Week 3 | “Hope When You Are Overwhelmed”

Anybody excited to worship our God today? Come on, would you stand up and let's worship our God today. Let me see those hands together. Come on. All right, come on, let's sing this out. Come on, we sing. So I wouldn't have to. Our glory belongs to his name. Can you believe that? Yeah. Oh, I've got a God who's been faithful far more than I could explain. Hey. And through every season, in spite of my weakness, he gave me a song I can sing. I came to praise. Come on, did somebody come to praise today? Hey. I came to praise. That's why. That's why I woke up today. Oh, I came to praise. I came to praise. We sing, hallelujah. We sing, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise. We sing, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise always. See, I've got a king who is risen. He put my shame in the rain.

Went to hell and back, and now I'll never have to. And he did it all in three days. I came to praise. Come on, if you came to praise today, you say, I came to praise. Oh, would you declare? That's why I woke up today. Oh, we came to praise. I came to praise. Oh, let me hear you say, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise. We say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise always. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise. We say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You get all the praise always. Hey! I'm sleeping in the morning, I'm sleeping at night. I'm sleeping in the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing this morning. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing this morning, the rest of my life. Hey! I'm sleeping in the morning, I'm sleeping at night. I'm singing the battle, that's how I fight. I'm singing this morning, I'm singing it twice. I'm singing this morning, the rest of my life.

I'm singing this morning, the rest of my life. Alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. Oh, we sing. Alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. Always. Alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. Oh, we sing. Alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. Always. I'm singing in the morning, I'm singing at night. I'm singing the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing this morning, I'm singing it twice. I'm singing this morning, the rest of my life. I'm singing this morning, I'm singing at night. And I'm singing the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing this morning, I'm singing it twice. I'm singing this morning, the rest of my life. I'm singing this morning, I'm singing at night. You say, alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. You say, alleluia, alleluia, you get all the praise. Always. Hey. I came to praise. Hey. I came to praise. Hey. Oh, I came to praise, I came to praise Come on, if you came to praise, would you give me a shout?

Thank you, Jesus! Man, I hope you came expecting for what God is going to do today. I believe God's going to shift some hearts. He's going to, He's going to touch some hearts today, and if you did not come expecting, that's okay. Because I hope that God surprises you today. Turn to somebody around you and tell them, man, I hope God surprises you today. Give them a high five and tell them, I hope God surprises you. Turn to two or three people. Tell them, I hope God surprises you. That's good. Well, hey, I do want to say, there's a few things I got to tell you. First thing is, for the first service, we lost power. I don't know if you knew that, but we lost power all over the building, but that did not stop us. We still kept to worship our God, and it was awesome. Now, that does mean, there's a few things in our buildings that are still not functioning. That is our kids' ministry. So, can we welcome all the kids that are in the room right now? Yeah, thank you for joining us. You had no choice, but you are here. And also, let's have a little grace when we hear a crying baby. That's okay. That's okay. They're in the service. We're going to have a little grace for that. Hey, I do want to welcome every person who is here visiting us for the first time. Can we give it up for any first-time visitors? We hope you feel like you're at home. We hope you feel welcome.

And, hey, we do want to get to know you. The best way to get to know you is to come to us. We're going to have a little grace for that. Hey, I do want to welcome every person who is here visiting us for the first time. Can we give it up for any first-time visitors? We hope you feel like you're at home. We hope you feel welcome. And, hey, we do want to get to know you. The best way for us to get to know you is to fill out our digital connect card. What that allows us to do is to reach out to you and get to know you. Maybe ask a little bit about your story and get you connected. You know, a lot of people walk into our building and they go, man, this is a huge place. There's no way I'm going to find my people. Let me tell you, there are so many ways for you to get connected around our church. We want to make it easier for you. We want to make it easier for you. We want to make it easier for you. We want to make it easier for you. We want to make it easier for you. The second thing is also directed to anybody who's new or you're newer in the last few weeks. And if you just want to get to know our church, there's an experience called Discover Willow right after the service at 1230, it's in one of the waterfall rooms. So literally go to the waterfall and then just go downstairs. Don't go through the waterfall, use the stairs, but you can go downstairs and we'll have this experience. And what this is, it's really an opportunity for you to get to know our church, get to know what we believe, our history, get to know what ministries exist around our church. There's a lot and there's a lot of ways for you to get connected. And so we just want to make it as easy as possible for you to find your community, find

your people. We're going to start the day right after the service, 1230, and there's going to be free food. Who doesn't like free food? At least come and have a meal and then you can take off. Yeah. Are we, are we clapping for free food? Come on, free food, let's go. Well, hey, today's going to be a special service. It's going to feel a little different and we hope it feels different. We hope it feels like not just another Sunday, but really an opportunity for us to experience the presence of God today. And our prayer for you today is that no matter what you walked in with, what you walked in carrying, what emotions you're feeling today, what you're walking through, no matter what you're facing, here's what we want you to experience. We want you to be reminded that God is still in control over your life. He is still on the throne and there's nothing that's going to take him off the throne. Do you believe that church? And so Father God, we just came to say thank you. We came to invite you into this place and we came to worship you, Father God. So would you move today? Would you have your way in us? Would you speak? Father God, we're listening. Come on, God. Come on, let's worship our God this morning. Come on, let's clap big for our God today. Hallelujah. There was a moment when the lights went out, when death had claimed its victory, the King of love had given up his life.

