Chase: Welcome to the Point Church Podcast, where our mission is simple, to point people to Jesus. Each week you will hear biblical teaching from our Sunday gatherings designed to help you belong, believe, become who God created you to be, and build his kingdom in your everyday life. We pray this time encourages you and helps you to take the next step in following Jesus. Now let's jump into today's message. Friends, you may be seated. ⁓ do you all remember that snowstorm that kind of hit late December? Hold on, am I on here? Am I good? Okay. Late December, early January, when we were all like snowed in for multiple days at a time, and like for Ohio it was like a really big deal, but for like most people from Michigan, they're like, ⁓ this is a light dusting. But we were basically, you know, locked in the house for like four days, and we have two small kids, and there's only so much screen time you can give your kids before they start acting like little devils. So we're like Puzzles. Let's do puzzles. And our daughter is all about princesses. So we found a puzzle that was little mermaid themed. And we're like, let's do this. We clear off the table and you know we're trying to teach them, you know, how to do puzzles. And and and it's pretty good. Not bad overall. But, you know, came to yeah, I mean she likes to steal and hide stuff. So like, you know, as good as you can do with a seven hundred piece puzzle with a three year old. It went pretty well. ⁓ so bedtime comes around and I look at Melissa's like, you know, we limited their screen time, but we can go watch TV if we want. You know, we don't have to keep doing this. And and one of the things I love about my wife that she and I are the opposite in this way is she is like the most competitive gamer, puzzler, all these things like that. And so she's like, We're gonna finish this puzzle. This little mermaid's getting built tonight, and we're like all right, let's do it. We got nothing else to do. So she's like, but you if you want to watch a movie or something, let's pull up Netflix on the laptop. And so I pull up Netflix, and this is a little bit part confessional, because you're gonna figure out my Netflix algorithm a little bit. It was like movies you would enjoy, comedy series. And the one that was at the top is a Seth Rogan James Franco movie called This Is the End. Anyone heard of it? Little obscure, kind of old, but It's Seth Rogan, so you can imagine already the the feel of it. And it is a movie about the end of the world. Like, let's do it. Why not? Let's see what Hollywood's take is on this. And you know they have the beams of light, people being sucked up, and there's a devil at some point. It's just like it's it's ridiculous. But and then but at the very end, Baxter boys are up in heaven singing a concert, so that's pretty cool. Heaven, biblically accurate. So but I started thinking How many people are like, yeah, I know this is a Seth Rogan movie, but it's still pretty close to how the end of the world is, how the book of Revelation goes. Like, ⁓ yeah, it'll be like this. This is just kind of the Hollywood version of it. And that kind of got me thinking: like, have we ever talked about this? Like, has the church really done a good job explaining the eschatology of? Which is a very fancy seminary word you have to take out student loans to know, which simply means study of the end of the world, study of end times, eschatology. And I was like, honestly, I I don't think the church has done a very good job in this regard. Like we we haven't really made it very clear, like we haven't really gone through this this book thoroughly, and in the gap, the internet has filled the void. And I'm not saying the internet's the right response. I'm not saying the internet is a bad place to get your theology. I'm saying it's not the best place to get your theology. So I was like, yeah, let's ⁓ let's make this clear. Like, let's go through this book. Because when you start thinking about end times, boy, just Google that on your ride home. What is the end of the world? It is an incredible. Incredible Google search, I'm telling you. It you will it'll fill your afternoon and then some. You'll be like, wow, okay, I didn't know that. Didn't know they were the Antichrist. That's crazy. So our imaginations, in my observation, our imaginations have been filled more by movies, TV shows, half truths, podcasts, media, more than scripture, honestly. Like in our culture. And so I was like, well, let's get this straight. Let's get this right. And I was like, let's tackle this subject over the summer when people are, you know, maybe traveling. But this is this is interesting. And every time I was talking with someone, like, I think we're gonna tackle this, like, ooh, that's interesting. Because here's the thing, friends, this is the most requested book that I get asked in the lobby. No one has ever come up to me and been like, Pastor, can you I need to meet with you this week. I need to understand Obadiah. Like I I need to know the book of Amos. I need to know. Like that's never ever ever happened. The most requested is revelation because people are freaking out. Like look around the world, get on social media for five seconds. Everyone is asking the same question the left, the right, the politically interested, the not politically interested. What is going on in our world? What is happening? And again, most of our information, our