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April 29, 2007 "Source of
Security" |
Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship.
We meet each Sunday in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, from 10:10 to 10:50am. Prime Timers is geared towards people aged fifty to sixty-four, people in the prime of life. We always welcome new members and you are invited, whatever your age!
Pete Seale is teaching the Prime Timers this month on our journey through the book of Revelation.
Redeemable
Pete Seale taught the Prime Timers today on our reading from the fifth chapter of Revelation. This is a particularly difficult book of the Bible and Pete suggested a guide in William Barclays book "The Revelation of John." Revelation 5 is about a scroll sealed with seven seals, and who is worthy to break them and open the scroll.
Our reading introduces the scrolls and asks the question (Revelation 5:2) "Who is worthy to open the scroll." The reading leaves out the middle of the chapter, where the Lamb, or Jesus is proclaimed as worthy to break the seals.
Revelation 5:6-10: Then I saw between the
throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb
standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the
earth. 7He went and took the scroll
from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne.
8When he had taken the scroll, the four
living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb,
each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the
prayers of the saints. 9They sing a new
song:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood
you ransomed for God
saints from every tribe and
language and people and nation;
10you have made them to be
a kingdom and
priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.’
The contrast between the elders suggesting "the Lion of Judah" could open the seals, while John sees the slaughtered Lamb symbolizes the contrast between the warrior messiah expected by first century Judaism and Jesus role as the suffering servant.
Pete wrote two words on the board, Slavery and Kingdom. Slavery has gone on since the beginning of civilization, and continues today. Jesus offers a way out of slavery by following His commandments. There are two Kingdoms, the one we live in day to day, a Kingdom of Man, and the spiritual or Kingdom of God. Our constitution codified the concept of separation of Church and State of course, and we often speak of "our way" and "God's way." The writers of Revelation, on the other hand, don't allow for this separation.
Its difficult to follow God's commandments all the time and as Christians we all accept that we are sinners, given grace by Jesus' sacrifice. Its hard not to fight back when someone confronts you, or insults a loved one, or challenges your way of life. And yet Jesus didn't fight back, and at every level emerges the ultimate winner.
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys@houston.rr.com
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Chris Hershberger
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com
Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@houston.rr.com
Caring (prayers, follow-up w/class members who have been ill or have other needs)
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
You can click on these photos for a better view. Use your browsers "back" button to return here.
The Revelation of St John: 5. Opening the Fifth and Sixth Seals, by
Albrecht Dürer, 1497-98
Woodcut, at the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe
St John the Evangelist on Patmos, by Hieronymus Bosch, 1504-05, Oil on oak panel, at the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany.
Apostle St John the Evangelist, by El Greco, 1610-14, Oil on canvas, at the Museo de El Greco, Toledo, Spain.
The Lesson for Sunday, April 29th is titled "Source of Security"
Key Verse: Revelation 7:14
Focus of the Lesson: Most people long for a sense of security and safety. Where can we look for protection? The vision in Revelation 7 affirms that God's people are protected by the Lamb who redeemed them.
The reading is Revelation 7:1-3, 9, 13-17. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Background Scripture: Revelation 7
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, 3saying, ‘Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.’
9After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ 14I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne
will shelter them.
16They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
17for the Lamb at the centre of the throne
will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the
water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
NRSV
Pictures by Great Masters are courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art.
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