Grace & Peace PGH

“Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst.” – William Penn

“Money is like sea water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.” – Roman Proverb

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

This is a sermon from the guest preacher, Gavin Breeden.

Today's open discussion.

This is a sermon from the guest preacher, Rodger Woodworth.

This is a sermon from the guest preacher, Rodger Woodworth.

“A Christian life in which we simply orient our lives around the teachings and example of Jesus with no real expectation of his bodily return to this earth is not the Christian life at all. The orientation of a Christian is leaning forward in anticipation of the next big event on the calendar of redemptive history: the second coming of Jesus Christ." – Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, 241.

“This picture of the new creation as a garden keeps us from expecting that this world is ever going to fully satisfy us. We’re thirsty for the living water. We’re hungry for the fruit of the tree of life. We long for the full and complete satisfaction that awaits us in the new and greater garden to come.” – Nancy Guthrie, Blessed, 237.

“…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 is portrayed in Revelation, not as uncontrollably angry, but as inexorably just. God’s faithfulness to the creation, all humanity, and the church leads to the divine war against evil, Empire, and their lies, represented by the unholy trinity and named ‘Babylon.’ The three members of that unholy triumvirate together meet their final fate, along with those who ultimately refuse the mercy of God...

“Evil must be destroyed, not only for the sake of God’s justice, but for the sake of the purity of the new world.” – Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King, 175.

“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.