imaginations have been shaped more by Hollywood than the Holy Scriptures. So I was like, you know, how can we understand what the Bible is saying that predates not just my life or your life or even the nation that we live in, but goes back two thousand years to different languages, different cultures, different continents. How can we tie ourselves to biblical truth while navigating crazy cultural moments? How how can we do that? How can we read this book and understand what it is saying and what it is not saying? That's why I wanted to tackle this subject. Not just because I find it interesting, I think all of us do, but I think it's a beautiful opportunity to. That when the world feels like it's spiraling out of control, it should be the Christians who step in and fill the gap. That when the world feels like it's getting darker, our light should shine brighter. And when people are asking questions, we should bring truth and not guesses. Amen. And I think if we don't take time to let this book speak for itself. We will find ourselves guessing and maybe offering falsehoods even on accident. Because we just don't know. So let's speak clearly over these next two months what this book is saying and what it is not saying. So to understand what this book is saying, I started with the book first. I want to let you know that. I started with the scriptures first. Very good, very clear, but it's not the only one. So here are some of the best books I've read since January. To understand this, okay? First one, what should we think about Israel? This one was a gift from Rabbi Tuvia, for those of you who were here at our Seder meal. He was like, So, what are your big plans for the summer, Pastor? I was like, I'm gonna be speaking on, you know, Book of Revelation. Can I give you a book? And I was like, sir, you know my love language so well already. You can absolutely give me a book. We won't have time to answer the question of modern-day Israel this week, but it will be a part of it. Next, we have Tim Chester. Professor, Anglican, ⁓ priest. Part of it was I wanted to read widely, cross-denominational. I wanted to get a full picture of the book. This is Revelation for You. Very easy read. Goes well with Starbucks Coffee. If you're interested, you know, that's a good one to read out on the patio. Then we have NT Wright. So this was Revelation for You. This one's Revelation for Everyone. So you're good, you're covered either way. N T Wright, leading theologian in the world. He wrote a commentary for each biblical book. So this one is Revelation for You, very helpful. Steve Gregg, ⁓ he didn't necessarily write the book, but he compiled four main biblical takes to understand the book of Revelation. Like, okay, here's this way that we can interpret it this way, this way. So each chapter breaks down the four ways it's been interpreted throughout church history, very helpful as a reference guide. ⁓ Thomas Odin, Classic Christianity, top three book that I read in seminary. ⁓ for some of us, good sleeping pill. You might save money on a subscription, just read Thomas Odin before bed, you'll sleep like a baby. ⁓ this one's written more in the ⁓ format of like what confirmation or ⁓ Catholics would call catechesis, like why do we believe what we believe? Ask the question, here's your response, biblical answer. So he pulls from the scriptures, early church fathers to answer the question, you know, who is Jesus, who is the spirit? When you know what I mean, like so this one's very, very helpful to go through question by question. Who is the dragon? Who is the woman? You know, in Book of Revelation, very helpful. ⁓ David da Silva, this one was a semester of reading for one class. ⁓ intro in the New Testament. So again, context, favorite way to preach the Bible one more time. What's that word? Context. You can thank Da Silva for that. So this literary New Testament, context, methods and ministry formation. So there you go. ⁓ very helpful way to understand not just each individual book, but how all the books run together to tell one story, how Christ is interwoven through all of it. So again, very helpful to read through Revelation. We're gonna talk more about that one in a second. So why do this? Why do this? Why read books? Talk about Greek? What is the context of why do this? Why do this in Dayton, Ohio 2026? Again, because people are looking for answers. And we want to remove all barriers that might separate people from knowing Christ Jesus. That if they are actively seeking answers, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. That if they're seeking answers and they're truly seeking truth, they will find Jesus. And there have been signposts left for 2,000 years that we can point them to and say, While you are looking for truth, you will find it in Jesus Christ. Now, before we get into the teaching, though, and I I didn't preface this enough in the first sermon, so I think I might have, you know, ⁓ spoken a little too openly, but that's okay. I kind of struggle with that. We need to clear some brush. Before we even start the path of this book. Here's what I mean. This book, as soon as you open Revelation, often we don't let it speak, we speak to it. ⁓ I know what this is about. I've heard this before. ⁓ and we can kind of fill in the gaps of our understanding and make it say things it's not supposed to say. So right from the jump, we're we're off the path. Now, if you're in