Zach Zehnder continues our series The Unveiling, highlighting the importance of keeping God at the center of our worship
Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.
Thanks for listening!
Zach Zehnder continues our series The Unveiling, highlighting the importance of keeping God at the center of our worship
Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.
Thanks for listening!
How many of you have been to a Brazilian steakhouse restaurant before? How many Come on both campuses hands up. Yeah, here at I Street, I'm seeing maybe half the people in the room. Omaha got one not too long ago. Texas, the Brazil downtown.
Zach Zehnder:I've had the opportunity twice in my life and randomly they were both about four years ago in a month-long period to visit a Brazilian steakhouse. And if you haven't been to one, let me just tell you it's a vegetarian's nightmare. Right, it's all you can eat, but it's centered around premium cuts of meat, and so it's glorious in my mind as a person that loves to eat meat. And so the way it works is you'll go and you'll order, of course, the all you can eat, and then, like most all you can eat places, they'll release you to the salad bar, and so on. My first experience I went up to the salad bar and I filled my plate with all the healthy things like salmon and ham and candied bacon. You know, all that salad stuff Went back to my table. Then they give you these little Brazilian bread rolls, which are just fabulous, and just inhaling it. And then the moment you sit down and eat the bread rolls, then the waiters just descend on you with skewers of meat that they just cut right on your plate. And I'm talking. They bring everything at the beginning the bacon, wrapped chicken, the pork, the sausage, the veal, the sirloin, the duck. They bring it all.
Zach Zehnder:And at Brazilian steakhouse, in order to just keep the experience going quick, you don't even have to talk. That's what they want. They don't want you to talk. You just hold up a green card which says yes, I want that meat, slice me some. And then a red card which is like I'm going to hold out for the next thing, or I'm tapped out or I need to take a break. And so I realized the first experience I went. These Brazilian people are smart. They release you to the salad bar, then they fill you up on these low expense rolls and then they bring out the good but not the best caliber of meat Right away and they want you to just green card everything. And that's what I was doing Everything, yeah, I'll take it all. I'll take it all so that finally, by the time the best thing came out the filet, after only five minutes, I was already on red and I realized I really struggled with my experience that day and I re-strategized and I thought, if I ever get back to a Brazilian steakhouse again, I'm on to them first and I will do this the right way the next time.
Zach Zehnder:And so a month later comes I get this beautiful opportunity again. I order the deluxe premium All you can eat, everything included. I go to the salad bar, but this time I only take the candied bacon. I restrained myself to just one of those beautiful little bread rolls, because who can resist one?
Zach Zehnder:And then all these guys descended on our table and all my friends, they were green card, and all this bacon, wrapped chicken and veal and sirloin, and I was red carding the whole time on all of that stuff. So finally, one of the waiters came up to me and said sir, you paid for and all you can eat meat experience. What is it that you would like? I said well, I'm really glad you asked. I'm here for the filet. And then, finally, out of the back kitchen I see a glorious, beautiful man With a skewer of meat that looks and is the filet, and he comes to my table and says would you like some filet, sir? And I said yes, how many would you like? And, in the spirit of LeBron James, I said not one, not two, not three. I went all the way up to seven and I really believe that I experienced my little Brazilian slice of heaven that moment, on that day. How many of you know that in the book of Revelation there's a lot of times a banquet and a feast happening, and I just happened to believe that feast may look a little more Brazilian than you might thought. I'm just saying vegetarians are going to have a hard time with today's message, but we're glad you're here. I maximized my experience. Not only did I maximize my eating experience, but I knew I would one day use this as a sermon illustration. And so for four years I've been carrying this thing in my backpack and I'm really glad I got to use it today, by the way, brings me great joy.
Zach Zehnder:But I think what happened at that Brazilian steakhouse restaurant is what a lot of us do in our spiritual lives, in our lives in this world. I think there's a lot of good things coming at us in this world and we green card yes, yes, yes. We bring everything good in so that spiritually, there's nothing left when God is here and we're on red card, even though he is the best. And so today, what I want to tell you is that the best of what we can experience in this world is just a foretaste of what we will one day experience in heaven.
