Home Group Leaders Guide ENDGAME

[Pages:44]ENDGAME

Understanding the Main Themes of the Book of Revelation

Home Group Leader's Guide

June to August 2019

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW................................................................................................................. 3 SESSION 1: Good versus Evil (Part I) Why does a good God allow bad things to happen?.................................................... 7 SESSION 2: Good versus Evil (Part II) Satan ........................................................................................................................ 12 SESSION 3: Worship (Part I) Counterfeit versus Original ....................................................................................... 16 SESSION 4: Worship (Part II) Who is worthy?......................................................................................................... 22 SESSION 5: Love (Part I) Marriage ................................................................................................................... 26 SESSION 6: Love (Part II) A New Home ........................................................................................................... 30 APPENDIX I: The Fall of Satan and the Victory of Christ............................................ 35 APPENDIX II: Looking Forward to a Heaven We Can Imagine .................................. 41

2

OVERVIEW

SERIES PASSAGE Revelation 21:3-4 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'"

THE "ENDGAME" SERIES

The Book of Revelation shows us that God is guiding history to a final goal. A goal which God himself will bring about in the near future in a particular way that he himself has revealed. It's his providence. In this series, we grapple with the many themes in the last book of the Bible. We begin at the end and work our way back from there. Biblical prophecy comes true and has affected our world history. So, what does God have in store for humanity? And how shall we live in light of what is to come?

Understanding the main themes of the Book of Revelation

ABOUT THE BIBLICAL GENRE

The book of Revelation (not Revelations, plural) is so different to any other biblical style that it is often totally misinterpreted or completely ignored. At its heart, the Greek title "Apokalypsis" means "Revelation" or "unveiling". It doesn't mean catastrophe or the end of the world, for which is it often portrayed. Its purpose is not to reveal the antichrist or encourage debate about the timing of the rapture, rather it unveils the resurrected living Christ in his divine nature, God's plan for the removal of all things evil from this world and a glimpse into what awaits those who believe and are faithful till the end. Revelation is an essential part of scripture. A good way to think of the Bible is in these five movements:

? Creation (Genesis) ? Covenant (Exodus - Malachi) ? Christ (Matthew - John) ? Church (Acts - Jude) ? Consummation (Revelation).

3

In the final class, Consummation, Revelation stands alone. While it tells of things to come and the time God when puts an end to the deep issues of sin, it is not fundamentally a literal book. It uses considerable imagery to describe things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, much like a painting portraying the many facets of an artist's mind. As we study the book, we will be looking to understand its major themes and the message it holds to our generation, not about our generation.

ENDGAME APPROACH TO REVELATION

Revelation can be very difficult book as it is a bit out there with such an unusual style full of symbolism and imagery. But don't let that put you off reading and trying to understand it. In fact, we recommend that you read it in its entirety before the start of this series. Then, as we go through key themes of this study, you will be able to appreciate the truths contained in the book that are reflected in our life and society today as well relating to what happens after death. This is also the approach or lens we will use for this Endgame series. We will keep it focussed on core messages, and for the most part we won't try to drill down and study what individual symbols could mean or the timing of the events described. If you have any questions or concerns you are most welcome to talk to Ps Chris Ong (chris.ong@.au) and he would be very happy to discuss with you further. A holistic (or Hebrew) way of studying the bible is to look at patterns that repeat. Throughout scripture we see cycles of humanity broken by sin, independence and returning back to God being the recurrent themes. When we encounter the themes again in Revelation they aren't foreign to us. As well as brokenness we see hope. For example, types of Jesus in the Old Testament such as Joseph. Temporal judgements that point to ultimate judgement. Some of these things are dialled up dramatically in Revelation, but we won't be speculating on the details. Instead we will look at God's endgame around the themes and for our lives today.

Revelation addresses how God will resolve the unsolvable problems of mankind and bring about

great restoration

ABOUT THE SESSIONS

Endgame will take 6 Sessions to cover three major themes from the Book of Revelation found in Chapters 4 to 22. The themes are:

? Good versus evil ? Worship ? Love We will focus on the major themes as we are keen to look at the application of core messages found in the book. We have deliberately avoided delving into the speculative

4

theories and theologies, as there is no way to be certain what will happen. Furthermore, there is minimal practical application from such an approach. However, there are key issues of discernment and self-reflection which have potential to help us appreciate and acknowledge the way that God is working, and join with the angels and saints to give him all the praise and glory for his amazing plan.

The following table outlines the key points of each Session and what is God's endgame in Revelation:

SESSION KEY THEME

Session 1 Good vs Evil

Session 2 Good vs Evil

Session 3 Worship

TITLE

Why does a good God allow bad things to happen? Satan

Counterfeit v's Original

KEYWORD Justification

Adversary Judgement

Session 4 Worship Who is worthy? Idolatry

Session 5 Love

Marriage

Marriage

Session 6 Love

New Home

Parousia (Greek)

MAIN POINT

We are part of a problem we cannot solve.

We have an enemy

The counterfeit comes with an inferior promise

The biggest sin of mankind is idolatry

Preparing the bride

Our eternal dwelling place

GOD'S ENDGAME To deal with our personal evil

To defeat our adversaries To judge the counterfeit

Judge the Kings

Show himself faithful and true to his Bride Heaven

Each session is accompanied by a 15 minute video. Two additional videos are:

1. Introduction to the series 2. Home Group Leaders video

SESSION STRUCTURE

We will be taking a slightly different approach to the Home Group study for the Endgame home group series. As Revelation has a unique style and much of the theological interpretations are vague and untestable, we have made the videos longer (around 15 minutes). The aim is to decrease the knowledge-burden on the group leader.

