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.

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"

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!

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!

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.

You Don't Have to be a LOSER!

That's the title of the message this weekend...and it's also the GREAT NEWS of the message! Revelation 14:14-20 looks ahead to the 7 bowl judgments (next week in Revelation 15-16) and the Battle (more like a slaughter) of Armageddon in Revelation 19. Revelation 14 describes a blood bath of epic proportions. Toward the end, it pictures Christ holding a sickle about ready to mow down His enemies. It makes me thankful that I know what side of the sickle I'll be on and reminds me what an urgent message we have to proclaim.

The best part is, even if you are on the losing side right now, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE! Jesus has offered you a position on the winning team!

The MARK

Last weekend we studied Revelation 13 and this week, we continue it. We looked at a few possibilities of what "the mark of the beast" will be in the end times and we'll look at them again tonight. We'll spend most of our time tonight, however, talking about the marks you already have, then as we close in worship and communion, we'll talk about the marks Jesus took for us! Should be a great night!

MAKE SURE TO COME EARLY FOR THE V.I.P. PARTY FROM 6:45-7:15!.

We'll also have barcodes like the one pictured available for you to take home if you'd like. It says "Revelation 13" on the front, and on the back, you can read Revelation 13:16-18 along with our blog address. Hand a few out at school - see what happens!

Oh, and going with the news theme, Al K. Seltzer and Chanda Leer will have some reports on people's experiences with THE MARK. Here's a sneak peek at one, come to service to see both...

A Satanic Puppet Show

In Revelation 12, we learned who Satan really is - a lying, deceiving, hateful, vicious dragon out to thwart God's plan and kill God's people. We looked ahead to the future when Satan will be kicked out of heaven for good - putting him one step closer to finally being dumped into hell for eternity. This weekend in Revelation 13, we get a look at what he'll do when he gets to earth. He'll be so mad that he'll do some things he's never done. Through his human "puppets" he'll actually successfully unite the whole world against God and annihilate almost every Christian left living. These men that we know now as the antichrist and the false prophet, will be used by Satan to seal many people's eternal destination in hell. Although Revelation 13 only talks about God when it speaks of Him being blasphemed and His people killed, you have to remember that He's STILL in control. In fact, He limits Satan's destruction on the earth to the 2nd half of the Tribulation period - 3 1/2 years! God is ALWAYS in control...even when things seem really bad!

We made the news!

...the Calvary news, that is! It's really a rare thing for mid-schoolers to get the kind of information we're getting weekly as we study through Revelation! There are MANY ways to stay informed with what's going on: right HERE at the Revelation blog, on our YouTube channel, and of course on iTunes with the audio and video podcasts!

The Devil's REAL identity...

Humans have such a skewed view of who the devil is. We get this picture of some guy with horns, a pitchfork, and a tail. He often has piercings, and sometimes even seems like he'd be pretty fun to hang out with. Well, this weekend, I hope to blow away all of those thoughts about him as Revelation 12 exposes who he REALLY is. Just check out how it refers to him...

vs. 3 - a fiery red dragon
vs. 9 - a serpent
vs. 9 - "the Devil" = "slanderer"
vs. 9 - "Satan" = "enemy"
vs. 10 - the accuser of our brethren

Pretty fierce! It paints him as a powerful, vicious dragon out to kill and devour as many of God's people as he can. He cares about no one besides himself and wants to take as many people to hell with him as possible.

The title of the message this weekend is "Learning Lessons the Hard Way." We'll look at how Satan has been learning lessons the hard way for thousands of years and will for the rest of eternity. The most important part, though, is the great promise that we don't have to join Satan in that punishment - Jesus' death paid the price for our eternity in heaven!