Revelation 19:11-21 Blowout The account of the sixth bowl of judgment in 16:12-16 sets the stage for the great battle of Armageddon, and this week’s passage tells us what will happen on that Day. The kings of the earth and the two beasts in the service of the dragon, Satan, are arrayed against the rider on a white horse, the One called Faithful and True, King of kings and Lord of lords, with eyes like fire and with a sharp sword coming from his mouth. This epic battle of good versus evil would make a terrible movie, though, because it’s a blowout. It starts after the period that ends verse 19 ..read more

Revelation 19:1-10 Hallelujah! Hallelujah is a mash-up of two Hebrew words that together mean Praise the God of Israel. Pastor Dave began by noting that it is often hard for us to praise God, to worship Him, because we are self-absorbed, like a child who can’t celebrate a sibling’s birthday because the party isn’t about him. Take a minute to list some of the “me” things that keep you from worshiping: my to-do list, my schedule, my preferences, my problems, my aspirations, my hurts. Take a minute … but no more than that, lest we go even further down the “me” rabbit hole. Then ask: Holy Spirit ..read more

Revelation 18:20-24 Babylon is no more … Rejoice!   The instruction to the redeemed in this week’s passage is to rejoice over the judgment of the great city, Babylon, which is figurative language for idolatry. In contrast, the response of unredeemed earth-dwellers in verses 9-19 is weeping and mourning. Pastor Todd noted last week that the kings and merchants weep and mourn, not out of compassion, but rather over the loss of their indulgent lifestyles and profit. We heaven-dwellers are compassionate; we may lean toward mourning instead of rejoicing because the destruction of idolatry mean ..read more

Revelation 18:1-8 Babylon is going down; come out! Way back in Revelation 6:10, the souls of martyrs ask, “O Sovereign Lord, how long before you judge?” We echo the question and want to right wrongs now, by human means. In this week’s passage, the long-awaited judgment on Babylon is announced by a mighty voice, and it’s crystal clear that God is the One who will take her down. No political or social movement orchestrated by human beings will destroy Babylon, our rotten-to-the-core system of idolatry, of satanic deception and immorality. Ask the Lord to protect us from the delusion that a poli ..read more

Matthew 25:31-46 Revelation (vv34-34) + Fostering Hope (vv35-40) + Salvation (vv41-46) With many guests present for Fostering Hope Sunday, Pastor Dave took pains to explain salvation. He preached from the “sheep and goats” passage in Matthew 25, which can cause confusion about salvation because of its focus on works. The sheep – the saved – have supplied basic needs such as food and drink and community to “the least of these,” but that’s not what saved them. Rather, that is what saved people do in obedience to their Lord. Some people are confused about salvation in the opposite direction. The ..read more

Revelation 16:17-21 Pastor Dave’s sermon had two parts – a discussion of the seventh bowl of God’s wrath and also a meditation on why God has not yet poured out that final wrath. Dave introduced his second theme by observing that we sometimes impatiently ask, “Why hasn’t God come?” We see the evil in the world around us – the violence, injustice, and suffering; the flouting of God’s moral law – and ask, “Why does He delay?” When we think about the perpetrators of evil in our world, which the news forces us daily to do, don’t we sometimes think, “Sic ‘em, Lord!”? Dave reminded us that it is G ..read more

Revelation 16:12-16 Sixth Bowl – Assembled for Battle The pouring out of the sixth bowl of God’s wrath assembles the kings of the earth for the battle of Armageddon against Israel. Just as there have been many little-a antichrists down through the ages that foreshadow the end-times Antichrist, there have been many attempts to annihilate the Jews that foreshadow the battle of Armageddon. Pastor Dave presented a timeline with specific examples, from the brutal Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem and evil Haman’s plot to exterminate the Jews in the Old Testament, to Russian pogroms in the 19th cen ..read more

Revelation 16:1-11 The First Five Bowls of Wrath This week’s passage is full of gruesome details: harmful and painful sores, water – salt and fresh – turned to blood, fierce and scorching heat from the sun, darkness, people gnawing their tongues in anguish. God’s wrath, poured out. Even this grim description of wrath hints at God’s mercy. As Pastor Todd emphasized, the text says twice that the suffering people cursed God and did not repent. The implication is that they understand the source of wrath and that they still have a choice. The offer of salvation is still open, if only for a nanose ..read more

Special Edition: The Men of TLC If you are new at Calvary (and maybe even if you’re not), you may not know about Calvary’s ministry to men seeking freedom from addiction. This residential program – Transitional Living into Community, or TLC – has been part of Calvary for over 20 years. To be accepted into the TLC program, a man must have attained some level of sobriety and stability; we simply don’t have the resources to serve men who are active drug and/or alcohol users and living on the streets. TLC participants learn to submit to the authority of God by submitting to the authority of the p ..read more

Revelation 5:1-14   Gazing into heaven, the apostle John sees a scroll, sealed with seven seals, in the hand of the One who sits on the throne. While Scripture does not explicitly state what is written in the scroll, Pastor Dave follows many scholars in understanding the scroll to contain “what must take place after this,” (4:1) meaning God’s plan for the consummation of human history. John weeps loudly when it appears that no one is worthy to open the scroll. That communicates to me that John cared deeply about what will happen at the end of the age. Do I? After all, those events (whatev ..read more