Asbury Church Asbury Church

Everyone wants to win, but lots of folks aren’t playing by the right rules.

What if you climbed the ladder, only to find out that it was leaning against the wrong building the whole time?

In Revelation 5, we’re told that Jesus has “conquered,” that is, he won.

But how?

I think comparing Jesus to James Bond will get us to the right answer.

I have a “plan" to defeat the pornographers and the fentanyl dealers, to empty out the family law courts and the prisons, to fill up the churches and the seminaries.

(I’m serious.)

It all starts with the way Jesus describes himself to John before the vision of the Revelation begins.

This aspect of Jesus’s identity is fundamental to our faith and at the same time often forgotten about (or at least overlooked) in the modern church.

To the early church, on the contrary, it was central.

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis:

We need to remember Jesus as the Pearl Diver.

As we begin a new sermon series on Revelation, I want to begin at the end of John’s vision, namely with what he sees after evil has been defeated:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” [Revelation 21:1]

It’s the mention of the “sea” that really got me, and once I understood that, the rest of the book opened up to me.

In the Jewish imagination, the sea is chaos and disorder and entropy, and in the New Creation, that is no more.

But we’re not there yet, which means we have work to do.

It turns out Kevin Garnett was right: anything *is* possible.

After all, no one had ever walked on water before Jesus called to Peter from the waves.

After winning the NBA Championship in 2011 Kevin Garnett bellowed, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!” That may not be true when it comes to ordinary people playing in the NBA, but it is definitely true when it comes to the kind of life Christ has for his people. Abundant, full life is actually possible NOW, if only you’re willing to listen to the voice of the Lord and take that first step out of the boat.

As we begin a new year, many of us are listening more to our past experiences than we are to the Lord’s promises.

But God’s not done with us yet, and in Christ, amazing things are possible.

Let’s go.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest
Date: Sunday, January 1, 2023 [10:00 AM]
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

Everyone wants to focus on Mary and Joseph and the manger and the stable. Which is understandable! But this year it’s the message of the angel that really caught my attention.

What if we weren’t afraid?

There is a way that shuts down the future, and a way that opens it up.

Which way will you go?

Joseph made his choice for quiet mercy, and that choice made all the difference.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest
Date: Sunday, December 18 [9 AM service]
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25