Zach Zehnder:And we're in this series on the book of Revelation, and we call this series Unveiling, and God is revealing something to us. He's unveiling something to us. In fact, the word Revelation, the word apocalypso, does not actually mean end times or doomsday or final battle, like a lot of times we talk about it. The word apocalypso in Greek means unveiling or revealing, and so this is a revelation and unveiling of a vision that Jesus has that he's giving to John to write down to first century Christians, many of whom were scattered and persecuted. And so we've been in it for a couple of weeks.
Zach Zehnder:Last week we looked at seven letters written to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 and in this particular vision that he's writing to the churches, he's writing these letters to instill courage in them, to hang on, to stay faithful to what they know is true, and now he's going to give them a picture of the end, what is best, so they don't settle for anything in this world. Now there's a difference with them and us. In their world, they were experiencing real persecution, real suffering. They did not live in a country where they could come and freely worship God like we live in, and so I think a lot of times the way the enemy distracts us in western American Christianity culture is the best way he does that for us is he just distracts us with a lot of good things. They were dealing with a lot of bad things. We deal with a lot of good things, and when we settle for what's in this world, we lose sight of what's the best.
Zach Zehnder:It was written to this group of people that was persecuted and scattered, and even though it was written to them, we also can gain something from it. That message of stand firm and hang on and hold on to what is true and here's the end, isn't it beautiful is what we need as well. But I do love the words of Pastor Matt Chandler and I believe every one of us has said this in the last few weeks and we'll probably continue to say it that revelation it cannot mean to us what it did not mean for them. It doesn't mean things for us like in our modern day that it did not mean for them. So again, the message is the same Hang on, we can have hope. You can live with courage, and we need that message today. Today we're looking at Revelation, chapter four and five, and I really believe that if you want to understand the entire book of Revelation, these are the two most important chapters because it really helps frame the entire rest of the book, and I'll talk about that in a moment.
Zach Zehnder:The difficulty from here on through the end of the Bible because Revelation is the final book is that you're gonna start to see many of the characteristics of apocalyptic literature that really come in display at a heightened level. And so one of the things we've said about apocalyptic literature is they use many images and metaphors and visions, and colors and numbers, and all of these are primarily symbolic. And so apocalyptic literature does a beautiful thing that allows us to see things in a different way or to transcend, kind of our own language into a place where we can picture something, and so it does a beautiful thing in that. The difficulty in the apocalyptic literature is to not get so focused on the symbols that you lose sight of the main thing. Keep the main thing, the main thing. God bless you, and a picture of that is gonna happen here in chapter four, and I wanna just show it to you. In fact, I'm gonna read all 11 verses of chapter four, but I want you to tell me at the end what the focal point of the chapter is. Don't worry, I'm gonna give you a hint. I'm gonna put the word in a different color and you might say it I don't know 14 times in the next couple of minutes, so it ought to be obvious. Both campuses. Let's say the word when we see it on the screen.
Zach Zehnder:Revelation, chapter four, verse one. 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. At once I was in the spirit and behold, a stood in heaven with one seated on the, and he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian, and around the was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the were 24, and seated on the were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peels of thunder, and before the were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal, and around the, on each side of the, are four living creatures full of eyes, and front and behind, the first living creature like a lion, the second like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And 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. And whenever the living creatures give birth and creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him, who is seated on the, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him, who is seated on the, and worship Him, who lives forever and ever, they cast their crowns before the saying 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. So come on church. You said it 14 times already.
Zach Zehnder:What would you say is the focal point of Revelation, chapter four, the throne, and namely the one who is seated on the throne, everything else happening around the throne. That's good. We got some bacon, wrapped chicken and veal around the throne, but it's the filet at the center. Vegetarians, I was trying to think like for you. It's like falafel and tofu is around the throne and the avocado is there in all of its glory. Can you relate now Trying to bring you into? Everybody loves the avocado, so God is seated on the throne. That's the best, that's the good thing.