The darkest day in history, and there on a cross they made for sinners, for every curse his blood atoned. One final breath and it was finished, but not the end we could have known, for the earth began to shake and the veil was torn. What sacrifice was made as the heavens roared? Let's sing together, survive. ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ He's the Savior of the world You think there was a moment when he died? ♪ There was a moment when the sky lit up ♪ A flash of light breaking through ♪ When all was lost, when all was lost ♪ He caused eternity, yeah ♪ The king of night was on the move ♪ For in a dark old tomb ♪ Where a Lord was laid ♪ One miraculous prayer ♪ He'll be forever, yeah Come on, church. ♪ All hail King Jesus We sing it now. ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ All hail King Jesus We honor you. ♪ All hail the Savior of the world ♪ All hail King Jesus

We praise you. ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ All hail the Savior of the world He's our Savior, yes he is. ♪ So let every knee ♪ Come bow before the King of kings ♪ Let every tongue ♪ Profess that he is Lord ♪ Lift up your shout ♪ Let us join with all our praise Come on, let's do it together. ♪ Holy Sing it. ♪ Holy Together, we are singing. ♪ Holy Sing it. ♪ Holy You are holy. Come on, let's lift our voices. All hail. ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ All hail the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ All hail King Jesus ♪ All hail the Savior of the world You are the Savior. You're the Savior of the world. Those same hands that you were just clapping with. If you feel so led, can you just lift them

before the King of kings and the Lord of lords today? We're leaning in today in a different way. We're leaning in. We're taking just a closer step to see our King high and lifted up today. ♪ We worship you, we sing ♪ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain ♪ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Holy, holy is the name Yeah, come on church. Let's sing it out. ♪ We sing a new song to Him ♪ To Him who sits on heaven's throne ♪ We sing worthy is the Lamb ♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ Lamb who was slain ♪ Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ And we sing a new song, sing a new song ♪ ♪ To Him who sits on heaven's mercy seat ♪ ♪ And together we sing holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are, You are my everything and I will adore You ♪ ♪ Oh, I adore You, we love You Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We sing clothed in rainbows, clothed in rainbows ♪ ♪ Of living color, flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder ♪ ♪ Blessing and honor, blessing and honor strengthened ♪ ♪ Glory and power be to You the only, to You the only one ♪ ♪ We sing, yeah, we sing holy, holy, holy, holy ♪

♪ Is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ So with all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore You ♪ ♪ We sing, yeah, we sing holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise to the King of kings, You are my everything ♪ ♪ And I will adore You ♪ ♪ Oh, You are beautiful, You are wonderful ♪ ♪ Oh, You are filled with wonder, awestruck wonder ♪ ♪ At the mention of Your name ♪ Let's sing that again. Come on, let's behold Him and sing it. ♪ Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder, awestruck wonder ♪ ♪ At the mention, at the mention of Your name ♪ Oh, come on. We see Him high and lifted up one more time. ♪ Filled, filled with wonder, awestruck wonder, awestruck wonder ♪ ♪ At the mention, at the mention of Your name ♪ Sing Jesus, Your name is power. ♪ Your name is power, breath of living water ♪ ♪ Such a marvelous mystery ♪ Oh, it's everything we've come. ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation, with all creation ♪ ♪ I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything, You are my everything ♪ ♪ I will adore You, and I will adore You ♪

♪ Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation, with all creation ♪ ♪ I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything, You are my everything ♪ ♪ I will adore You, and I will adore You ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ You are my everything. ♪ You are my everything, and I will adore you, adore you Boys. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. God, we adore you. We stand in awe, God, we are overwhelmed. We are without words. When we encounter your presence, we thank you for your glory, your presence that is here right now. Thank you, Jesus. In a church, sometimes when I worship the Lord, I lift my hand so I can try to see him high and lift it up. It's hard to even imagine what John saw on that day when he was on the island of Patmos. And right now, as we continue on in our time of worship and you begin to take your seats, I want you to lean in just a little bit more as we listen to the words from John as he describes what he saw on that day. You can have your seats in the presence of God. I have seen it with my own eyes, what he has prepared for us.

I have seen the throne room of heaven and the king upon his throne in all his glory. It was a day like any other day. And out of the throne room, I have seen the throne room of heaven and the king upon his throne in all his glory. And out of nowhere, I heard the sound of a trumpet ring out across that island and call out to me, come up here. I turned and there was a door open wide and beyond it, light, and I stepped through. What I saw on the other side, majestic, overwhelming, wondrous, terrifying, beautiful. And I felt it. My creation itself was bowing in reverence. It was bowing in reverence. Lightning cracked and thunder rumbled out of that throne. And then in front of it all, a sea of glass, still, perfect, clear as crystal, all that fire, all that thunder, and then stillness. And I knew in that moment, this was the source of all might and majesty. Nothing would trouble this king. Nothing would threaten this king. Nothing on earth, nothing in all the heavens, all power and all glory was his. And then I saw them, four living creatures surrounding the throne, vast and ancient, every inch of them covered in eyes. Six wings each, enormous and outstretched.

