Hope – Just Keith Harris

“Light Momentary Afflictions, Eternal Weight of Glory” — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

Hebrews 12:1-2 –
¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Philippians 4:10-13 –
¹⁰I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. ¹¹Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. ¹²I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 –
⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹²So death is at work in us, but life in you.
¹³Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.^[1]

Greetings Sojourners!

It has been a while since I’ve gotten to write, and it’s long overdue. A friend asked me a few weeks back if he’d been removed from my list to send out Bible studies. I assured him that I hadn’t and that I had been working on so many different avenues. His response hit me pretty hard after I listed out the litany of said avenues; he said, “You’ve got to make time for things that are important to you.” Well, this ministry is important to me – not for the opportunity to write and publish but to share God’s Word and help people make sense of it and apply it in their lives. That has to begin with me, though.

It seems like this past year has been such a weight. Not to rehash or bore you with repetition, but the ordeal of losing the ability to walk, spending a month in the hospital, and working to be able to, well, be able to do everything again has been taxing – more taxing than either I’m willing to admit or than I even fully realize. I sat in counseling earlier today in the office of a friend who is trying to help me process the past year and its toll, reminding me that it’s not fragile or weak to struggle through things that are immensely difficult and that what I perceive as failure is sometimes just life. At the end of the session, I said, “This too shall pass”, and he said, “That sounds good to say, but it’s harder than that.” I knew as soon as I said it that I didn’t believe it. I understand it intellectually. I believe it fundamentally. But practically? No, that’s not how I am living.

I find myself living in the tension of the last line of one of my favorite novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.”

The tension is that I have to row against the currents bearing me pastward while lifting my eyes “to the hills”, to where my help comes from – “from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). The same Lord who held me through the past year – through the past forty years – is still my “keeper” (Psalm 121:5) and can surely “keep [me] from all evil”, “keep [my] going out and [my] coming in”, as He has kept my life (Psalm 121:7-8). The One who holds all of my tomorrows can hold me from being carried by the currents of life because He is the God who calms storms, both literal and figurative.

The reality is that difficulties happen. Ordeals overwhelm. Bodies fail. Plans fall apart. A year goes by, and it brings mixed emotions of pride at making it through and the recognition that there are some things one cannot make it through unscathed. So, here I sit in my office, hoping that these thoughts I have been struggling to put down will be helpful to you.

So, dear Sojourner, let’s walk through this bit together.

—

Do you ever feel that there just isn’t enough time in a day? Or a week, month, or year? Just me?

Of course, I’m not the only one to feel this pressure or tension, trying to fit all the things that must be done alongside the things that need to be done – and even fit a few select items on my to-do list that I merely want to do. I’m a husband, father, brother, son, uncle, teacher, pastor (and try to fit as much friendship/fellowship and writing as I can).

I try to be a good steward of my time and to use it as best I can to live the life I am called to live. This isn’t merely careful scheduling but growing to understand that I only have so much bandwidth to be the man I was born again to be. I am reminded constantly that I can only do what I can do, and I find I identify more with Paul in Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” – in context, of course. What I mean is that I am learning more and more that I “know how to be brought low” and “how to abound”, understanding that “plenty, hunger, abundance, and need” are just a part of life. So, in saying I can only do what I can do, I realize with each new limitation placed on my life that I can only do what the Spirit of Christ enables me to do – or moves things around to let me do.

Now, when I talk about limitations, let it be known that I am not a fan. However, limitations are the norm. We are limited by our humanity – our fallen-world flesh. Just as the fall of man into sin brought death into the world, we have been, in a sense, dying since we began living. That probably sounds morbid to you; rest assured, it does to me, too. But, then again, I am 40 years old in a body that is aging more rapidly than I would like, learning realities like arthritis and mysteriously crippling autoimmune responses. But as the song based on Job 1:20-22, “Blessed Be Your Name”, says, God is still good and life is still a blessing whether the “land is plentiful” and “the sun’s shining down on me” or if “I’m found in the desert place” or “the road marked with suffering; in all of life, any strength I have comes from the Lord – “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” – because the strength I have within myself is surely not enough.

Maybe you feel that you are not enough. Or you may feel that when everything you want to do and everything that is required is set before you, you just don’t stack up – you don’t measure up to the task(s) at hand. Just me?

Just like I’m not the only one to feel the pressure or tension of not being able to get all the things that need to be done or that I want to be done completed, I’m also not the only one who feels like he doesn’t measure up – that the task(s) at hand are too much for me. No matter how much my ability or knowledge grows, my mind and body age daily. Things that should be simple sometimes become hard. Sometimes, my get-up-and-go has simply gone-off-and-went, and I find myself identifying with the Preacher of Ecclesiastes:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’…and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 7-8)

Well, maybe I don’t quite identify fully with the Preacher there, because, Lord willing, I’m not headed out to pasture or returning to dust and crossing over into glory just yet.

I realize that, as I said earlier, this likely sounds morbid – and probably depressing, but this ain’t that kind of Bible study.

The longer I live and the further I get into middle age, the more I see the beauty in life despite its troubles and the amazing grace found in the reality that this world is not all that there is. The farther we get from the Fall and the effects of sin and death reigning on the earth, things break down more and more, and it becomes especially important for us to remember that this world is not our home, we’re just passing through. We need to remember that our hope, if it’s founded only in this world, has an expiration date. Hope in Jesus has no expiration date because it’s fixed on Him and grows out of His grace to us – grace that carries us fully through suffering in such a way that endures, produces character, and builds that hope into our lives (Romans 5:2-5).

So, let’s look at a few passages in the New Testament that help fix our eyes on Jesus and the eternal hope that can be found only in Him.

There is a Race Set Before You (Hebrews 12:1-2)

At Christ Community and The Foundry, we’re currently walking through Hebrews 11 on Sunday mornings and looking at those men and women “who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39), the “people of old” whose faith in God saw “commendation” from God for being assured of “things hoped for”, being convicted “of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1-2). We have looked at the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses – with more in the coming weeks. Hebrews 12, obviously, comes out of that context as it talks about being “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

Similarly to how I said earlier that the God who had faithfully carried me through my life thus far could surely carry me for the rest of my life, we are called to look at the faith this “cloud of witnesses” put in Jesus – how even though they were living in the Old Testament, they trusted God and held to His promises, knowing that “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23) without needing to see the fulfillment of the promise. We look to these witnesses, not to see how we stack up against these mighty heroes of old but to see that the same God who worked through Moses is the same God who works in His people today – realizing that Moses did not serve God because he was great but that the great God worked mightily in Moses (a testimony I am sure Moses would wholeheartedly agree with). Looking at the testimonies of faith in the lives of these men and women frees us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Let’s unpack that.

Our sin weighs on us and holds us back, that much is clear. What is less clear is how we fail, time and again, to realize that the sin we cherish is seeking to kill us. In church life, too often we act like we do not enjoy the sin that we constantly return to, and I believe that is our undoing. It would do us well to look to the wisdom of the Proverbs when we draw our sin up to us closely as if it were a blanket offering warmth, not realizing we are being burned:

“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.” (Proverbs 6:27-29)

The sin that clings to us needs to be cast aside before we get burned. We need to fix our eyes on Christ and look to Him for comfort, peace, and rest, understanding that He knows best and has a plan for our lives that does not include the damage from sin that we refuse to see.

Now, I realize that even before last summer my athleticism was nothing to brag about, but if I were to have to run a race, even I know that I don’t need to do it with my backpack and heavy work boots on. I would need to cast all of that off. Believe it or not, I’ve actually run a race (and didn’t come in last place). I ran in the 5K portion of the races benefiting St. Jude a few years back. Those races take place in December, and it was cold. I tried running in a coat while practicing, and it was more than a little aggravating swish, swish, swishing along and eventually having to take it off and carry it before the end. I tried running in the old-fashioned long johns that I had grown up with, but the fabric was too thick and made it hard for my legs to move and bend as they should while literally chafing against me in the second and third miles. I had to cast those things aside and gird myself for the race at hand. So it is in “the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Saying God has a plan for your life is not something to take lightly. He has prepared a course for all those He has saved (Ephesians 2:10). It is for us to recognize what needs to be taken off so as not to be held back as we run to Him.

Too often, we are mournful about what has to be taken off, and that is because we are suffering from having our eyes on the wrong things. While the men and women of Hebrews 11 are truly a “great…cloud of witnesses”, looking to Jesus is the key for understanding this. Hebrews 12:2 says we are to look to Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” – don’t miss this: “for the joy that was set before Him”. We get caught up on the excruciating nature of the cross and the sin and shame He bore and hypothesize how He must have felt; this is because we are worldly and pain and suffering distract us from the joy set before us. The sin that we allow to cling to us pales in comparison to the joy set before us in Christ. He is to be our joy more than heaven is to be our finish line.

When I was in the rehab for physical and occupational therapy, no one could have prepared me for how hard it would be. But on day one, I asked them what I would have to do in order to be released and go home to Candice, Keri, and Xander; I had to be able to pass a test to get in and out of a car unassisted, be able to walk a certain distance, and be able to climb more steps than are at the entrance of my house. I had to be able to endure at least an hour and a half of physical therapy and then turn around and do at least another hour and a half of occupational therapy. It was grueling. I sweated. I cried. I had to endure the humiliation of being lapped by a 90-year-old man with a hip replacement and having to be watched in the shower to ensure I could care for myself. I had joy set before me, though. I wanted to go home; no, more than that, I wanted to walk up to Candice and the kiddos and wrap my arms around them while standing in our house. I ran the race that was set before me.

Now, I realize that was only one leg of the race God has set before me. I constantly have sin trying to cling to me and weigh me down, and I have to consistently look to Jesus as the joy set before me and tear the sin away and cast it aside. How about you? What sin is clinging to you and weighing you down? Where are you on the course God has set before you? Rest assured, dear Sojourner, and look to Jesus. He’s worth it all.

We are Clay in the Hands of the Potter (2 Corinthians 4:7-18)

All my life I have sought to be independent and resilient. I wanted to be a strong man who could carry the load of others. I wanted no one to have to help me or carry my burdens. Part of that is noble, but that last part was pure foolishness. That’s not how life works. Most importantly, that’s not how God intended for life to work for His people. He didn’t tell us only to bear the burdens of the weak but reminds us that we are all in need of burden-bearing when He said,

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:2-3)

I had deceived myself. Thankfully, God in His divine providence put me in a position to see just how foolish I was (and still reminds me on an as-needed basis when my view of burden-bearing gets out of whack).

We’ve already talked about how we get weighed down with sin when we take an earthly perspective instead of an eternal perspective, so we won’t rehash that here. The crux of 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 is that “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” – the treasure being “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” from 2 Corinthians 4:6. I’ll make this simple. I don’t want to be a jar of clay. I want to be something sturdier. I want to be, as I said, resilient. But remember, I also said I can be a fool.

There are many verses in the Bible that use the imagery of God being the potter and His people being His clay (Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 18:1-6, Romans 9:20-21, 2 Timothy 2:20-21 and so on). The Bible also shows us the foolishness of the clay talking back to God in Romans 9:20b-21a: “Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay…?’” Suffice to say, I have talked back to the Potter more than I should and made my case for being more than a jar of clay, but in His grace and wisdom, His answer through His Word has been clear and reminds me that it is best to “be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21). It is better to be clay in the hands of the Potter than any other substance for any other purpose. In the same way the Lord has set a race before me, He has molded me for the purpose He has for my life – and the same with you.

The earthly perspective sees clay as weak and breakable. The eternal perspective reminds us that we jars of clay are “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” and that “death is at work” but “life” through Christ (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 12). The value of the jar of clay is not in its resilience or strength but in the Potter. Think of the McCarty and Peter’s pottery in Mississippi. To some it looks like brown containers, but to those who know the skill and talent of McCarty or Peter it has value beyond its use.

