THE END IS HERE.

Well, the end of Revelation has come and it sure was a journey. I hope
you made it out to our final night last night- With One Voice. It
certainly lived up to the hype! What a way to end it all!

What did you think?

THE END IS NEAR...

TOMORROW NIGHT, Wed, May 6, we'll be rocking our Revelation Recap night where (as you could probably guess from the title) we'll be recapping the whole book of Revelation! It will include a bunch of great things: our news hosts, Al K. Seltzer and Chanda Lear, some amazing skits, cardboard testimonies, and a brief look at each of the chapters of Revelation! You definitely don't want to miss this night!

EVERYONE IS INVITED: MIDDLE SCHOOL, HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND ADULT!

If you want, you can find out more info as well as RSVP for it on our Revelation Recap Facebook event page.

Don't forget about next Wed, May 13 - it's our With One Voice worship night. You can also RSVP for this event and get the word out on our With One Voice Facebook event page.

2 EPIC nights that you don't want to miss!!!

EVERYONE (middle school, high school, college, and adult) is invited to these events, so spread the word!

Revelation Recap Night is coming up Wednesday, May 6. We'll take a look back at the entire book of Revelation. It's taken us 9 months to study the whole thing, but we'll get an overview of the whole book in one awesome night! Check the video HERE!

RSVP for this event and get the word out on our Revelation Recap Facebook event page.

With One Voice Worship Night is coming up in 2 weeks - Wednesday, May 13. We're inviting everyone from 5th grade-adult to come worship with us as we wrap up the book of Revelation! It will be an unforgettable night as we lift our hands and our voices together and reflect on what Jesus has done for us. There will be tons of great worship, plus Scripture reading and communion! You don't want to miss this night.

RSVP for this event and get the word out on our With One Voice Facebook event page.

Special guest speaker...Kevin?!

That's right. I was my own guest speaker on Sunday. I got a call on
Saturday morning that the pastor of Calvary Santa Fe was sick and they
wanted me to go teach for him. So, I studied for Revelation 20 as
planned, and since we can't afford to miss another weekend in
Revelation if we're going to finish on time, we video taped the
service from Saturday and played it back on Sunday morning. So while I
was teaching in Santa Fe twice, I also taught 50 miles away in
Velocity! It must be some weird time-space continuum thing or something.
From what I hear, it went really well...although I wouldn't know
because I wasn't there!

Revelation 20 sure was a crazy chapter though. Never before had we
seen God display His merciless judgment as He did then. After
thousands of years of chances, He finally throws Satan and ALL those
who rejected Him who ever lived into hell for eternity. Pretty awesome
to know sin is dealt with, but pretty sobering to think we may know
some of the people who were judged and thrown into hell!

We'll take next weekend off for The Weekend (sign up at http://www.theweekendabq.org
if you haven't yet), then we'll get our first glimpse into "The
Eternal State" in heaven in Revelation 21! It's almost over...

It can only get better from here!

It can only get better from here, because it can't get any worse for sinners in Revelation than when they are finally judged mercilessly in Revelation 20:11-15. This weekend in Revelation 20, we're asking the question, "Who's The Boss Now?!" as we look at Satan and his people who mistakenly thought they were in control. We'll see the reality of who is in control and what He'll do to those who reject Him. Get ready for a heavy message - one of excitement for those of us who follow Christ, but one of fear for those who don't!

Are you being fooled?

Wednesday was April Fool's Day, as you probably know. It's the day that you can lie, make someone feel stupid, and they think it's funny. Everybody has their gimics - one company advertised a 5-star hotel inside a helicopter called a "hotelicopter". Their YouTube video (below) caused hundreds of people from around the world to call, wondering how to reserve a room! X-Box also released an advertisement for a new version of Guitar Hero called "Alpine Legend". Only this time, there's no guitars - only yodeling (video below)! YouTube even flipped their videos upside-down (which you can still do by adding "&flip=1" to the end of the URL). Expedia even offered $99 flights to Mars, advertising that "now you can save over $3 trillion on a Mars vacation"!