And they were consumed, utterly consumed with what was before them. And they cried out, all of them together, without ceasing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And then 24 elders, adorned in their own splendor, fell. Crowns off, faces to the ground, hands open in adoration and worship. And I fell too. What else could I do? Amen. Can you imagine that scene? It's a description of Revelation chapter four. So we're in this series looking at the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. It's often. a skipped over book. People avoid it. It's got all kinds of crazy symbols and sometimes a little hard to understand. But chapter 4 and chapter 5, this powerful picture of heaven, of like the throne room of God, did you notice in the video what wasn't there? Panic. There's no emergency meetings, there's nobody pacing around, there's nobody concerned. Because even in the chaos of earth, there's a calmness in heaven. Now think about how much that would have meant to John, the apostle. He's the guy that wrote the book of Revelation. Again, he wasn't riding from a comfortable chair. He was riding, prisoned, exiled on the island of Patmos, likely in a dark cave. And in the chaos of the world in which we live, that the imperial empire of Rome was crushing every church he loved and every Christ follower that he knew, it was in the chaos of all that he saw that he heard this voice that said come. And it was almost like he got this vision where this door opened up and he got to see into the throne room of heaven. I mean, what an amazing picture that must have been. John describes it for us. He says that at once I was in the spirit and there before me there was a throne in heaven and someone was sitting on it. Now don't miss that last piece that

someone is sitting on the throne. The first thing that John sees when he gets this heavenly vision is a throne and it's an occupied throne. Now in the first century, an occupied throne would have been everything. Because think about an unoccupied throne. An unoccupied throne meant that power hungry people would fight over that empty throne. Empty thrones meant chaos. It meant warfare. It meant bloodshed. When you open up the throne room of heaven, there is a throne, but there's someone sitting on it. God is on his throne. He's not surprised. He's not deterred. He's reigning and he's ruling. Now that image matters a lot for you and I. Because you think about all the challenges that we face in life. I mean, in this world, one in four adults are facing a mental illness right now. Marriages are falling apart. Our political climate feels like it's in upheaval in so many ways. We've lost contact with a child. We just faced a paralyzing diagnosis. And so we face all kinds of chaos in this world and John reminds us what feels chaotic on earth is still very peaceful in heaven because God is still on his throne. I would say it this way. I would say it this way. Hope isn't seeing less of your problem. Hope is just seeing more of your God. And so that's what Revelation 4 is trying to help us see. It's not that our problems go away. It's not that the pain subsides. It's not as though our circumstances are any different, but it's just a reminder that God is still on his throne. I would say it this way. That you can be in a storm, but that storm doesn't have to be in you. That we can live in a different way. It's possible to be in the struggle while at the same time our heart is still attached to heaven. That we can experience the fullness of that. Because look what it says in verse 6. It says also in front of the throne, there was what looked like a sea of glass clear as crystal. It's almost like Revelation is doubling down on what we just said about the person who's on the throne. It says around this throne, there was a sea of glass. Now remember I told you that Revelation is full of imagery. It's full of symbols. Now the early church would have understood exactly what this symbol meant. That every time in the Old Testament, that an Old Testament writer wanted to draw some sort of symbol for turbulence or chaos, they always went to water imagery. Because in the ancient world, seas were uncontrollable. They were turbulent. They were chaotic. And so they would pull for symbols like the deep or the flood. The water meant turbulence and chaos. But look at the water that's around the throne room of God. It says it would look like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. That what is chaos on earth, my friends, is absolutely calm in heaven. I don't know what you're facing.

But some of us need to be reminded in the difficulty that we face today, maybe some of you walked in here today hoping that you would experience some sort of shift. That shift happens not just in the changing of your circumstances, the shift happens by a change of your perspective when your heart gets connected to the one who's on the throne, even in our chaos, there's still peace in heaven. And we can find so much peace in that. Now look what it says next. It says in verse 4, They were dressed in white and they had these crowns of gold on their head. Now, who in the world are these 24 elders? Great question. I'm not 100% sure, to be honest with you. If you read a lot of different commentaries, there's a lot of different speculation of what these 24 elders could be. I'm not 100% sure, but this is what I think. Numbers mean something all throughout the book of Revelation. 24 is obviously 12 plus 12. 12 is a significant number all throughout the Bible. One way to think about it would be this. If you think about the Old Testament, the Old Covenant people of God, they were represented by 12 tribes of Israel. If you think about the New Covenant, the New Covenant people of God, they would be represented by the 12 apostles. So 12 plus 12 potentially creates the 24 elders. It's an image to remind us of the fullness of the people of God around the throne room of heaven. We're talking about from Abraham to Moses to David to Elijah to Peter to Paul to John to you and me. That all of God's family is present in heaven around the throne. Maybe you can describe it this way. It's kind of like a family reunion. That you and I have more in common with Christ followers all over the world than we do just about anybody else. Because of the fullness of all of the people of God have come. Now notice these 24 elders, they've got these robes that are white and they've got these crowns that are on their head. Now there's two words in the ancient language that can be translated crowns. It's the word diadem and the word stephanos. So help me out, say diadem. Say stephanos. Now here's the difference. The diadem crown was a kingly crown.