Over the past year, I have lamented the way that my body has seemingly betrayed me. I have lamented with other brothers and sisters whose mitosis went haywire in their bodies to create cancer cells instead of normal healthy cells. I have lamented with brothers and sisters whose brains and memories are degrading leaving seemingly less than they thought they were. Ultimately, that’s what I lament in my own life: being less than I thought I was. That’s an earthly perspective. The eternal perspective is that I was “bought with a price” and am not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) – that I have been ransomed from sin and death and the “futile ways inherited from [my] forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). The eternal perspective tears down the foolishly short-sighted earthly one in that I cannot see what His plans are fully at this time but I know that “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23) – I “know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12) – and I know that it is useless to try and worry too much over this jar of clay when “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

This is the beauty of this passage. Look at the clarity of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, as God’s Word says it more clearly than I could hope to expound it:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen as transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

This world is not all that there is. This body is not all that there is. The troubles we experience are not all that there is. No, all of the trials and sufferings this life can throw at us are light momentary afflictions that will be forgotten as easily as a mother forgets labor once her baby is laid in her arms. When I fall on my face at the feet of Jesus once this life is over, I won’t remember I was a jar of clay because I won’t shatter when I fall in front of Him. I won’t shatter because the nail-scarred hand that wipes the last tear from my eyes will lift me up because He cares for me (Revelation 21:4, 1 Peter 5:6-7). And here’s the beauty, dear Sojourner, it is that same strong hand that keeps us from shattering in our jars of clay in the present. How about you? Do you long to be more or are you satisfied with being His? Do you take an eternal perspective with your eyes lifted to the hills, looking for help and fixed on Jesus, or are you letting every weight of sin drag you down as if this world were all there was?

May we fix our eyes on Christ!

Wrapping Up

I don’t know if all this makes sense or if it’s just cathartic rambling on my part. That’s not for me to know. I reckon that’s above my pay grade.

My mind has been so frazzled and I’ve struggled to get my thoughts down for so long that this may not make a lick of sense. But praise God, His Word doesn’t return void. I hope some of this helps you. More than that, I hope something in here points you to the hope found in Jesus and lifts Him up as worthy of worship and worth living for.

All I know is that I am thankful that He has provided me brothers and sisters to help bear my burdens (and that they’re persistent even and especially when I’m too hardheaded or willfully ignorant to see that I need the help). I’m thankful that despite my failings and flaws He has set a race before me. And I’m thankful for this jar of clay because, without it, I may think that I could do this on my own, unable to realize that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

I think that’s my prayer for you, too, dear Sojourner – not that you’ll suffer or struggle but that you would set Jesus as joy before you so that whatever the world is throwing at you, it pales in comparison to the glory and worth of Jesus – that whatever light momentary affliction you face would be seen as such, and, as the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”, says “the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”. Amen.

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Heb. 12:1-2, Phil. 4:10-13, 2 Cor, 4:7–18.

“Worthy Is the Lion, the Slain Lamb Who Lives” from Revelation 5 — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

We’re back in our study of Revelation called The KING is Coming, where we’re taking a verse-by-verse approach to see what the book truly reveals—Jesus Christ Himself. As always, I’m joined by Jamie Harrison, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to walk through this study together. Today, we’ll be in a passage that is probably quite familiar if you’re a member or regular-attender of Christ Community Church as we read it in worship fairly often – Revelation 5:

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” ³And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, ⁴and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁵And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
⁶And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
     and to open its seals,for you were slain,
and by your blood you ransomed people for God
   from every tribe and language and people and nation,
¹⁰and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
     and they shall reign on the earth.”
¹¹Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹²saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
      to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
      and honor and glory and blessing!”
¹³And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
      “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
      be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
¹⁴And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.^[1]

Keith Harris:
Greetings, sojourners. We have a lot to dive into today, so, Jamie, let’s go ahead and dive in.

Jamie Harrison:
All right, so for real, let’s dive in, man, because this really is like — this is it. This is the big climactic scene in heaven. We mentioned in chapter 4 that the throne room is going to be the setting for the remainder of Revelation, and it’s mentioned over and over and over — the throne room, the throne room. And we know that the One seated on the throne is God the Father. And we know that Jesus is going to come and He’s going to sit at His right hand, and the Holy Spirit is there — we’ll see in just a second. And so it starts with this scroll that’s got writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals there in verse 1. And back in Roman times we know that a will or a title deed would be sealed with seven seals. And basically what they would do is they would roll it, seal it, roll it, seal it, roll it, seal it — and again there would be seven seals. And nobody was able to open that scroll except the appointed heir.

Keith:
Is there a significance to the seven in Roman Empire days, or is that just — you think — significant biblically here?

Jamie:
I would say biblically significant. I know people try to read a lot into a lot of different things, but there’s — obviously there’s seven churches, so people say one seal for each church, right? Those kinds of things. You know what I think is that it’s just biblically significant — the number seven in and of itself. And so no necessary hidden meaning per se, but it’s completely sealed — it’s locked down.

Keith:
Correct. Gotcha. As the number seven being the number of completion..

Jamie:
Amen. So this thing is sealed up. And in verse 2 we see the angel ask, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And this angel is a mighty angel. And you would think if anybody could, you know, it’d be this really mighty angel — but he’s not worthy to open it. And then in verse 3 it says no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. Now understand, when it says no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth, that’s everybody that has ever been.

Keith:
All the places to be.

Jamie:
Correct, right? So that is covering everybody, and nobody is able to open the scroll.

Keith:
And I think that’s an interesting wording there. The question is “who is worthy,” not “who is able.” So we’re covering strength here, but worthiness is the question. Excuse you.

Jamie:
Thank you.

Keith:
So talk to me — take a sip — the difference with worthiness and ability here is not about strength. You mentioned the mighty angel. You mentioned everybody who is. What’s the deal here?

Jamie:
It kind of goes back to — who was it? Was it King Arthur that pulled Excalibur out of the stone?

Keith:
Allegedly.

Jamie:
Right — yeah, that’s a myth. And so the idea of that story being all these strong guys came up and tried to get it out and couldn’t — only the one who was worthy. And so I want to limit — let’s get to that in a second.

Keith:
All right.

Jamie:
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Keith:
We’ll put a pin in it.

Jamie:
Yes, put a pin in it — but not too hard, that will hurt. All right, so I’m going to jump over to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 real quick, because this is going to help us as we move forward. I’m going to jump over to Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 real quick, because this is going to help us as we move forward.

1 Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. ²In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe ^g through Him. ³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.^[2]

And that’s a really cool Scripture there because it tells us who is the heir — Jesus. Jesus is the heir. And the Son is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He makes purification for sins — not His sins, for sins — He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And that’s going to answer your question about who’s worthy, but we’re still not going to jump ahead.

Keith:
Well, and also — who’s able to atone for sins? Not us. Not those on earth or under the earth, for sure.

Jamie:
It’s kind of like Big John says all the time — that if Jesus did 99% of the forgiving and we did the one, all we would brag about is the one.

Keith:
But clearly here we got the none.

Jamie:
That’s correct — definitely the none. Not to be confused with nuns — this is N-O-N-E, none. Okay, so now we can move forward, because nobody is able to open the scroll. And then John begins to weep. It says, “I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look at it.” Can you imagine — like you see this scroll in the right hand of the Father, and I don’t know at that point if John necessarily knew what it was or not. I mean, he doesn’t say he knows what it is. But obviously he was alive during that time, so if it’s sealed with seven seals his mind probably went straight to some type of title deed or a will or something like that as well. And so can you imagine this climactic moment where you see this scroll and then nobody is worthy to open it?

Keith:
I wonder too — just thinking about the vision that he’s seeing there — it kind of puts me… it reminds me of Isaiah 6, the vision that Isaiah got in the year that King Uzziah died. Like thinking about worthiness — you’re sitting there, you can see the throne. And we talked about this back in Revelation 1 — like in my mind, seeing the throne, you’re not looking at it alone. When we say “high and lifted up,” He literally was high and lifted up. I mean, think Ezekiel — the visions he had of the throne. Like he’s looking at the soles of His feet from way down. And when you ask who is worthy — I know when I am confronted with the holiness and worthiness of God, my first thoughts turn to my unworthiness and why I’m unworthy. Like — gotta be feeling some guilt, gotta be feeling overwhelmed in the first place. This disciple whom Jesus loved, outliving all the rest of the apostles — more than likely in his late 80s, early 90s at this point — like he’s feeling some stuff. He’s well acquainted with his unworthiness, and his friend, the worthy One — the Lamb of God — that’s how his gospel describes Him — died. He knows He rose, but still at the same time, that’s a lot to process.

Jamie:
And so he weeps and weeps because nobody is worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it. And then in verse 5 — here we go — one of the elders says to me… which we talked about in chapter 4, you know, what the elders might represent. And it says, “Do not weep. Look.” Now the word’s important — he says, “Look.” “The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” So the Lion from the tribe of Judah — let’s talk about that for a second. Way back in Genesis chapter 49, verses 8 through 10, these are Jacob’s last words. He gives the scepter over to the tribe of Judah, meaning the kings will come from that tribe, obviously starting with David there. But we know that he also references that Shiloh will come — and that’s an idea that someday the King is going to come and He’s going to take over and He’s going to reign for eternity. That’s talking about Jesus again. And so the Lion from the tribe of Judah is like the King of kings.

Keith:
In the wording of the prophecy all the way back pre-king — hence that — what does it say? The Root of David, correct? And it’s a big deal.

Jamie:
And the Root of David goes back to Isaiah 11. Hey — I’m turning to Isaiah 11… maybe I should have used the digital Bible instead, because these pages—

Keith:
Well, this is where the preacher wants to say, “I still hear pages turning — we’ll wait.”

Jamie:
That’s going to be Isaiah 11 — the eleventh chapter of Isaiah. That’s what preachers do, in case you were wondering — it’s because they’re trying to find it themselves. Isaiah 11, verses 1 through 10:

11 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
²The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him —
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
³His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
⁴but He will judge the poor righteously
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline from His mouth,
and He will kill the wicked
with a command from His lips.
⁵Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.
⁶The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together,
and a child will lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
⁹None will harm or destroy another
on My entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the Lord
as the sea is filled with water.
¹⁰On that day the root of Jesse
will stand as a banner for the peoples.
The nations will seek Him,
and His resting place will be glorious.

I understand, again — this is a prophecy of Jesus that is going — He’s going to come. At this point this is obviously before He has come. And so this is who the Jews were looking for — this conquering king, okay? Now that’s very important, because they were looking for a conquering king. But when Jesus came, He did not conquer, so to speak, the way they thought He was going to in that moment — thinking He was going to free them from Roman oppression, right? And so here’s where it gets really exciting, because this conquering king — remember, “the Root of David has conquered,” is what it says in Revelation 5. And so when you read this, you’re like, “Okay, I see the Lion from the tribe of Judah. I hear you saying the Root of David, and it says that He’s conquered.” Well, how has He conquered? Because He came and He died, and then He rose again — and the Romans are still in control. They’re still in control. Still in control at this point. Now remember, they told him to turn and look. And when you turn and look, it says “the Lion from the tribe of Judah.” But when he turns and looks — in verse 6 — he sees One like a slaughtered Lamb standing in the midst of the throne. He does not see the Lion from the tribe of Judah, so to speak, like you would think you would turn and literally see some type of very strong, mighty force standing there.

Keith:
Like Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, right? Kind of a Mufasa — that’s right — big old lion.

Jamie:
Lion, lion — right. And instead he turns and he sees One like a slaughtered Lamb standing in the midst of the throne. Now just picture this for a minute — you’re John. You’ve lived with Jesus, you’ve walked with Jesus, you’ve seen Jesus. And then you turn expecting to see this lion, and instead you see One like a slaughtered Lamb. You see the scars in His hands. You see the scars in His feet. You see the scars in His side. And the idea you get kind of takes us back to the Passover lamb — you know, put the blood on your doorpost and it will cover you, and we’ll spare you from death.