Satan is the king of fooling people. Revelation 19 reveals an event known as The Second Coming of Christ. He comes as a Judge to judge the sinful world. It's a highly significant event that the Bible talks a lot about:

- There are more prophecies about Jesus' Second Coming than His First Coming.
- The Second Coming is dealt with 1,845X in the Bible
- Jesus Himself mentioned it 21 times
- 1 out of every 30 verses deals with the subject & 7 out of every 10 New Testament chapters
- Second Coming is mentioned 8 times to every 1 time the First Coming was mentioned

Jesus coming as Judge is obviously a VERY significant event. In that case, why don’t we pay a little more attention? Are you being fooled into thinking that something else is more important? What has Satan used to pull your attention away to the warnings of God's Word? It's time to do as Hebrews 12:1 says and strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

What is fooling you or tripping you up? Throw it down and keep your eyes focused on Jesus!


The "Hotelicopter"


X-BOX's "Alpine Legend"

God's Idea of "All-You-Can-Eat"

Revelation 19 gives us a unique picture of God's idea of an all-you-can-eat buffet. In the first 10 verses, we'll see a picture of us, the followers of Christ, feasting on all-you-can-eat VICTORY! There's rejoicing, singing, and praising God for His almighty power. In fact, the scene is called "The Marriage Supper of the Lamb." We, the bride of Christ, will finally be united with our groom, Jesus!

Then, there's the other side of the buffet - DEFEAT. God's enemies have suffered defeat after defeat, but in Revelation 19, it's finally over for them. We see Jesus, on a white horse, riding to defeat His enemies at Armageddon. We're with him in pure white robes, but we have no weapons. Can you guess why? Because we don't have to fight! With a word a judgment from His mouth, all of Christ's enemies are slaughtered and there's unprecedented bloodshed. In fact, Henry Morris described it this way - A mighty cutting wind sweeps across their ranks, up the 180-mile column of massed men and horses, proceeding like a slicing sword directly from the powerful Word of the majestic Rider as He rides up from Edom. Like grapes trampled in a winepress, the blood bursts from their veins and death is instantaneous. Wow! Not only do God's enemies get a hearty helping of defeat, but the birds of the air get a buffet of their own! Revelation 19:21 says And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Read Revelation 19 in preparation for God's Idea of "All-You-Can-Eat"! Hope to see you this weekend for an unforgettable service!

Bible From 30K week 1

Tonight we rocked Bible From 30K with the adults in the main service!
We made sure to represent with a few screams of course- no need to be
boring just because we're in with the adults, right?

Skip is finishing off B30K with a 2-part teaching on Revelation. It's
taken us 21 weeks to cover 18 chapters and Pastor Skip will cover the
whole thing in only 2 weeks! Wow! It was a great review. Come next
Wednesday to review a bit more and also look ahead to the end of the
book.

Also, make sure to read Revelation 19 in prep for this weekend's
message- the marriage supper of the Lamb and the SLAUGHTER or
Armageddon!!!

A few things Satan would've left out...

This weekend, we're going to blow through 42 verses in Revelation 17-18! Wow! It's going to be pretty heavy as we take a step back in our Revelation time line, do a little review and get a bird's eye view of the Antichrist and his reign. Here's the problem, though, when Satan takes over the earth during the Tribulation, he'll use more deceitful tactics than he ever has. The whole world will be united behind him and everyone who's not worshiping Christ (there will be very few of those people, by the way) will be worshiping the Antichrist and Satan. However, like normal, Satan will leave some parts out. In fact, if he were writing the Bible (which would be kind of weird), I'm pretty sure he'd leave this weekend's text, Revelation 17-18, out. It talks about the final fall of his empire on earth and gives us a preview of his eternity. The Antichrist's world system is directly attacked and suddenly destroyed by God and the whole world is shocked out how quickly it happened. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want us reading Revelation 17-18...so we're going to do it anyway.

Come this weekend as we take a look at the consequences of seeking pleasure in the world and what the end of Satan and his followers will be.

Oh, and Satan, if you're reading this, I HOPE YOU HAVE A TERRIBLE WEEKEND!

Does Satan Exist? The Nightline Face-Off

If you're interested in watching the face-off debating on whether or not Satan exists, go to Nightline's website.

"More Bowl Judgments, please!"