It was a royalty crown. It was only allowed to be worn by a king. The stephanos type of crown was more like an Olympic champion. You know when you got rewarded for finishing and finishing strong. Kind of a laurel wreath type of crown. Now the crown that's described in here where the elders are wearing this crown is the stephanos kind of crown. It's the reward for faithful living, obedient living to God. Now I want to be kind of really clear about something that's really, really important. In that our faith, our, let me say it this way, our salvation, our ability to live eternally with God is not based on what we do. And so maybe somebody here is not yet a follower of Jesus. If you're not yet a follower of Jesus, I need you to understand this really critical piece of what we understand about Christianity. Our ability to live eternally with God is not based on who we are and what we do. It's based on who He is and what He has done on our behalf. We experience eternity by faith, through grace, because it's a gift of God that God gave us through Jesus that He enacted for us on the cross. So let's be really clear. The elders that are there, they didn't get there by their own volition. They didn't get there because they were good enough. They didn't get there because they did all the right things. They got there by faith, through grace, because of what God has done on their behalf. However, they're still wearing a crown. So in other words, salvation is because of who He is and what He has done. However, what we do still gets rewarded. And we'll come back to this a couple of times throughout the book of Revelation. It's very clear that our works don't get us to heaven, but our works are rewarded in heaven. That how you live, how you serve, how you love, how you give to those around you, God sees it. Your endurance and hardship in remaining faithful to Him, God sees it. And He rewards it. And that's the crown that these elders are wearing, which makes it so peculiar what they do with these crowns. Here's what it says in verse 10. It says the 24 elders, they fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever.

Now look what they do. They lay their crowns before the throne, and they say, You are worthy, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being. Here's what's fascinating. Their hard-earned crown of faithfulness, they take it off, they bow down, and they lay it before the throne of God. Why do they do that? It's almost as if, though, when you stand in the presence of the Almighty God, any personal glory feels absurd. And so you just lay it at His feet, because He's the one that's worthy, because He's the one that deserves all the glory. And that's why all of heaven is surrounding Him and praising Him. And so here's what it says in verse 8. It's this whole worship scene that breaks out. It says, in day and night, they never stopped saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. It's this song that's sung over and over again in heaven, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Now, it's interesting that the same word is repeated three different times. Why is that true? Well, the reality is that the ancient language didn't have the ability to add emphasis. There was no way to say fast, faster, fastest, or high, higher, highest. And so the way you added emphasis to a word is you just repeated the word multiple times. So if you were to say holy, you mean He's holy. If you were to say holy, holy, that means that He is holier. But to say that He is holy, holy, holy, that is the lid of the ancient language. They didn't have words to express that there is nobody in all of the universe that is more holy than our great God who's sitting on the throne in heaven. He is holy, holy, holy.

He's the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Now, if you were a first century reader, you would have heard those words. You would have immediately thought of Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah 6 is another throne room of God vision from the Old Testament where Isaiah gets the same picture of the one on the throne. They're singing the same song. They're saying creatures that are around. They got the exact same vision. Now what matters about that is in Isaiah's day, he lived in a very difficult political climate where really the world seemed to be crashing down around him. Isaiah needed a vision that God was still on the throne. And John is no different. John needed the same vision that the church is being crushed by the imperial empire of Rome and he needed a vision to be reminded that our God is still on the throne. My friends, you and I are no different. Maybe we live in a broken world that provides all kinds of difficulty and calamity and maybe our struggles are different than Isaiah's and John, but we no less need the same message that our great God is still on his throne, that you and I can be in a storm, but that storm doesn't have to be in us. And that's why we worship because worship has this ability to bridge our hearts from our current chaos to the throne room where God reigns. And that's oftentimes when we worship that you'll see people raise their hands or you'll see people close their eyes. We're not doing that to put on a show for anybody around them, but sometimes we need to close our eyes to name our hardship and to reach past it and to bring whatever it is that we are experiencing to the peaceful throne room of God to the one who's still in control. And so throughout this morning, we're just going to continue to worship. My challenge for you is don't just sing lyrics to a song. You can, but you'll miss the power of what God wants us to experience.