Keith:
So — and I think too — it’s got to draw him back to what the Holy Spirit led him to write down by his own hands. “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.” That’s what he wrote down in John 1:29 — the words of John the Baptist. Like, I think this is a huge perspective change, because if anybody should have known the answer to “who is worthy” and not been so bereft that he’s crying, it’d be the disciple whom Jesus loved, right? But here he turns around and — I don’t know — it’s almost liberating. If John can forget, maybe it’s a little more understandable — sometimes not excusable, but at least understandable. If John, standing there in heaven, doesn’t immediately think, “Jesus is worthy,” — remember Him? — yeah, we need that reminder too. But I mean, he’s looking for this archetypal Lion of the tribe of Judah, this conquering leader. Maybe you think some kind of warrior angel is fit to come out and put a whooping on—I mean, he’s having this vision from a prison island in his 90s. He’s needing a little liberation, no doubt. But liberation theology doesn’t match up to the beauty of the Lamb standing as though slain.

Jamie:
And that’s key — what you just said — is that He’s standing. How many slaughtered lambs do you know that are standing?

Keith:
None.

Jamie:
None. That is the whole idea of slaughtering. But Jesus is standing. He isn’t timid, He isn’t laying down, He isn’t dead — He’s alive.

Keith:
And I think, going back to your — and I guess this is probably what you’re getting into — like things that are showing that He’s standing, He’s not propped up. He has seven horns — that fullness of strength. Seven eyes — that fullness of clarity and sight and knowledge and all of that representing the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. That the second person of the Godhead — still fully God, still fully man — fully alive and fully eternal. Because full death did nothing to stop Him.

Jamie:
Correct.

Keith:
That’ll preach — that’s what they say.

Jamie:
I can tell you want to do it, man.

Keith:
I’m trying to hold him back. It’s okay — saving a little bit for Sunday.

Jamie:
He turns — he sees Jesus standing in the midst of the throne, One like a slaughtered Lamb, but He’s standing to receive the scroll. The scroll that nobody has been found worthy to open at this point. But Jesus comes over, and at that moment when He takes that scroll, He identifies Himself as our kinsman-redeemer — the One that is worthy to open the scroll. The Root of David. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The all-conquering King. The all-prevailing Lord. The King of kings. The Lord of lords. I know you want to go, man. I know you want to go. Take it away.

Keith:
I mean — He’s the answer to the question. And you look at this, and I’m not trying to get ahead, but what’s so beautiful to me in the response of the elders and the myriads standing around the throne and all of the creatures there is their worship. Just like in the Old Testament, going all the way back to that praise song written by Moses — “the horse and the rider were thrown into the sea.” It’s in response to what they see there. Like they literally, spontaneously — Holy Spirit-led — sing a song about Him being worthy to take and open the scroll. And not just take it — to open it. He’s not worthy to hold it — it’s not a baton being passed on in some marathon race of faithfulness. He’s worthy to take it, to open it, because He was slain. And His blood ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And did what God said all the way back when He’s talking to Abraham, when He’s talking to Moses, when He’s talking to His people throughout the millennia — to make them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. This is the fulfillment of all these earthly things — and even it points to the ways that evil has tried to fight against the kingdom of God, but it can’t. It literally killed Jesus — God in flesh — and He didn’t stay dead. It didn’t take. Was it Peter who says in Acts chapter 3 that the pangs of death were unable to keep Him? You’ve got the beautiful resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul talks about the hope and glory that is in the resurrection. That we are saved by His finished work on the cross, but we’re kept and we get this eternal life through His resurrection. This is a huge deal right here, because nobody else can do that — which is why He alone is worthy. He’s singular. He’s holy. He’s unique. He’s God. And it’s just beautiful — beautiful.

Jamie:
Some of the commentaries I read through say that this is the greatest act in all of human history. And I think it’s fitting to look at it that way — that this is the culmination, this is the completion. And I know — I hate to even have to clarify this almost — but I do know there will be people listening to this that don’t know Christ. And in the next episode, Jesus is going to open the scroll — and when He opens the scroll, bad stuff is going to start happening, right? And so the idea would be, “You’re really excited about this scroll that’s bringing bad stuff about?” You know — what it’s bringing about is our inheritance, because we’re heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ, according to Paul in Romans chapter 8. And so I get where the idea could come from — “Well, you’re excited bad things are going to happen.” No, no, no, no, no. Understand this — throughout all of this, salvation is available. Salvation is available when these seals start breaking. Salvation is available later on in chapter 9, where it’s going to say, in essence, that this huge demonic army kills all these people, and then the people continue to worship the demons that were just killing them. So it’s still a choice. There’s still the opportunity to come to know Christ and repent here. So is it bringing about bad stuff? No. It’s bringing about what we deserve, which is God’s judgment.

Keith:
Kind of along the lines that you’re talking here — it’s not for us to be excited or terrified for what He’s going to bring about. We’re excited that it’s in His hands. That none of this stuff that happens is out of His control, outside the realm of His sovereignty. And it’s kind of like — and we’ve quoted Big John several times today — but his answer when people want to ask about the problem of evil: “Where is this good God in the midst of all this evil?” How can God still be good in the midst of the things we’re going to read about in the next chapter? If it wasn’t for this good God, there would be no goodness at all. It would just be the evil and wickedness that honestly we ourselves are no less capable of than the ones we would deem more wicked or more evil. The difference is what our good God does with it. And that’s the thing — it’s all in His hands now. He’s not playing with sin. He’s not playing with feelings. This is — I mean, when He came the first time, we got the Lamb. This time, we get the Lion. And that’s no light thing. It’s kind of like — y’all know I’m a nerd — in The Chronicles of Narnia, where Aslan is meant to be a picture of Jesus. One of the kids — I think it’s Lucy — asks, “Is he a safe lion?” And I think it’s the beaver who responds, “A safe lion? He’s a lion.” Like — ain’t nothing safe about a lion. Safety came when He came as the Lamb, taking away the sins of the world. Sins of the world have been taken away. He has conquered. Now you get the teeth.

Jamie:
Yep — that’s a good word.

Keith:
Sound effect — onomatopoeia.

Jamie:
Yep, that. So I don’t want to just keep harping on the same point over and over, because we could — I mean definitely this is very exciting. It’s very exciting to know how — not that one day I’ll get to go to heaven and have a big mansion and see streets of gold — but one day I’ll get to see the King of kings and Lord of lords who is worthy to open the scroll. Face to face.

Keith:
There’s no scenery even described in a lot of these places. When you’re in the presence of Jesus, in the presence of the throne, they’re not talking about all the things that sometimes we would sing about. All the rest of it pales in comparison to Him. When the Lamb stands as though slain, the eyes are on Him — not the floor.

Jamie:
And when we get to Revelation 21 we’ll talk a lot more about that. But we know there will be no sun or moon in the New Jerusalem, because the Trinity will be the light. There will be no shadows. There will be no dark corners. There will be no dark anything. They will be the light. We know there’s no temple because they’re there — there’s no need of a temple. And so yeah — it’s like all eyes on Him.

Keith:
Well, and Hebrews says all these things are shadows pointing to Christ — like that’s figurative shadows. But there will be no figurative nor literal shadows, right? Because all is light.

Jamie:
And I think — I almost feel like that’s a good place to stop. You know, we could continue on and talk about some little things here and there. But when you look at the song — that song — and then the second one, what they say — not a song again, it’s a recitation. Is that the right word?

Keith:
Yeah — well, I mean it says, “And they sang a new song, saying…” So it’s not about the musical aspect of it as much as it kind of reminds me of church traditions that’ll get to talking about shouting. Sometimes they’re singing — there’s a melodic thing to it — but it’s more about the substance than the song.

Jamie:
And that’s it. And the substance here is Jesus. You died for us. You were slaughtered. You purchased people by Your blood — not just a certain group of people, but people from every tribe and language and people and nation. And now because of that we can be saved. We can have a relationship with Christ. We can one day spend eternity with Him.

And in the second one — it’s every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and everything in them — this is like everybody, everything that he’s seeing here. They say, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” And then they fall down and worship. And I think when we begin to really dive into the book of Revelation and the rest of the Bible, that should be our response — to fall down in worship. And this is something I’m guilty of a lot of times — I’ll read just for the sake of reading, to do my reading for the day. But is there ever a moment during that reading where I stop and I just begin to worship the Lord because of what I read, because of who He is, because of what He did for me — because He’s worthy?

Keith:
And I mean, like Jamie said, this is a good time to segue into a close. That’s why we’re studying the book of Revelation like this. We’re not trying to answer every unanswerable question. We’re not trying to sweep out the nooks and crannies of prophecy. We’re not trying to convince anyone of our own wisdom or knowledge. We’re trying to point people to the Lamb. And so that’s what we close with today.

As we get ready next week to move into Revelation 6 and see what’s in the scroll, right now we leave you in the hands of Him holding the scroll — who’s worthy not only to hold it but able to open it. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. He is mighty. He’s high and lifted up. But He’s approachable.

I think Hebrews 4:15-16 is a good passage to end on — and again, if you’re listening and you’re part of Christ Community Church or The Foundry, we’ve been in the book of Hebrews for most of this year. I think it’s a good time to look at the approachable nature of our great God and King.

¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When you look at this, we see John moved by the presence of the Lamb in literally the shadow of the throne. He’s approachable. He is available for us.

Jamie talked about how we look at this — that while all this is going on, there’s still opportunity to be saved. It says multiple times in the Bible — I know in Isaiah — “Seek the Lord while He may be found.”

Well, sojourner, we have presented you the Lion, the Lamb, the King — our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What are you going to do with Him today?

He’s approachable.

He can be found.

Why don’t you seek Him?

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Re 5:1–14.

^[2] When Jamie reads from his Bible, it’s from the CSB (The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009)).

You are Invited to Celebrate RESURRECTION SUNDAY at Christ Community Church!

Sunday’s coming, and I’m excited!

But about 1,993 years ago today, the outlook seemed bleak.

For those living through the original Holy Week in the time depicted in the gospels, Saturday morning must have been a sad and scary time. They had lived through Jesus’s arrest – they had seen Him taken away, beaten, mocked, scourged (Matthew 26:47-68, 27:26-31). I can’t imagine how terrible the cries of “Crucify Him!” and “Behold your king!” had been (Luke 23:21, John 19:14-15).

Then, all of the times that Jesus had prophesied His death had come true (Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34). He had walked out of Pilate’s compound carrying His cross (John 19:16-17), a crown of thorns ripping into His scalp and forehead (John 19:2-3), bloody and bowed while struggling under the weight. Imagine seeing Him walk the road to the place of the Skull (Luke 23:26, 33), laying the cross down and being laid down on it.

Could they watch as His arms were stretched wide and the nails were hammered into His hands and feet? Could they look upon Him as He was pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5) – as the cross was lifted and plunked in a hole as it was stood up?

He had told them all of this time and again. Didn’t He tell them of His conversation with Nicodemus when He said that He would be lifted up so that all who look upon Him may believe in Him and have eternal life (John 3:14-15)? Oh, how that prophesy must’ve seemed thin at that moment as His life drew to an end.

But Sunday was coming….

The spectators of His crucifixion would have heard Him cry out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). It must have sure seemed so to see His body taken down, carried to the cemetery, and laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). Think of the finality of the heavy stone rolled by multiple men into place (Matthew 27:60).

So, as Saturday dawned the next day, I don’t imagine it was a scene of celebration. The Bible doesn’t tell Saturday’s story, but we know that the powers-that-be who were used of Satan thought they had won. They had sealed the tomb and set a guard because they thought Jesus’s followers would try to steal the body (Matthew 27:62-66). But His followers were not a political or religious movement. His followers were His friends – those whose lives had been changed by Him, those who had believed and received life in His name (John 1:12). They were in mourning because the Teacher was dead. They were in mourning that they had doubted or denied Him (Luke 22:61-62). They were afraid because, if the powers-that-be had been able to kill Him, there’s no limit to what could be done to them (John 20:19). So, they huddled in the upper room with the table where they had their last supper with Him (Luke 22:14-20, John 20:19).

But Sunday was coming.

