Why We Were Created

terrorist attack and again delete the Ox what we never made fun times ladies and gentlemen whether you like it or not rate of hiv/aids u.s. capital I have than any other scenario G as it tsunami in essence of the early enroll doesn't mean anything anymore spit Robicheaux tear microchips implanted the starving in Somalia already knew it it's difficult to imagine precisely how this thing will not invest itself no one had expected that something like this was let's pray together now father we want to pray for harvest America on August 26 that you will pour out your spirit as the gospel goes out across our country and that you'll bless the Crusades this year at Anaheim and also at Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium so bless these events and now as we take a look at heavenly things help us Lord to clear our minds and open our hearts and pay attention to what your word says because we're going to see some things here that are super significant things that really are life-altering if applied so we commit this time a Bible study to you now speak to us from your word we would pray in Jesus name Amen well the title of the message is why we were created I heard the story of an older man that was talking to a young student and asking about his future and he said well son tell me what you plan on doing after you graduate from law school and the young man said well I hope to get a good job with a firm I'd like to make some money the older man says well that sounds good then what well I'd like to be in a nice girl and get married and I have a family right sounds good then what well I hope we'd find ourselves a nice home and have some children together and have a strong family in the man said okay good then what well after that perhaps make a little more money and get a second home and and take vacations with my family and enjoy that time together okay then what well then I would like to maybe get enter into retirement and be able to live comfortably and and you know and hopefully my help will be good all right then what well then I guess I would eventually pass on my wealth to my children and hope they could live as well as I lived well then what well then I guess I died and then man said and then what see we're going to think of the big picture because life on Earth is like a dress rehearsal for eternity we tend to think about life here as it's everything but this is part of it but really it continues on because we have a living soul that lives on and so really the question is then what well then there is the afterlife and I think if we have a better understanding of the afterlife it will help us to know what we should do with the before life see that's all we're in now we're in the before life then comes the afterlife so I have to ask myself the question what am i living for what is my objective in life what goal should I have what what am i aiming for it's important to think about that because as it has been said if you aim at nothing you're bound to hit it well the answer to those questions why am I here in this earth why do I exist why was I created are disclosed in Revelation chapter 5 now what we're going to find together may surprise some it certainly goes against conventional wisdom what is the meaning of our life I don't know if you have an iPhone but they have this new feature now called Suri how many of you have heard of Suri well basically you press a little button and you can ask Suri for directions or you can ask Suri for a good restaurant in the area or you can even just ask Suri philosophical questions so I pulled out my iPhone the other day and press a button and I said Suri what is the meaning of life now Suri whoever programs this voice they're quite clever and they have multiple answers and every time you ask her she'll give you a different answer so one answer was what is the meaning of life Suri said I can't answer that right now but I need a long time to write a play in which nothing happens okay so you ask again what is the meaning of line Surrey says all evidence to date points to chocolate so you press it again Surrey what is the meaning of light and Surrey says I don't know but I think there's an app for that and then one other time I pressed it sorry what is the meaning of life and Surrey said I'm surprised you would ask that question of an inanimate object I thought yeah that's true it's kind of funny though really what is the meaning of life I mean in some ways Suri's guess is as good as anyone's I suppose why are we here well a poll was taken among Americans and they were asked what is the purpose of life and over 50% of them said the main purpose of life is enjoyment and personal fulfillment so that's why we're here sixty-one percent of Americans saying the main purpose of life is enjoyment and personal fulfillment so is that true now Christians were polled and they were asked that same question and 50% that's not much less than this said the purpose of life is enjoyment and self satisfaction now I don't expect non-believers to know what the purpose of life is but I do expect Christians to and if a Christian if you or I think that the main purpose of life is enjoyment and self-satisfaction and I am certainly not reading the Bible Bible carefully enough so we're going to find out what the real purpose of life is but before we do let's sort of get the backdrop as to where we are at this point in the book of Revelation we've entered the next dimension remember that the Lord has spoken to John and the island of Patmos and he's given him a journey through the seven churches starting with Ephesus and culminating with Laodicea but suddenly John is caught up he's taken to another dimension the eternal dimension the heavenly dimension and now he is in heaven so in Revelation chapter 4 John is trying to describe in human language what he is seen in heaven and as you recall and verses two to three of chapter four he saw the Lord seated on his throne and around the throne of God was an emerald rainbow number two he saw 24 elders verse 4 we don't know exactly who these elders are some think they may be 12 patriarchs of the Old Testament 12 apostles from the knew others think that they may be 12 highly rewarded believers that are in places of influence we don't