YES!  Its September!  You can feel the coolness of the evening as the sun sets.  You can sense the leaves beginning to curl and become crispy as the winds begin to change.  Even the rivers and streams are beginning to thin, some to a trickle, as snow melt lessens and the mountains embrace for fresh snow pack.  I love Colorado.    

Change is a part of God’s creation.  Evidenced in the seasons and life cycles of every living being.  Our next sermon series  based on Revelation chapters 1-3, The Beginning and the End, describes in a significant way, the changes that the early church was experiencing.  The early church after Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension experienced an uncomfortable reality: Jesus said he was coming back soon – people were dying of old age, the church was experiencing much persecution, and Jesus had not yet returned.  There were other changes the early church was experiencing: boredom, forgetfulness, waywardness, etc.  The early church was becoming ‘lukewarm’, forgetting its ‘first love’, synchronizing the purity of the Gospel with ‘other’ non-Gospel beliefs.  

John, the writer of Revelation, is in prison, of old age, on the island of Patmos.  It is there that God reveals the message of Revelation to him.  John tries to describe what he sees and hears.  The vision is so glorious he has difficulty describing it.  For two weeks, we will explore the glorious vision of Jesus that John experiences and attempt to attach some meaning to it.  Then we will explore God’s message to the seven churches in Asia minor.  Each message is a message from God to the worldwide church of Jesus Christ.  

Buckle up – this is going to be a fun and challenging fall ride.  Read chapter one of Revelation in prep for Sunday’s message.   What do you think of John’s vision?   

Pastor Mark