I cannot begin to explain what happened – that’s above my pay grade, so to speak, but think of all we know of life and death: it came untrue! The lifeless body of Jesus, truly dead and laid in the tomb, began to live again! The decay of His corpse reversed. Synapses in His brain fired. His bloodless heart pumped fresh. The torn and ripped skin on His back healed. The lungs that breathed the breath of life into Adam filled once more. The Lamb of God, looking as if He had been slain – because He had, stood of His own power (Revelation 5:6, John 10:18). The nail pierced hands took the grave clothes, folded them carefully, and laid them at the foot of the bier (John 20:6-7). Then, the maker of the stone willed it to move aside, needing no help because He was no mere mortal man. God who put on flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) – who had died in our place (1 Peter 2:24) – rose again in power (Romans 6:9, Acts 2:24), putting off mortality so that those who put their faith in Him could put on His immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53-54).

It was Sunday, and Jesus had risen as He had said (Matthew 28:6).

The stone rolled away, light blinded and incapacitated the feeble guards keeping watch over His tomb (Matthew 28:2-4). The Author of Life and inventor of humanity could not be held by death because it wasn’t for Him (Acts 3:15, 2:24). The Lion of Judah had laid down His life as the Lamb of God (Revelation 5:5-6, John 1:29), and now walks forth in victory, every step announcing defeat – defeat of death and hell and putting Satan to open shame because His work was finished (Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 2:14).

Sunday came!

For the last 1,993 years, every Sunday has been a celebration and reminder that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive. Every, single Sunday His followers have gathered in worship of Him, looking for His return (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2). In that sense, Sunday is coming again because we have the hope that He who came to save us by dying for our sin in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) is He who could not be held by death. And if He can’t be stopped by death, He must surely be able to return as He has said (Acts 1:11). He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

That’s why we gather. That’s why we celebrate.

So, tomorrow, we will lift our voices in worship because He is risen as He said. John will open the Scriptures and point us to Jesus – who He is and what He has done. We have the opportunity to celebrate that He who is alive offers life eternal to those who trust in Him (John 11:25-26). And YOU are invited to gather with us.

Won’t you join us?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

Call to Worship | “Blessed is the King (Hosanna)” —
Scripture Inspiration: cf. Psalm 118:19-29, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:29-38, Philippians 2:5-11; Isaiah 26:2, Psalm 100:4, Psalm 107:22, John 1:29, Zechariah 9:9, Hebrews 9:26, Luke 2:25-26, John 12:13, Luke 2:11, Revelation 19:1, John 6:15, Matthew 11:29, Isaiah 9:2, John 1:4-5, John 8:12, Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6-7, Luke 19:10, 1 Timothy 1:15, John 18:36, Hebrews 12:2, Revelation 19:16, Colossians 3:1-2, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Revelation 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Revelation 5:6, Matthew 28:5-6, John 19:30, Revelation 21:6, Revelation 1:18, Acts 2:33, Ephesians 1:20-21, Acts 1:11, Revelation 22:12, 1 Corinthians 16:22, Revelation 22:20, Psalm 47:6-7, Psalm 145:1-2, Romans 10:9

Scripture | 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 —

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….

Song | “King of Kings” —
Scripture Inspiration: Proverbs 4:19, John 3:19-21, Ephesians 2:1, Philippians 2:5-11, Matthew 5:17, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:31, Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:7, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 8:1, John 1:14, Psalm 136:3, Matthew 28:18, Revelation 19:16, Matthew 13:24-52, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Isaiah 53, John 3:16, Romans 5:6-10, Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14, Titus 2:14, Acts 4:33, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Matthew 27:52-53, Luke 15:7, Acts 2:1-4, Matthew 24:35, Ephesians 1:7, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11

Scripture | Revelation 7:9-12 —

⁹After 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, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹And 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, ¹²saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Song | “Worthy of It All” —
Scripture Inspiration: Revelation 4:10-11, Revelation 7:9-17, Isaiah 53:7, John 1:29, Revelation 5:6-13, Romans 11:36, Malachi 1:11

Song | “Holy, Holy, Holy (Jesus Reigns)” —
Scripture Inspiration: Isaiah 6:1-7, Revelation 4:5-11, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Genesis 17:1, Revelation 1:8, Psalm 59:16, Psalm 86:5, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 John 4:19-20, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Revelation 11:17, Revelation 22:13, John 3:20, Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 92:15, Philippians 2:10-11 (Help/guidance from Scripture with the doctrine of the Trinity: Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 2), Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry)

Scripture | 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 —

⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
⁵⁵“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Song | “Ain’t No Grave” —
Scripture Inspiration: John 8:34, Romans 6:6, 1 John 4:8, 1 Chronicles 28:20, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, John 8:44, 1 Peter 5:8, Revelation 12:9, Genesis 3:15, Ephesians 6:11-18, Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 5:5, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Invitation | “Thank You Jesus for the Blood” —
Scripture Inspiration: Deuteronomy 6:5, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 64:8, Psalm 139:16, Deuteronomy 6:7, Psalm 113:3, 2 Timothy 2:13, Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 145:9, Psalm 150:6, Psalm 107:1, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Hebrews 1:3, Isaiah 43:1-3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, John 15:14-15, Psalm 23:6, Luke 9:23-24

Offertory | “Come Jesus Come” —
Scripture Inspiration: Revelation 22:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Romans 13:11-12, John 17:24, Romans 6:9, John 10:18, Col0ossians 2:13-15, Matthew 28:18-20, Titus 2:13, Matthew 25:31, Revelation 1:7, Hebrews 9:28

NT260 Finale | Phase 4.2 — That You May Believe

This phase reflects contains the apostle John’s writings. His gospel and letters teach us how to walk in truth in love. Revelation closes the New Testament with a powerful vision of Jesus’s return and eternal reign.

Phase 4 is the embodiment of two passages from the end of John’s gospel, so we’ll let the Holy Spirit through John explain:

John 20:30-31 —

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 21:24-25 —

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

These verses not only represent John’s aim when writing as he was “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21); they represent our heart in seeking to get folks into God’s Word — “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name
(John 20:31). Our goal isn’t clicks or likes or to give ribbons for finishing a reading plan. We want to see Jesus high and lifted up. And while there are many books written about Him and “the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25) if every moment of His life on earth were recorded, there is no books greater than those of holy Scripture to introduce us God in flesh than the New Testament.

Let’s dig in together and finish well — let us seek and see Jesus together!

Below, you’ll find brief synopses of each book in this phase to help you understand the scope of the book and most importantly, how it fits into the full Story of the Bible.

When you click on each day’s link, you will find a link to audio, a summary of the chapter, a key verse from the chapter, and opportunities for reflection and outreach.

We’re moving into Paul’s epistles, which we’ll go through chronologically rather than in the order they appear in our Bibles.

2-3 John

Revelation

The book of Revelation opens with these words: “The revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). This is not first a book about timelines, symbols, or end-times speculation—it is an unveiling of Jesus. Through vivid imagery and powerful visions, Revelation pulls back the curtain to show what is really true: Jesus is risen, reigning, and returning. Much of its language and imagery draw from the Old Testament—especially books like Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah—so that what may seem strange at first is actually deeply rooted in God’s earlier promises. Because of this, Revelation is not always meant to be read in a strictly literal or step-by-step way like other New Testament books. It is a picture-rich, symbol-heavy book meant to reveal truth, not hide it.

At the center of everything Revelation shows us is Jesus Himself. He is the Son of Man walking among His churches (1:12–13), the Lamb who was slain and yet stands victorious (5:6), the King of kings who rules over history (19:16), and the One who will make all things new (21:5). Revelation reminds us that behind the visible world is a greater reality—one where Christ has already secured the victory through His death and resurrection (Col. 2:15), and where every enemy will ultimately be defeated. No matter how chaotic things may appear, Jesus is not absent. He is reigning now, and He will return to judge evil, rescue His people, and establish His kingdom forever.

Revelation was written to real churches facing real pressure—persecution, compromise, and the temptation to give up. Like the Gospel of John, it calls us to believe—but here, that belief is strengthened in the face of suffering and uncertainty. As we read, we are not trying to decode every symbol or map out every detail. Instead, we are looking to see Jesus more clearly, trust Him more fully, and follow Him more faithfully. This book calls us to endure, to remain faithful, and to worship the One who holds all things in His hands. In the end, Revelation is not meant to confuse us, but to anchor us: Jesus wins—and all who belong to Him will share in His victory.

To help, Jamie Harrison and I (Keith) have been walking through Revelation in a series of Bible studies called The KING is Coming; check them out!

Because Revelation is unique, our daily reading helps will look a little different than the rest of NT260. Instead of only summarizing each chapter, each day will include (1) a brief overview of the chapter to help you follow the flow, and (2) a focused paragraph highlighting what that chapter reveals about Jesus. From there, we’ll continue with a key verse, a personal reflection, and a mission challenge just like the rest of the plan. The goal is not to untangle every detail, but to keep our eyes fixed on Christ—to see Him clearly in every chapter and respond in faith, worship, and obedience.

Thanks for joining us in the NT260 readings! It is our prayer that the time in God’s Word has led your heart to worship Jesus and grow close to Him.

Our next Bible reading plan is called See JESUS in the Old Testament — won’t you consider continuing in the Word to worship Jesus and continually grow closer to Him?

“Before the Throne of God Above” from Revelation 4 — a Refresh & Restore Bible Study

We’re back in our study of Revelation called The KING is Coming, where we’re taking a verse-by-verse approach to see what the book truly reveals—Jesus Christ Himself. As always, I’m joined by Jamie Harrison, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to walk through this study together. Today, we’ll be moving out of the letters from Jesus to the churches and into the rest of the Revelation of Jesus Christ with Revelation 4:

4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. ³And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. ⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, ⁶and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. ⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”^[1]

Keith Harris:
Greetings, sojourners. We have a lot to dive into today, and frankly I am excited. I’m beside myself — and also beside Jamie. Jamie, talk to us about Revelation 4. Yes, yes — threw you off with that.

Jamie Harrison:
Yes, yes you did. So we have here — just to get started — to remind you the timeline of Revelation from this point forward. So we finished the seven letters to the churches, and from here on out we have to understand that the timeline is what John saw next. So does this mean historically this is what did happen or will happen, or whatever is happening right now? No. It’s just what John saw next.

Keith:
So does it mean it’s not?

Jamie:
No — it’s just what John saw next.

And so it starts by^[2], “After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door.” And we learned just a couple of weeks back that Jesus is the one who opens doors. So Jesus opens this door, and the first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet — now we know that that first voice he heard was Jesus way back in chapter 1, verse 10 — and he speaks to him again in a voice sounding like a trumpet. And he says, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

And so again, what John saw next — this is what’s going to take place after this. After what? We don’t know. We have no idea. But what we do know is what’s going to take place next — right, at some point.

And so just to hit real quick on the trumpet deal — because of what’s coming up in Revelation — the idea of a trumpet in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, would have been something that was used to signal a warning. Like a warning that maybe there was an enemy approaching and a war was about to happen. Sometimes they would blow a trumpet to signify that the Lord had delivered a message, and then they would deliver the message.

Keith:
And so I know those are both really negative sounds, and this isn’t necessarily one of those, but it kind of makes me think about in today’s time like a tornado siren or the sound your phone makes when an emergency alert comes through. And again, I’m not saying that it’s exactly that — those are very negative in our minds — but they get your attention.

You know, when you hear those, stop what you’re doing. Listen.

Jamie:
That’s right. And so that’s the idea here. And again, in every single letter that we read — all seven letters — it was “For those who have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”

And so here again Jesus is saying — voice like a trumpet — you better listen. I’m trying to tell you.

And so immediately John is in the Spirit, and there’s a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it. So he is taken to the throne room, which is pretty awesome — somewhere that I look forward to seeing one day, whatever that’s going to look like. Jesus will be there. I’ll be there. It’s going to be pretty awesome.

And so what we do know is that from here on out the focal point of the book of Revelation is the throne room. Every time something happens we’re going to be taken back to the throne room. Something will happen — we’ll be taken back to the throne room.

