Grace & Peace PGH

“Brides who are in love can’t stop talking about the bridegroom. This is how we know we are really prepared for the wedding: we find that we can’t keep from talking about our bridegroom.” – Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, 200.

"The proper response to the vision is not fatalism but 'an altered life'... When readers become aware of their own complicity in the practices of the empire portrayed as Babylon and distance themselves from its ways, the vision has the effect for which it was written." —Craig R. Koester

"Revelation as a whole is a call to patient endurance as we wait for our king, the Lamb, our bridegroom, to come. And inherent in that patient endurance is faithfulness. To wait is going to require that we refuse the advances of any other lovers who seek to seduce us." —Nancy Guthrie

This week's sermon on Revelation 15-16. We apologize for the cutoff sermon. There was an issue with the recording.

"This blessing is promised to those who 'die in the Lord.' And for a person to 'die in the Lord' requires that they lived in the Lord." — Nancy Guthrie

This week's sermon from guest preacher Derek Bates.

"We are not looking for figures by predicting specific persons in the future; rather, we are looking for images of dragon-like leaders at work in all societies and all times. They are puppets, whose strings are pulled by the dragon. Remember, these images are not about predicting the future, but about shaping our perceptions of the present.” – Scot McKnight with Cody Matchet

Today's open discussion.

"It is possible that people can refuse to believe [the Bible's] testimony, functioning as if Jesus' tomb has a No Vacancy sign hanging outside it. It is also possible that we verbally affirm the resurrection and still fail to be changed by it. The Spirit's work is essential. But when he works... the resurrection radically transforms our lives. The resurrection, the key to understanding the biblica...

“From the expulsion from Eden, God’s people have been an expectant mother, awaiting the birth of the Seed who would champion their cause against Satan the liar, accuser, and murderer.” – Dennis E. Johnson

“The contribution of the Revelation to the work of witness is not instruction, telling us how to make a coherent apology of the faith, but imagination, strengthening the spirit with images that keep us ‘steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord’ (1 Cor 15:58). Instruction in witness is important, but courage is critical, for it takes place in pitched battle.” – Eugene H. Peter...

“…not because Christians in the late first century were actually innumerable, but because of John’s faith in the fulfillment of all the promises of God through Christ, the church is depicted as an innumerable company drawn from all nations.” – Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation, 77.

“Seven is the number of perfection, implying something done according to the divine design, the number of completion. Three implies the greatest or ultimate expression of something. So seven times three indicates triple perfection! These judgments describe the complete, perfect erasure of evil.” – Scot McKnight, Revelation for the Rest of Us, 110.

“Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.” – Oscar Wilde

“In the heart of ultimate reality, John saw a Savior who still bears the marks of his suffering – a Lamb who was slain, yet conquered death.” – Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, 98.

“The worship of God is the heartbeat of the cosmos, even when we humans on earth do not see it, participate in it, or value it. Only God is worthy to receive what others, especially powerful political figures, may want or demand: our total devotion, our praise, our crowns.” – Michael J. Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly, 107.

“The messages to the seven churches establish a context in which readers of Revelation can ponder the meaning of the visions that will unfold in the next chapters. We have seen that those who were first addressed by the book faced issues ranging from persecution, to assimilation, to the complacency that arises from prosperity… The promises that were made at the end of each message are not forgotte...

“The reproof is startling and designed to bring change. The goal is to shake the congregation out of its complacency and into a renewed relationship with Christ.” – Craig R. Koster, Revelation and the End of All Things, 73.

This is a sermon from guest preacher, Gavin Breeden.

“Could it be that the Christian faith is unthinkable for many people today more from prejudice, misinformation, and neglect than from honest investigation?” – Dick Keyes, “A Crisis of Meaning” in Finding God at Harvard, 85.

This is a sermon from guest preacher, Gavin Breeden.

“…to be heavenly minded is to live in light of the age to come. To maintain a heavenly orientation is not to withdraw from the earthly creation but rather to view the earthly in light of the heavenly.” – Michael D. Williams, Far As the Curse is Found, 301.

“God’s answer to everything that ever terrorized us is a child. The power of God is so far superior to the Assyrias and all the big shots of this world that he can defeat them by coming as a mere child. His answer to the bullies swaggering through history is not to become an even bigger bully. His answer is Jesus.” – Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, 99.

“God’s first word to fallen man has all the marks of grace. It is a question, since to help him He must draw rather than drive him out of hiding.” – Derek Kidner, Genesis, 70.

“You have made us for yourself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in you.” – Augustine