realized that although the church was doing really well, it was a real struggle for our family. It was a struggle because of the isolation. God, in his providence, never had other missionaries come, long-term missionaries to come and join the work with us. And so it was really difficult for us. We also realized that the current educational path that our children are on, it was not doable where we were. And so we had some really hard decisions to make. I talked to our boss and was explaining to him all of this that's happening. And I said, you know, we could be here for another year, but then we need to go back to the U.S. and take a home ministry assignment furlough. And he said, well, you know, actually, you probably should go back sooner than a year. A year is too long to wait. And so this was in June, and school began at the end of August in the States. And so we had to wrap things up really quickly. It came kind of to a shock to us, to the church. But I'm so thankful for Poe and his leadership and how we were able to turn completely everything over to Poe. At that point, Poe and I, we were just alternating Sundays preaching, and so he was already leading the church and I was just kind of cruising along, so to speak. And so we are so thankful to see how the Lord has been at work in planting a Servant of Grace church. And thankfully, there are other MTW missionaries still in Thailand, and there are other churches that we've planted in Thailand that are coming alongside of Servant of Grace Church. So it's not like they've been left alone. There's still encouragement happening. But our family had to come back to the U.S. And so we came back in August, and we spent several months just processing the last several years and seeking the Lord. What is He doing now? It was a difficult time for us. You know, Thailand has been our home for many years now, and it was really hard, and we didn't know what was next. In December, Crystal was on the MTW website and she saw that there is this ad for a need for missionaries to go to New Zealand for pastors to come specifically to help this new denomination called Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. And this denomination was formed with the PCA. In 2003, this group of people broke away from the mainstream Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. And unlike here in the U.S., we have lots of guys going to seminary. They don't have that in New Zealand. And so they actually, they've reached out to the PCA, to the Presbyterian Church in Australia, to England, to send guys to help this newly formed denomination. There are 21 churches total in this denomination across New Zealand. And so it kind of just pricked our interest. We weren't quite sure what this was. So I contacted the MTW guy who's in charge of Australia and New Zealand and asked him, can you tell us more about this? So he put us in contact with a guy named Steve Williams, who's the team leader in New Zealand. It's just Steve and his wife, Rita. They are the team in New Zealand. But he's been there for 13 years now. And he just began telling us about the needs and about New Zealand. I knew very little about New Zealand. I know it's beautiful. If you've seen The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, it was all filmed in New Zealand. If you've seen Prince Caspian, it was filmed in New Zealand. It's a gorgeous country, and that's kind of all I knew about it. And I also remember, and I've met other missionaries from New Zealand while we were in Thailand. So in my mind, I thought of New Zealand as a very Christian nation. Unfortunately, that is far from the truth. In New Zealand, it has become post-Christian. It's become far more liberal than the U.S. You could compare it more to European countries. Because it's such a small nation, they tend to pass policies, government policies, very liberal policies, to make a name for themselves globally. And so there's things that happen in New Zealand that they don't even happen here in the US, like euthanasia, prostitution, all these things are legal in New Zealand. And so it's over the last 30 years, you've seen this tremendous decline in Christianity across the nation. And most of the churches now in New Zealand are very liberal. So in 2003, you had this group of people that broke away from the mainstream Presbyterians. One of the things that also just really kind of gripped us was not just this need, how we've seen New Zealand become post-Christian, but how the denomination that is being formed, that has been formed, their great vision that they have to see gospel, Christ-centered churches being planted throughout their country. And not just in New Zealand, but the surrounding islands as well. And so this group, this denomination, they had this great vision to see the gospel going forth. And so in February, Crystal and I went out to New Zealand to see if perhaps this is where the Lord is leading us. And we spent time with different churches, with the Presbytery there. In one church in particular, a church plant, we spent the most time with in Rotorua on the North Island of New Zealand. This church was started four years ago. I should back up and tell you a little bit about the culture in New Zealand. In New Zealand, there are two groups of people. You have the Kiwi, which are the white people, and then you have the Maori. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, kind of like the Native American Indians. This church in Rotorua, the city, is kind of the Maori capital of New Zealand. So this church was started by a Maori man. And he's in this denomination. And then a year ago, his wife became deathly ill. She had a brain aneurysm, and they had to leave the city and go to the largest city, Auckland, where she could receive treatment. The doctors told her that she needed to remain in Auckland as she recovers, and that that needs to be where they stay. And so virtually overnight, this church plant lost their pastor. And so they've been without a pastor now for a year. It's a church plant of the Presbytery. And so we spent time with this church while we were in Rotorua. There was about 40 people there. And it became pretty apparent to us that we could really see our family fitting in well here. The educational needs that I said earlier about the children would be met there. And also, there wouldn't be the isolation that we were experiencing where we were. And we spent, after the end of our time there, the church, Grace Presbyterian Church of Rotorua, invited us to come for me to be their pastor. And the presbytery then, a month later, extended an invitation. So ultimately, the invitation has to come from the presbytery. So we began praying more about this. Is this where the Lord is indeed leading us? And it was confirmed, and we got approval by MTW just about two months ago to relocate to New Zealand. So you might be wondering, well, you're just going to be a pastor of this church. Well, yes, I am, but this is a church plant, and it is in our DNA to be church planters. It's in my DNA to be a church planter. And so this is really exciting for us to be able to come alongside of this church plant, They don't have any elders or deacons yet, so to see elders and deacons raised up, to see the church become self-sustainable, it's not self-sustainable right now. And then in the future, adopting the vision of the denomination of seeing more and more churches planted, not just in Rotorua, but the surrounding cities as well. They've already told me the next city over an hour away, there's no churches there, and they'd love to see a church planted there. And so just to capture, to be a part of that, to see more and more churches planted, and then to have that opportunity also to see church planting happening in the surrounding islands as well. So yes, I am going currently to be the pastor of this church plant, but also to see more and more churches planted. And so that's one of the most exciting things about this. There's a few specific things that you can be praying for us in all of this. It's very easy to go to New Zealand as a tourist. It's much harder to live there, to get the visa and the paperwork needed to live there. And so it's gonna be about six months process of getting the visas, and it's a very strict process. We have to do all kinds of crazy things to get our visas. So you can be praying for that, that those come through. There's another missionary couple that just was denied their visas. They were going, they had all their support raised. They had been missionaries in China for 12 years. New Zealand won't let them come in to work in New Zealand. And so that is kind of what we're up against right now. So be praying for us that we are granted visas to be in New Zealand. You can also be praying that over the next several months we need to raise more money because it's much more expensive to live in New Zealand than it was in Thailand. So you can be praying for us in that as well. But lastly, please pray for just the whole transition. To live in Thailand for so long, come back to the US for a short period of time, and then go to a very different country. In Thailand, we dealt with Islam and Buddhism, animism, spiritism. Now we're going to a post-Christian nation, and so the dialogue's going to be much different, and how we engage people is going to be different as well. So please pray for us as we transition to New Zealand. We're hoping to be there in October of this year, so please pray for that as well. And after the service, if you have other questions, you can ask me or you can email me. But what a joy it is that we serve a God who is in control, right? We do not have to worry. Although in our finite minds, in our weakness, we do. We worry all the time, don't we? We wonder, what's going to happen next? What's going to happen next? But we, tonight, I want to remind us, as we look at the scripture, that we serve a mighty God. And I want to remind us tonight of the promise that we have in our risen Savior. So with that, let's turn now to Revelation. Revelation 21. I'm not sure I will get through all of the texts that I was planning on because of time, but we will see how things go. We're gonna look at Revelation 21, one through 11, and then skip over to verses 22 through 27. Let me read this for us. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal. I'll skip down to verse 22. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty in the Lamb. and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is testable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. Pray with me. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your promises. We thank you that you are making all things new. And Lord, I pray right now that you would minister to our hearts. God, that you would reveal yourself to us and that you would strengthen our faith in you. Lord, I pray that you would remove the distractions from our minds that plague us right now. Lord, and that you would help us to focus on you. God, I pray too that if there's anything untrue that I say tonight, that you would give people dull ears to that. But Father, open their ears to that which is true. God, we thank you that your word is living and it is reviving to the soul. Please go before us now as we study your word, in Christ's name, amen. If you were to go back to Acts chapter one, you would see the account of the ascension of Christ. And I'm reminded when I think of Acts chapter one, and I'll show how