Worship is not just about singing lyrics to a song. Again, worship is about naming the difficulty, naming the challenge, naming the struggle and reaching past it. And say, God, I don't know fully what to do with this, but in faith, I'm going to believe that you are still in control. It's my prayer for us as we can continue to worship that we can continue to connect our heart to him. So I want to invite you to go ahead and even stand to your feet as we continue to join the throne room of God in worshiping the one who sits on the throne. Let's just sing this chorus one more time. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Almighty, who was and is, and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my everything and I will adore you. Come on, sing it again, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is, and is to come. With all creation, with all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my everything and I will adore you. God, we adore you. God, we adore you. We stand in awe. We are filled with wonder and sometimes we are speechless when we encounter your presence. We thank you. Thank you for inviting us to come up higher to see you in a beautiful way. Church, we have an opportunity right now to respond the same way the 24 elders did by casting their crowns at the throne of God. By giving up the thing that represented their accomplishment, their hard work, the things that they were doing to work to get those crowns. They laid them down at the throne to say that God is worthy, that he is the source. In this room today that might look like us giving our tithes and our offerings, the things that we worked for. So right now I'm going to invite our ushers to come down to take their place to get ready to receive our tithes.

This is a great opportunity to do that today. This is our act of worship. And so as the ushers are coming and they're going to get in their place and I'm going to pray. But there also might be some people here that are saying, you know what? Either I've already given my tithe online or some other way that I'm doing that. But maybe there is something in your heart that you're holding on to so heavily. Maybe there is a diagnosis that you received. Maybe there is a broken relationship that you received. Maybe there's failure in your life that you are walking with, that you're dealing with. I want to invite you to lay that down at God's throne today. Because what he has for you to receive is so much more. He has peace. He has joy. He has hope. He has his presence that is ready for you to receive. So whatever it is that you have, whether it is your tithe, your offering, your gift, or if it's your brokenness, if it's doubt, if it's failure, whatever it is, I want to invite you to lay that down at the throne of God right now. Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to come boldly to your throne of grace to receive your mercy today, to receive your peace, to receive calm, to receive wisdom, to receive insight and understanding and clarity, to receive everything that you have. We lay it down to receive you today. We give our lives to you as living sacrifices for you to use for your glory. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's continue to worship the Lord. I am an instrument of exaltation, and I was born to live the name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one, only you, Jesus. You are the infinite God of the ages. Yet you chose to make my heart yours. Well, you healed my broken head Thank you, Jesus We worship you, oh God So I have songs of thanks, naive and angel Sing, sing who else is worthy Sing out There is no one Only you, Jesus There is no one No one is worthy We worship you, Jesus There is no one Only you, Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only you, Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only you, Jesus You alone are worthy To receive the glory Blessing and honor Dominion and power Belongs to you, Lord Lamb of God, anointed one

Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood And proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood And proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood And proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up We worship you today We worship you And we sing hallelujah We sing hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

Hallelujah We worship the Lamb on the throne Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah With one voice we sing Hallelujah We cry with every voice Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah With one voice we sing Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah We sing holy, holy Holy, wonderful Marvellous Glorious, omnipotent Righteous and mighty We praise you We praise you We lift you up

We magnify, we glorify We adore you We extol you We adore you Hallelujah We sing holy, holy Wonderful Marvelous Glorious Omnipotent Righteous and mighty We praise you We praise you We lift you up We magnify, we glorify We adore you We extol you We adore you. Hallelujah. We sing this one again. Wonderful. Glorious. Glorious. Here we go, come on. Righteous and mighty. Oh, we praise you now. We praise you. We lift you up. We praise you. We glorify you. We exalt you. We extol you.

Come on, lift your hands. Let's sing holy. Oh yeah, church. Wonderful. Marvelous. Glorious. Glorious. Righteous and mighty. Oh, we praise you. We praise you. We lift you up. We glorify you. We exalt you. We extol you. We adore you. Hallelujah. We worship the lamb. We worship you now. We say holy, holy, holy. Are you Lord God Almighty? We give you praise in your presence now. God, we love you so much. Hallelujah. Church, you can have your seats in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Yeah, hallelujah. I was still on the ground when I saw it. A scroll. In the right hand of the one on the throne. Sealed. And a mighty angel voiced like thunder

calling out across heaven who is worthy to open the scroll. There was silence. No one was found worthy to open it. The realization shook me and I wept. I wept bitterly because I understood what that scroll meant. Everything God had promised. Every wrong that needed to be made right. Every injustice. Every tear. Every hope for God's people was lost. If no one could open it then what? Was this how it ended? Was evil going to have the final word? And then one of the elders said to me do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah. He has triumphed. He is worthy. The lion of the tribe of Judah. I had grown up with that promise. We all had. A king was coming whose kingdom would never end and now here in heaven

he stood before me. The lion of the tribe of Judah. And I looked up and I saw a lamb. Not a lion. A lamb. Innocent. Unblemished. The animal that had no defense. No roar. That is what stood at the center of the throne of heaven. Still bearing the wounds of what had been done to him he walked to the throne and took the scroll. And then I heard them angels thousands upon thousands 10,000 times 10,000 encircling the throne voices beyond number. Beyond counting. A lamb. A lamb. Every creature on earth in heaven