know but even one view is that they're angels I tend to doubt that I think there are people not angels number 3 in heaven John sees ominous storm warnings because from the throne of Gras God lightning and thunder are emanating because trouble is coming to Planet Earth and by the way next Sunday we're getting into a very significant section of Revelation we come to chapter 6 chapter 6 is like the flyover of the whole book chapter 6 is the big picture chapter 6 is when we find the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so I think it's maybe the most important chapter in the entire book of Revelation in that it sort of pulls back and gives you the whole story at once and then we come back in for a closer view and the remainder of the book and find out detailed information as to what is to come so that's next time so all of these things are happening and also this is taking place he sees angels chapter 4 of Revelation verse 8 the four living creatures each had six wings were full of eyes around him with them they did not rest day or night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was who is and who has to come and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him that sits on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 elders fall down before him that sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever and they cast their crowns before the throne saying you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created now it's hard for us to wrap our mind what we are reading right now but one thing is clear and all of the book of Revelation and that is there are angels everywhere a revelation is full of angelic creatures in fact there are 71 references to angels in this book more than any other book of the Bible and that's because this book is taking us to the next dimension as I said before there are angels all around us right now we just can't see them because they're in the next dimension but they're present because our dimension in the next dimension or the physical in the spiritual world coexist and as I pointed out in our last message the third heaven may be closer than we think as well but in the supernatural realm we have angels and we also have demons and there's rankings of angels in demons you may recall that in Ephesians 6 Paul talks about principalities and powers in spiritual might in high places there are rankings in the demon kingdom why because demons are fallen angels so does that mean that there are like general angels and sergeant angels and infantry angels I suppose so that might be one way of looking at it but there are certainly some angels that are more powerful than others well what is true in the realm of darkness is obviously true in the angels of God as well back in 1st Peter 3:20 two weary crises gone into heaven he's at God's right hand with angels authorities and powers different rankings there angels authorities and powers now the Bible only gives us the names of two angels all footnote all angels are male not female sorry there are no chick angels now I know we always think of angel in the feminine form oh she sings like an angel she's as pretty as an angel well you can say that if you like but all angels and their appearances come in the masculine not the feminine form so that's one misconception we have about them angels are not people by the way not that sometimes we say well they died another an angel no they aren't there you don't become an angel an angel is a created being you see so these angels of God are doing his work but two of them have names and they are Michael and they are Gabriel if you want to include Lucifer who once was a high-ranking angel that rebelled against God then there are three that have names but two the first and probably the most important of all the angels is Michael because he's called the archangel that word Archangel occurs or twice in the New Testament and in both instances it is used in the singular and is preceded by the definite article vah as in the arc angel so he is the highest-ranking of all of the angels he makes many appearances in both the old and the New Testament one of the unique roles of Michael the Archangel is he's going to be involved in the rapture of the church for 1st Thessalonians 4 says that the Lord will come from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and that it in Christ will rise first another angel that is named of course is Gabriel I don't know if he's an archangel the Bible doesn't say but certainly he is a high ranking powerful angelic being you remember that it was Gabriel that appeared to the prophet Daniel and revealed the future to him Gabriel had the privilege of coming to Zechariah Intel telling him that he was going to have a son who he was to name John and that would be of course a direct forerunner of our Lord John the Baptist but their most significant role that Gabriel had was to come to Mary and tell her that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah do you think there would have been a lot of volunteers for that assignment if it was offered to the Angels okay I have a job who wants to do it well what is it announce the Messiah's coming mimimi you know probably wasn't that way but don't forget I used to be a cartoonist before as a preacher so so Gabriel is given this great privilege to reveal to Mary that she's going to be the mother of Jesus and then the Bible also speaks of the cherubim and the Seraphim are there mentioned many times in Scripture I interestingly God sent the cherubim to guard the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit Genesis 3:24 says God drove the man out and he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life so there are those cherubim and then there are the Seraphim Isaiah 6 talks about when King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a stone he was high and lifted up and his glory filled the temple then we read above it stood Seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his faith faced with two he covered his feet with two he flew and one cried to another and they said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is filled with his glory so this is reminiscent of what we're reading about right now so here we are in heaven the angels are there and all of