Zach Zehnder:Now we see a lot happening around the throne, so I wanna show you just a couple of those things. You can kind of understand what's happening here. There's, first, off, it says 24 elders around the throne, and that number 24, it actually only shows up in the New Testament to describe the elders, and so most scholars of course agree because 12 plus 12 equals 24, that the 24 is representative of the 12 tribes of Judah, 12 tribes of Jacob in the Old Testament, the sons of Jacob that were chosen by God to represent him to the rest of the world, and of course, then the 12 apostles in the New Testament that were chosen by Jesus to represent him to the rest of the world. And so scholars believe that the number 24, then, is representative of all those who believe in the Old Testament and in the New Testament and beyond. The word elder in Greek does not mean angel or messenger. It designates a human being on earth. And so what are? Who are the 24 elders? But the elevated saints of God, representative of all those who believe in Jesus and who have been cleansed by his grace and where his victory as their own, which means church.
Zach Zehnder:The elders around the throne are those that believe in Jesus. It's you and it's me. If we profess a faith in Jesus and, by the way, there's nothing new happening in Revelation that you have not already. Nothing is like shocking or like a 180 turn, cause Jesus even said this in Matthew, chapter 19, 28. He said truly, I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of man sits on his glorious throne, you have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So there we have it. This is just referencing what Jesus has already said. Jesus who's already got a vision of what this looks like? The 24 elders around the throne. That's you and that's me. That's all who believe in Jesus, and I really like that, because then, when we look into scripture and it talks about us being co-heirs and reigning with Christ. I like the fact that we're not just so distant from him, but we are right around the center of the throne of God, worshiping and praising him. That's gonna be pretty awesome to reign with God and be co-heirs in that sort of a setting.
Zach Zehnder:Next, the moment depicted uses words like lightning and thunder, and lamps are blazing and they're on fire. The spirit of God is there, a sea that looks like crystal is there, and again, we can go deeper into all of these, but all of these are representative of just this word the power that surrounds the throne. John is wanting us to see that this moment. It's not docile or boring, it's awe-inspiring, it's powerful. Then, surrounding the 24 elders, we see four living creatures. They each take on a different form an ox, a lion, an eagle and a man. And, by the way, these four forms, they were shown already in visions in Ezekiel and Isaiah. So again, nothing new.
Zach Zehnder:But these four creatures. What do they have? They have six wings, and so we know these are angelic creatures, but there's something interesting about them in this particular setting that you have to see. Verse six says that these creatures had eyes in front and behind. Verse eight also says their eyes were all around them and within them, and so I like this image that Revelation is trying to show us, that when the angels who think about it had eyes to see anything and everything all around in all of its glory, when they could see everything, they did one thing. What did they do? They worshiped God. They could see everything in all of its beauty and glory and splendor, and when they saw everything, their one response was to worship God.
Zach Zehnder:I think we get distracted by beautiful things in this world, good things, things with glitz and glamour, but if we could see it all at one time, we would do what the angels did, who said Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And as the angels said these words, the 24 elders around the throne they fell down and they bowed to Him and they worshiped and they joined with the angels and they said Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. Wow, so here's the truth. I want you to see in chapter four that what is centre in the end deserves to be centre now, especially for elders, for those that believe, for those that profess faith. And so my question to you is is God, is Jesus, at the centre, is he enthroned in your heart? Or have you allowed, I don't know, good things to come into this world at the expense of pushing God to the side? Or I could say it this way, because what is at the centre is the thing that we worshiped. What is worshipped in the end deserves to be worshipped right now. So what, and or maybe who, are you worshipping?
Zach Zehnder:I like the way that Pastor Edmund Clowney says that. He says in it's speaking of these chapters in worship, he said, God gathers his people to himself as centre, and failure to worship consigns us do you feel this way To a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction and every siren. And without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or diluted lethargy, as we are in turn alarmed by specters and soothed by placebos. If there is no centre, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose. And so, again I ask are you far too easily pleased with good things that you're not worshipping the best thing who deserves and is worshipped now and forever.