Fourteen times in chapters 4 or 5 — fourteen times in just chapters 4 and 5 — the throne room is talked about. In the rest of the book of Revelation, forty-six times the throne room is mentioned, with God the Father of course being the one sitting on the throne.

And so again, just to help you understand that: what is the setting of the rest of this book of Revelation? It’s the throne room. It’s centered around the Godhead.

Keith:
And one thing, just as you were describing that — you know a lot of times in literature or movies, if you’ve got a king and a battle is going to be waged, the throne room is kind of like that last resort, like a place of safety. But we also know the throne room is at risk.

None of those times in the book of Revelation is the Godhead in the throne room hiding. Nothing’s — there’s no catapult of hell, so to speak, in danger of reaching them. God is so high and lifted up and unapproachable.

And so God — this is a place of safety and security beyond our greatest fears. God’s in no danger whatsoever. And so in that case, even despite worldly danger, that tells us the things in here that frighten us — we’re safe in the arms of Christ.

Jamie:
And so John goes into a description of what he sees. And again, so many times in Revelation we get descriptions of things, and it’s just the best John could do to describe what he saw. I think some of these things he probably didn’t have words for, and so this is the best thing he could compare it to.

And so he tells us that the one seated on the throne — verse 3 — had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone, and a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.

And so the jasper and carnelian stone of course were in the breastplate of the high priest back in Exodus 28 — you can see that. Jasper being a crystal-clear gem, diamond-looking, reflects all — refracts all — the colors of the spectrum in wonder. It’s brilliant.

So just think about that for a second — refracting all of these colors of the spectrum in this brilliance is what it looks like to him.

Keith:
So more shiny and shining than the shiniest, brightest thing we can come up with.

Jamie:
That’s right. And carnelian stone — or sardius stone — which is a fiery, bright ruby-looking red stone. So you put all that together, and so far that’s the description we have of what he sees when he looks at God.

And then you get this rainbow that has the appearance of an emerald — of course an emerald being like this cool green hue — dominates the rainbow that he sees that is surrounding the throne.

And remember that a rainbow back in Genesis is the sign of God’s faithfulness to keep His word and His promise that He gave to us then. And so I want to just kind of stop there for a minute and point out that what he’s seeing here is God’s glory. He is seeing the glory of God and describing it the best way that he possibly can.

But you have this rainbow that surrounds the throne. It’s not a half rainbow like we see — this is the full rainbow. This is the complete promise of God. This is the complete fulfillment. This is His mercy even in judgment. This is all of these things completed around Him.

And I’ve got Keith who’s going to read this cool deal from the Jesus Storybook Bible. And if you want to kind of talk about it and then read it.

Keith:
Yeah. The Jesus Storybook Bible is not a translation of the Bible, but it’s where Sally Lloyd-Jones has tried to communicate through all the parts of the Bible to children who God is in Christ. And so this is from the chapter on the flood.

“The first thing Noah did was to thank God for rescuing them, just as He had promised.
“And the first thing God did was to make another promise. ‘I won’t ever destroy the world again.’ And like a warrior who puts away his bow at the end of a great battle. God said, ‘See, I have hung up my bow in the clouds.’
“And there, in the clouds – just where the storm meets the sun – was a beautiful bow made of light.
“It was a new beginning in God’s world.
“It wasn’t long before everything went wrong again, but God wasn’t surprised; He knew this would happen. That’s why, before the beginning of time, He had another plan – a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world but to rescue it – a plan to one day send His own Son, the Rescuer. “God’s strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more – but not on His people, or His world. No, God’s war bow was not pointing down at His people.
“It was pointing up, into the heart of Heaven.”^[3]

Jamie:
So again, that rainbow signifying that promise — Jesus took the wrath for us so that we could be saved. And this is what we are seeing in the throne room — His complete promise, His glory.

So again, that rainbow signifying that promise — Jesus took the wrath for us so that we could be saved. And this is what we are seeing in the throne room: His complete promise, His glory.

And I want to read a little excerpt from a book by Paul David Tripp called Do You Believe? This is from pages 69 and 70. I think that covers us on copyright stuff. Is that accurate?

Keith:
Yes. And then write this stuff — we’re quoting it.

Jamie:
This is quotation marks.

“Glory is not a thing like a shoe, a steak, a candle, or a cottage. Those are particular physical things that can be carefully described by words so that you would immediately have an accurate picture in your mind of what is being talked about. One could draw a picture or take a photograph of a shoe, and you could see it and know what it was, but glory is not like that. No single picture could ever capture glory. Glory simply cannot be photographed. Glory is not so much a thing as it is a description of a thing. Glory is not a part of God; it is all that God is. Every aspect of who God is and every part of what God does is glorious. But that’s not even enough of a description of God’s glory. Not only is He glorious in every way, but His glory is glorious.
“Scripture does, however, put the hugeness of the glory of God into the smallness of human language so that we can at least get some sense of what it’s like. For example, the prophet Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 40, stretches human language in order to give us a little glimpse of God’s glory. ‘Who has measured the water in the hollow of his hand?’ Imagine how much water you could hold in the palm of your hand, then consider that God could hold all of the liquid in the universe in His hand and not spill a drop! ‘Who has…weighed the mountains in scales? … Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket [to God]. … He spreads [the heavens] like a tent to dwell in’ (Isa. 40:12, 15, 22). Isaiah is employing incalculably huge word pictures to help us to have even a twinge of understanding of how glorious God is. Yet even these very picturesque and helpful descriptions fall miserably short of capturing the awesome glory of God.
“We cannot gain a full understanding of the glory of God from a few passages, because the reason glory is glory is because it lives above and beyond that kind of description and definition. You can say for sure that God is glorious, because your Bible declares He is, but you cannot accurately and fully describe in words the glory that Scripture declares. Perhaps the only workable path 9into some understanding of the grandeur of the glory of God is to read the entire Word of God again and again, looking for divine glory. Why? Because the glory of God isn’t hidden in His Word; no, His glory is so grand that it splashes across every page of His book.”^[4]

Keith:
One thing’s for sure — there’s awe in everything John writes. Like, this is John, good friend to Jesus on earth. And he’s not saying, “Hey, that’s my buddy.” That’s my God. That’s the throne. That’s — it’s amazing, glorious.

And again, there’s nothing we can say that’s going to do it justice.

Jamie:
That’s right. And you can go to Revelation 21:9–27 and look at New Jerusalem. That’s what heaven will be — what it will look like. And it talks about God’s glory and how glorious it is.

But again, it’s something that is indescribable — or undescribable? Is that the — it’s both of them.

Keith:
It’s both of them.

Jamie:
Yes, it is. I wasn’t sure if that was even a word until just then. So John moves on and he says in verse 4:

“Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes with golden crowns on their heads.”

And these twenty-four elders throw a lot of people off. You know — who are they? What are they? What do they represent? Are they really twenty-four people?

And the answer is: we don’t know. Because it doesn’t tell us.

You know, I can tell you that in Revelation 21:12–14 the Bible talks about the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. And it could be that these twenty-four elders are literally those people. It could be that they’re representation of those people. It could be that they represent the fact that every human being — despite race, despite ethnicity, despite whatever you want to fill in the blank with — will be in heaven if they have a relationship with Christ.

It could represent that — so to speak — the complete church.

Keith:
It could be representatives from the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles.

Jamie:
That’s right.

Keith:
If you’ve got that many “could be’s,” then we need to look at what can we know for sure.

Jamie:
That’s right.

Keith:
That’s the big deal with the study of Revelation — or any sort of prophetic book like this. We want to find our favorite preacher guys or writers to tell us definitively, because we get comfort from it.

I get comfort from having a God who’s so big that He doesn’t need me to know everything. That kind of tells me in some cases — if you’ve got something that’s completely explainable by the mind of man, some dude made it up, right?

And this is so otherworldly that, like Jamie said, John’s doing the best he can.

Jamie:
The absolute best he can.

And now on that thought, we do know in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 9 where God sits down on His throne, and you look around — there’s other empty thrones around Him in Daniel. And now when John sees them, there are twenty-four people sitting on them.

Keith:
So what was empty is, at this point, going to be full.

Jamie:
That’s right.

Keith:
Now full with who?

Jamie:
Again, we don’t know. And I think that’s okay.

Keith:
Well — and well, I know that’s okay.

When you look at this, the point of them — just like when you see angels in Scripture — they’re very quick to say, “Hey, don’t worship me. I worship the One worthy of worship.”

Their whole everything is to say, “Look — look to the throne. Look to Jesus.” They’re not in any sense saying, “Hey, we’ve arrived. Look at how good we are.” They lay their crowns down. They are continually in worship of the One.

So who the twenty-four are — they would say very clearly, “We point to Him.”

Jamie:
That’s right.

Keith:
And so I think that’s enough for me.

Jamie:
And when we see them, we see that they lay their crowns down before the throne.

Keith:
That’s exactly right — which the only reason we know they have crowns is because it tells us they have them.

Jamie:
That’s right.

Keith:
And then it tells us they lay them down.

Jamie:
That’s right.

And so it goes on from there in verse 5: flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne.

And this reminds me of Exodus 19 and Exodus 20 where God speaks through the thunder right before He gives the laws and punishments. So kind of another idea of God speaking here.

Flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder come from the throne. And then if you look further in Revelation — Revelation 8:5, 11:19, and 16:18 — that lightning and thunder is a sign of the fury of the judgment to come.

So it’s kind of like God is about to speak, or God is speaking through this to help us understand, to get ready for the fact that His judgment is coming. His judgment is going to be complete, and it is going to be furious.

And we’ll get there in a few chapters. But it is — it’s intense, I think may be the best word I can think of.

And it goes on — same verse, verse 5 — seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And we know that to be the Holy Spirit, as we’ve talked about before.

Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne.

And notice he says “something like a sea of glass.” So is it a sea of glass? No, it’s not. It’s something like that — meaning that it’s some type of crystal-clear pavement that’s around God’s throne that looks like some kind of glistening sea.

A lot of the commentaries that you read say that this is a symbol of God’s holiness. And I’m — you know — I’ll go with those guys. They’re a lot smarter than me.

But we do know that Revelation 15:2 and 21:1 say there’s no sea in heaven. So it’s not a literal sea, but it is some type of idea of His holiness and that it’s around His throne.

But again, I think it just goes to the fact that there are these things that are indescribable that John’s doing the best he can to describe.

Keith:
Well, and employing language that we use — and again this is an English translation of the Greek — but that’s the language we use when we don’t know how to describe something. We use similes.

And he says, “as it were a sea of glass like crystal.” He’s literally trying to describe this.

But again he keeps making a beeline back to the throne, back to God, back to the praises — because a lot of the stuff that we very easily get caught up on are trappings, wall hangings, adornments, decorations. Jesus is the main thing.

Jamie:
That’s exactly right. And so he goes on again in verse 6 to talk about four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back, and they’re around the throne on each side. And that’s kind of a freaky—

Keith:
Yeah.

Jamie:
—I wouldn’t think about these as Precious Moments cherubim. And then he describes the four living creatures. And now remember, before we go into this, that we’ve already got the rainbow surrounding the throne, which is going to be your Noahic covenant.

And now here we go. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

Now if you’ve got your Bible with us, turn to Genesis 9 — going almost all the way back to the beginning here — Genesis chapter 9. And we look at verses 8 through 11 and it says:

⁸Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹“Understand that I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And you notice every single thing that is listed here is exactly who these four living creatures appear to be in Revelation. So it tells us in Revelation that one looked like a lion, and this covenant is with the beast of the earth — or the wildlife of the earth. In Revelation it says one looks like a calf. Well here you have that — it tells us livestock or cattle. And in Revelation it says the face of a man. Well it tells us that with you, Noah, and your descendants after you — that’s man. And then you have like a flying eagle, and it tells us with the birds or the fowl.

And so it appears as though these four living creatures would be representative of this Noahic covenant. In other words, His promises that He is not going to flood the earth again. In fact, He’s going to send His Son to die on a cross, to be raised again three days later so that we could be saved.

And so all of this again going back to Jesus — every bit of it. Did you have something you wanted to add there?

