One Service 2023 (Revelation)

Introduction

Revelation 7:9-10 “After 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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!””

What an incredible morning! Thank you to Matthew, our praise team, our choir, our Congolese Brothers and Sisters, and Emilio. We are blessed, faith family!

Explanation

Emilio has shared with us the glory of the moment that we will stand before the throne of God. What a glorious moment that will be. Our Lord’s goodness and grace won’t miss a single tribe, nation, tongue, or people.

We have witnessed a piece of this today. We need each other, and we are called to each other.

Genesis 22:18 “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.””

Isaiah 12:4 “And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.”

Psalm 86:9 “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.”

Luke 24:47 “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

God is calling the nations to Himself. He is working in powerful, supernatural ways to bring about the redemption of His people.

However, I want to read one more Scripture for you today. Romans 10:14-15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

Faith Family, we have work to do. I want to show you two maps.

The first map measures the percentage of the population over the world that accounts for evangelical Christianity.

Green means at least 10% Christian in those areas. I see a lot of green. Great. Those are peoples who will stand around the throne of God with us.

However, I want to call your attention to the red. The red dots on this map represent those groups of people who are less than 2% Christian with VERY few Christian resources available and NO active church planting in the area.

The second map represents groups of people ranging from 50,000 people to 2 million people who fall into these categories.

These dots total 3183 people groups at approximately 277 million people.

These people have no hope of knowing Jesus.

We celebrate in what God is doing here today, but we must soberly remember that we have work to do.

Invitation

Today, we want to worship. God has pushed back the darkness, and He is continuing to push back the darkness.

May we re-up our commitment to go. Serve. Lead. Be on Mission.