Zach Zehnder:What happens in chapter four is only half the story, though, because we actually can't have chapter four without the events of chapter five happening, and they go together and they're beautiful. They're so beautiful. In fact, nt Wright is one of the most popular modern day scholars of the Bible, and as he was studying one day, he saw his professor, who just looked really giddy, and NT Wright asked him so, professor, why are you so happy today? And he says because today I get to speak about the second greatest chapter in all the Bible Revelation, chapter four. And NT Wright said, out of curiosity, what's your favourite chapter? And he said Revelation, chapter five. And so I apologize if I get a little giddy and excited as we open this up and see what it means for us. I'll be truthful with you. As I was working through this message, there have probably been count them on two hands the times in my life when I have been preparing for a sermon and I have literally wept and cried aloud because of what God showed. You cannot miss what God is doing in these two chapters.
Zach Zehnder:Revelation five. I want you again to say what the main focal point is. It's going to change, but I got the word highlighted for you, don't worry this one. Then I saw in the right hand of him, who was seated on the throne, a written within and on the back sealed with seven seals, and I saw a mighty angel. A mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the and to break its seals. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the or to look into it. And this is John Weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the and look into it.
Zach Zehnder:And so here we are. We're still in the throne room, but now we're focusing on the right hand of the one seated on the throne, and in the right hand is a scroll which has seven seals on it. Obviously, of course, it's of utmost importance If it's going to be the focal point in the final and maybe greatest book ever written. It's important. We also know it's important because it has seven seals on it. If you know about numbers, the number seven in Revelation means complete, and so we know this is a completely sealed message. Also, we can see from the text that there's writing on the scroll in the front and the back, signifying as well that this is a complete message, and so you could say that the scroll is a completely sealed, complete message that no one in this moment can open, and it's amazing and awe inspiring, as everything was in chapter four. It causes John to have emotions that lead him to weep loudly, because we can't actually experience or see that moment, because no one is found to be worthy. No one is found to be worthy. Now I want to jump forward for just a moment, but I don't want to lose momentum, because you got to know.
Zach Zehnder:One thing about this is we actually we know what the scroll contains, and this is why Revelation four and five is so important to understand all of it. We know what the scroll contains. You want to know what it is? It's the book of Revelation. How cool is that? Because we see that next week in chapter six, they open it up and we open the first seal and then the second seal and the third. It's the book of Revelation. It's the good news, it's how everything ends, and so picturing in that moment like everything is there, we can see it all, and yet we can't because no one is found worthy.
Zach Zehnder:Verse five is the good news because obviously we get it opened. We see chapter six through 22. It opens. How does it get opened? Verse five and one of the elders said to me weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has past tense conquered so that he can open the and at seven seals. What does this mean? Again, old Testament imagery. Many of you might know from your Old Testament that God set a set of laws before the people, a description of what a life in relationship with him looked like. And when someone failed to live up to that that's what the Bible calls sin they had a rigorous process for how to pay and atone for that sin. And many times what it would look like is the high priest in that day would take the sins of the people into a room called the holy of holies, in the tabernacle or the temple, and there he would present an innocent lamb, a firstborn without defect, and that would temporarily pay for and atone for the sins of the world so they can be cleansed again. And so when this is talking about the Lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, it is referencing, of course, jesus.
Zach Zehnder:There's so much in these two chapters, but I don't want you to miss this particular point that when John was weeping, it was an elder that attended to him. It was an. It was someone who believed. It wasn't an angel, it wasn't a messenger. In fact, I love what Lewis Brighton in his revelation commentary says. He says in the vision that has the most to do with redemption and salvation of God's people and with the resulting triumphal reign of Christ, an elder attends John, not an angel, he says.
Zach Zehnder:Who better than an elevated saint who himself has gone through suffering but now is at peace before God's holy presence, to tell John to stop weeping by urging him to look at the Lamb of God? The elder has the honor of pointing John, in the midst of his tears, to the victorious Lamb of God. Brighton says this imagery is reminiscent of the honor of proclaiming the gospel that God gives to his church, his people on earth, an honor that not even the angels or even the four creatures have in this measure, which means that when there is weeping and when there is suffering in this world, who does God choose to say? Hey, look to the Lamb, look to Jesus, hey, stop that suffering, because we know in the end it works. Who does he choose? Not an angel, not a winged creature. He chooses you and me.