their awesomeness and the twenty-four elders are there and the elders reveal what we're talking about they reveal why we are on this earth to begin with verse 11 you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created everything and you might underline this it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created so back to the original question why do I exist short answer I exist to bring God glory and pleasure let me repeat that I exist to bring God glory and pleasure let's read this together I exist to bring God glory and pleasure that's why I'm here now here's the question is that how you're living are you living to bring God glory and pleasure many are living to bring themselves glory and pleasure but here's the problem if you live for pleasure you'll never find it 1st Timothy 5 6 says she that lives her pleasure is dead while she is living talk - the matter is living for pleasure is one of the least pleasurable things that a man can do it's been said the best cure for hedonism is an attempt to practice it I read recently in the paper and article about Freddie Mercury he was the lead singer of the band Queen I didn't realize this but Queen has sold over a hundred and fifty million records some estimates are as high as 300 million so Queen was awash and cash and fame and fortune and pretty much could write his own ticket Freddie Mercury lived for pleasure Elton John one of his friends said Freddie Mercury was the only person he knew who could out party him he said his appetites were unquenchable and mercury was quoted as saying excesses of excess as a part of my nature to me dullness is a disease I need danger and excitement straight people bore me stiff I love freaky people end quote and he did not deny himself anything and I'm not going to go into the things that this article said he was involved in but suffice it to say he pretty much did everything a person could do he did not deny himself anything sexually or materially and it didn't turn out for him well and it never does I because in his attempt to be a star by his own admission he had created a monster mercury said quote the monster is me success Fame money sex drugs whatever you want I can have it and now I'm beginning to see it as much as I created I want to escape from it and I'm starting to worry that I can't control it as much as it controls me end quote well the monster one mercury died from complications due to AIDS in 1991 at age 45 it's interesting this phrase that he uses in this quote about the monster about the monster controlling him because God said to Cain as he saw problems developing in the book of Genesis sin is lying at your door like a crouching beast its desire is for you and you should rule over it so that's the perfect description of sin it's like a crouching beast ready to strike ready to pounce and if you don't control it it's going to control you well he was controlled by this monster and many are many just live for themselves they want to rule their own private universe they are the main character in the novel about their life they're the star of the movie but then things happen in life that don't make sense like suffering and pain randy Alcorn writes and I quote if we come to see that the purpose of the universe is God's long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness we will undergo a critical paradigm shift and tackling the problem of suffering think about this the purpose of the universe God's long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness see sometimes even we Christians think it's well we don't live for pleasure or happiness but we want to have a happy life we want to have a problem-free life and then conflict comes pain knocks on our door it won't go away and it moves in and takes residence and it doesn't make sense and suddenly our idyllic world our happy world is shattered here's a perfect example Thomas Kincade who I met when we did our crusade and up in that area of the Bay Area and Thomas Kincade was known as the painter of light it was a very nice man he was a very talented artist I think in many ways he didn't get the respect he really deserved maybe people were resentful of his incredible success I think I read an article that one out of every 25 homes in America has a Thomas Kincade painting and and if you've ever seen one of his paintings he would create these idyllic little scenes you know little cottages with light coming to the windows and and they were always very charming very homey very appealing kind of speaking of a perfect life a happy life a serene life but yet behind the scenes Thomas Kent a Kincaid was struggling with alcohol and he was busted for a DUI and had all kinds of problems and and then he died really from complications due to the lifestyle he had chosen so here was the veneer of happiness the pinna of life but behind that veneer was a very sad tormented man and he had a very unhappy ending and now the woman he was living with his mistress is fighting with his wife over his estate as to who is going to get the millions of dollars potentially so it's not quite the life he was hoping for I'm sure and we have our perfect little lies and we expect them to go in a certain way but they don't but listen here's the thing we need to remember the ultimate objective is the glory of God everything else is secondary I don't live to be happy I live to be holy I don't live to find fulfillment I live to bring God glory but here's the wonderful thing about that when I get my priorities in order I will find what I was looking for in a fact if I seek to be holy I believe I will be happy if I seek to bring glory to God I do believe ultimately I will find pleasure because the Bible says in his presence there is fullness of joy and on his right hand there are pleasures forever more I'm never going to find fulfilment by seeking it I'm going to find it by seeking God God aided us for his glory isaiah 43:7 everyone who has called by my name whom i created for my glory whom i formed and made the lord says Ephesians 1:11 says he chose us from the beginning that we should bring praise to our glorious God 1st Corinthians 6:9 don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit you've been bought with a price therefore glorify God with your body 1st Corinthians 