the jungle. And someone says, There's an ancient path here that's gonna take you where you need to go, but you have to clear some vines out of the way first. You have to cut down, you know, some tall weeds. Here's a pocket knife or a machete. Which one do you want? You want the machete. So there might feel like machete moments in this sermon, but I'm trying to clear the way so that we can let the word speak for itself. And we can cut out bad theology that has been projected onto this book. Are you with me? Because growing up as a kid, this book was scary. This was scary. God was not a hero, God was kind of the villain. Because God was the one that I thought was going to cause all this stuff. And I was scared of God. I was afraid of God. God wasn't trustworthy. Why? Because I was afraid of being left behind. Anyone? Anyone ever like as a kid was like, ⁓ I he forgot about me, he forgot about me, or I wasn't this or that the other. Like it was like it created like one of the earliest moments of dread as a kid being like, ⁓ my gosh, I'm gonna be left, and like he forgot about me because he's trying to keep track of seven billion people, and I'm the one who got forgot. Anyone else neurotic as an eight year old? Still are, there you go. But when we speak about God, yes, he is our friend. Yes, he is our savior. Yes, he has drawn close. But this is the God of the universe. This is the God who the sun looks dark compared to his brilliance. Okay? By the word of his mouth. Created the universe. Are you with me? I dare not try to speak for him as if I know better. Okay? That is the heart I'm coming with. I want him to speak. Because if I try and go off script, I'll get it wrong. Okay? So again, when it feels like maybe a machete moment, it's my heart, my pastoral heart. That we align with him, we don't make him align with us. Big difference. Okay. When people are asking questions and freaking out, they may come and talk to a pastor. They're more likely to Google it. They're more likely to trust their YouTube algorithm or TikTok and maybe come to you with it. Maybe. But should you be used by the Spirit to be in a place on a back patio and And you've had enough time with someone to say, Can I ask you what you think about XYZ? Let's have the Bible speak. Inform our imaginations, okay? I know you're like, you're you're going too long. No, I'm clearing the path. I'm clearing the path. Okay. Here's the format of how this series is going to work. Sunday morning for the next two months, broad strokes. Here's what this chapter's saying, here's what this chapter is saying. We're gonna be continuing through the book, okay? During the week, we will be releasing podcast episode of Deep Dives, Conversation Style, between myself and Pastor Chase. Hey, speak more about that. Seven lampstands, what's that mean? What is w how how do we understand this? What is that an old is that old testament reference? Is that liter like conversation style? Once a week, longer format, and we want you all to be a part of it. So if you have questions throughout this series. That you would like us to address. Nothing silly, we're not gonna say names, anything like that. You can submit them at ⁓ info at the point937.org. We'll answer your questions. Because we want to teach biblical truth that when the opportunity comes, you can offer hope and clarity to those who are seeking. Okay? So that's what we'll be doing for the next two months. I know this is also a time of travel. But also we have Facebook and YouTube and podcasts to keep track. This is a different kind of series, but hear my heart on this. I started this search in January frightened. Honestly. My imagination was still shaped by what I thought I knew about it. The more I read this book, the more I understand what it's saying. Fear is evaporating, friends. I am less anxious today, by far, about the end of the world than I've ever been in my life. Because I know what is true, what is not, and most importantly, who's in charge. What a gift we can be to those in our life who do not yet know that. So let's lean in and go through my favorite word context. If you're a note taker, let's begin with the context of this book. Every book of the Bible has a genre, okay? Every book has a genre. It's how you can understand what's symbolic, what's literal. So here is the genre for this book. Verse is a letter, like the epistles, okay? When I say epistle, I mean like Paul's letter to the Romans, to the Corinthians, right? Ephesians, like all those. Those are letters. To specific people, to a specific church. This is a letter from a specific author to a specific people. Big difference. Okay? Next is it's also apocalyptic, which again, everyone's like, ⁓ there it is. Greek matters. Apocalypse means reveal in Greek. That's it. Just show you. Think of the image of a curtain being pulled back. Think of the Wizard of Oz. That's the most helpful way to think of it. Who's the man behind the curtain? Is it actually no, it's this guy? Okay, this is what's going on. That's what's happening in Revelation. Pulling back the curtain that we might understand what's going on. Okay? Doesn't mean scary automatically, doesn't mean, you know, hellfire, it's just what's going on. That's all apocalypse means in Greek. Reveal. That's why it's called revelation. Revealing. Who's the author? Most historians, theologians point that it's the apostle John. Same John that traveled with