COME

Intro 

Intro 

Good morning. It really is a gift to be with you today. 

If we haven’t met, my name is Alex. I serve as a pastor at another church, but today I’m here as a friend. Your lead pastor, Matt, is someone I deeply respect—I love spending time with him, I trust his leadership, and you are blessed to have him shepherding this community. 

My role this morning is simple. I want to help us slow down and orient our hearts toward God. And by the grace of God, I believe He wants to meet us right where we are today. 

Would you pray with me? 

Hook 

The first week in January is known for course correction, is it not? All of us are on a journey toward what we would call the good life. A life of deep contentment, confidence, and joy. And usually when we talk about those things, we attach markers to them: physical health, emotional health, financial health, relational health. But here’s what we all know to be true—we don’t drift into those things. We naturally drift away from them. 

So what do we do? We put in effort. We get intentional. We set goals. And typically that effort lasts about two weeks, maybe a month, maybe a few months if we’re disciplined. Then December rolls around and the conversation sounds familiar: “Yeah, I kind of lost sight of my 2025 goals. I stopped being intentional. I stopped tracking my macros, my miles, my spending.” But then we say it with confidence: “Come January, I’ll get back on it.” And so January 1st has become—almost universally—accepted as course correction day. I will focus on what’s most important. I will be intentional. 

Right? Well, some people are actually doubling down on the path they’ve already committed to. We’ll get to that in a moment. 

Every year, our church begins the year with prayer and fasting. The reason is simple: we want to course-correct. We want to recommit ourselves to the good life that Christ is inviting us into. 

We’ve chosen to begin the year in an interesting place—the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. Why? To show you, or maybe to remind you, that the beginning is the end. 

Here’s what I mean by that. God revealed the good life for humanity in the very first book of the Bible. A garden, where Adam and Eve lived in harmony with God, with each other, and with creation. It’s beautiful. They were experiencing abundant life—the good life—until they were distracted by an alternative. Life without God. Life where you are god. A life where everything revolves around you.

And the result? They got what they chose: naked, afraid, full of shame, full of pride, broken by sin, crossing boundaries, missing the mark. 

Yet the story of Scripture is about God’s desire to course-correct the human heart and to course-correct creation—back to His original intent. Adam. Eve. Noah. Abraham. Moses and Israel. Judges. Kings. Prophets. Jesus. The apostles. The church. God never gives up. He does not forfeit humanity, and He does not forfeit creation. He is not sidetracked. He presses on. He will see His plan through. 

The book of Revelation is the unveiling of God’s cosmic vision of where everything is headed. The end of the Bible reveals the fulfillment of the beginning of the Bible. Genesis was not abandoned; it is being fulfilled. 

The author of Revelation is John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. He’s exiled on the island of Patmos—cut off from his churches, but not cut off from God. John and the early Christians are experiencing extreme hostility from the unbelieving world around them. The world feels off course, and the temptation for Christians is to believe that maybe God is off course too. 

Then God takes John into a vision. He’s met by a messenger—an angel—who reveals God’s reality to him. This revelation was not meant to scare or intimidate believers, as many people assume. Quite the opposite. It was meant to instill courage. It was meant to give hope. 

Slide: “Hope is the settled confidence that God is good, God is at work, and in the end, God gets His way.” 

Q: How many of you know that we are rarely ever living fully in the present moment? 

Every “present moment” always carries something of the immediate past and the immediate future. Our past often shapes how we live right now—the good memories and the painful ones. But just as true is this: none of us live in the present without thinking about the future. 

Dallas Willard once said that every human being is deeply concerned to know what the future holds. Even those who say the universe popped into existence out of nothing don’t believe it will pop into nothing out of existence. In other words, every human being senses that something more is coming—or at least hopes that it is. 

Woody Allen once joked, “I don’t believe in the afterlife, but I am bringing a change of underwear.” 

A poll was run asking Americans what they believed about the future. 