10:31 whatever you do do it for the glory of God so are you living up to your purpose are you fulfilling the purpose that God created you for here's what it means it means that whatever you do do it for God's glory so if your business man do it for God's glory if you're a mother do it for God's glory if your athlete do it for God's glory if you're a musician again do it for God's glory if you're a preacher do it for God's glory whatever you do give him the glory because you recognize if there's any Talent if there's any ability it came from God and you offer it back as glory to God that's the way to live to bring him glory to bring him honor I should be able to write over any pursuit in my life hallowed be thy name and if you can do that I say to you go for it but if there's something you're involved in right now and you can't write hallowed be thy name over it then maybe that's something you should not be doing as a follower of Jesus Christ remember life is preparation for eternity this is the warm-up act I was made by God and for God and God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity and what is that well among other things there's going to be a whole lot of praising going on let's read some more revelation 5 verse 1 I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne is scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals and no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it so I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it but one of the elders said to me do not weep behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose it seven seals and I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as if it had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all of the earth then he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb each one having a heart so there are hearts in heaven and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sing a new song saying you are worthy O Lord to take the scroll and opens its seals for you were slain and you've redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and you've made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth and then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands we'll stop there so this is an amazing scene a mysterious scroll is produced with seven seals verse one a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals on that is largely meaningless to us today but to people in the first century it would be readily understood Berenice skull was a common and important practice in biblical times for instance the wills of Roman emperors this Bayesian its Caesar Augustus which secured was seven seals and the way it was done as a scribe would get a long roll of parchment you know back in those days they didn't have books like we have today and now we don't even have books anymore now we have ebooks right but they wrote everything on parchment by hand there were no printing presses so everything was done by the scribe and in the will of the emperor he would write for a bit of space and then he would roll the parchment enough to cover the words and they would seal it they would put wax there and seal it then they would open up a little more write a little more and seal that and stamp it and write a little more in seal that and stamp it so ultimately when it was done it had seven seals so to get through each section either have to open the seal read it open the next seal read it open the next seal and read it it was obviously a very important document and there was no unauthorized person was allowed to read it also at this time a Jewish family if it was required to forfeit its land and possessions their losses were listed on a scroll and it was sealed seven times and the directions and how to purchase a land back was written on the outside of the scroll so you would look at this goal and say all right here's how to get the land back and then you would open it up seal by seal to see what you must do okay now with that in mind let's come back to what we just read here is one with a scroll written inside and back sealed seven times so it's important it's in heaven it's a focus of attention what is it now I can't say with certainty but I do believe this scroll was the title deed of the earth let me explain when the devil tempted Adam and Eve to either the forbidden fruit a men lost his position that he had he was now separated from God by ascend we already pointed out how the cherubim guarded men from eating of the Tree of Life because God did not want man to live forever in this sinful state sin entered the world and the devil effectively took control of the world that is why he is referred to in Scripture as the god of this world the Prince of the principalities he's the one who's effectively running the show the Bible says the god of the world who has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe he has also referred to as the Prince of the power of the air he's the one behind the scenes pulling the strings he's the one who is behind the wickedness and the sinfulness around the planet today that's what Satan got it's his so Jesus came to purchase fak that which was lost in the garden and this is illustrated perfectly in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness you remember Satan came to him and and said why don't you turn a rock into a piece of bread Jesus refused that temptation and Satan said why don't you throw yourself off the top of the temple and the angels will catch you even quoting the scripture Jesus refused that but here's the temptation I want you to think about Satan showed Jesus all this kingdoms of the world and here's what he said to him he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and he said all this authority I will give to you and their glory for it has been delivered unto me and to whomever I wish now that's a profound statement the devil is saying this stuff is mine it's in my power it's under my control I can give it to whomever I want if this were not true Jesus would have said so he would have said devil you're wrong it's not yours you can't give it to whomever you wish no Jesus did not refute this daemon because it was effectively true though the devil is identified in Scripture as the father of lies sometimes he tells the