Zach Zehnder:So when someone is suffering, we get to be the ones that share the good news and say look, behold the Lamb of God, the lion of Judah, the root of David, past tense has conquered. So when someone is suffering and again I know the suffering that we may experience in this world likely is different from the suffering many were experiencing for century Christianity, but there is a lot of suffering right now there are people that are sad, people that are lonely, people that are struggling with depression and anxiety and purposelessness and meaninglessness. And in the middle of all of that, we as elders get to come and say behold, look, there was no one worthy, but now there is. His name is Jesus and he's making all wrongs, right? I thought one of you would be excited about that.
Zach Zehnder:Then he goes into more detail and I'll read the end of chapter five and we'll close it out and the focal point changes once more. It's been a throne, it's been a scroll, and now it is the Lamb, and between the throne and the four living creatures that among the elders, I saw a standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and he took the scroll from the right hand of the one who seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down, before each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and 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, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.
Zach Zehnder:Then 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, saying with a loud voice worthy is the oh, you didn't say it loud. Come on. Worthy is the, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And 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 be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. Wow, yeah, come on. Come on, a couple of you wanted to clap. Just everybody clap right now. It's good. It's good.
Zach Zehnder:And, as I mentioned earlier, jesus in the Old Testament, he now is the Lamb of God, who doesn't temporarily take away the sins of the world, but has permanently taken away the sins of the world. And in this vision in Revelation 4 and 5, we get to see the slain but risen Lamb of God, which shows us that what we see in Revelation 5 has already happened before. This moment has already happened. You've already seen this, actually from earth, and what we're being welcomed into right now is heaven's perspective on when this moment happened. And some of you may be like what are you talking about? And I'm really glad that you're asking what are you talking about, because I'll tell you what I'm talking about. Let me explain.
Zach Zehnder:Jesus came down into this world. He died on a cross. He then, three days later, rose from the dead. And when he rose from the dead, he then spent 40 days roaming around giving final instructions to his disciples, of which his words, his final words, are recorded in Acts 1, chapter 8, which tells them that they'll receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they'll be witnesses to the ends of the earth. And then Acts 1, verse 9, come on, if we can show that on the screens. It says and when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up. Do we have that? Yeah, lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
Zach Zehnder:The disciples got a glimpse of the ascension from earth, but it says there was a cloud that separated them from seeing anything that happened above. And so what do we have in Revelation 5? We have the ascension of Jesus on the other side of the clouds, because this is the slain but risen Lamb of God that, as he enters into Revelation 5, he's already done what he's done. He has past tense, conquered, and this, in Revelation 5, is God's welcome home party for his son, who is the lion of Judah, the root of David, but the Lamb of God that's taken away the sin of the world. It's done, it's completed, and we get to see things from the other side. And so I came to tell you that what is happening present tense, right now and forever, on the other side of the clouds deserves to be happening on this side of the clouds. Who is at the center on the other side deserves to be center right here in Omaha. This is God's welcome home party.
Zach Zehnder:And John, in the middle of weeping and elder, says hey, weep no longer, look, it's the slain but risen Lamb of God. And look, he's taking the scroll out of the right hand of the one that seated and he's opening it. He's found worthy and Jesus is there. And he's opening up seal one and opening up seal two and he busts all the seals open to show us 17 chapters of beauty that comes of how it will finally end for those that hang on, for those that have courage, for those that have hope that, in the middle of whatever this world brings, it's all going to end well, wow, wow.
Zach Zehnder:This season and Christmas. It's not some six pound infantile baby Jesus, ricky Bobby. It's about a bloody conquering King who became a lamb. But he's also a lion, and the sole goal of your life is to not get caught up in this world and say yes to anything good things, indifferent things or bad things but to stay centered on the slain risen Lamb of God, because the world will keep coming at you and in light of this awe inspiring throne, I don't want to set up my incredibly boring, docile throne with whatever throne I can come up with in this world. I want to say I'm laying all of that to the side, because you, who are worshiped on the other side of the clouds, deserve all of my worship on this side of the clouds, and he does for you too.