under the earth on the sea everything that had ever drawn breath one voice all of creation to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power and glory The lamb is upon the throne. So you turn the page to chapter 5, and that's where it gets good. Not that it wasn't good before, but the throne room scene continues. And John sees the one who's on the throne, and it says this, that I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals open in the scroll? Now it seems pretty strange, doesn't it? It's a pretty strange image to see unless you understood the first century context. In the first century in Rome, it was very common for somebody to write a last will in testament, kind of much like we write a will today. And the will was written on both sides of a scroll. It was rolled up. It was tied together with seven strings, and they would put some wax on each one of the seams. They would take the signet ring of the one whose will it is, and they would press it

in the wax. It was basically saying that it couldn't be duplicated. It was the last will and testament of this particular person. Now it was very understood in the first century, in order to open that scroll, two things had to be true. One, it could only be opened by a witness who was there when that was written. And two, it could only be opened when the person who wrote it had died. Because upon their death, it actually releases the inheritance for everyone. And so here you have a scroll in the right hand of the person who's sitting on the throne in heaven. It's a scroll in the hands of God. So what is this? This is heaven's last will and testament. This is God's will being unleashed into the world. The challenge is there's this angel that says, but who's worthy to open the scroll? Because nobody meets those qualifications. You kind of look to all the other creatures that are in heaven, nobody meets the qualifications to open the scroll. But what's at stake is massive. I mean, if God's will cannot be unfolded into human history, then history just kind of stops. No justice for the wrong that's been done. No redemption. No opportunity to make things right. History just kind of, it just kind of comes to a stop. And that's why when John hears the angel says that there's nobody who's worthy to open the scroll, it immediately says this, it says that I wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll. Now, when it says that he wept, don't think teary-eyed. The language suggests that he sobbed, like sobbed uncontrollably. So much so that one of those elders came over to him and he was like, now, now, John.

Like let's get it together a little bit. And he says, do not weep because there was one who is worthy. And then it says that one of those elders said to me, do not weep. And then he says, see, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. Now again, that's Old Testament language, the lion of the tribe of Judah. That was a direct reference to the Messiah, the one that God would send into the world that we now know is Jesus, but it was the Messiah who was going to come. Now, they had this understanding because he was the lion that he was going to come with strength, with authority, with power. He's the king of the jungle. He's the king of the universe. Nobody can stand to his power. And so early on, the church would have expected that when the Messiah came into the world, when God sent his chosen one into the world, he would come with that might, he would come with that authority, he would come with that power, he would conquer every enemy of God's people. And they expected the Messiah to use his power to overthrow the Romans and reestablish the people of God together as a nation. But look what Revelation says. He said, see, there's a lion. But what did he actually see? It says that then I saw, and I saw a lamb looking as though it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne. He heard a lion, but he saw a lamb. Now there are two almost opposing images, right? That a lion is strong, it's mighty, it's got authority, it's the king of the jungle, and a lamb, a lamb looks like a fairly weak creature. However, this lamb is different. It said that this lamb was a lamb that was slain. And again, your first century church reader

would have understood this was the sacrificial lamb. That once a year that there was a lamb that was made as a sacrifice for the sins of people so that the people could be rejoined to God. When Jesus came into the world, he didn't come as a conqueror to take other people's lives. He came as a lamb to give his life for the sake of everybody. It actually changes everything. What's amazing about Jesus is he is the embodiment of both of these images. He is the lion, he is also the lamb. He's actually both. And that's what makes him worthy to do what nobody else was able to do. Do you remember the requirements of what it took for somebody to open the scroll? They had to be with God in the beginning when it was all written. And Jesus was with God in the beginning. And the will could only be released through the death itself. And the lamb paid the ultimate price for you and I on the cross. He is the only one in all of the universe that is worthy to reveal the full will of God, to make the wrongs right, to provide redemption, to create hope for you and I. He is the only one who is worthy. What I love about this is that our world believes

that great power actually takes life. Think about any powerful government over the history of all mankind, they've all been known to exercise that power to take other people's lives. But true power came from God in Jesus, not to take life, but to give his own for the sake of everybody. And notice where the lamb is. He's standing. In other words, he's not lying down. But look where he's standing. He's standing at the center of the throne. It's the statement that sacrificial love is not a footnote of history. Sacrificial love is the foundational truth of the kingdom of God. It is who he is. He didn't come to claim life, he came to give life by giving his own. And so as you and I look at the lamb, Jesus, who stands at the center of the throne, there's a few things that you gotta recognize about his scars that he bears. Those scars are not scars of weakness. Those scars are scars of victory. He bears the scars of victory that he won through his redemption through the cross of Jesus Christ. And so when you look at his scars, there's two things I want you to see in his scars.

The first is this. I think you'll notice that his scars are actually greater than yours. And I'm not minimizing whatever it is that you're going through. I'm not minimizing the hardship that you and I face in this life. But you need to understand, we have a God who sits on the throne that was not a distant God. He walked in our shoes. He was betrayed himself. He was taken advantage of himself. His closest followers turned their back on him. He was ultimately killed for the sake of truth and love. And so when we look at his scars, we recognize that there's nothing that we will ever go through that our God doesn't understand. His scars are actually greater than ours. But take another look at his scars. I think this truth is almost too much to hold. Not only are his scars greater than ours, I think his scars are ours. Because it was on that cross some 2,000 years ago that my sin, my brokenness, my shame, my guilt, all the things that would have separated me from God, Jesus took upon the punishment himself. He took the consequence so that I could be set free to live with God forever.

