these people very well. There was probably 10, 12, 14 adults in the room, and I said the first time we met, I was like, okay, we're going to take the next 10 weeks, nine weeks, and each couple is going to share their life story.

[30:20] The good, the bad, and the ugly. We're going to just open our closet doors, we're just going to be who we are, and it's not going to be easy, but it's going to be worth it. and so Shelly and I started, told our stories, and then each week another couple shared their story, and it was hard, there was a lot of tears, but I'm going to tell you what, there was something powerful that clicked with that group that we're still close today.

[30:45] That was 10, 11 years ago. We still keep up with each other, we're going to different sites here or there, some of us have moved away, but we still keep up with each other. We realize we're all jacked up.

[30:57] When we take off our mask and we're real, we're all jacked up, but we're saved by grace. We're saved by Jesus Christ. Share your story.

[31:08] It's a good thing. It gives people hope. It's sacred to proclaim the redeeming work of a holy God in our life. This is one of the ways we endure to the end.

[31:19] Don't hide our stories, but we tell others boldly about what Jesus has done for us. One last piece here that's essential if we're going to endure.

[31:30] Revelation 12, 11, it says, for they loved not their lives even unto death. We endure by not loving our lives even unto death. So much of our modern life is around preserving our identity.

[31:43] We have become careful curators of our image. What people think about us holds the power of life and death over us. We obsess over every little piece and we have more control than ever.

[31:54] But this is not the way to live in light of the lottery we've won. Matthew 10, 39 says, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

[32:06] We aren't to find our identity in this life, but in the next. And that frees us to not love this life like it's the only life.

[32:18] that frees us to rather spend our energy loving others, even enemies. Like the measure to which you remember the lottery is the measure to which you'd be kind to a beggar on the street.

[32:31] You can tell how much you believe what's coming based on how you treat people around you, even those that frustrate you. We really need to see this. If you're here today and not yet a follower of Jesus, every person who fears his name will win.

[32:50] What does that mean? Jesus said it's like this when teaching on what or who to be afraid of. Matthew 10 28 says, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

[33:03] Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Picking up on that, we see this message for all who dwell on earth. Revelation 14 says, then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth to every nation and tribe and language and people and he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth.

[33:33] There is coming judgment but the church will win and we are to fear God. The judgment is real but the invitation is to hear good news.

[33:44] come and be a part of his church. Be a part of his bride. Come and have all of your sins forgiven. If you're here and already a follower of Jesus as the band comes up, you're going to go out these doors into a world full of news and distraction and you and I will be tempted to be whisked away into worry.

[34:07] My friends, let's remember today that we will win even though it may feel like we are losing right now. Let's remember today that those on the bottom in the world's eyes will be on top in God's forever kingdom.

[34:21] Let's remember that one day we will be blown away by an innumerable multitude of fellow saints that we will wear a forever garment we haven't deserved for one moment and that it will never end and we will be perfectly cared for and loved for all of eternity.

[34:38] and let's let that remembering do something for us. Let's go out these doors geared up to patiently endure because we've been forgiven telling our stories of mercy and knowing we have a life that's coming which means we can hold loosely to this one.

[34:58] Let's take a moment to reflect and if it needs to be taken care of take care of business with God ask for him to forgive you. He is faithful to forgive. Take a moment.

[35:10] Be real. Do business with God and we'll continue on in just a second. Dear God we are thankful.

[35:31] God we are thankful for the ultimate gift. The fact that you came to earth to write a check that we could never want to write you paid a way for us to have eternal hope.

[35:43] God I pray that if there's people here listening or here with us today God that they would heed your call to come and bow their knee and ask for forgiveness and ask you to be Lord and Savior so that one day when you do come back we can be together for all eternity.

[36:01] There will be no more suffering. There will be no more pain. There will be no more hate. God I pray that you would give us endurance and patience to live a life of the fact that we have won the ultimate lottery.

[36:22] God I pray that we would be bold in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone and everyone that would listen even if they don't want to listen. God help us to be faithful in planting those seeds in people's lives God.

[36:38] We're thankful for this time we get to come together as families and loved ones and just having a great time of celebration but God I pray that we would never forget that you are the ultimate gift.

[36:51] We're thankful for all these things God in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. . .

[37:02] . . . .

[37:14] . . . .