About

When God is Big... is a sermon series examining what happens when you have a bigger vision of who God is. Worship is Obvious — If God has created us, then he deserves our lives. But if God has saved us, then he deserves our love. When you see and celebrate God as Creator and Savior, worship goes from optional to obvious. Recorded on Sep 12, 2021, on Revelation 4-5, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today we get to start a brand new sermon series called When God is Big… And the big idea of this sermon series is this: Way too many Christians have way too small a view of who God is. And when God is small, not necessarily in reality but in your mind, imagination, and heart, that has a direct impact on your life. Even though you might believe in God, when God is small, other things become big. Your circumstances, emotions, and failures can not only become big, they can become all-consuming. But what happens when God is big? What happens when you have a better/truer/bigger vision of who God is? Well, it changes everything. So in this series, we’re going to start by considering what changes in life through the lens of our four core values of worship, community, ministry, and mission. These things change with a bigger vision of God. Then, after that, we’ll consider what changes in your life in a few of the main issues that many people in/outside the church struggle with today including fear, personal identity, and addiction. When God is big, it has a huge impact on how we live out our values and how we deal with our issues. But today, we’ll start with how the greatness of God changes our experience of and priority for worship. My goal today is that you would see that when God is big…worship is obvious. Please open your Bible/app to Rev 4, starting with v. 1. Now, this is a longer passage, so we’ll unpack this as we go. v.1. Revelation 4:1-6, “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” So Revelation is fascinating. Some Christians obsess over it. Others avoid it. Now, one of the reasons it’s hard for us to understand is that it’s an ancient work, similar to other works of Jewish apocalyptic literature. It’s full of otherworldly images, beasts, and symbols. It’s difficult to know if it's meant to be taken literally, figuratively, or a combination of both. So my goal today is to be clear on the parts that are clear and tread carefully when the path isn’t as clear. So with that, let’s consider the text we just read. First, can you imagine if you found a door that was open, and on the other side was heaven? Not the heaven of TV and movies. But the actual heaven? God’s space. A spiritual realm outside of space-time. What do you think you’d see? John says the first thing he noticed was the voice of Jesus. The first voice he had heard, the voice like a trumpet, was Jesus Christ. John says that he was “in the Spirit.” What does that mean? Well, every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, but he isn’t saying he became a Christian here. He’s describing a spiritual vision or being caught up in the Spirit, similar visions that several OT prophets had such ...