Not only are his scars greater than mine, his scars actually are mine. And that's why verse nine of chapter five says, "'So that you are worthy to take the scroll "'and to open its seals because you were slain. "'And with your blood you purchased for God "'persons from every tribe and language "'and people and nation.'" My friends, nobody gets left out. It's not like God has a favorite nation. God sent his son Jesus to provide redemption for all people of all nations, of all tongues. God created the opportunity for every single person to know of his truth and come to know him. It was through the cross. It was by his stripes that we find healing. He is worthy. I want you to anchor your life in this truth that the throne is occupied by a king. that's still bearing the scars of victory. It's your victory, and it's mine as well. But I wanna skip over one other detail in verse eight. Look what it says. It's talking about the elders. It says that each one had a harp, and they were holding these golden bowls of incense, and then look, it defines what that is. It says, which are the prayers of God's people? Don't gloss over that detail. That means your prayers, my prayers,

are in the room where history is being decided. I don't know what you think about prayer, but I don't want you to think any less that the prayers that you have are in the room where history is being decided. So that prayer you prayed when you thought nobody was listening, it's in the bowl. That prayer you prayed that you almost gave up on because nothing seems to change, it's in the bowl. That prayer that you prayed through tears at 2 a.m., it's in the bowl, in front of the one who's the center of the universe on the throne itself. My friends, it's his suffering that made it possible for your salvation. It's his brokenness that became your wholeness. He didn't survive your brokenness. He absorbed it. So I would say the throne is occupied by a king who still bears the scars of victory today. And my friends, I would tell you, this is not just John's story. It's just not an image that God gave to the apostle John some 2,000 years ago. It's recorded because these words are words of hope for you and I today. I would say this is the story of everything. That one day, every fear will be silenced. One day, every prayer will be answered. One day, every wound will be healed.

One day, every injustice will be made right. One day, every knee will bow. One day, every voice will join the song. And on that day, no one will wonder whether the lamb is worthy or not because every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea will know. The whole universe will erupt in the answer. And until that day, we worship. Not because everything's resolved. Not because the answer has fully come yet. Not because the pain is gone. We worship because the lamb is worthy. We worship because the lamb is standing. We worship because the lamb is standing at the center of the universe. And no matter what we face, when you look at the lamb, you realize his scars are greater than ours. But take another look because his scars actually are ours. And that's why chapter five closes with these words that the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and they worshiped. I don't know if you've ever been late to church. You've ever been late to church? You feel like, oh man, I was late to worship. Here's what I want you to tell you. Heaven's always worshiping. We just get to join in. And so this moment, I just want to ask

that you join in one more time as we give all praise and all glory to the lamb who sits on the throne forever and ever, amen. Can we just sing this prayer? Just says, open the eyes of my heart, Lord. ♪ Open the eyes of my heart ♪ I want to see you ♪ I want to see you ♪ Open the eyes of my heart, Lord ♪ Open the eyes of my I want to see you. ♪ I want to see you I want to see you. ♪ I want to see you ♪ Hang and lift it up ♪ Shining in the light of your glory ♪ Pour out your power And love as we sing holy, holy To see you high, to see you high And lift it up, shining in the light Shining in the light of your glory Pour out your power and love As we sing holy, holy, holy And we sing holy, holy, holy We sing holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy And I want to see you It was just last year that our family received some pretty difficult news that a family member had passed away tragically and it was unexpected and I remember it was

the timing couldn't be more surreal to me It was Baptism Sunday, I had just gotten off the stage and singing the song Firm Foundation As I got off the stage I took the call and received the news, hung up the phone I remember immediately started to weep and I started to just get filled with so much fear I was just afraid at what this meant for our family and I remember out of obedience not because of what I understood but really out of obedience I remember I just kept repeating the phrase over and over God I know you are still good I know you are still in control I know you're not caught off guard and I know this breaks your heart too and I just kept repeating that over and over God I know you are still good God I know you are still in control I know you're not caught off guard and I know this breaks your heart too and I remember as I sat there I was reminded of a story in the Bible that I'm sure you know where Jesus is on a boat with his disciples and when Jesus falls asleep if you've heard the story you know that he falls asleep while he's on this boat and they're caught in the middle of a storm and his disciples they start panicking, they start freaking out and they go to Jesus almost in a frustrated manner and they say Jesus, Jesus don't you care that we're about to die? don't you care that we're about to drown?