truth and this is one of those times he is the god of this world so here's what the devil was saying Jesus I know why you're here I know what your objective is I know that you have come to buy back that which was lost in the garden so here I'm going to make you an offer you cannot refuse that was a really bad Godfather imitation I'll give it to you on a silver platter you can have it you wanted here it is all you have to do is worship me just get down on your knees and bow before me that's always what the devil wanted remember Lucifer the high ranking angel rebelled against God he said then Isaiah 14 I will be like God I will reign on high God says actually you're out of here trapdoor of heaven opens up and he's booted out he wanted the top job he wanted to be God so here's this chance all right Jesus give me the momentary satisfaction of worshiping me and I'll give it to you listen Jesus Satan this ain't no cross no pain no suffering no bearing the sin of the world it's yours a pain-free path and Jesus of course said it is written you shall worship the Lord God in him only show you serve Jesus is saying no way it's not going to happen I'm not going to do it your way I'm going to do it the way that I have to do it which is I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to die for the sin of the world and I'm going to purchase back what that which was lost in the garden that which was lost to the eating of the fruit from a tree is going to be purchased back at another tree the tree of Calvary where I will die for the sin of the world and that is what is being celebrated now in heaven Jesus the Lamb of God is coming to take that which was stolen from all of us because he's paid the price for this and he has already purchased it with his own blood when he said it is finished from the cross and so here's heaven verse 2 who's worthy to open the book there's a massive cosmic recruitment effort a heavenly Google search has done who can open this thing here's the scroll who can open it understand there's some heavy-hitters in heaven right there's a patriarchs there's Moses there's Abraham there's King David there's prophets like Isaiah Jeremiah Elijah there's apostles like Peter James Paul but yet no one's worthy no ones worthy no angel no man no woman no person is worthy but suddenly in answer verse five and one of the elders said don't weep behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has revealed to open the scroll and to loose it's seven seals in Jesus the Lamb of God appears heaven goes from weeping to worshiping and by the way sometimes it's said there are no tears in heaven what the scripture says as God will wipe away our tears you see there are tears in heaven because John was weeping he was weeping when he realized there was no one to take the scroll but once Christ emerges the Lion of the tribe of Judah as a lamb who had been slain it goes from weeping to worshiping in heaven breaks out into a praise service the elders lead the way they sort of okay let's worship Lord I don't know if the elders have like a praise band with guitars and drums and how everyone looks worship the Lord probably not but um you know a praise service erupts in heaven and this is just a good reminder that one of the main things we'll do in the oven is worship the Lord well bring honor and glory to him and isn't that just perfect because that is why we exist also I would just offer a sort of a sidebar what happens to our prayers verse 7 the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each having a harp golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the Saints God stores your prayers Bible tells us he keeps our tears in a bottle and he keeps our prayers in this massive bowl so there are times when we pray a prayer and it's answered boom then there are times we pray a prayer and it's not answered thus we conclude it will never be answered but will we see from this verse and others is God still has things he will do and maybe it won't be until we get to heaven that we will realize that unanswered prayer was in effect answered in a different way we'll see the long-term effect of life of the chain reactions of life of cause and effect it's so big we can't even wrap our minds around it but it's all going to bring glory to God it's interesting that Jesus is presented in Scripture as both the lion and the lamb the Lion of the tribe of Judah the lion who's called the king of the jungle and rightly so the only thing the lion has to fear is mankind but there's no beast that the lion fears it has ferocious power but then there's a lamp maybe you can have a greater contrast lion powerful creature lamb wheat creature really weak creature I might add a stupid creature Jesus likens himself to both now we get the lion yes you're the Lion of the tribe of Judah you're all powerful but what's with the lamb well Jesus wasn't stupid like a lamb see the reason the land does not protest when it's slaughtering it when it's being slaughtered is it's too dumb to know what's happening oh is this it now I guess it's not that bad you know third we're done not smart animals not the sharpest tool in the box for sure in contrast to the stupid lamb we have Jesus the willing lamb Jesus who humbled himself as a lamb it wasn't weakness it was meekness there's a difference weakness is the inability to do anything meekness is the ability to do something but choosing to not do it Jesus was the lion do you think Jesus had to stand before Pilate and put up with that nun hence he could have talked his way out of that easily he could have powered his way out of that easily when those Roman soldiers struck him in the face and ripped his beard from his face do you think he had to take that you don't think he couldn't have gotten out of that of course he could this is God in human form but yet Jesus meekly submitted himself to all of these things as a lamb before her Shearer's is dumb so he opened not his mouth the scripture said he didn't defend himself he didn't try to get out of it why because he knew there was no other way to purchase back that title deed the only way was at the cross he's as a lamb who has been slain that's how we see him in heaven interesting thing I would add also about this word lamb it is used here in Revelation it