Keith:
No, just a thought — or take away. I thought of a phrase from Scripture. I don’t have the address right off the top of my head, but it says, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” He’s not going to flood in wrath anymore, but instead with His glory.

And we’ve already said that it’s incalculable, indescribable. But at this point we just see Him better. Again, if you can look in Revelation 4 and go back and see ties to Genesis, there’s a reason God does that — and it’s to show us He’s got this.

He knows what He’s doing. He’s not saying stuff by accident. He’s got a definite plan that has already been fulfilled and victorious while we’re waiting for it to pan out. He’s 100% sure on it. He sat down, right?

If we’re looking at creation — seventh day is a day of rest. We’re reading about Revelation wondering what’s going to happen this day, that day, this year, that year. God’s already said it and sat down.It’s finished.

Jamie:
And I think on that note it’s cool to point out — which I feel like this is related here — but in the temple, the Holy of Holies, all of these things that they built in the Old Testament and performed sacrifices in… what’s the one piece of furniture that wasn’t there?

Keith:
Nothing to sit on — except for the mercy seat.

Jamie:
That’s right. There’s no chair for the priest — the high priest — because those sacrifices were never ending. They continued on and on and on. But once Jesus raises again three days later, what does He do?

Keith:
Sits down.

Jamie:
Sits down.

Keith:
Well, I know this doesn’t directly tie, but thinking about who’s sitting on those twenty-four thrones — we ain’t got to worry about it. We don’t need to be looking for a place to sit down. It’s occupied.

Jamie:
That’s accurate. And so what are these four living creatures doing while they’re in heaven? Verse 8 says each of the four living creatures has six wings. They’re covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop saying:

Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying,

Holy, holy, holy,

Lord God, the Almighty,

who was, who is, and who is to come.

Keith:
And that’s the address I was looking for earlier — Isaiah 6. That’s what the angels there are saying in the throne room.

And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Jamie:
And to what Keith spoke about earlier, the next couple of verses say that whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne — the One who lives forever and ever — which we know is day and night, they never stop saying it.

It says the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne and worship the One who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne and say:

¹⁰…the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,

¹¹Our Lord and God,

you are worthy to receive

glory and honor and power,

because you have created all things,

and by your will

they exist and were created.

And so I think it’s just awesome to think about heaven for a second, right? This throne room — you’ve got these four living creatures constantly crying out to the Lord. You’ve got these twenty-four elders constantly crying out to the Lord and worshiping the Lord and praising the Lord. And His glory and His brilliance is there, and this rainbow is there. Just how awesome it’s going to be if we have a relationship with Him.

Keith:
And again that’s the kicker. When we look at these things, a lot of time is spent in the world today — more “Christian” books written on the end times than any other particular subject — because people want to know what Jesus says cannot be known. He doesn’t know the day or the hour. And if Jesus isn’t read in on it, there’s not a soul on the earth who’s going to be like, “You know…”

Because here’s the thing: what we can know is Jesus is worthy. Jesus is God. And when we see these descriptions we should be moved, at the very least, to be like Isaiah in his vision of the throne room:

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

When we look at these we need to be moved to worship. It should drive us to our faces. It should drive us toward His throne. It should drive us — for all the things that we think we have that are of worth, which is nothing comparable to a crown of an elder with a throne around His throne — to focus on the worthiness of Him.

When we move forward in Revelation that is a consistent theme: the glory of God on full display. Him being God, being all powerful, not being in danger. War being made against Him and Him being able to fell all the forces of evil with a word. It’s not going to be a battle. It’s not going to be a fight. We’ve got a toothless lion seeking to devour and destroy. But as we’ll see next week, seated on the throne—

Jamie:
—Is the Lion.

And I want to just say this before we close out, kind of to piggyback on what Keith said. I think it’s important to note that these elders and these living creatures aren’t worshiping God because of what He did for them. They’re not worshiping Him because of what He can offer. They’re not worshiping Him because He filled their bank accounts up or He did this or did that or whatever. A lot of times as believers — I’m not going to say a lot of times — sometimes we get caught up in that. “Well, God blessed me with this,” or “God’s given me that.” But we worship Him because He is who He is.

Keith:
And the Bible does describe being thankful and grateful in our worship to Him for what He’s done — yes. But if He had done nothing for us, He’s still worthy.

Earlier we mentioned Philippians 2 — that because Jesus is who He is and He’s done what He’s done, God has bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.

⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

These are people who didn’t want Jesus, don’t want to fool with Him, aren’t bowing in worship — they’re bowing in submission and subjection because He is the King. And when it’s time to bow, you bow.

So whether it be like the elders casting their crowns before the throne, or those under the earth bowing in subjection — Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. He lives forever and ever. He is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. He created everything. It’s by His will they exist. It’s by His will that we were created. By the word of His power that it’s all held together.

And He is thrice holy. Holy, holy, holy.

How will you stand — or kneel — in response to the King?

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Re 4:1–11.

^[2] When Jamie cites Scripture, it’s from the CSB – The Christian Standard Bible (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017).

^[3] Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name, illus. Jago (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 46–47.

^[4] Paul David Tripp, Do You Believe?: 12 Historic Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 69–70.

NT260 | Phase 4.1 — That You May Believe

Phase 4 is the embodiment of two passages from the end of John’s gospel, so we’ll let the Holy Spirit through John explain:

John 20:30-31 —

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 21:24-25 —

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Let’s dig in together and finish well — let us seek and see Jesus together!

Below, you’ll find brief synopses of each book in this phase to help you understand the scope of the book and most importantly, how it fits into the full Story of the Bible.

When you click on each day’s link, you will find a link to audio, a summary of the chapter, a key verse from the chapter, and opportunities for reflection and outreach.

We’re moving into Paul’s epistles, which we’ll go through chronologically rather than in the order they appear in our Bibles.

John

The Gospel of John was written by John the son of Zebedee—one of the twelve apostles — and the author identifies himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 19:26, 21:24). Early church testimony strongly supports this, and John’s Gospel reads like the work of an eyewitness who carefully chose what to include so readers would see Jesus clearly. John likely wrote from Ephesus in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), and the date is commonly placed late in the first century (often around AD 70–100, with many suggesting roughly AD 80–90). John writes with both Jews and Gentiles in mind, often explaining Jewish customs and terms, and he aims for wide circulation beyond one local church setting.

John’s purpose is stated plainly: these things “have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31). In the story of salvation, John presents Jesus as God in the flesh—the Word who “became flesh” (John 1:14) — who reveals the Father perfectly (John 14:9) and fulfills the hopes and promises of the Old Testament. John highlights Jesus as the true center of worship and redemption, especially powerful in light of the temple’s destruction, showing that God’s saving presence is found in Jesus himself (John 2:19–21). The climax of that fulfillment comes through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, where the Lamb of God gives His life to save sinners and to bring eternal life to all who believe (John 1:29, 3:16).

John builds his Gospel around powerful “signs” and deep conversations that point beyond miracles to who Jesus truly is. Again and again, Jesus shows that He is not merely a teacher but the divine Savior: the “I Am” who gives light, life, and a sure hope that begins now and lasts forever (John 8:12, 11:25–26, 14:6). John also stresses that believing is not just agreeing with facts — it is trusting Jesus personally, receiving Him, and resting in His saving work (John 1:12, 5:24). The Gospel calls readers to a decision: to come to the Son, to know the Father, and to live—because in Jesus, God has come near to rescue, redeem, and restore.

1 John

1 John was written by the apostle John — the “beloved disciple” who witnessed Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances (1 John 1:1–3; cf. John 13:23; 20:2–10; 21:7, 20). The strong early church testimony and the striking overlap in vocabulary, themes, and tone with John’s Gospel point to the same author, writing with the authority of an elder statesman who is well-known to his readers. John likely wrote from Ephesus to a network of churches in Asia Minor, sometime late in the first century (often dated in the early-to-mid 90s), after the Gospel of John but before the close of John’s life.

John writes to strengthen believers who have been shaken by false teachers and by a painful “going out” from within the church (1 John 2:19). These opponents denied core truths about Jesus — especially that He is the Christ, the Son of God come in the flesh — and their theology spilled into twisted living and broken love (1 John 2:22–23, 4:2–3, 3:10–18). Rather than offering speculation, John calls Christians back to the basics: true doctrine about Christ, obedient living, and sincere love for one another — because “God is light” and “God is love” (1 John 1:5, 4:8). His aim is not to crush tender consciences but to steady them, so they can know they truly belong to God and rejoice in the gospel God has accomplished.

At the heart of 1 John is assurance grounded in what God has done in His Son: Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the advocate for believers when we sin (1 John 2:1–2, 4:10). Those who truly know God will not be perfect, but they will be marked over time by walking in the light, confessing sin, obeying Christ’s commands, and loving the brothers and sisters in practical ways (1 John 1:7–9, 2:3–6, 3:16–18). John’s repeated “tests” are not a ladder to earn salvation but a way to recognize real life — because eternal life is found “in his Son,” and John writes “that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11–13).

FINISH reading in our NT260 plan with the final section, the second part of Phase 4 — That You May Believe.

NT260 | Phase 3 — Persevering in the Last Day

This phase reflects the influence of Peter. The Gospel of Mark is widely understood to preserve Peter’s preaching and eyewitness testimony. Peter’s letters call believers to faithfulness in suffering, holiness in a hostile world, and hope anchored in the return of Christ. Jude echoes those same concerns, warning against false teachers and urging the church to contend for the faith—making it a fitting companion to 2 Peter.

What makes this transition especially meaningful is where Phase 2 ended. Our final reading in Phase 2 was 2 Timothy 4, the ending to Paul’s final letter, written from prison as he awaited martyrdom. In that chapter, Paul asked Timothy to bring John Mark with him, saying, “for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). That single line carries a beautiful story of restoration. Earlier in Acts, Mark had withdrawn from missionary work, leading to a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:13, 15:36–40). Yet years later, as Paul’s life and ministry draw to a close, Mark is not only restored — but trusted.

This restoration had already begun. During Paul’s earlier imprisonment, Mark was with him, and Paul instructed the churches to welcome him (Colossians 4:10). By the time Paul writes his final words, Mark is no longer a cautionary tale but a valued coworker.

It is no accident — at least not in the ultimate sense — but neither is it the result of our own brilliant planning. This is one of those quiet God-winks that reminds us the Lord is always telling a bigger story than we realize. As Phase 2 ends with Paul’s final words and his restored confidence in John Mark, Phase 3 begins with Mark’s Gospel. The man once known for faltering becomes the one entrusted with recording Peter’s testimony about Jesus. The gospel that opens this phase is written by a restored servant, shaped by an apostle who knew suffering well, and given to a church learning how to endure faithfully until the end.

Phase 3, then, is not only about persevering in the last days — it is about the God who restores His people, strengthens them through trial, guards them from error, and keeps them faithful until Christ returns.

Below, you’ll find brief synopses of each book in this phase to help you understand the scope of the book and most importantly, how it fits into the full Story of the Bible.

When you click on each day’s link, you will find a link to audio, a summary of the chapter, a key verse from the chapter, and opportunities for reflection and outreach.

We’re moving into Paul’s epistles, which we’ll go through chronologically rather than in the order they appear in our Bibles.

Mark

The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus as the long-promised Savior who has come to bring God’s Kingdom near. From the opening line, Mark moves quickly to show that Jesus is not simply a teacher or miracle worker, but the Son of God who arrives with divine authority (Mark 1:1, 14–15). Rooted deeply in the Old Testament story, Mark presents Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel — One who confronts sin, sickness, demons, and death itself. Yet from the start, Jesus is also misunderstood and opposed, especially by Israel’s leaders, revealing the deep spiritual blindness of the human heart (Mark 2:1–3:6, 4:11–12).

As the story unfolds, Mark emphasizes that Jesus’s identity can only be rightly understood through suffering. Again and again, Jesus reshapes expectations of what the Messiah has come to do. He is the Son of Man with authority, but He is also the suffering Servant who must be rejected, killed, and rise again (Mark 8:31, 10:45). This path to the cross stands at the center of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus triumphs not through power as the world understands it, but through humble obedience, laying down His life as a ransom for many (Mark 14:36, 15:39).

