An Explosion Is Coming!

My head and heart may explode!  Not literally, of course, but it does sort of feel that way.

At our church over the last several months, we have all been studying through the entire Bible, using The Story as our guide.  If you aren't familiar with The Story, it's the entire Bible written as a story, putting all the major events in chronological order. This has been a fascinating journey of discovery.  I have loved seeing people get the people and places and events of the Bible deeper into their hearts, and get a deeper understanding of God's plan for mankind from beginning to end.

This week we come to the end of our journey.  Actually, the rest of the church finished up The Story last week, but in our class we devoted two Sundays to missions, rather than the one Sunday the rest of the church did, so we're a week behind everybody else.  And since this is the end of the book, you can guess what we will be studying this week.  Yes, this week's lesson is Revelation.  As in, the entire book of Revelation.  Not a chapter or even two or three.  The entire book!  And guess whose Sunday it is to teach the lesson!

Which brings me to the aforementioned possible explosion.

It's a good thing yesterday was a quiet day.  That was the day I had set aside to try to organize my thoughts.  To get all my notes and outlines organized into one cohesive presentation.  To try to make some sense of it all.  To try to compress everything I have learned to make it fit into the time that will be allotted to me on Sunday morning.

You see my dilemma.  I really think I may explode!

I have read and studied Revelation quite a lot.  I have led Precept courses in Revelation.  I regularly attend our pastor's Bible study on Revelation on Sunday evenings.  I have read numerous books about Revelation.  That's quite a lot of information, and compressing it into one lesson is quite a challenge!

As I have been focused on preparing this lesson for the last several weeks, I have prayed about what to include.  About how to organize the material.  About how to communicate what needs communicating, and how to do that in the available time.  About what to emphasize.  About all that and more have I prayed.  A lot!

I now have an outline.  I have my material organized.  I think I know what to include and what to leave out. This is, after all, a survey of Revelation rather than a detailed study.  Even so, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed.

Every time I read Revelation and every time I study it, I learn something new.  It's really beyond overwhelming.  Hence, the potential for explosion!

There is, of course, everything there is to understand about future events.  And there is a wealth of truth to be understood from the messages to the churches.  Revelation teaches us so much about Jesus.  And about what worship really is.  It boggles the mind and heart.

Just thinking about, meditating on, and praying over this one verse has my heart filled to overflowing. 

"To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood........to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen."  (Revelation 1:5b-6 NASB)

He loves us!  He loves me!  He has released us from our sins by His blood.  He has released me from my sins by His blood.

Glory to His name!