9/27/20

The scripture today from The Book of Revelation the back of the last book in the Bible and I don't know about you as a Bible reader if you've been like I have and that's kind of avoided I'm kind of getting an echo guys as am I standing in the wrong place or something there. That's that's a little better talking about the Book of Revelation. I've always been one to kind of avoid that book because it's a tough book to read it's full of imagery full of metaphor full of visions and and some scary things to be quite honest with you. And so a lot of times we just choose to ignore the book rather than to read it. But that's a true statement that much of what is put in place in Genesis is brought to fruition in Revelation and brought to completion and so it's an important book for us to read but I always recommend that if you're going to jump into it have a good study guide at the hand or a good teacher that can help you sort it all out now having Said that there's a portion in the Book of Revelation. That's easy to understand. It's John's vision of this thing called the new city the new heaven that one day John saw as being God's presence here on Earth. Jesus fulfillment of of these of the times sometimes called the end times sometimes called the Fulfillment of the kingdom of God, but John described this new Heaven and I want to read that to you today. This is easy to understand it's hard to believe that there could be a place like this. But this is what John saw as well be reading from chapter 21 of Revelation beginning with the 9th verse and I'll read through verse 21. If you have your Bibles follow along one of the Seven Angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, I will show you the bride the wife of the lamb and he carried me away in the spirit to amount and great then. And showed me the Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. It's going with the glory of God and its Brilliance was like that of a very precious Jewel like the Jasper clear as Crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates and was twelve Angels at the gate on the gates were written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the East free on the North free on the south and three on the west the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them where the names of the 12 Apostles of the Lamb the angel who talked with me had a measuring Rod of gold to measure the city the gates on this wall. The city was laid out like a square as long as it was wide. You heard the term the FourSquare City. Well, this is where it comes from. It was laid out of it. I like a square as long as it was. Why'd he measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length and as wide and high as it is and my notes say that 12,000 stadia is equivalent to 1500 Mi the wall was made of Jasper in the city of pure gold. I skipped a little bit the angle are the angel measured the wall using human measurement and it was 144 cubic stick. My notes say that's 250 ft the wall was made of Jasper in the city of pure gold as pure as glass the foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The First Foundation was Jasper II Sapphire the third Agate 4th Emerald V on the sixth Ruby 7th. Chrysolite 8th Barrel 9th topaz the temp turquoise XI hasten and 12th. Amethyst The Twelve Gates were twelve pearls each gate made of a single Pearl. You heard the term the Pearly Gates. That's where it comes from. The great Street of the city was of gold as pure as transparent glass. They got his Blessing to the reading of his word isn't that a description of an amazingly beautiful place that will be heaven and we have an opportunity to go there before we get into the message itself. Let's go to the Lord in prayer father. We thank you for this opportunity over the next few minutes to dig into your scripture and to talk about some of these things. We pray that you that you bless this time. We know how that when we're listening to a speaker. Sometimes they the things of the of the outside tend to close in we think about things we've done or have to get to do we think about people Sometimes that helps us to I'm not concentrate on the message. Well, I pray that we will put those things aside this morning and so they were able to hear this message not because of who is presenting it but the cause it is your messaging to that extent we pray that you do as you did for the great Prophet Jeremiah when he was struggling for words. You said I'll give you the words. I'll touch your lips and give you the word and we pray that this morning so that the message presented dear Lord is the one that you want us to hear as we have gathered on this amazingly beautiful day in this amazingly beautiful and holy spot in Jesus name we pray. Amen. In this day of no bulletins, you don't have the opportunity of seeing what the title of the sermon or the message is. If if I were to put one on it, it would be very simple, but I want to just tell you that typically I always used one of three techniques and coming up with the title of a sermon if I had time to think about it. I might try to come up with something that I thought was clever that most other people don't but that might be to stimulate the other thing you might do is to pick out a portion of the scripture and use that as the title or the third thing is is what I've done for today's message and that is simply the subject that I want to talk about. And so the title is God's Masterpiece now, I want you to think in your mind's what what could he be going to talk about God's Masterpiece getting an image in your mind of what God's Masterpiece might be and I I wish we had time for everybody to say. Well, here's what I'm thinking. Here's what I'm thinking. We don't but they keep that in mind and we'll see if I hit some of those things as we go through the next few minutes together. I'm going to talk about four or five things that I think can fall into that category of God's Masterpiece. And then we're going to talk about what that what that means for us. God Master. Peace. My guess is that the first one I want to talk about. I'd be surprised if any of you came up with this and I'm not saying that to be critical. It's just that I I wouldn't expect that you'd think this is where I'm going. But the first Masterpiece I want to talk about is this window behind me. This is amazingly beautiful stained glass window these three windows at the suspect most of you know, where in the old church that stood in the parking lot there and when we were building this building we knew we had to bring these three Windows here. I we spent a lot of time and a lot of money to make that happen, but the building itself Design it so that we can include these three Windows these vaulted ceiling are not energy efficient, but we we needed the space so we can have these windows and I will get the other one down in the fellowship hall, which is the Angel the one across the way there. That is Jesus with his arms open. And then this one Jesus with the lamb know. Why is that God's Masterpiece? Cuz this was created by a stained glass artist at some point. This was original to the original church. So this window is over a hundred years old, but think about it the stained-glass artist who made these windows these various pieces of different shapes different sizes different colors and put them together to create this beautiful work of art this behind me and then we have the other windows as well. I used this window as a subject of a message that several years ago here and I it's a different message. I didn't just get that. Blow the dust off at and go to 8% the same message again, but I tried to count the pieces in this window and every time I counted I came up with a different number and I mean it would differ by 10 or 15. There are literally dozens and dozens and into the hundreds of pieces of stained glass in this window each with its individual characteristics, but when they are just put them together it creates this amazing scene out of the life of Jesus.

We have the opportunity to see this window every Sunday and I think that one thing that I know happens to me and maybe happens to you too is when you see something Sunday after Sunday week after week month after month year after year, you can begin to take it for granted. I encourage you to make a part of your routine when you come into the church is to look at these windows and they create such an amazing moods are like the praise band does with it with our beautiful music. They create a mood getting us ready for worship. So we are fortunate indeed to have the sense. And since this artist had to have been inspired by God. I think it is legitimate to call this a masterpiece of God's creation. I think we could extend that. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this but we can talk about the church itself as a masterpiece of God's creation just like this thing glass window, you know, we are a church made up of people with different different abilities different gifts different talents and it takes all of them to make this church work I had takes us together to make the church that is known as Grace United Methodist Church and we are the present this church out into the world as God's Masterpiece not bragging about it. But living that that the thought that we are God's Masterpiece out in the world. Will the next one. I want to talk about I suspect some of you did I have in mind and that is the natural creation God's God's Earth that he's given us to enjoy I always encourage Christians to read the the creation story in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter to read that once a year and think about all that God put into place. We we sort of that sort of simplify by saying God spoke it into existence which he did but think of what he put in place all of the botany all the biology all of the ology all of the various Sciences think of the creative genius of God think of the beauty that God created into our world for us to enjoy and he did just speak it into existence and that every point he said this is either good or very good and it gave it to us to enjoy I'm sure some of you have traveled to the many corners of this nation and you've seen the beauty that it's here. If you can go to the northwest corner into Alaska and see those Med jestic mountains in the glaciers in the rivers with Even bigger fish and they got in Lake Shelbyville Bob salmon up there. So you can see that you can go to the other corner to the opposite corner down into Florida in the Everglades and see some of those creepy and crawly things that are in there and in the beautiful Waters of Biscayne Bay, you can go to the northeast corner of this great nation and see the rocky Atlantic Coast go all the way out west and see the volcanic islands covered with that green velvety covering an warmed by the Tradewinds and everywhere in between our lakes and rivers and canyons and deserts and waterfalls and even the plains covered with corn and soybeans what an amazingly beautiful world. God has given us to enjoy and it's hard sometimes to enjoy that when we've got so much negativity out there that we have to deal with but I encourage all of us to go out and sometimes you can look at the creation around us and enjoy the Masterpiece of Gods. Malaysian the next Masterpiece I want to talk about is the one that's described in Revelation 21 and that's God's new heaven that he's creating the new city the FourSquare City. When Jesus was in the upper room the Thursday of Holy Week you remember that he gathered with the disciples and they celebrated the Passover meal and then Jesus gave us the celebration known as Holy Communion or the Lord's supper or the Eucharist. But he also did a lot of teaching that night. You can read that in the gospel. The one of the things he said it is I go to prepare a place for you that where I am. You may also be saying that to the disciples. We assume that he was talking about heaven and I think he was the problem is the rest of the Bible and then I might be wrong about this but it seems to me that the Bible gives us glimpses of what heaven's like but it doesn't really give us details all that much. It gives us some pretty start details about the other place. He'll it says there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. There's the smell of sulfur and there's Flames all around that's enough to scare me to the point that I don't want to go there but it does just gives us glimpses of heaven and I think partly that's because our human minds are capable of taking all of that in and understanding all that heaven really is But John gives us a picture in Revelation 21 that is detailed. It's specific. And if this really is the way it's going to happen what an amazing place that's going to be a place where 12 layers of foundation exists in each Foundation stands for one of the Apostles each one covered with these beautiful gemstone. It has these massive walls with Gates and a meat gate is a giant Pearl imagine each gate standing for one of the original 12 tribes of Israel and inside the streets are paved with gold. There's this beautiful river flowing through it the tree of life. Is there from the Garden of Eden and there are trees that produce fruit in it and every month that's in the the part after where I stopped reading amazing place. It is don't you want to get there someday? And the thing is and this is one thing that's hard to understand is how easy it is. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one gets to the father except by me and the only thing we have to do to punch our ticket cuz that heaven is simply to believe in Jesus and pray that prayer accepting him as your lord and savior. If you've never done that then Corner Pastor Rob and say Rob I need that prayer that gets me to Heaven. Okay, and he'll know what you're talkin about and he'll talk with you and lead you through that. When the when I read the Bible once in a while and I'm sure you've had this same experience. I'll come across something that I even if it's the passage that we've read many times before something reaches out and grabs you and you wonder why have I never read that or did somebody stick it in since the last time I was a stick it in that passage since the last time I was reading that particular passage reading passage in Revelation about the new city and it is it's in the depart after I stopped reading self read the rest of chapter one and you'll see what I mean, but it says that in this New Jerusalem, they'll be no sun and no moon. Oh that's hard for us to get our arms around isn't it? Because we pay so much attention to the sun in the moon maybe not consciously, but subconsciously we depend on the Sun for warmth and energy and that's what makes life go and we see the beautiful Moon Rises and moonset sun and moon phase of the moon and all of that. So how can a place exist where there is no Heaven? Excuse me? No less on and no moon explains to us that the reason there is not is because the radiating glorious light of the love of Jesus illuminates that entire city. Imagine that the glory of Jesus Christ radiating out an Illuminating that entire place. What an amazing place is going to be and that brings me to the last of the masterpieces. I want to talk about this morning. And that is you and you and you and you and you every one of us are a masterpiece of God's creation and we have trouble looking at herself. That way I think because we get hung up on our appearance we get hung up on our weaknesses on our on our end abilities and are fallacies. But I want to prove to you that you are a masterpiece of God's creation. Remember I talk to you about reading the creation story in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2. And then there it says that we are made out of hands full of dirt that God took and made us in His image. Think of that. I'm not sure all that the image of God means I don't know if it means that when we that when we see God that he's going to have hands and feet and arms and legs like weed. I'm not sure if he's going to look like George Burns or Morgan Freeman or any other of the great actors that have played God in the movies, but I think it does mean we're going to be very comfortable in his presence. We are going to be like him if we are created in the image of God and we've already talked about the genius of God the creative power of God the Artistry of God if we are created in that image then yes, we have to be masterpieces of God's creation. I want to read a little bit more to you and this won't take long. This is so you can look it up in Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14 and hear the song that says you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully. If you wanted another passage, you could go to Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 and the God says to Jeremiah before you were born. I knew you and so if we are known by God before were born if we are nipped together in our mother's womb if we are fearfully and wonderfully made if we are made in God's image, then we are a masterpiece of God's creation until tomorrow morning when you get up and you look in the mirror. I don't want you to say it. What do you look bad this morning? I'll punch you to say you are a masterpiece of God's creation. And then the hard part comes not going out there and living like it. There's an awful lot of hopelessness out in the world isn't there a lot of discouragement a lot of hatred? Imagine what it would be like if every Chris would consider himself or herself a masterpiece of God's creation and we go out and look at every other human being as a masterpiece of God's creation. Wouldn't we get rid of a lot of hatred? a lot of Injustice a lot of jealousy a lot of bigotry That's my prayer that somehow we can do that somehow we can recognize that. We are part of God's creation. We are masterpieces of his creation and we need to go out and to share that with the rest of the world. I want invite the praise band to come back as I close this up. God's creation God's Masterpiece can take many forms and we talked about a few of them this morning this building these beautiful stained glass windows, the the natural seen around us all of that, but we are part of that creation to we are part of his handiwork. It's up to us to represent God to the world to shine light in the dark places made that be so in Jesus name. Amen.