Slide: Seventy-seven percent said they believed in heaven, and seventy-six percent believed they had a good or excellent chance of getting there. Interestingly, fifty-eight percent believed in hell, but only six percent thought they had a good or excellent chance of ending up there.

Slide: “The human mind must have some picture of the future.” What is yours? What picture of the future are you living out of? 

Slide: In Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell Johnson writes that our picture of the future automatically shapes how we live in the present. We live now according to what we believe is coming. The decisions we make—especially with our time and our money—are shaped by our sense of the future. 

Transition: So what I want to do in the next few minutes is pull back the curtain on the Christian future. The purpose is to change the way you live in the present. The purpose is to course-correct your 2026, to set the north star of your heart. You ready? 

What follows is a summary of Revelation chapters 21 and 22 as they relate to the consummation of the entire biblical story—from Genesis through Revelation 20. 

The Eschton , Here’s the end. 

A great city comes down from heaven—the City of God. From the throne of God flows a river of life, and on both sides of the river stands the tree of life. 

The New Jerusalem is not a return to the Garden of Eden. It is a city with gardens, yes—but a city first and foremost. And this is surprising, given how cities function throughout the biblical story. Scripture is not impressed with cities, not even Jerusalem. The French law professor Jacques Ellul argued that the Bible often presents the city as an anti-God reality. “The cities of man,” he wrote, “have been built as part of our attempt to run from God, to make our own world apart from Him.” In Scripture, cities are places of arrogance and violence. Cain kills Abel and hides in a city. Humanity builds Babel to live independently of God. And in Revelation, the city of man reaches its climax in Babylon—the embodiment of rebellion and immorality. 

Even New York City, perhaps the most influential city of our time, was intentionally founded as a secular city. People fled there to escape the influence of religion. More than fifteen years after it was founded, New York still had no church. And yet John says, “Look—a city.” Not an escapist future. A city. A sanctified city. A holy city. But a city nonetheless. The city we were always meant to build. 

• There is no sea—meaning no more chaos. 
• There are no tears, no death, no mourning, no pain. 
• There are no gates, because the city is not a prison or a secret. 
• There are no borders, no foreigners, no strangers. 
• There is no curse—no toil, no sweat, no bodies fighting viruses and decay. ● All of our effort will finally be directed toward loving God and loving people. ● And God Himself is the temple. The new heavens and the new earth exist in God. We are in God, and God is in us. There is no need for sun or moon, because God is the light.

Friends, despite the local, national, and international political, economic, and ethical climate, this is the trajectory. 

God is good. God is at work. And God gets His way in the end. 

Can I get a praise be to God? 

Slide: Moses used words to describe Eden in Genesis. John, on the other hand, is grasping for symbols and images to describe his vision of the new heavens and the new earth. 

There simply are no words sufficient to describe our future, because the future is not the product of human imagination, but of God’s inspiration. 

I don’t get it! 

Illustration: Let me illustrate it this way. When we tell our kids, “We’re going on a road trip,” Ezra and Mellie start jumping up and down. They understand what that means. They know the implications. Nora doesn’t fully grasp the details, but she gets the big picture. She sees the excitement of her older siblings, and she knows something good is coming. And Teddy—well, Teddy just smiles. That’s all he can do while watching everyone else bounce off the walls. 

Not all of them understand the road trip in the same way, but all of them are caught up in the anticipation of it. 

Transition: The quality of the present is shaped by our imagination and understanding of the future. 

Therefore, 

Slide: John is moved from the vision of the future to exhortation to holiness. In other words, since you know what the future holds for you christian, this is how you ought to live in 2026. 

Living in light of the Future 

Slide A Call to obeying the word 

v.7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.” 

