October 19th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Missed any of the Revelation posts? You can find them all indexed here.

As we looked at the last few chapters in Revelation, we have envisioned loud, tumultuous scenes. Earthquakes, natural disasters on an unthinkable scale, people crying out in terror, the multitude of the redeemed and the host of heaven thundering out their worship before the throne.

Put that silly image of people floating around on clouds and playing quiet tunes on small harps out of your mind. Heaven will be filled with uproarious praise, and earth will be far from quiet during this time.

At the beginning of chapter eight, however, this thundering sound comes to a shocking pause.

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Remember that the scroll is the title deed to the earth. It describes not what Christ will inherit, but how He will reclaim what is already rightfully His. As each seal is broken and the scroll is unrolled further, more of the plan of God and the tribulation judgments are revealed.

As this seventh and final seal is broken and the contents of the scroll are revealed for the first time, silence falls. The fervor of the worshipers pauses as the weight and reality of what is to come is made known to them. This seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments to come, and the seventh trumpet contains the final bowl (vial) judgments. These judgments which telescope out are brought to light with the crack of this seventh seal – and they are sobering to behold.

This silence must surely also be full of expectation. Those who have been longing for the redemption of God’s broken world, longing for His justice to reign, longing to see every knee bow and recognize Jesus for who He really is catch their breath, for the time has come.

“The hour of God’s final judgment had come – the hour when the saints will be vindicated, sin punished, Satan vanquished, and Christ exalted. The greatest event since the Fall is about to take place and all heaven is seen waiting in suspenseful expectancy.” (MacArthur 238)

Are you feeling restless today? Is your heart yearning, crying out “how long, O Lord?”

Be still. Consider the silence of this verse… and rest in the fact that there will be a day when all will be made right. In the meantime, let us not fail to share truth with those around us, for the judgment is sure – and sobering.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

Starting to think about Christmas shopping?

Don’t forget about Women at Risk International’s amazing online store – I love WAR’s ministry to the least of these, seeking to make a real difference in the lives of women who have been rescued out of human trafficking or providing a better life for those who are most at risk.

You will be amazed at their huge selection of jewelry and other beautiful items, you will love their prices, and you will feel great about the fact that 90% of each purchase goes directly to the safe house or the individual woman who produced it.

Want to learn more about WAR? Check out the Redeemed series which ran here on KristiStephens.com during the spring of 2010.

October 15th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

“A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend; one human soul whom we can trust utterly; who knows the best and the worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults; who will speak the honest truth to us, while the world flatters us to our face, and laughs at us behind our back.” – Charles Kingsley

I have an irreplaceable friend named Rachel.

We have been friends since sometime in junior high, and now we have hit our 30’s and are both wives and moms of young children. We roomed together during college. We have seen each other do some really stupid things – she has seen me at my worst, she has seen me at my best. We have prayed together about needs both big and small. We have wept together at times when it felt like our hearts would just shatter in grief. We have laughed until we thought our sides would literally split open. We live thousands of miles apart now, and she is the only far-away friend that I keep up with on the phone. Rachel knows things about me that no one else seems to understand.

The funny thing is, we really are nothing alike.

Come read more about her and how God has used her in my life over at Stephanie Shott’s blog!

October 15th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

When we started this Scripture Dig series on the local church, I wondered how these posts would hit those of you walking around with deep wounds from sinful actions of those around you in local churches.

It’s inevitable that there are some of you who fit that description.

And as we mentioned from the beginning, we understand. It is impossible to invest deeply in the local church and avoid being wounded. Sometimes we are wounded in a good way, as our pride and sin are cut open and exposed… sometimes we are wounded when those around us sin against us and leave deep scars on our hearts.

There is so much I would love to say to you if we had coffee in person. I would love to hear your story. And I would love to give you a book to read.

Whether you are a new believer in Jesus Christ and just learning the “ropes” of  investing in a local church, or a person who has grown up in churches and has battle wounds to show for it, or a person who is actively in ministry as a staff member, pastor’s wife, or other integral role… I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

You see, the church is a beautiful thing. It is full of broken people. It desperately needs the grace of God. And it is a gift from God to you.

In The Gift of Church, Jim Samra does a fantastic job of presenting the Biblical and practical reasons why we should treasure and value the church as a beautiful gift to us from God Himself. Samra never glosses over the very real issues that have plagued church life since the time of Paul… and oh, the stories that each of us could share to back up the fact that sin plagues our local churches still today.

But the church is a gift.

“We love the church because it is a gift from God. We participate in the church because God does. We do not give up on the church, because God refuses to.” – Jim Samra

To read the rest of this post and also enter to win a copy of this wonderful book, join us over at Scripture Dig!

October 14th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

“Experiencing God in the midst of an assembly, the gathered people of God – His church – is like hearing God in concert. We all, in different ways, experience God throughout our day as individuals: in our private devotional life, in the beauty of nature, and in our acts of service to the poor. But as wonderful and necessary as these experiences are, they do not replace the experience of God in concert. Like an iPod or portable music player, they replicate the music of the concert experience, but they cannot replace the concert itself. God is a master musician, and He is best experienced live in concert.

I’d like you to think about heaven for a moment. When the curtain is pulled back and we get a glimpse into the world of heaven in the book of Revelation, we see an enormous assembly-  a concert of living creatures, elders, and people of every tribe, nation, and tongue gathered together around the throne of God (Rev. 4-5; 7; 14). Heaven is not presented as a private recital of God’s glory. It’s not an individualistic experience. When the Bible speaks about the end-time return of Jesus Christ, we are told it is the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19) – a giant, celebratory, communal feast, not a series of private picnics. It’s a community experience…

When we assemble together as the church, we re-create the concert of heaven here on earth. Hebrews 12:18-29 teaches us that the gathering of God’s people is a re-creation of this heavenly experience. Just as Israel gathered around the temple and the tabernacle to re-create their foundational assembly at Mount Sinai, we do something similar when we gather as an assembled church. Instead of re-creating the assembly on Mount Sinai, we join our worship to the eternal worship of the assembled in heaven (Heb. 12:22-29). Because we have come near to God in this heavenly assembly, we should ‘worship God with reverence and awe.’ (v. 28)” [Samra, 32-33]

This quote comes from an excellent book written by my parents’ pastor and friend, pastor Jim Samra from Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His book, The Gift of Church, is an excellent read – highly recommend it! And *pssst* – tomorrow on Scripture Dig we’ll be announcing a giveaway of this book, if you’d like to try to win a copy for yourself! You might also want to consider purchasing a copy as a gift – this is pastor appreciation month, after all! :)