it relates here soon, but the disciples are standing there as Christ is being lifted upwards. Now, if you were to go back a few more chapters, back to the crucifixion, if you remember, the disciples, they didn't quite understand that Christ had to die on the cross. And when he hung there on the cross, they were broken. Their hearts were broken. But then just three days later, Christ arose victorious from the grave. And they were belated. They were so filled with joy that their Savior had rose from the grave and that he was not dead. But now, Christ is being taken up into heaven. And he's leaving one more time. And they're standing there and they're looking upward, wondering. And it's at that moment that two angels appear. And they tell the disciples that Christ is coming back. The same way you saw him go, he is coming back. And I wonder at that moment how quickly, how quickly they had forgotten the promise of Christ, right? That he told them that he would be coming back. And yet they're standing there looking upward and they've already forgotten. And yet, the Lord reminds them by sending two angels to tell them that Christ is coming back. I look at myself and I look at the church and I realize, you know, how quickly we forget the promises of the Lord. How quickly we forget that He is coming back. You know, as we go through difficult times, as we go through hardships, how quickly we forget. And we need to be reminded daily of the gospel. We need to be reminded daily of the grace that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so that is what I want to do tonight, is I want to study this chapter together. To be reminded that He is coming back. To be reminded of His promise. If you look at verses 1 through 5, let's look over them again. John wrote, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. We see two things here happening. First is we see Emmanuel with us, being completely fulfilled. No longer is God's dwelling place separate from men, but he is with us. Now it is true that he dwells with us in spirit, doesn't he? But there is a day where we are going to see him face to face. Second, we see here that there is no more sea. And when I first read this and I think, I become sad because there's no more ocean. There's no more sea. And if you're like me, I love the ocean. I love the sea. I love to be outside. I love nature. This isn't what John is talking about here when he describes that there is no more sea. What he's describing here is that the sea is symbolic and it sets the tone for the rest of the chapter because the sea was seen as a place of chaos. It was seen as a place of darkness and sin and unknown and it's where the sea monsters come from that Job describes. But when God comes back, there will be no more sea. There will be no more chaos. If you were to go back to Genesis 1-2, it reads, And he took out of chaos, out of nothing, he created. And so, at the end of Revelation, we see the same thing. That God is doing away with all chaos. He's doing away with all sin. And then, if we continue on, in verse 2, John writes, And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. We are given the imagery of the bride of Christ, and this is the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city where all the saints dwell, and it is perfectly adorned for her husband. There is no blemishes in her at all. The other month I got to officiate a wedding, my nephew's wedding. And believe it or not, it was the first wedding I've ever done. And so I was really excited about this. um but as the minister you get to stand up front and you get to watch the bride coming down the aisle and I remember as she's walking down the aisle she's you know she's beautifully adorned for her husband and she's wearing this white gown there are no blemishes on it and what I love about this is is the imagery it portrays of of how we are the bride of Christ and we are beautifully adorned for Christ And because of Christ, we have been made pure. We have been made holy because of Him. We are presented to the Heavenly Father as being spotless because we are the bride of Christ. I love camping. I love the outdoors, going out into nature, hiking, fishing, all of that. And what amazes me is as I'm out in nature, And I'm looking around. All too often, I notice something. It catches my eye. And you know what that is? It's litter. It's trash. It's plastic. And I wonder, you know, I'm out in the middle of nowhere. How did this get here? And they say that plastic never decays. And although we see something beautiful even here, like out in nature, It is fallen. It has its blemishes. But there is a day that we will be presented to the Heavenly Father spotless, without blemish. Continue on to verse three. And I heard a loud voice from the throne scene. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. What is happening here? When I hear this and I read this, I think back to Matthew 6 when the disciples came to Christ and they said, can you teach us how to pray? And he said, this is how you are to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. And so in the first petition of the Lord's prayer, we're praying for thy kingdom to come. And here in Revelation 21, we see that happening. The Lord bringing to completion his kingdom. Now we are in his kingdom now. Have you heard the phrase, the already and not yet? What that means is that Christ has come. He has conquered sin and death. He has risen again. He has risen from the grave victoriously. And so we are in the already right now because he has saved us. He has conquered sin and death. But the new Jerusalem, the new heavens, the new earth has yet to come. And so we are here now waiting for the not yet. And so there is a day as we read in