Practicing for Heaven
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Intro:
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
Tonight as we join our churches together on this parking lot, the title of my message is [Practicing for Heaven].
My parents raised me in church. I do not have a memory when we were not in God’s house. With that background, some of my earliest memories include hearing Bible stories.
Either my Sunday School teachers, parents, or grandparents made sure I knew what happened in the Bible. The stories were so real to me, I wanted to be just like these famous people.
On my seventh birthday, I got a David costume. It came with a leather pouch, a sling shot, and five smooth foam balls. I would run around and defeat ANYTHING I thought that looked like Goliath, the lamps, the TV, my siblings, and parents. (that costume promptly disappeared).
I tried walking on water in the bathtub after I looked at a picture of Jesus. I realized I wasn’t like Peter.
I even told my mom one easter I thought about the Easter story and the crowd that cried out crucify Him. With all the sincerity a five-year-old could muster, I declared, “Mom, if I was alive then I would have taken Jesus’ spot so He wouldn’t have had to die.”
Mom explained that Jesus was the only one worthy to die for our sins, which was a nice way to say five-year-old Daniel was too wicked to do that!
I say that to explain, we have sixty-six books of the Bible that tell us the story of many people. These people were alive a minimum of 2000 years ago.
Where does that leave us?
Where are we in scripture?
What passage tells our story?
Of course, we know the promises of the Bible are available to us. Promises like salvation, peace, hope, heaven, and help from God.
But where do we personally fit into an ancient book written by nearly forty different authors.
Their culture, language, nationality, and lifestyle was vastly different than ours.
I would venture to say they didn’t even know where Annapolis is, but they might have heard of Vulcan!
To find our individual story in scripture, I read two passages from the end of the Bible. When John wrote this portion of his book, I notice two things:
[A Heavenly Command] and [A Heavenly Crowd].
1. A Heavenly Command
1. A Heavenly Command
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”
When John heard this command, he was over ninety years old, sentenced to a life of hard labor on the Island of Patmos. But God allowed Him to see this heavenly activity.
He listened as he heard a voice from the throne in heaven crying out to everyone who could hear, PRAISE OUR GOD.
Praise comes from a Latin word that means “value” or “price.” Whenever someone praises God, they are giving God what He deserves.
God is priceless, it is impossible to put a price tag on Him. But we have within us the ability to PRAISE the Lord. Praise is humanities response to God’s all-powerful position.
Since the book of Genesis, God’s people have praised the Lord whenever they sought to show Him how much He means to them.
We know the angels in heaven praise and worship God around the throne. But this command is unique in that, it not the command was not to the angels.
Instead, the heavenly command was issued to...
2. A Heavenly Crowd
2. A Heavenly Crowd
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”
Before we look at the response to the command from the throne, notice the crowd. Who received this command?
The servants of the Lord. Who are the servants of the Lord.
The servants of the Lord include: all those who fear, reverence, serve, and worship Him. Those in heaven will answer the command.
6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
Then John heard a sound in heaven. This sound was like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty oceans waves or the crash of loud thunder.
And what was their response to the heavenly command? This crowd in heaven did what was asked of them, they PRAISED GOD by saying:
Alleluia for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns.
The word Hallelujah means Praise the Lord. It is found only four times in the New Testament and each time was in Revelation 19:1-6.
They gave God the best praise they could. The reason, for God is omnipotent, all power, and unmatched in His strength!
Close:
I know Revelation 19 is not a normal bible story that we hear in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School. Some might even wonder, what does this have to do with us?
Didn’t John write this over 2,000 years ago?
That much is true. But the interesting things about John’s writings in the book of the Revelation is Chapters 4-22 detail what WILL happen, meaning, it has not happened yet.
That means, when the crowd in heaven hears the command to Praise the Lord, think of who is in that crowd. Sure, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul, they will all be in attendance.
But you know who else will be there, THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD, both small and great.
When we come to Christ we become servants or slaves of Christ:
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
If John wrote about a future day where ALL the servants of God are around the throne, AND when we accept Christ as our Savior we become His servants, that means, WE HAVE FOUND OURSELVES IN SCRIPTURE.
On that great day, we will join with all of those in scripture we esteem and honor, as we hear the command PRAISE THE LORD and we reply, HALLELUJAH!
But here is the point I want to make tonight, we need not wait until that day, for today is a good day to PRAISE THE LORD.
Parking Lot Praise is more than a catchy title, it is something we need now more than ever. Remember, our time of praise in each church service is not because churches have talented musicians and singers.
No, it is for the purpose of showing God how much we value Him. And when we do, He responds to our PRAISE and meets with us.
3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
When we praise God it is as though we build Him a throne and invite Him to come near to us.
And during this pandemic, we need to praise the Lord. Because He is omnipotent, He is more powerful than a pandemic, and He is a real and personal Savior who loves us.
Therefore, every time we sing, we are practicing for heaven.
When we praise God, we are practicing for heaven.
When we worship, we are practicing for heaven.
When we clap our hands, we are practicing for heaven.
When we raise our hands, we are practicing for heaven.
Our earthly activity prepares us for what we will do for an eternity.
And tonight, regardless of what we feel, what we’ve faced, or what we’re going through, we can lift our voice, get some practice in and declare, ALLELUIA FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGN.