Where Do YOU Stand?

The following is a continuation of our Revelation preaching series at First Lutheran. This sermon was preached by Pastor Meg Sander. 

Scripture: Revelation 6:1-8, 15-17; Revelation 5:1-8

There are many phrases we use that contain the word stand. STAND tall. Take a STAND, make a STAND! STAND by me. STAND by your man or woman. STAND up for yourself! STAND on your own two feet. STAND up and be counted. STANDing in the need of prayer. STAND up for your rights! If you don’t STAND for something, you’ll fall for anything! And at the end of our Bible reading for today…"Who is able to stand?” No one is able to stand when we look at what the text says.

There was a white horse…representing CONQUEST.  And another horse, bright red; representing VIOLENCE. Then there was a black horse, representing ECONOMIC HARDSHIP! And a pale  green horse representing DEATH!  And then later in the chapter we read that there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth… Then the kings of the earth…the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid…for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’

Whoa! Hold your horses! In all that gloom and doom, you ask who is able to stand. Of course nobody is able to stand when they face all kind of destruction and despair. Are you kidding?  When left to our own defenses, we are unable to stand against the perils of this world.

Christ & The Church: Problems of Assimilation, Complacency & Persecution

Scriptures: Revelation 1:4-19 (Daniel 7:9-14; Zechariah 12:10-11)

This week we’re starting something a little different than we’ve ever done before. We’re a Lutheran church… and we’re going to do a preaching series on the Book of Revelation. Bizarre… I know.

Its images and message have been interpreted in a variety of different ways and continue to be used as a “predictor” for current world events.

Where a lot of people go wrong when they open the Book of Revelation is they skip over this opening portion and tend to jump right into chapter six – where the four horsemen show up. After all – that’s when things get exciting.

But if you skip over this opening portion, you miss the entire point of the book of Revelation – because the opening is where we are introduced to the hero of the story. We are introduced to Jesus. A vision of Jesus that draws on and stays consistent with the Old Testament visions.