Series: Overflow
Message: Jesus. All.
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Jessyka Dooley
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Revelation 4:8-11 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Becky and I attended a dinner party with a few people she knew casually a few years ago. We didn’t realize the house was right on the border of Michigan and Indiana where the time zone changes, so we arrived an hour early. Set in the woods and with a private driveway, the house was spectacular with a fire pit in the middle of a living room with 30-foot ceilings. The owners took us on a tour of the house, which was only their weekend home since their main base was Chicago and their “real” house was there. (The outer walls of the forest house were made of glass, so unless you enjoy taking showers with nothing between yourself and the woods, probably not the best selling point.)
Eventually, the other guests arrived and we sat for dinner. To my left was a Jewish yoga instructor, at the head of the table sat the host, and opposite me was a retired professor in some scientific field far too complicated to explain (or remember).
I was going to be preaching in a couple of months for Andrews University’s graduation weekend Sabbath services, so I asked these three men—retired and semi-retired—what pearl of wisdom from their life experience they might choose to share with a new generation of graduates.
The Jewish yoga instructor replied that there is good in everything but he was still searching for something that would be worth sharing. He had traveled the world and explored all faiths and tried several illegal medicinal supplements. It was while on those illegal supplements that he had felt the most clarity, but he could no longer remember the substance of any of those clarifying moments.
The retired professor was not a believer in God, but, true to form, he said that everything must be tested. He felt life was too complex to provide a single “pearl of wisdom.”
The host, who did not drink any of the alcohol served, seemed agitated by the musings of the others. He didn’t like any of the answers from his friends. He picked at both of them and started to tell his own story. While hugely successful by all appearances, in his youth he had driven himself with a heavy cocktail of alcohol and cocaine. It had taken over to such an extent that he had nearly lost his life a decade earlier. That experience changed his life permanently. He had never touched a drop of alcohol nor taken any drugs since. It was obvious that sharing his background was really painful. He said, “Tell those graduates that life is precious and no one knows what is important save themselves.”
Can you live a life with no regrets? Is that possible? Should it even be a goal? What motivates you and wakes you up? What heals and repairs you?
Recalibrate: When you consider Jesus today, what advice overflows from your heart that you would want to share with a new graduate?
Respond: Pray for wisdom.
Research: Read Mark 3:31-35 and ask how your will is aligned with the will of Jesus.
Remember: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8, NIV).
Japhet is senior pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, and is co-founder of the One project. Originally from southeast London, he served in the South England Conference for nine years—as a pastor and later as conference youth director—before moving to the United States in 2006. He and his wife Becky have two sons, one at university and one in high school.
The creatures in this section of Scripture can be a little scary, although they aren’t meant to be! Every part of them is a symbol pointing to something important. There are four creatures. Draw the four creatures on a piece of paper with your kiddo and count them, “One, two, three, four.” The number four is very rare in the Bible. Some scholars believe that the four creatures represent the earth: north, south, east, west. Draw a small compass on the paper and show it to your child. Count again, “One, two, three, four!” The four creatures worshipping remind us that the whole earth declares God’s glory. How can you declare God’s glory today?
Read the verses before the Words to Remember (Revelation 4:6-8). Have you ever heard of any animals or creatures that look like that? Find a creative way to make these animals come to life! Draw or paint a picture of them or maybe even get some Play-Doh out and make models of them. In your picture or model, place them around a throne. Who do you think is sitting at the throne that they are calling holy? That’s right! They say it’s “the Lord God Almighty!”
I’m going to admit something. I thought the song in Verse 8 of this passage wasn’t in the Bible. The song in that verse happens to be the chorus in the praise song, Revelation Song. The title should’ve given it away, but I thought the words of the song just talked about what was inside the book of Revelation and didn’t contain actual Bible verses. Years later, when I was studying Revelation, I ran across that verse and was pleasantly surprised to see it in my Bible. Somehow, it brought more meaning to this passage. I encourage you to look up the song. How is it describing Revelation? What statements is it making? Have you sung this song without really paying attention to the bold statements it makes? Do you think our Lord God is almighty?