Mystery Of The Red Dragon
Preaching
Shaking Wolves Out Of Cherry Trees
And 149 Other Sermon Ideas
Purpose Statement: This is an opportunity to preach on apocalyptic literature in our Bible and the ways it is abused and misunderstood.
Begin the message with a little education on apocalyptic material in Revelation, Daniel, Mark 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, (Enoch), and so forth. Revelation 12 and its story of the red dragon could be used to illustrate the difficulty of apocalyptic literature. This kind of material has two central themes:
a. Christians must remain strong and trust God in times of persecution or trouble. Explain the purpose for the cryptic language and strange symbols found in apocalyptic material. It should be made clear that we don't fully understand all of the references indicated by the beasts, numbers, visions, and strange language. We must avoid the many preachers and books purporting to have the answers: the bear is Russia, etc. The fact is no one has unraveled the confusion. The mystery of the red dragon has not been solved. We must simply search the material to glean out any clear passages of encouragement to keep our faith strong and ignore the rest.
b. Jesus is returning soon. Paul finally warned people to stop dwelling on this issue, and Jesus said we not only can't know the time, but it is a "wicked generation who looks for signs." It is foolish and a waste of time to try to anticipate a second coming of Jesus. It shouldn't matter if it happens today, fifty years from now, or never. We should be living the Christian life regardless of any return date. If we are living the Christian life only because Jesus may come tomorrow, then our reason is selfish and our life phony. If we needed a sense of urgency to "get us saved" and frighten us into a "conversion," our imminent death should do that. We could die any moment and that possibility is far more probable than the second coming this week.
(see sermon B-10)
Begin the message with a little education on apocalyptic material in Revelation, Daniel, Mark 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, (Enoch), and so forth. Revelation 12 and its story of the red dragon could be used to illustrate the difficulty of apocalyptic literature. This kind of material has two central themes:
a. Christians must remain strong and trust God in times of persecution or trouble. Explain the purpose for the cryptic language and strange symbols found in apocalyptic material. It should be made clear that we don't fully understand all of the references indicated by the beasts, numbers, visions, and strange language. We must avoid the many preachers and books purporting to have the answers: the bear is Russia, etc. The fact is no one has unraveled the confusion. The mystery of the red dragon has not been solved. We must simply search the material to glean out any clear passages of encouragement to keep our faith strong and ignore the rest.
b. Jesus is returning soon. Paul finally warned people to stop dwelling on this issue, and Jesus said we not only can't know the time, but it is a "wicked generation who looks for signs." It is foolish and a waste of time to try to anticipate a second coming of Jesus. It shouldn't matter if it happens today, fifty years from now, or never. We should be living the Christian life regardless of any return date. If we are living the Christian life only because Jesus may come tomorrow, then our reason is selfish and our life phony. If we needed a sense of urgency to "get us saved" and frighten us into a "conversion," our imminent death should do that. We could die any moment and that possibility is far more probable than the second coming this week.
(see sermon B-10)