Mark also shows that following Jesus means sharing in this same pattern. True discipleship is not merely believing the right things but living in faithful trust and costly obedience. Those who follow Jesus are called to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him—even in the face of rejection and suffering (Mark 8:34–38). The gospel Mark proclaims climaxes in the crucifixion and resurrection, where Jesus decisively defeats sin and Satan and opens the way for everlasting salvation. In God’s unfolding story, Mark reminds us that the kingdom comes through the cross, and that life is found by following the crucified and risen King.

February 2 — Mark 1
February 3 — Mark 2
February 4 — Mark 3
February 5 — Mark 4
February 6 — Mark 5
February 7 — Mark 6
February 8 — Mark 7
February 9 — Mark 8
February 10 — Mark 9
February 11 — Mark 10
February 12 — Mark 11
February 13 — Mark 12
February 14 — Mark 13
February 15 — Mark 14
February 16 — Mark 15
February 17 — Mark 16

1 Peter

The letter of 1 Peter was written by the apostle Peter to encourage believers who were suffering because of their faith. From the opening, Peter identifies his readers as God’s chosen people — “exiles” scattered across the provinces of Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1). Whether that exile language is partly literal or mainly spiritual, the point is clear: Christians live in a world that does not fully welcome them, because their true home and inheritance are with God (1 Peter 1:3–5, 2:11). Peter writes to strengthen weary saints with hope — hope grounded not in easier circumstances, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sure promise of final salvation when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:3–9, 13).

At the heart of 1 Peter is the pattern of Jesus Himself: suffering now, glory later. Peter reminds believers that their trials do not mean God has abandoned them; rather, suffering for doing good is part of following a crucified and risen Savior (1 Peter 2:21–23, 4:12–13). Jesus’s death is not only an example — it is substitutionary atonement that brings sinners to God (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18). And Jesus’s resurrection and ascension mean evil will not have the final word: Christ has triumphed, and all powers are subject to Him (1 Peter 3:22). Because of what Christ has done, believers have been given new birth into a living hope and are being guarded by God for an inheritance that cannot perish (1 Peter 1:3–5).

That living hope shapes everyday life. Peter calls Christians to holy, love-filled obedience that makes the gospel visible in a hostile culture (1 Peter 1:14–16, 2:11–12). He describes the church as God’s new temple — “living stones” built into a spiritual house — and God’s covenant people: a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, and treasured possession (1 Peter 2:4–10). Then he brings that identity down into the ordinary places where pressure is often felt most — relationships, workplaces, homes, and society — urging believers to do good, to honor authorities rightly, to endure unjust treatment faithfully, and to answer hostility with blessing (1 Peter 2:13–17, 18–20; 3:1–9). In short, 1 Peter teaches Christians how to stand firm in “the true grace of God” (1 Peter 5:12): suffering without losing hope, living holy without becoming harsh, and bearing witness to Jesus while waiting for the day when God will fully vindicate His people.

2 Peter

2 Peter is a final letter written by the apostle Peter near the end of his life, likely from Rome, as he awaited martyrdom (2 Peter 1:12–15). Like his first letter, it is written to believers facing real pressure, but this time the danger comes from within the church rather than from outside persecution. Peter writes as a spiritual father giving last reminders, urging Christians to hold firmly to what they already know and believe. He points them back to the truth they received from the apostles and from Scripture, reminding them that the gospel they trusted is not a clever story but God’s revealed truth (2 Peter 1:16–21).

In the flow of the Bible’s story, 2 Peter helps God’s people live faithfully in the time between Jesus’s first and second coming. Jesus has already accomplished salvation through his death and resurrection, but the church now waits for his return. During this waiting, false teachers arise, twisting grace into an excuse for sin and questioning whether Jesus will really come back (2 Peter 2:1–3, 3:3–4). Peter responds by showing that God’s patience is not weakness but mercy, giving people time to repent before the day of judgment comes (2 Peter 3:8–9). Just as God judged rebellion in the past and rescued the righteous, he will do so again at the end (2 Peter 2:4–9).

2 Peter calls believers to live in light of where the story is headed. Because God has promised a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, Christians are to grow in holiness, knowledge, and steadfast faith now (2 Peter 1:5–11, 3:11–13). The letter closes by urging believers not to drift or be carried away by error, but to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ until the day he returns (2 Peter 3:17–18). In this way, 2 Peter strengthens the church to remain faithful to the truth as it waits for the final fulfillment of God’s saving plan.

Jude

The book of Jude is a short but urgent letter written by Jude, the brother of James and a half-brother of Jesus (Jude 1, Matthew 13:55). Writing in the mid-60s, Jude addresses believers facing a serious danger from within the church. False teachers had quietly slipped in and were twisting God’s grace into an excuse for sinful living (Jude 4). Jude writes as a servant of Jesus Christ, not appealing to family ties, but calling the church to recognize the seriousness of the moment and to respond with faithfulness and courage.

In the flow of the Bible’s Story, Jude speaks to the life of God’s people after Christ has already accomplished salvation. Because Jesus has secured redemption once for all, believers are now responsible to guard and remain faithful to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Jude looks back to God’s past acts of judgment and rescue — from the Exodus to Sodom and Gomorrah — to show that God does not ignore rebellion, even among those who claim to belong to Him (Jude 5–7). These warnings remind the church that rejecting God’s truth always leads to destruction, while trusting Him leads to life.

Jude closes by calling believers to persevere with both truth and mercy. They are to build themselves up in faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep themselves in God’s love as they wait for the return of Jesus Christ (Jude 20–21). At the same time, they are to show mercy to those who are wavering, while refusing to compromise with sin (Jude 22–23). The letter ends with a powerful reminder that God himself is the one who keeps His people from falling and will bring them safely into His presence with great joy (Jude 24–25).

February 26 — Jude

Continue reading in our NT260 plan with Phase 4 — That You May Believe.

Songs for Sunday, January 18, 2026 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday is the Lord’s day — and it’s good to prepare our hearts to gather to worship Jesus.

Psalm 96, one of the passages we’ll read from Sunday morning, lifts our eyes to the greatness of God, reminding us that “great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised” (Psalm 96:4). He alone stands above every false god and idol because He is the One who made the heavens, the One before whom “splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:5–6).

That theme of the greatness of God carries through the songs we’ll sing (Psalm 145:3). We’ll declare that there is nothing and no one greater than God (Isaiah 40:25, Psalm 86:8) and that He alone turns graves into gardens (Ezekiel 37:12-14, Romans 8:11). There is nothing better than our blessed hope, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ — no rival, no replacement, no greater treasure (Titus 2:13, Philippians 3:8, Colossians 2:3).

To say and sing that God is great is one thing, but to begin to perceive and begin to grasp the magnitude of His greatness is another. Consider the words of the hymn “How Great Thou Art”:

And when I think, that God — His Son not sparing — sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

This beautiful gospel truth magnifies His greatness (Romans 5:8, 1 Corinthians 1:18). God didn’t spare His own Son, but sent Him to the cross (Romans 8:32, John 3:16). Jesus, God in flesh, willingly bore our sin, laying down His life and taking away our sin by His blood (John 1:14, Isaiah 53:5-6, John 10:17-18, Ephesians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:18-19). The greatness of God is most clearly seen in the saving work of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

That’s why these “Songs for Sunday” posts exist — not to merely list songs, but to help us prepare. We have the opportunity to read God’s Word and reflect ahead of time, asking the Lord to ready our hearts and our homes so that when we sit under the preaching of God’s Word, it falls on good soil — received, applied, and bearing fruit in our lives. This helps us come not as consumers, sitting in an audience for a concert or seeking to be entertained or educated when John opens God’s Word. It helps us come as worshipers, seeking Christ — and preparing our hearts to meet Him.

Sunday’s coming, y’all. Let’s come ready to worship the great God, to rejoice in our great Savior, and to gather together declaring that there truly is nothing and no one better than Jesus!

Won’t you gather with us?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

Scripture | Psalm 96:1-6 —

¹ Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! ² Sing to the LORD, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. ³ Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! ⁴ For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. ⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. ⁶ Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Song | Graves Into Gardens —
Scripture Inspiration: Psalm 34:10, Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 6:23, John 6:26-35, Revelation 7:13-17, Matthew 11:28-30, 1 John 4:8, Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:4, Exodus 8:10, Deuteronomy 3:24, Jeremiah 10:6, 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 40:18, Romans 5:6-8, Psalm 138:8-9, 1 Kings 8:39, 1 John 3:20, John 15:15, Psalm 139:7-12, Hebrews 4:13, Psalm 30:11, Isaiah 62:2, Galatians 2:19-20, John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 15:20-49, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Exodus 14:1-31

Scripture | Philippians 2:5-11 —

⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Song | Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me —
Scripture Inspiration: Genesis 15:6, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 5:6-10, Ephesians 2:4-9, Titus 2:11, Isaiah 9:6, Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-255, John 3:15-16, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, Hebrews 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Psalm 119:45, Romans 8:1-4, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 36:5-7, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:14-15, Acts 4:10-12, John 14:6, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:9-11, Galatians 4:6, Psalm 107:10-16, Psalm 118:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 10:11-18, 2 Samuel 22:3-4, Nahum 1:7, 1 John 5:18, Psalm 23:4, Matthew 20:28, John 1:29, Acts 20:28, Colossians 2:14, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 John 2:1-2, Revelation 5:9-13, Acts 4:33, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 21:3-4, Hebrews 13:6, Psalm 116:16, Romans 6:20, Galatians 5:1, Luke 21:33, Revelation 6:14, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 1:9-11, John 10:30

Song | Your Great Name —
Scripture Inspiration: Acts 4:12, Luke 19:10, Psalm 106:8, John 3:17, Romans 8:1, 1 John 4:18, James 4:7-8, Revelation 5:9-10, Philippians 2:9-11, 2 Corinthians 12:9-11, Psalm 107:9, Psalm 68:5, Matthew 4:24, John 11:1-44, Job 19:25, Psalm 103:3, Revelation 11:17, Proverbs 23:11, Revelation 17:14

Invitation | Come Ye Sinners —
Scripture Inspiration: Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 5:27-32, Romans 3:21-26, 1 Timothy 1:15, James 4:6-10, Luke 15:11-32, Romans 8:18-30, Luke 9:51, Luke 22:39-46, Galatians 4:4-5, Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 1:3-9, 1 Peter 1:17-21

Offertory | He Leadeth Me —
Scripture Inspiration: Psalm 23:1–4, Psalm 32:8, Psalm 37:23–24, Psalm 66:6, Psalm 73:23–24, Psalm 107:29, Psalm 139:9–10, Psalm 143:10, Proverbs 3:5–6, Isaiah 41:13, Isaiah 42:16, Isaiah 43:2, Isaiah 48:17, Isaiah 57:20, Isaiah 58:11, Lamentations 3:31–33, Joshua 3:14–17, Joshua 4:23–24, John 10:27–29, John 17:4, John 14:1–3, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:54–57, 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, Ephesians 2:8–9, Philippians 2:14, Philippians 4:11–12, 1 Timothy 6:6–8, Hebrews 2:14–15, Hebrews 13:5, Revelation 14:13

An Ode and a Blessing for Our Beloved Keri on Her Sweet Sixteen

There are times when it seems that things are better left unsaid, but often too much goes unsaid — too many things are assumed to be known.

Scripture reminds us that what we say matters, that our words matter. Words have the power to bless and shape (James 3:9-10, Proverbs 18:21), and when they are carefully spoken and intentionally kept, they can serve as reminders of what is true in an ever-changing world.

What follows is an ode and blessing I wrote to honor my daughter, Keri, on her 16th birthday — not for attention but for remembrance, not for publicity but for posterity. I wanted this to exist in a form that can be held on to, returned to and read again, reminding her of how she is loved and cherished. I don’t want to leave anything unsaid.