could be translated a little pet lamb and this reminds us that when the Jews were to slay a lamb for the Passover it was to be an animal that they had some connection to not just any lamb they were to pick an unblemished lamb a beautiful lamb and then they were to take it into their home for 4 days why so there would be an attachment to it so when that lamb was slain it would hurt just like if you had to slay your little dog now some people's little dogs no I'm not going to get into that but you know I love all animals but if you push your dog in a stroller stop please I'm tight I know none of you do that but it just if you know someone who does make them stop please it's driving me crazy I really can't take it but um you know people will treat to-the-point animals as members of the family right oh they'll get food for them in the restaurant you know and by the way you know people food is generally not very good for animals actually it's a good way to kill your animal sometimes feeding them the things we eat probably poisons us as well but um but you know people will become very attached to their pets you know they'll actually have photos taken with their pets I'm not against that but if your Christmas card is you and your dog you need to get out more okay just a thought but we become very attached to our dog sometimes even to our cats who knows why but um now that I've mocked cats as I must do in every sermon but to have to kill your pet would be heartbreaking so they took this little lamb into the home and I don't know if you've seen a baby lamb they're really very cute when we were in Israel we were playing with them and they just sort of sit there and you know and you hold them and they're you know they're adorable and they have to slit the throat of that lamb that hurt so why would God want them to have to do that so they would realize that sin is painful sin exacts a toll sin hurts because if it was an animal we didn't want if it was a ferocious animal that we wanted killed or or maybe a maimed animal we didn't value as much it's one thing but if it's an animal you prize then you get a sense of the loss of sin and so God has kind of given us a picture of what was they coming a much greater way he was going to send his own son to die for the sin of the world as John said he was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so when Jesus is announced heaven breaks out into a praise service and it said verse 9 you have redeemed us by your blood out of every nation a better translation of the word redeemed would be purchased this is the church universal praising God for all that he has done notice verse 13 it says there is praise from every creature in heaven and on the earth under the earth in the sea all that are in them every one same blessing and honor and glory and power beating him that sits on the throne into the lamp for ever and ever everywhere there's praise under the sea under the sea everybody is joining in and praising the Lord so why am I here on this earth I'm here to do this what I'm going to do later in heaven I'm supposed to be doing now so now we come to the invisible communion table it is actually not here but the elements will be here in just a moment and we thank God for what he has done and I want you to remember that when you get to heaven you're going to be doing a lot of praising because of what Jesus did on the cross now Jesus says this I want you to do and remembrance of me I want you to receive this bread it's a symbol of my body and I want you to drink this cup it's a symbol of my blood and when you do so I want you to remember what I've done for you I want you to remember the cross I want you to remember the sacrifice I want you to remember the pain all that I did for you so you could come into this relationship with me and so you can have the hope that one day this scene that we've just read about will unfold before your very eyes and you'll see it in living color because you'll be there if you put your trust in Jesus let me add one last thing communion is for believers only so if you're not a believer here today and by that I mean if you've not put your faith in Christ as Savior and Lord you do not want to receive these elements because the Bible says when we do so we should not receive them in an unworthy manner and the way that would happen is if we receive the elements of communion without believing in the one that they represent so if you're not a Christian just let the elements pass but better yet become a Christian say well how do I do that there's no long process no actually it isn't you can become a Christian like that because what is a Christian it's a person who has put their faith in Christ who is the Lord living inside of them how does that happen it happens through prayer and I'm going to give you an opportunity to get right with God if you need to as we pray right now let's pray together father bless now your word as it's gone out and I pray for any person here who does not yet know you I pray Lord that you will them to see their need for Jesus help them to come to you and believe in you right now we would ask now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying listen if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want to be forgiven of your sin if you want to go to heaven when you die I want you to pray this prayer right where you're sitting after me again you want Christ to come into your life pray this prayer after me now Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner but you died on the cross and shed your blood for every sin I have ever committed I turn from my sin now I'm sorry for it I ask you to forgive me I want to glorify you with my life now thank you for calling me and loving me and accepting me in Jesus name I pray amen you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 31,498

Rating: 4.854701 out of 5

Keywords: Greg Laurie, bible study, future, plans, marriage, death, kids, children, angels, why, exist, meaning, life, heaven, hell, worship, glory, pleasure, suri, archangel, Michael, Gabriel, hedonism, scroll, lamb, throne, revelation, prayers in a bowl, slave, freedom, price, son, daughter, Christian

Id: m_3zRu99ILE

Length: 46min 45sec (2805 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 17 2012