Revelation 11 has more action and plot twists than 'Avengers End Game', with even higher stakes! We find that the faithful church has incredible 'super powers' and fights deadly villains, but only if they follow some simple, yet unpopular ways. Pre-election 2020 is as good a time as any to take a closer look. (For the Old Testament background on this dizzying chapter, Zechariah, Daniel, and Ezekiel provide the 'prequel.')
Devotional - Oct 28, 2020
Music Today: 'The Resistance' by Josh GarrelsGarrels released this in 2011, but the challenges of living for God in modern culture are still very true regardless of which party is in the White House.
'Hallelujah Chorus' by George Frederick Handel (1741)Far and away the best known music to draw directly from Revelation. Much of this is from chapter 19, but there is also this from 11:15 - 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.'As I've said earlier, Handel wrote this during the height of the Age of the Enlightenment, and the Christian faith was ridiculed and attacked in influential circles across Europe, considered a relic of a pre-scientific age. I think the composer would love that this piece has brought hope and joy to so many in the public square even today - in a modern food court!
What is the Matrix?Now over 20 years old(!), and followed by two very disappointing sequels, this movie still provides a fascinating analogy for following Jesus in a post-Christian world. Take a look at Ephesians 2:1-10, 6:10-20 as our two witnesses try to cross the street and dodge the 'woman' in the red dress.
Pastors - having a tough time getting inspired for Sunday's sermon? Join me for a few minutes in Revelation 10, one of the most powerful places I know for the authority of Scripture and the gut-churning call to preaching. While we may steward something as valuable as Orion in 'Men in Black', we also have a voice to declare what it is!
Devotional - Oct 23, 2020
Music Today:Scott Blackwell - 'My King' When your sermon gets mixed for the dance floor, you know you're making an impact. S.M. Lockridge has an excerpt from his sermon 'That's My King' (likely completely extemporaneous here) that has been sampled several times since Blackwell put this together, but his version is still the
Olivier Messiaen - 'Quartet for the End of Time', Movement VII.'Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time'This was written in a German POW camp (Messiaen a captured French soldier) and premiered in the dead of winter at the camp in 1941, with German officers and Allied prisoners alike in attendance. It was composed for the instruments and musicians available: Piano, clarinet, violin, and a cello with three strings. The inspiration for one of the most tender, yet chilling works in 20th Century classical music is Revelation 10. If you listen to the end of movement 7, you'll hear where the composer of a certain theme for Hitchcock's 'Psycho' likely got his inspiration. (This movement runs from 37:17 to 44:42 in the clip)
Devils and Demons. Just a creature in red with horns that whispers to you when the dessert menu comes around? Revelation 9 gives a VERY different picture - but also a remedy, if we're willing to receive it.
Devotional - Oct 20, 2020
Music Today: 'Man of the Tombs' by Bob Bennett. Southern California soft rock may seem like the wrong genre for today, but Bennett does an amazing job of capturing the pain and the grip of demonic oppression, taking on the character of Legion in Mark 5:1-20. 'Shame and shamelessness equally there/Like the random toss of a coin in the air'. I had the opportunity to see this place on a trip to Israel a couple of years ago - truly amazing.