• The goal of the revealed Word of God is to do the Word of God. We are meant to read Scripture with the intention to obey it, not merely to understand it.
• I believe one of the greatest reasons Scripture is neglected is not a lack of time or discipline, but an unwillingness to listen and obey. Because once you hear it, you’re responsible for it.
• If you are truly gripped by the vision of the new heavens and the new earth, then you ought to be gripped by the very words that bring that future into being. Do you see the

tension? We want to participate in the fulfillment of God’s Word then, but resist submitting to God’s Word now. 

• God wants to change our lives through the ordinary, faithful obedience to His Word. That is the means He has chosen. The future He promises is shaped in us through the Word we obey today.

Slide: The book of Revelation is intended to fuel hopeful obedience in the present Matthew 7:24-27 Niv 

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 

• One of the misinterpretations of this text is that folks don’t understand that the original audience knew that it wasn’t just the house that crashed but they were in the house. ● We ultimately perish when we neglect the living words of God.
• Next step: Commit yourself to daily scripture reading. But not just for knowledge, for application.

Slide: A Call to Worshiping God 

Vv.8-9 I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. 9 But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!” 

St. John, not once but twice, literally fell on his knees in false worship. He went astray twice, and twice the angel had to course-correct him: I’m only the messenger. I am not the source of the revelation. I am only the means. 

The source of the gospel is God. Truly, only One is good, and therefore only one message is ultimately good—the message that comes from God. 

So the reminder for us this morning is simple: don’t worship man. Whether that’s a pastor, a preacher, a spiritual leader, a social media Christian, political figures, movements, or church brands—none of them are worthy of worship. They are all meant to point you to Jesus. Our Sunday gathering is meant to point you to Jesus. 

And yet Christians fight over who they follow. We are not called to worship man.

Much of church hurt comes from placing too much hope in a spiritual figure who, at the end of the day, lets us down. That might even be your parents. Maybe your parents let you down. I’m not excusing that—but lift your eyes. Fix your eyes on the good Father who loves you perfectly and consistently. 

Paul said they he were still trying to please man, including himself, he would not be fit to be servant of Christ. Gal 1:10 

A Call To Washing Our Robes vv 11-12,14-16 niv 

11 Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” 12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. 

This is an interesting—and honestly sobering—passage. John hears a word from heaven that names two very different ways of living. “Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm… let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously… let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” What John is describing is not permission but trajectory. Two paths. Two directions. Two ways of becoming. One life is being shaped in harmony with God—His will, His character, His kingdom. The other is being shaped by the flesh, the ego, and self-rule. Scripture is clear: life is not neutral. You are always becoming someone. 

And yet, right in the middle of what could sound like judgment, John speaks mercy. “Blessed are those who wash their robes.” That is the invitation of this passage. Washing robes is the call to course-correct. It is the call to repent, to turn around, to realign your life with God again. Blessed are not the flawless. Blessed are not the people who never fall. Blessed are the people who keep washing. 

Biblically, robes represent identity. They cover the whole person—our thoughts, our desires, our habits, our loves. In Christ, we have been given new robes and a new identity. We are sons and daughters. We belong to the Lamb. But we live in a world marked by sin. We get distracted. We tolerate compromise. We drift. And so we are called to continually wash our robes—not to earn righteousness, but to return to it. 

John is clear about how this happens. Rev 7:14 Nlt 

They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

Not by good works. Not by effort. Not by religious performance. But by returning again and again to Jesus—confessing sin, receiving forgiveness, re-anchoring our identity in grace. This is not perfection, but perseverance. Not flawlessness, but faithfulness. 

And this is exactly what this week of prayer and fasting—and this month of digital fasting—are about. They are not about earning God’s favor. They are an expression of washing our robes. They are a way of clearing away distraction, resisting compromise, and re-aligning our hearts with God. Through prayer, fasting, and stepping away from digital noise, we are saying together, “Lord, we want to be attentive. We want to be clean. We want to live in harmony with You.” 

Blessed are those who keep washing. Blessed are those who don’t delay repentance. Blessed are those who keep coming back. This is the life of a people who believe Jesus is near—and who are preparing their hearts to meet Him. 