Jesus, part of the inner twelve, part of the inner three. There is slight debate because there's always debate. When you get two theologians together, you'll get three opinions. That's all they got. They have to keep their title somehow. So they're like, I've got it. Here's a hot take. But most would say it's John who's been banished to the island of Patmos. He's the only apostle who lived to see old age. Every other apostle was basically tortured to death. How's that for a sales pitch to follow Jesus? John, they tried, they threw him in a pot of boiling oil. And he lived. They're we can't kill this guy, so let's just banish him. So you send him to the island of Patmos. And on the island of Patmos, he's in his late 80s, early 90s, and Jesus comes to visit him. So he knows who Jesus is. Jesus is why he's there. Okay? John is the one writing, he's the author, but really Jesus is the one speaking. Okay? Jesus will. Tell him, pick up the pen and write this down. So yes, it'll say this is from John, but you know Jesus here too. The audience. Who's it written to? Who did they put an address on the scroll for and put a stamp on? The seven churches in Asia Minor. Okay? That's who received these words. Very important. Now, what is the message of this letter? If you could boil down twenty two chapters into a few, and they said, Hey, we received the letter. ⁓ what did it say? What was it about? You would hit the cliff note, right? Here's the best way to describe it. This is from my textbook. The goal of this letter is to take your eyes off of your current situation and see that God is the ultimate power. Frees you to respond to Him instead of your surroundings. Okay? God's in charge. Don't be overwhelmed by the storm. Trust in God. It's the same story we're being told over and over. I said this in the first sermon or the first service. It would be weird if the author of life, the story of stories, the greatest inspiration to tell the world. Was like, here's how you understand the world, here's the story of the Bible, here's the story of Jesus, the Savior, come to save us all. And then you get to the last chapter and it makes no sense. You'd say, That's a bad author. This is the greatest story ever told. It's the truest story ever told. So again, why would we assume that the last chapter makes no sense? We've read it up to this point, right? Let's lean into what it says and now let's talk about what it does not say. This is very important. The Book of Revelation was not written to twenty first century Americans. I'm gonna say it again for the people in the back and online. It was not written to twenty first century Americans. It didn't know that Obama would be president, and it didn't know that Trump would be president. Stop projecting it on to us. It's not what it says. 'Cause when we do that, here's the example I have for you. Again, our daughter, little Hannah. She's so cute, but she doesn't know anything about tools. She's like her dad in that way. She would go to our tool shed and pick up a hammer. And there is a part of our yard that we have handed over to destruction. Go destroy that. Please leave mom's stuff alone. Okay, but you can destroy that. And they have this hole, it's amazing. And they have gotten down to the foundation of not just our house but the earth. And there are wires and fossils and oil down there. They are digging so deep, these kids. And if she were to go into our tool shed. And pull out a hammer. She would see the back of it and be like, ooh, pickaxe. I can hit rocks and break it this way, like a pickaxe. That's what her mind she thinks the hammer's for. And then someone much smarter comes along, Melissa, and says, No, this is a hammer, nails, wood, hammer. That's what it's for. When we assume it was written to us, we read it the only way we know how. We use it like a pickaxe instead of a hammer. Right? When it comes to this book, we need to understand what it is saying, what it is not saying. Let me say this again. It is not a secret code that you will crack. To dis to know when the end of the world is coming. For some of you that's news and you're disappointed and you're not gonna come back next week. 'Cause you thought I was a YouTube pastor who had all the answers. That's not it. It is not a book that should be used to exploit people's deepest fear. Period. End of story. There is nothing more primal of a fear than thinking you have been abandoned without hope. But then someone will come along and say, You know, if you trust me, I will not leave you behind. I wish I was kidding when I'm about to tell you that I found so many pastors peddling this to line their pockets. I wish I was kidding. Write me a check and your family will be safe. Come to our church, we preach the truth only. Subscribe to my channel. It begins with a commercial for my new energy drink or whatever. There is a Latin phrase I have been dwelling on a lot with this series, it's called Quibono. Have you heard of this? Quibono. Who benefits? Who benefits by making you scared? Who benefits by making you afraid and cling to them like they're Jesus? It is not a code to crack. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, verse 36, with hours left to go, no room for lies, no one knows when this is gonna happen. He said that? ⁓ yeah, he said that. Let's put it on the screen. But about that day or hour, no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father. Your YouTube influencer does not know more than Jesus. Your favorite news channel does not know more than Jesus. Jesus breathed the world into existence. CNN and Fox News does not have the leg up on him. Are we clear? When, here's a rule of thumb. Just again, it this feels like machete moments, okay, for some of us. When we say, ⁓ this specific event happening, or that specific person, that's that's revelation right there being fulfilled. How do we know not to do that? Because every time it's been done, it's been wrong. Have you noticed that? The Mayans weren't right in twenty twelve. People thought Stalin. and Hitler were the Antichrist. I became a Christian in 2008. Within a year I was being told Obama's the Antichrist. Most recently I'm being told Trump's the Antichrist. So which is it? Stop reading it through the American lens. Stop. Because here's the problem when we do that. ⁓ this is happening in the stars, or this is happening in Putin, or this is happening in the Middle East. This is exactly what it says in chapter 20, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When it doesn't happen, they stop listening to everything you have to say. Including Jesus is the Christ. And you can know him, and he loves you. And he has forgiven you. Dude, you were wrong. You were paddling all that other stuff. And you were wrong. Why do I trust you? Do you see the danger? Without meaning to, we come off looking like fools. Let's let the Bible scream where it screams and whisper where it whispers. Rather use those moments, political unrest, war, famine, disease, hardship. Let those be opportunities to say, you know, Jesus did say this was going to happen. Life was going to be scary. We will be afraid. These are part of the birthing pains, the contractions of the world. Why? Not to predict when the time is, but to know who's with us. And that we shouldn't get comfortable here. Nothing can be relied on other than Jesus. That's why we trust these things in general. I am sorry about the COVID pandemic, but it does not mean it was the end of the world. People who had smallpox or the Spanish flu or yellow fever thought the same. Disease and pain and suffering and war are signs that our world is broken. But Jesus has entered into a broken world to be with us. When we speak specifically and do not offer Jesus in it, here's what we do. It's again, I'm just using Hannah as my example. It'd be like me putting Hannah in front of the exorcist movie, turning the lights off, and then putting her to bed with no explanation and no nightlight. Are you with me? Versus Hannah wakes up from a nightmare. Mom and dad rush in, throw the lights on and hold her. One feels a lot more like the fruit of the spirit. The other feels a lot more like the enemy. Are you with me? When people suffer, when there is war, when there is disease, when there is political unrest, when there is job insecurity or divorce or cancer, they don't need to think they've been abandoned. They need to know about the God. who has entered into their darkness and is holding them together. And at some point he's gonna put everything back in order. And we will look back on the worst of this world, the worst of our lives, as if, ⁓ yeah, I think I had a nightmare about that once. That's what it's saying. I think we're on the same page. Big difference. Big difference. One leads to more conversation with non-believers. And one causes them to snooze you on Facebook. We're talking real. One is the hope of the world. And one is qui bono. I will not speak out of line from the God of the universe who says, I will judge teachers harshly. I will be so careful and so diligent. Jesus help me. We have to cut some things down. Are you with me? So today we're gonna conclude a little differently. Normally we start with the reading of Scripture, but today we're gonna end with the reading of Scripture. Because I didn't want us getting lost on the first step. I didn't want us tripping over an ancient root. Most likely they're not ancient. They're like a hundred years old, half truths, falsehoods that we just assume have always been there. We need to cut some space down and let Jesus speak. And we follow, and yes, it might be scary. Yes, this world is broken. Yes, life can get dark. But fix your eyes on Jesus. Obsess over him and what he said to do. If we took all the same energy and effort that we put into figuring out when he's coming back, if we put all that same time and energy into following him, becoming like him and being light in the world. This world would be a different place. Let the Bible speak and listen to the word. At this time, I want to invite our scripture reader to come forward. And as she does, I want to point out a key part of why context matters. If you received a letter from a loved one who you haven't seen in a while, And they say in the opening sentence, my dear, I love you and miss you. That tells you their heart. That tells you why they're writing to you. That should inform the way you read the rest of the letter, right? The first words that Jesus Christ says after hello to these churches is verse 17. Do not be afraid. It may be scary. It may be dark. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Read the rest of this book with that lens. Do not be afraid. Thank you for listening to the Point Church podcast. We hope this message helps you take your next step in following Jesus. Grace, peace, we will see you next week.