if you know the story you know that Jesus gets up he calms the storm and he looks at them and he says why are you so afraid? can you imagine Jesus asking you that question why are you so afraid? and I don't know what you're holding today but I believe Jesus is asking you that question right now why are you so afraid? and then he looks at them and he says do you still not have faith? do you still not have faith in who I am? do you still not believe in who I am? all the things that you've seen me do also do you not realize that I'm standing in the same boat with you and I'm walking with you and I believe there are people in this room who are experiencing blessings right now and I believe that there's people that are walking and some answered prayers right now and if that's you I hope you are grateful to God and I hope you give him worship because he deserves your worship and all things come from above and I believe we have people in this room who are walking in blessings right now but I also believe that there are people in this room who are simply hurting and if you are hurting right now here's my challenge to you

and here's my prayer for you that you would make your faith unconditional in other words, simply faith that you would just simply say God, even through the fire even through the heartache even through the pain even through the tears God, I'm gonna choose to step out in faith and boldly believe that you are my father that you are with me that you are my protector that you are my sustainer that you hold everything together and that you are still in control that you have not lost control and I believe that over your life and I'm speaking that over your life that God has not lost control he is still on the throne and he loves you so very much and that is the beauty of the gospel that Jesus stepped into this world he stepped into your mess he stepped into your situation and he chooses to walk with you we're gonna go into a time of communion if you wanna pull out your elements this time is designed especially for those who are decided to follow Jesus

scripture says that as they were eating Jesus took some bread and he blessed it and he broke it I'm gonna invite you to break the bread he broke it into pieces and he gave it to the disciples saying, take this and eat it for this is my body let's receive the bread Then he took a cup of wine and he gave thanks to God for it and he gave it to them and he said each of you drink from it for this is my blood which confirms the covenant between God and his people and it's poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Let's receive the cup. So Father God we thank you for your presence we thank you for your sacrifice God we thank you for what you're doing here today we ask that you would continue to speak to us and that when we ask that you would continue to fill us with faith and hope in you and all that you're doing God we love you it's in Jesus name we pray we're going to continue to worship a few more minutes. Last song together know that the Lord has received your tears your prayers and there he's holding them in that bowl. Let's lift our eyes to him and let's just sing this together. Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns, all over the room we sing, Alleluia. Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns, yes he reigns, Alleluia. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb.

Amen, Amen. We sing Alleluia, Alleluia. Every voice sing, Alleluia. For the Lord, for the Lord God Almighty reigns, yes he reigns, yes he does. Come on you can sing it, sing Alleluia. Alleluia, for we sing, Alleluia. For the Lord God, for the Lord God Almighty reigns, yes he reigns, we sing Alleluia. Alleluia. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Sing worthy is the Lamb, yes worthy is the Lamb. Yes you are holy, you are holy. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? Worthy is the Lamb, sing it one more time. Sing worthy is the Lamb, you are holy, you are holy. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? ♪ Almighty, we say we're the Israel's, yes we're the Israel's, yes we're the Israel's, Amen, Amen. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm so grateful that you are here today just to get a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like. And whatever chaos you're facing right now, just know what's chaos on earth is still peace in heaven. Because there's one who's still on the throne. Don't ever lose sight of him. You can stay standing, I've just got one quick thing I want to share with you. We're making a little bit of a staffing change that I think is a very exciting staffing change that I want to share with you. God's been doing this incredible work through our young adults here at Willow. A lot of them are present even in this room. Give it up for our young adults. We've seen this, I would call it a movement of God when it comes to our young adults. We've seen it grow, our volunteer leadership has been absolutely amazing. We have almost 400 young adults in groups across all of our locations. It's been absolutely amazing.

Now when we see that, when we recognize that, we see God's at work and we want to make sure we steward that appropriately. And so we're going to make some staffing changes so that we can shift over some leadership and some resourcing to continue to empower this group of young people to become their best self. And so to that end, we're going to start creating monthly gatherings for young adults. And we've asked Mario Gonzalez to step in and help lead that. So where's Mario? There we go, there's Mario. So you know Mario as our South Barrington worship pastor, been in the role for a lot of years, done a great thing. Mario's as good as they come, he really is. And Mario's a leader. And so we really wanted to bring a strong leader alongside of our young adult community. We believe that God's going to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine through our young adults. We're really, really grateful for Mario stepping into this role. Mario, we got our first gathering coming up, I think June 24th, if I'm not mistaken, is that right? June 24th, 730. We got Chick-fil-A, y'all. Come on by, and we're going to experience the presence of God there. It's going to be amazing, come on. All right, so young adults, 24th, 730. So that makes you ask the question, well who's going to be the South Barrington worship pastor? Great question, thanks for asking. And so I'm really excited to share with you that LaRue Howard is going to step into that role. As our worship pastor, LaRue's been on the team for a long time. She's provided oversight to all of our worship pastors. She'll continue to do that, but she's going to anchor things for us right here at South Barrington. I love this woman of God. She's absolutely amazing. Can't wait to continue to be led by you. She's amazing. Grateful to what God is doing here at Willow. Really, really excited and grateful that you are a part of it. Next weekend is Father's Day. Celebrate your dads. We've got some great things for fathers next week.

We got some golf simulators, some putt-putts, some driving simulators, all kinds of things to celebrate dads next week. So bring your dad, your grandpa, everybody back next weekend. Our prayer teams are up front. If we can serve you in that way, it would be our honor. Willow, we love you. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.