So, here is this ode, this homage from me and Candice to a daughter worthy of being cherished — to a young woman worth writing beautiful words to and about, spoken in love, shaped by Scripture, and published in hopes that she never forgets her parents are thankful for her, proud of her, and in continual pursuit of getting to be a part of her life in all the days the Lord sees fit to give us.

Keri,

Today you turn sixteen, and that’s something worth celebrating — not quietly, not quickly, but joyfully.

Sixteen years of you is a milestone moment that asks us to pause and give thanks, not because the calendar says to, but because we have you. We have you here growing, living, and becoming, and we are grateful for the gift you are. That’s right: on a day when gifts are given and celebrated, we celebrate the gift you are to us.

You give us so much joy.

Joy in who you are right now.

Joy in all the ways you’ve grown.

Joy in the laughter, conversations, quiet moments, and memories made and yet-to-be made.

It’s not about looking back in sadness or forward with fear. It’s a day to rejoice and mark this moment in your life.

At the same time, you know reflection comes naturally to me. Birthdays invite reflection, especially your sweet sixteen. Sixteen sits in a season when things are changing. You are growing in ways that are visible to all and in ways only your mama and I, and all those who walk closely with you, can see. We see the growth and changes, and we delight in it. We are grateful not only for who you have been but for who you are becoming.

This reflection is meant to be more than sentimental. It’s not meant to hold you in place, even though I joke about wishing there was a pause button sometimes keeping everything just as it is. It’s not meant to rush you forward, either. It’s meant to meet you in this moment — to say clearly and joyfully that you are seen, deeply loved, and that we are thankful to get to be your parents as this season unfolds. We celebrate sixteen years of you, but we also recognize and celebrate the goodness of this moment and the faithfulness of God within it.

What I’ve written here is meant for you now, and, Lord willing, for you later — to remind you of what is true today and what will still be true as the seasons continue to change.

A Gift from the Lord

One of the ways we’ve tried to understand our role as your parents is by letting God’s Word shape how we see you — not as something we produced, but as someone we received. Scripture tells us something simple and profound about children: “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3). That word “behold” matters. It’s an invitation to stop, look closely, and recognize something that might otherwise be missed. Children aren’t accidents, burdens, or accomplishments. They’re gifts, graciously given by God.

Your mama and I have always seen you that way.

You and Xander are the children whom God has graciously given to us. We didn’t earn you. We don’t own you. We received you. From the beginning, we’ve known that you have been entrusted to us by a faithful God, and that has shaped the way we’ve sought to love you and parent you — and to delight in you.

Psalm 127 goes on to compare children to arrows in the hand of a warrior (vv. 4-5). Arrows are shaped carefully. They are aimed with purpose. And, one day, they are released — not as a loss, but seen as shot where they are aimed. This imagery isn’t about something you hold onto forever but something prepared to be sent out. Even now, as we’re still very much in the season of raising you, this image helps us remember what God intends. He intends you to grow and move and live a life shaped by His goodness and plan. But before arrows are released, they are held. Before they fly, they are formed. That’s where we are now. And in this season, we give thanks — again and again — for the gift you are. We thank God not just for the joy you bring to our lives but for the privilege of getting to be your parents.

Growing into What has been Given

As we’ve watched you grow, we’ve also leaned on Scripture to help us name what we’re seeing — and to remind us what we’ve been praying toward all along. Scripture speaks honestly about what it means for children to grow. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This verse isn’t a formula or a guarantee. It’s a picture of something planted early in the life of a child that continues to grow and shape life long after childhood is over.

This is the season you’re in now. You’re almost grown but not quite. You’re growing — still needing some parenting and guidance, still needing some care and protection, but we can already see the day coming when you won’t need those same things in the same way. That’s not something we fear, though. It’s something we’ve hoped for and prayed toward.

The goal was never for you to rely on us forever. It was for the things that mattered most — faith, wisdom, discernment, compassion, courage — to take root so deeply within you that they remain when our voices grow quieter. Parenting doesn’t disappear when you grow up; it just takes a different shape. What has been taught, modeled, and lived — good and bad — begins to live within you.

We see this happening already. Your mama and I see you thinking carefully, loving faithfully, and walking with Jesus not because you have to but because He’s your Lord, your Savior. We’ve watched this together — praying for you, talking about you, and giving thanks for the ways He is at work in you. That tells us something important: the work God has been doing in you isn’t dependent upon us. It’s part of who you are. So even as we continue to parent you in this season, we do so with gratitude and trust. We’re grateful for the years God has given us with you, and we trust that what has been planted and begun in you will continue to grow as you do.

We’re still walking with you, still guiding, still loving. But we rejoice that the path you are walking is becoming more and more yours.

A Changing Season

When we try to make sense of how much is changing — and how much is still the same — Scripture has helped us see that this tension isn’t something to fear. Scripture reminds us that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Life unfolds not all at once, but in God’s wise and purposeful timing. Seasons come and go, not by accident but by design. We also see in Ecclesiastes 3 that God “has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Sixteen places you right in the middle of a season like that. You’re not stepping out of childhood all at once, and you’re not fully stepping into adulthood yet, either. You’re in between. But this season is a good, meaningful one, one that God is actively shaping and blessing.

At the same time, as your parents, we’re in an in-between season, too. We still get to guide, protect, and walk closely with you, but our season is shifting as you’re taking on more responsibility, more ownership, and more independence. That change doesn’t take away from what was; it honors it. Every season builds on the one before it.

Ecclesiastes 3 helps us see the beauty in changes like these — the beauty of faithfully stepping into what God has next for us. He doesn’t waste seasons, nor does He abandon His people as their seasons change. The same God who has been faithful to you in this season will be faithful in the seasons that follow.

So, we’ll try not to cling too tightly or let go too quickly. We’re just grateful for where we are with you and trusting God for where you are going. Enjoy this season while it lasts. And know that the next season will be good, too, because God is present and at work in both of them.

Walking Together

Some of the clearest ways we’ve seen God’s goodness in your life haven’t come in big moments but in ordinary ones — moments repeated over time, quietly shaping us as much as they have you.

You might not remember this, but we used to walk to church together in Picayune. We’d walk over early before others got there. You’d sit on the front pew while I practiced songs or sermons, and when you went to children’s church later, there was always a little reminder of your presence left behind: glitter and sparkles, a little shiny shimmer on the pew that made it obvious you had been there, that the sparkly dresses you loved to wear had left their mark on the pew cushion. You had moved on, but a reminder of your presence remained.

Those sparkles became something of an illustration for us. You’ve always left an impression. You’ve been our constant companion through many seasons, simply by being near, or by walking with us, sharing life alongside us — with your mama and me, and with so many who love you. And now, slowly and naturally, that companionship is changing shape.

These days, walking together looks different. You still come with me early to church, but now, you come with purpose of your own. You have a role of your own, getting music together, organizing what needs to be ready, and faithfully serving behind the scenes. The front pew has been replaced by the passenger seat of the truck, the early mornings quieter than they used to be. Sometimes we talk. Sometimes we just listen to music or sit in the silence together.

When I look over and see you there, I see the young woman you are becoming — and at the same time, I swear I can still see the little girl you were. The sparkles aren’t on the pew anymore; they’re imprinted in my memory now. One day, you’ll be heading out into the world on your own. But even then, those sparkles will still be there — glimmers of love and presence that time can’t erase.

Walking with you has always been a gift. And as that walk continues, changing and growing as you do, we remain grateful — not just for where we’ve been but for the privilege of walking with you wherever this next season leads. We’ll be ready as the seasons change to shift to following your lead and from our driver’s seat to your passenger seat, just glad to be part of your life — your journey — any way we can be.

A Blessing for This Season and the Ones to Come

All of this leads us here — not away from you, but toward you — to speak a blessing shaped by what we believe God is doing in your life. As we close, we want to speak a blessing over you — not as a goodbye to this season, and not as a rush into what comes next, but as an assurance meant to hold true in every season of your life.

Scripture reminds us that “the LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (Psalm 121:8). That promise isn’t tied to a place or a stage of life. It isn’t dependent on how close you are to home or how familiar the road feels. It’s a promise that wherever you go — near or far — you are never outside the care of the Lord. He keeps you. He watches over you. He does not sleep, forget, or lose sight of you.

Scripture also tells us, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD… He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream” (Jeremiah 17:7–8). That picture speaks of a life that is steady and rooted — nourished even as circumstances change. We pray that your trust in the Lord continues to deepen, that your roots grow strong, and that your life bears fruit in every season, even when the days feel uncertain.

But before all of that future unfolds, we want you to know this: we are here for the now, too, as well as the future.

There are still trips to chaperone and buses to ride. There’s homework and projects, report cards and regular days that all start to blend together. There’s school and performances, practices and plans. There are dances and dates and ordinary evenings at home. There are more of the days that will feel like the same — and those days matter. They are not filler. They are the places where life is lived and faith is practiced.

Sixteen doesn’t mean the ordinary disappears. It means the ordinary is starting to carry more weight. Sixteen is when you begin to notice what needs to change and what needs to be clung to. Sixteen is when “the same” starts becoming different — not all at once, but steadily.

And this is where you are right now.

So hear this clearly: we are here for this part, too. We’re here for the regular days and the big ones, for what stays the same and what slowly shifts. We’re here to walk with you through this season as it unfolds, just as we have before.

So, this is our blessing for you, Keri:

May you always know that you are kept by God and deeply loved by us.

May you walk forward with confidence, knowing that the Lord goes with you and that you never walk alone.

May your life be rooted in Jesus, strengthened by His grace, and shaped by His goodness.

And wherever life takes you—now, and in all the seasons to come—may you always remember that you have a home to return to, arms ready to receive you, and parents who are grateful beyond words for the privilege of walking with you.

Songs for Sunday, January 4, 2026 @ Christ Community Church

Tomorrow is Sunday — and I’m grateful to start 2026 gathered with my faith family at Christ Community Church.

Hebrews 10:23-25 reminds us why we gather. We come to “hold fast the confession of our hope” — that Jesus is Lord — and be encouraged by others who have been saved by the same grace. We gather to “stir up one another to love and good works”, not as spectators but as participants in what God is doing among us. We gather often, because the Lord has given us a church family and lovingly warns us against “neglecting to meet together”. We gather to “encourage one another”, lifting weary hearts with the reminder that this broken, fallen world isn’t all there is. And every time we gather, we are being prepared for a greater gathering that is coming — shaped week by week into a people ready for the presence of the Lord — the day Revelation 7:9-10 describes when a numberless multitude stands before the throne of God, praising and glorifying the Lamb.

That’s also why we do these “Songs for Sunday” posts. They are a simple invitation to prepare — to read the Scriptures we’ll read aloud in worship, to sing or listen to the songs we’ll sing together, and to come ready to worship with full hearts and clear hope. Preparation doesn’t replace worship; in this case, it deepens tomorrow’s worship it because the preparation itself is worshiping Jesus today.

Sunday’s coming. Let’s come ready to hold fast, encourage one another, and make much of Jesus — together.

Won’t you gather with us?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

Scripture | Romans 5:17-21 —

¹⁷For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Song | Grace Wins —
Scripture Inspiration: Romans 3:23, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:16-18, Romans 8:1, 1 Timothy 1:13-14, Ephesians 1:6-7, 2 Corinthians 9:8, John 1:16, Ephesians 2:7, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, Luke 15:11-32, John 4, Matthew 9:27-31, John 9, Luke 16:19-31

Song | Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) —
Scripture Inspiration: Romans 3:21-24, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 8:1-4, Jeremiah 17:9, Luke 15, John 9:25-29, Psalm 112:1, Psalm 31:5, Ephesians 2:4, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 John 4:18, Matthew 13:44-46, John 8:31-36, Psalm 23:6, Philippians 1:6, Psalm 119:49, Psalm 119:81, Psalm 119:114, 2 Samuel 22:3, Lamentations 3:24, 2 Peter 3:10, Joel 2:31, Revelation 21:3

Scripture | Lamentations 3:19-24 —

¹⁹Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! ²⁰My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. ²¹But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; ²³they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”