A Call to Anticipation v17 

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. 

The final call is a call to anticipation. Here’s what I think that means: we are to live each day as if Jesus is coming right now. Not later today. Not at the end of the day. The car has pulled up. 

How is that even possible? Through the Holy Spirit, we are able to hear and sense the breaking-in of God’s arrival—His city coming near. It’s almost like a sixth sense. You know something is close. 

A person who is gripped by the eschaton is one who, through the Spirit, cries out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” 

Oh God, would You come! I sense Your nearness, and I say yes—come, Lord Jesus! 

I remember my kids the day before a road trip. They wanted morning to come so badly. They saw the RV parked in the driveway. Everything was packed. They were ready. They didn’t want to delay—they wanted the day to arrive. 

So how do you know if you’re truly gripped by Christ’s future? 

There’s a passage that has helped me tremendously. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:8, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.” 

Notice that phrase: those who longed for His appearing.

This is not the language of people who just want to be rescued from a broken world. This is the language of a bride who is homesick for her lover. It’s not fear. It’s love. 

You see, the story of the Bible is a story about love. We are the objects of God’s affection. We were created to experience His love. And since the fall, God has been the One doing the pursuing. He didn’t wait for Adam and Eve to come to Him—He came to them. He came to us in Jesus. He comes to us now by His Spirit, through Spirit-filled believers. And the work of the Spirit in us is this: to awaken longing—to teach us to want Christ, to desire His presence, and to cry out with the Church, “Come, Lord Jesus.” 

Transition So where are you? 

A call to obedience. 

A call to worship. 

A call to Washing Robes 

A call to anticipation. 

But there is one more call—and I want to close with this one. 

Maybe your life doesn’t reflect those four calls. Maybe somewhere during this sermon you began to sense your distance from God. Maybe you even felt like an outsider today. Maybe you felt shame. Maybe you felt defensive—which is often just pride trying to justify itself. 

I want you to hear this clearly: this sermon was not meant to guilt you, trap you, or expose you. It was meant to draw you to Christ. 

The final call we see in the last book, in the last chapter of the Bible, is the same call we see at the very beginning of Scripture: 

“Let the one who is thirsty come. 

Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.” 

This sermon puts everyone on the same starting line. 

In a moment, we’re going to take time in this service. We’ll put five minutes on the screen. And the call is simple: come. Come and let your soul rest in Christ today. 

Christ is what your soul is thirsty for. 

Christ is what you hunger for. 

Christ is the wisdom you long for. 

Christ is the future you fantasize about. 

So come—and receive Him freely.

Some might say, “I don’t understand all of Christian doctrine and theology.” Come anyway—because it doesn’t say whoever understands, let them come. 

Some might say, “I can’t repent the way I should. My heart feels hard.” Come anyway—because it doesn’t say whoever feels enough, let them come. 

Some might say, “I don’t know if I can live the Christian life the way I should.” Come anyway—because it doesn’t say whoever can, let them come. 

Some might say, “I don’t know if I’m worthy.” Come anyway—because it doesn’t say whoever is worthy, let them come. 

As Spurgeon once said, “It says whosoever. What a big word that is—whosoever.” There is no standard height here. No minimum requirement. No barrier except unwillingness. 

So here’s the final question: do you desire Jesus and His salvation? 

Can you say, “Lord, I desire to be saved. I desire a new heart. I desire to turn from sin. I desire to believe and obey—but I don’t have the strength. Give me the power.” If that is your desire, then you are freely invited to come. 

There is no barrier between you and Jesus—except your will. 

So come. 

Week of Prayer and Fasting: 

Starting tonight we have set aside this week to re-orientate our hearts towards God and his kingdom. 

Pray First 6pm 

Monday -Friday 7pm ( Monday Women) 

Saturday 8am ( Mens Prayer) 

Prayer and fasting Tab in the app with Resources.