A good way for the leader to prepare, prior to each session, is to read the Introduction, the passage of Scripture and watch the video (in that order). You may want to take notes during the video. You can then look at the main point and work out what aspects you want to highlight in a summary.

5

We have split the Discussion section, so the group can choose one of two parts. This could be either:

? General discussion with three questions to guide the group, or ? Keyword study where the group can explore the meaning of one key term

relevant to each and discuss one application question.

If your group is more advanced we suggest that you choose the Keyword Study. This replaces the biblical exegesis section used previous series, but allows you to refer to other key references that support the key theme for the session, plus ground the conversation with a practical application.

Here is a reminder of the suggested format for your home group (options bolded):

SESSION ACTIVITY Worship / Opening Prayer Welcome and Session Introduction Read Scripture Watch Session Video and read Main Point Study the keyword OR Discuss one or more of the Questions Application & pray for needs TOTAL TIME

TIME 5-20 mins 10 mins 5 mins 20 mins 20 mins OR 20 mins 5-10 mins 60-90 mins

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE

The "Endgame" video streaming and copies of the Leader's Guide and Member's Notes are available for download at . You can also get a copy of the Videos on a memory stick from the church office. If you are unable to access the files or need assistance with printing notes, please let us know (contact Ps. YC Goh (0425 799 576, yc.goh@.au). The Endgame Sunday preaching series will for 5 weeks from 2nd June to 30th June 2019. Sermons will be available online in video () or audio () format.

Keywords: Evil ? Sin ? Worship ? Love ? Idolatory ? Prophetic ? Marriage ? Promise

F.A.I.T.H. emphasis: H ? Holy & Set Apart

6

SESSION 1

Good versus Evil (Part I)

Why does a good God allow bad things to happen?

Key Passage "Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, `Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the

Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" Revelation 6:15-17

A. INTRODUCTION

Revelation is a prophecy that was received by the Apostle John in a vision. The book is filled with symbolism and imagery, the likes of things we have never seen which makes it difficult to interpret. The key is not to be overwhelmed by the imagery and symbolism, but to know that God is unfolding his plan that he has declared beforehand will happen. As God fulfilled scores of prophesies relating to the first coming of Christ we can be assured he will do it again. The aim of the "Endgame" Series is to understand three key themes that are repeated in the Book of Revelation: Evil, Worship and Love. In Session 1 we will take a look at the problem of evil in humanity and how God will deal with it. The first step is to recognise that we ourselves contribute to the evil in the world. We often make excuses for our poor behaviour and think that we are not that bad. We don't stop do ask "Does God judge me?" So, in reality, evil is not just "them" it is a collective problem. As such, if God were to deal with Evil he must deal with us as well. In Revelation we see that God is indeed dealing with it, and like an expert surgeon, he is able to address the problem and bring a solution. But be warned things need will get much worse before they get better. This is the reason for which Jesus Christ died, "the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet 3:18b). The keyword term we will look at this session is Justification.

When looking at humanity, there are not just isolated pockets of evil, there is a collective problem of evil.

7

B. READ SCRIPTURE: Revelation 6:1-17

BACKGROUND

Revelation is a prophecy that was received by the Apostle John in a vision. The book is filled with symbolism and imagery, the likes of things we have never seen. John follows the apocalyptic style that we have also seen in the Old Testament prophets, particularly Daniel chapters 7-12, parts of Isaiah and Ezekiel. However, we do not need to be put off.

Biblical prophecy has been done before and it has come to pass. The best examples are the around 300 Old Testament prophesies that refer to Jesus. In our world history, we have knowledge of how at least 55 came to pass and with an astounding level of accuracy and detail that we know was not by chance.

While, in this first session we read through Chapter 6, it's Chapters 4-5 that puts the story in context. John paints the picture of the throne room of God described in various forms of brilliance, gemstones, flaming lights, and clashes of lightning and thunder. Present are four living creatures never before seen on earth, 24 elders, and millions of angels.

God, who is seated on the throne, is holding a scroll containing the future plans for the judgement and restoration of the earth and its people. Those in heaven are looking for someone to open the scroll, but only the lamb that was slain (Jesus) was found worthy to open it and the seven seals. Now, it is Chapter 6 where John describes the contents of the seven seals.

C. MAIN POINT

Perhaps you have you have asked at some point, "How could a good God let bad things happen?" Or "Why isn't God doing something about the evil in the world?" Whenever we talk about evil or what's wrong in the world, we tend to look only at the evil we see in others. We say we need to stop the violence, abusers and the corrupt who are in power. Even those in our family we can begrudgingly judge and complain about them for their shortcomings. Wait a minute... have we ever done anything bad? When was the last time you cried out to God to be merciful for your own sin and the evil that is within you? If we are honest, it is all too easy to criticise those who do wrong yet we make excuses for our own poor behaviour. We say we're exhausted, stressed, or having a bad day. Let's get real, we don't just have the propensity for evil, we ourselves, all of us, have done evil. If God, being fair, was to deal with evil in the world then he needs to include us.

Our anchor verse, Rev 21:3-4, describes the final plan of God, his Endgame. There will be peace, healing and safety. But God needs to deal with the problem of evil first. Revelation shows that God is tackling the problem of evil by dealing with it at its root. He is going in like an expert surgeon and is removing all that is evil. Like a physical surgery, where a person is cut open, things need to get a whole lot worse so they can get better.

8

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download