Zach Zehnder:And so my challenge or call to action for the week and then we'll wrap it up is this I want you this week, this week, I want you to red card something of this world, say no to something of this world, so that you can say yes to God. Maybe for you it's limiting what you do in your free time and maybe you won't stream one season of a particular show and instead you'll spend that time just worshiping God. How cool would that be. Or maybe for you this is how I'm feeling at this morning is maybe for me. What I can do is I can put a higher number on my pledge amount than I initially attended, because that'll also be a way to help me say no to more things next year in this world so I can say yes to God.
Zach Zehnder:I don't know what it is for you, but I came again with a message that the one who is worshiped on the other side of the clouds deserves to be worshiped on this side, and it's this beautiful picture in God's throne room where we see all of this come together, and some of you might be like that's really great, that's a really awesome image, but Zach, I'm not worthy. I'm certainly not worthy to open the scroll, but I'm also not even worthy to be in God's presence, because you will see, by the way, the one thing that stands no chance in the presence of God You'll see that very clear next week is anything unholy. It's no chance destroyed in the presence of God, and so that ought to leave us with weeping and sadness, because then there's no place for us. But when we look at the image again, we see 24 elders around the throne, and the elders are you and me. And so something had to happen, and what did happen is we've already shared it. The Lamb of God became slain and rose from the dead, so that His gift, his victory, now becomes yours.
Zach Zehnder:In fact, isaiah 1 says it this way come now, god says, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, though you've made a mess of things, though you're stained, though you're bloody, they shall be as white as snow. Did you notice? It snowed this morning. I don't know why I'm so angry right now. I was yelling that's a good thing. They shall be white as snow because these elders man, they're wearing white robes and they're wearing gold crowns, because everything has been atoned for and paid for, and so if you believe in this Jesus, then you don't need to cower in fear when you approach God and His throne.
Zach Zehnder:Is the amount of reverence acceptable? Oh yeah, it's a powerful moment to be in the presence of God, but not fear. In fact, the author of Hebrews says then let us, with confidence Can you imagine the ones who are unworthy, the ones who don't deserve it? We can, because of what God has done, with confidence, draw near to the throne of God that we would receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And so who or what is the center of your life? Is the one that is now forever being worshiped on that side of the clouds, being worshiped on this side in your life? Will you stand, god? We come before you today and gosh. We're really grateful that you showed us this beautiful vision. God, we're unworthy on our own. We've made mistakes, we've got sins that are like scarlet, bloodied and messy us up, but we receive your grace anew today, and all of those sins would be white as snow. We wear white ropes and we wear golden crowns, not because of what we've done, but because of what you've done. And I pray, lord, that this would be a turning moment for many of us in our stories that, if we're off the path, god, we would come back on the right path. That, if we're saying yes to things of this world, that we would say no to things of this world so that we can worship you and glorify you like you and only you deserve. And that's what we're going to do, god. We're going to worship you because you're worthy. We pray this in your name and together, both campuses said Amen.
Zach Zehnder:This morning, after reading a text like that, what's an appropriate response? What's? How do we respond to God's goodness, to God's power, to God's majesty, to God's might? Here's what I want to ask you to do. I want to ask you to not cower in fear, but to approach God with reverence and confidence. In this moment and as we sing, I want to ask you to step out of your comfort zone and practice what is already happening now and will be going forever in heaven the absolute worship, praise and adoration of God.
Zach Zehnder:And so, if you are physically able, here's what I would love for you to do I would love for you to bow In reverence to this holy and mighty God. If you are not able to bow, if you're not able to kneel, I would ask you to raise hands and praise and surrender and adoration. It is I could not. It is the only appropriate response that I can see from this text that when all the angels saw everything in all of its glory, it's the only thing they could do. And as the angels did it, the 24 elders fell down and they laid their crowns and they worshiped God. And so the invitation is free, and so the invitation is free To worship this God. He is worthy. If he's getting it on that side of the clouds, he deserves it right here, right now. If he's getting it on that side of the clouds, he deserves it right here, right now. Let's worship our God.