This is obviously a funny approach to a very UNfunny topic - the complete wrath of God poured out on the earth! Come to Velocity tonight to learn how to avoid "7 Helpings of Judgment!"

Does Satan Exist?

This was the question that was asked to a panel of 4 people last Friday in front of a live audience. Debating the topic was a doctor, a pastor, an ex-prostitute, and a bishop - 2 believe in Satan and 2 don't.

Why is this so important?

We've talked a lot about Satan in our study through Revelation and we've certainly discussed that the normal red, horned, hoofed, pitchfork-toting devil isn't what he's actually like. However, the Bible makes it very clear that he's real and at work to attack God's people and thwart God's plan. Satan would love if the world thought he was fake. If Satan can persuade people that he's not real, no one will think he's a threat - he'll be more of a fairy tale to them.

Make sure to watch this debate TOMORROW (Thursday, March 26) to get a good perspective on Satan's reality, but also how the world views him!

Click HERE for a 2-minute preview of who will be debating and what their opinions of the devil are!

Stoned to death

This weekend we looked at the last 4 of the 7 bowl judgments in
Revelation 16. Wow. Everything from skin-eating sores, to the oceans
and rivers turning to blood to the sun scorching men and unprecedented
earthquakes and hailstorms- crazy, unvelieveable stuff! The highlight
had to be the 100-pound hailstone that we unveiled during service. We
talked about how much damage hail has done in the past and how we can
only imagine what thousands of hailstones this size will do! My
favorite part had to be when we looked back to Leviticus 24:16 where
God tells the punishment for blasphemy- being stoned to death! What's
so interesting about that? Well, we read 3X in Revelation 16 that
people, knowing God is behind the judgment on Earth, blaspheme Him and
curse Him for His judgments. It's as if God sees that no one else will
stone them for their blasphemy, so He does it Himself!

God is not messing around is He? That's why we asked the question,
"What will God have to do to get MY attention?" If these people
wouldn't repent, what will we need to bring repentance in our lives?

Hail from hell

That's a pretty big hailstone, huh? Can you even imagine chunks of ice
that big falling at hudreds of miles per hour to the earth?! Wow!

Well believe it or not, the hailstone in the picture will look cute
and petite next to the hailstone we'll learn about at the end of
Revelation 16. Come this weekend and see for yourself how big they'll
really be!

Oh, and read Revelation 16 in preparation for the study!

A Victory Parade

Last night was a party in Velocity! Last weekend, we studied the first of a 2-part teaching on Revelation 15-16 - the 7 bowl judgments. However, before God's complete judgment is poured out on Earth in Revelation 16, the saints and angels party in heaven. Here's how I see it: Victory in Christ is SO guaranteed that we might as well start the party now!

Last night we looked at the before-judgment party and the vision of victory that John had as well as the songs of salvation that were being sung. Although the saints in Revelation 15 were temporarily defeated on earth, they stand eternally victorious in heaven! So cool! We also talked about how as Christians, we should be the life of the party. Not because we have drugs or premarital sex, but because we have JESUS! He's worth partying over!

2 Corinthians 2:14 - But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to LEAD US ALONG IN CHRIST'S TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

Since Christ leads us along in His triumphal procession, we figured we'd celebrate with a triumphal procession of our own. So, in small groups, we all decorated banners and a big float that advertised why living for Christ is such a party! Then, we all headed outside and screamed and marched and partied up because WE HAVE VICTORY IN CHRIST!

As we marched, everyone chanted part of the song of the Lamb in Revelation 15.
The girls chanted: "Great and marvelous are Your works...
The guys chanted: "Lord God Almighty!

Apparently they could hear us from inside the book store! That was the point!

Any guesses?

What could a 55cm Body Ball and a bunch of water have to do with
Revelation? Read Revelation 16 and see if you can come up with any
ideas. You'll find out for sure next weekend as we look at the last 4
of the 7 bowl judgments!

Leave a comment with your guess at what we're going to do with the ball!

Temporarily Stunned

No, these goats aren't dead. And actually, they didn't even faint, although they've earned the nickname "Tennessee Fainting Goats." Why? They have a hereditary disorder called “myotonia congenital” that causes their muscles to lock up when they're startled (watch a video of them in action HERE or come to service this weekend to see it). They don't actually faint, but when they get scared, their muscles lock up and they easily toppled over. Within seconds, they're back on their feet and running around like nothing happened.