verse 4 that God is making all things new As we continue on into verse 5, he says, We all have physical ailments in some way. We all get sick at times. You know, for some of us, we fight chronic pain every day. We all deal with death around us, don't we? We have loved ones who are suffering. Some people really struggle with depression, with anxiety, with fear, with the unknown. We go out into the world and there is persecution happening. And we struggle with temptation, we struggle with sin. And it becomes exhausting, doesn't it? As you think about it, just thinking about just the ways that you have struggled this past week. But there is coming a day where God says that, behold, I am making all things new. That there will be no more suffering, no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Could you imagine a world of perfection, a world without sin, a world without temptation, a world that is new? That is God's promise here. When I think of that, it almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? That one day there will be a world with no more sin. And that is why God tells us in verse five, he says, he said, And he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. And then he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. See, God knows our hearts. He knows our weaknesses and he knows our feeble minds. And so he says to John, write this down so that we will be reminded that there is a day coming when there will be no more sin. There will be no more suffering for he is making all things new. God cannot lie. And so we can have the full confidence in this promise of a new heavens and a new earth will happen and that we will be beautifully adorned for Christ. And as we move on to verses 6 through 11, in verse 6 he says, and he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The first thing that comes to mind when we read this is what Christ said when he was hanging on the cross. He says, it is finished. And what Christ meant by that was that the scriptures had all talked about him coming. He would make atonement for our sins. Christ came and He fulfilled the law perfectly. And as He hung on the cross, He says, it is finished. And now here in Revelation, He says, also, He says, it is done. And what he means by this is that all of these promises that he has told us, he is bringing to completion now. It is done. It is finished. And if you don't believe this, he says, I am the alpha and the omega. Alpha, of course, is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, signifying that Christ was there from the beginning. Eternity past. And he is there in the future, eternity present. and that he is Lord over all. And so when he says that it is done, it is finished, we can believe this because he's telling us that he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Next he says, God tells us that, let us read verse seven. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son." Everything that we have ever needed will be met in Christ. And in verse 6, if we go back just a minute, he says that he is the spring of the water of life and that he gives this without payment. As Jesus sat at the well and talked to the Samaritan woman, you know, she thought that he was talking about some physical water and she kept saying, where can I get this water? You know, God has created us as human beings to be thirsty. We need water. But actually what this does is it points to Christ. Because Christ is the eternal well. He is the eternal life. He is the living water. And so as Christians, we are drinking of this water right now, aren't we? If you are a Christian, Christ lives in you and you are drinking of this water. But because we live, continue to live in this fallen world, we still do battle with sin. We still do battle with temptation and suffering. And so there will be a day when we no longer deal with sin, with temptation, with suffering, because Christ has given us this water. he has made us his son he says that the one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be his be my son now how do we conquer Well, it is because of Christ that we have conquered. It isn't anything that we have done, is it? It is all of Christ. And that is why earlier in the chapter that Christ is referred to as the Lamb, isn't it? Because Christ came and took the punishment of our sins upon himself. But in verse eight, it is something very opposite of what's described in verse seven. You see, this is a list of sins that represent all sins. And it is a warning for those who are not found in Christ, that one day they will face eternal punishment. And that is a really scary thought, isn't it? And as for believers, this gives us time to pause and to reflect on our own lives, to have us reflect, am I in Christ? Have I put my faith in Christ and trust in Christ alone for my salvation? It should also be an encouragement to us as well as we think about global missions. As we think of how God uses his church to bring the message to those who are lost. God has called people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to himself. And he is calling us to be a part of that work. And so yes, God is the one who changes the heart. God is the one who has elected people for salvation. but he uses his church to bring that message to them. And so as we read verse eight, this should also be an encouragement to the church to bring the gospel message forth. As we continue on to verse nine, the holy city. Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Excuse me. We who are in Christ are the church and we are described here as the bride of Christ. And Christ here is described as the lamb, the lamb who gave up his life for his bride. And the bride is also the holy city, which is Jerusalem. And again, it signifies all those who are in Christ. John is shown a holy city in verse 10. And then in verse 11, he goes on to describe here the majestic radiance of the city, because God's glory is shown from the city. And let us not forget as believers, because we are image bearers of God, and Christ is in us, that we, as Christians, reflect the glory of God. And this is God's glory, it is not our glory. It is God's glory that shines forth. The city Jerusalem is so radiant, not because of who it is, but because of who God is. John would will go on in the other verses that we did not read to describe more about how the city has been constructed perfectly. That there are no blemishes in it. And he goes on again to talk about how there is no more darkness. And then as we move on to verses 11, or I'm sorry, to 22 through 27, we read, By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is attestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. Isaiah, in Isaiah 60, 19. In 20, he describes even more about this. Let me read for us Isaiah 60. 19 and 20, Isaiah wrote, the sun shall be no more, your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light, but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. We are told here that there will be no more sun or moon, because God is the everlasting light. And we will enter the gates. Those who are in Christ will enter these gates. If you believe in Christ, your name has been written in the Lamb's book of life, and you will enter these gates. And there will be no more suffering. There will be no more mourning. There will be no more sin. Does this excite you when you read this? Does this bring encouragement to you when you look at this? I tell you, it brings encouragement to my heart. Because I do battle with sin every day. I suffer every day. And it gets really tiring, doesn't it? But this is a promise from the Lord Almighty, that one day there will be no more suffering. That if you are in Christ, that you have been written in His book. And somebody can't come with an eraser and erase your name out of that book. You know, you can't tell God, I don't wanna be your child anymore. It is a promise that you are His child, that your name has been written in the Lamb's book of life. And that one day there will be no more suffering, there will be no more pain. For the former things have all passed away. How encouraging it is to know this. But it is hard, isn't it? It is hard because we live in the already and not yet. But we have this promise that Christ is coming back. Just as the disciples stood there looking upward and the angels told them Christ is coming back, we have this promise that He is coming back. So what do we do in the meantime as we wait for the Lord's return? Are we to sit idly by and wait? In earlier in Revelation, in chapters two and three, there are churches that are described that have sat idly by, and they're called lukewarm. And there are churches that are described as having forgotten their first love, who is Christ. And so as a church, as a believer, we are not to sit idly by and wait. So what are we to do? Well, God tells us what we are to do. We are to love God with all our hearts, with all our strength, with all our minds, with all our soul. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. And so first and foremost, we are to love God. And as we love God, we are to love our neighbor. And so what does that look like, loving your neighbor today? You know, I could go on and on maybe of what it looks like to love your neighbor. And I'll be honest, I fall short of this all the time. God has called us, though, not just to love those who are just around us, but to love those around the world as well. And it breaks my heart when I scroll through Facebook and I see Christians talking about, you know, people of other faith, of Muslims, of Buddhists, of people that are secular, of just coming, being so harsh and unloving. But we are called to pray for those who persecute us. We are called to pray for our neighbors. And I don't want you to get the wrong message here. I'm not condoning other religions, other faiths. But I am wanting to encourage us as a church of believers to pray for those who persecute us and to pray for our neighbors and to show them love. And I pray tonight that the Holy Spirit will direct you in how you are to pray and how you are to love your neighbor. It is difficult and it is hard. And that is because we live in this fallen world, as I've already mentioned. But as we've looked at chapter 21, we read and we have seen the promise of God, haven't we? We have seen that he is making all things new. And so my prayer for all of us tonight is as we go about our day, as we go about the week, as we go about the year, and as we are struggling in this world, that we will be reminded of this chapter. We will be reminded of God's promise to us. That he's doing away with all sin. That he will put an end to all suffering. And that he is making all things new. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And we thank you for your promise. That although we struggle daily, Lord, we have that promise from you. Not only are we the bride of Christ, but you are making all things new, meaning you are going to put away an end to all suffering, to all sin. And we thank you. And Lord, I pray just this week, this evening, that as we continue to struggle, that we will be reminded of your love to us, that we would be reminded of your grace and mercy and the forgiveness and the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray too that that you would teach us and you would show us how we can follow you, how we can love you, and how we can love our neighbors. It's in Christ's name that we pray.