These goats actually kind of reminded me of God's enemies in Revelation 16. The time has come for their judgment and He begins to pour out His wrath in rapid, violent, sudden floods of judgment. The people being judged (who actually survive) seem to act similar to these goats. They are writhing in pain after breaking out in sores all over their body or being scorched by the sun, but then look how they respond:

Revelation 16:9 - ...and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

They're temporarily stunned, but then turn around and blaspheme God and continue in their sinful ways! Horrible! Don't make God teach you the hard way that He's the Judge and He's in control. It's a painful lesson that you don't have to learn hands-on.

Shock and Awe

I'll never forget the time I first heard the phrase "Shock and Awe," President Bush used it just a couple months after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in NY. I was standing in the old coffee shop at church, listening to a press conference with the President about how they were going to attack (see a video of the attack below). Here's a basic definition of "shock and awe" from Wikipedia - "technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight." The idea is to hit the enemy as hard and as fast as possible, so that they're so shocked and in awe that they can't really fight back. That's the strategy God seems to use in Revelation 15-16 this weekend as we look at the last of His judgments on the earth. The attacks on sinful mankind are so rapid-fire and ruthless that people can't even try to fight back, they simply curse God and continue in their sin.

Buckle up for a wild ride this weekend as we see the Satanic kingdom on earth crumble. We'll watch as everyone who took the mark of the beast breaks out in nasty sores, huge 70-100-pound hailstones hit the earth, the sun's heat multiplies and burns men, ALL water on the earth is turned to blood, and much more! Believe me, you DO NOT want to endure all of this, so surrender your life to Christ NOW before it's too late!

You thought it was bad before...

These 3 pictures all have something in common. The first picture is 60 pounds of Coca-Cola. The second picture is a 70-pound fish. The third picture is an 80-pound pumpkin!

So, what do they all have in common? They all weigh about the same amount as the final plague of hail that will pummel the earth at the end of the bowl judgments in Revelation 16.

Here's how the Bible puts it:

Revelation 16:21 - And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

According to the "Ask A Scientist" page on the Department of Energy website, "the terminal fall velocity of an ice sphere the size of a golf ball (1.68 inches in diameter)...is 234.7 miles per hour." Wow! Just imagine an 80-pound hailstone falling to the earth at hundreds of miles per hour! Now imagine thousand of them that size falling...all at the same time! Millions of people will be killed instantly. The biggest hailstone on record right now, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weighs in at about 1.5 pounds and measures 7 inches across - the size of a small soccer ball. That's a big hailstone...but NOTHING compared to the hailstones in Revelation!

Don't forget though, hail is just one of the many things that will happen to the earth in the end. When it's all said and done, God's words will be "It is done!" (Revelation 16:17).

Join us this weekend in Velocity as we look into the (almost) final judgment of Satan and his gang. If you thought it was bad before, you just wait. The nightmare has only begun!

I wouldn't want to end the blog like that, though, without reminding you that you don't have to endure all of that pain and suffering. God has offered us all the free gift of eternal life because Jesus died the death that we deserved - to pay for our sin. We all deserve the wrath of God that is poured out in Revelation, but thanks to Jesus, we can be those people at the beginning of Revelation 15, standing with Jesus having victory over the beast! Commit your life to Jesus TODAY - you're not guaranteed another day.

Side Effects May Vary

You've seen those commercials for certain types of prescription drugs where the voiceover reads off a list of side effects that the drug may have on you. Sometimes it seems like it would be better to suffer without the drug than risk having to deal with the side effects. Satan always leaves out the side effects when he tries to deceive or tempt us. As we look at Revelation 14 today, it will give us the side effects of taking the mark of the beast...

Revelation 14:9-11
9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

It's not that Satan didn't know that those things would happen, it's just that he doesn't care...AT ALL! His whole goal while he still has a chance is to ruin our lives and pull us away from the Lord. Revelation 14 is a great reminder to always think through what you're about to do - if it involves sin, it will never lead anywhere good.

Here's a parody on a medicine commercial that talks about potential side effects of the drug...