This is a sermon that continues in our Devotional: No Longer Tossed, “All Things New” Revelation 21: 1-5. You can watch more here.
Can you believe we made it to 2026! I hope your celebrations were sweet. If not, it’s okay.
I said, “Happy New Year” to someone yesterday and they said, “So far!”
Sometimes we have hiccups in life, but this morning our passage is going to remind us we
have a Savior who is making all things new! Amen?
This isn’t just positive self-talk. This life, is just a little while. In Christ, all things will be
made new. We might stumble in this season. It might feel like 1 step forward and 10 steps
back, but He who began a good work in you is faithful to finish in the end, and this morning
we will see that in our passage.
We are kicking off a new series called “No Longer Tossed.” You can turn to page 95 in our
devotional, or you can turn to Revelation 21 in the New Testament.
If you are new this morning, we typically go verse by verse through a book of the bible, but
this series is a 5-week challenge for everyone to raise the spiritual temperature in our soul.
If you had to name the current temperature of your soul (Red hot, creeping along, non-
existent) what would you say?
Low temperature doesn’t mean we’re a “bad Christian.” It’s just the current temperature of
our soul, therefore, these next 5-weeks are an opportunity to raise the spiritual
temperature.
Physical trainers will tell us, “Periodically, we need to create a new norm for our bodies
physically.” Do you know this language? This (hand motion) is what is comfortable
physically, therefore, periodically it is good to stretch ourselves physically to establish a
new norm of what’s comfortable, therefore, we want to apply that same perspective toward
our spiritual life.
Periodically, it is good to stretch ourselves spiritually, because in our faith it is easy to get
into ruts, habits and patterns where we say to ourselves, “This is as good as it gets in my
relationship with Jesus.” Which is okay, but the question we are asking is, “What if there is
more? Sit in that for a second. (Pause)
Jesus says, “He has come to establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.” (Pause)
Jesus says, “In Him, there is the abundant life.” (Pause) Jesus says, “Drink of Me and you will
never thirst again. Come to Me and you will find rest!”
Therefore, we can enjoy where the Lord has us, but I am pretty sure there is more of Jesus
for us to experience, but for that to happen we need to find a new spiritual temperature!
Like today, maybe we are tapping into 22% of the new life we have in Jesus. I don’t know. I
am making up numbers.
It’s going to be 100% one day. Jesus is going to return. All things will made new, but today
maybe we are only tapping into 22% but what if we could tap into 23%? What if we could
tap into 22.5%?
Why would we wait to tap into more of His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? Why
would we wait? (This is where a good pastor would say, “Turn to your neighbor and say,
‘Why would we wait?’”)
But, for us to turn up the spiritual temperature, it all comes down to being spiritually
stretched. Just like in our physical training, we are going to have to get out of our comfort
zone and lean into Him, so for the next 5-weeks I am inviting us individually and
collectively to raise the spiritual temperature in our soul.
Listen to me, it’s going to be hard. More than likely, over these next 5-weeks, we will
encounter challenges and hardships trying to derail us in this challenge.
We have an enemy that doesn’t want us to turn up the spiritual temperature. Biblically,
there are spiritual strongholds trying to pull us back into that old life, old ruts so when it
gets hard, we need to remember, “It’s supposed to be hard!”
I remember when my wife and I were involved in fostering a little boy in our home, and one
time we were at a training event where a foster parent was sharing the challenge of
fostering and the trainer said, “ “Fostering children is hard because, fostering children is
supposed to be hard.”
If you look at our devotional, page 102 you will see the sermon outline for next Sunday, and
on page 106 you will see the introduction to a Spiritual Formation Guide for us to engage
personally. Don’t read that right now. Read it on your own time! Keep listening! (Person?)
Over the next 5-weeks we are going to go through a sermon series where we talk about
these things each week. This is our class time. This is when we get to do this together.
Same guide, same weeks, same conversations; you need to come every Sunday so we can do
this together! It’s not just observation. It’s participation. We’re doing this together!
And then our individual homework over these 5-weeks is a 4-week spiritual formation
guide for you to go through on your own.
Listen to me, don’t wait. Start praying now. Start looking at the spiritual formation guide
today after worship. Start locking hands with 2-3 people today. Let’s look at our passage
this morning to kick us off. Let’s look at Revelation 21:1:
Revelation 21:1, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
Revelation is written by the Apostle John who walked with Jesus, saw the miracles. John
was there at the cross and the resurrection, but now John is an old man on an island in the
middle of nowhere and He has a vision from the Lord that is called Revelation, and in verse
1 we see the emphasis is on “new heaven, new earth.” Do you see that in verse 1?
Revelation is basically the ups and downs of life, and then in chapter 21 we see verse 1
lifting our eyes to what is to come, so that theologians us this language of “already not yet”
to describe our lives as a follower of Jesus. Who’s familiar with that language? (Raise your
hands.)
Today, the follower of Jesus is living in the power and love of Jesus today, and at the same
time there is the power and love of Jesus to come. If we live too much in the now we will
miss the hope of what is to come. If we live too much in what is to come we will miss our
present opportunities. Does that make sense?
All things being made new is coming. New heaven and new earth is coming. One day, sight
to the blind. One day, vindicating the persecuted. Raising the dead. Satisfied souls. Pure in
heart shall see God, but were not there yet, because look at verse 1. In verse 1 it says, “And
there was no longer any sea.” Isn’t that interesting?
In the ancient world, the “sea” was an unknowable, deep, dark, place. It’s the unknown. It’s
often the symbol of chaos. Therefore, as a follower of Jesus today, the world we live in
today is still surrounded in world of chaos.
Right now, life is still layered with difficulty. Right now, life is going to send some storms.
Right now, we are going to face some waves, disruptions, and hiccups throughout the days
and years, so that life is going to feel hard, really hard, but God’s Word is telling us, “Right
now, life is supposed to be hard, so that our longing for comfort is godly, we’re just not
there yet.” You with me?
Romans says, “Right now, even creation is groaning from earthquakes and tornadoes, and
longing for the day the day of new heaven and new earth,” but we’re not there yet.
So that for us, when life is hard and those groans are deep, those groans are like little
moments of praise in our soul, longing for the day when all of creation is going to be made
new. Amen?
But for us to tap into that truth there is a spiritual temperature in us that needs to be
raised. Self included! It is a spiritual temperature of becoming more comfortable in the
chaos, more settled when life goes side-ways, more glory in the groans, because our
ultimate trust isn’t in the now, but what is to come. Look at verse 2:
Revelation 21:2, “2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.“
Again, God’s Word is lifting our eyes to a day that is to come. Do you see it? This language
“prepared a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” is language to describe the church
as the bride and Jesus as her husband.
That might be new language for some of us, so I want to go slow, but one day the church,
not the building, the body of Christ, the collective followers of Jesus throughout history are
being presented to Jesus as a people who have been prepared (made holy) and beautifully
dressed (made pure,) not through our good deeds, but through the righteousness we have
been given in Christ through faith in Jesus.
This is why the bride at a wedding is dressed in white. It isn’t a symbol of her purity but of
the church made pure in Christ. This is why the bride is given to her husband. It isn’t a
symbol of patriarchy and oppression of women, but a symbol of the church being presented
to Jesus.
(Just as a side note, our culture is so quick to describe God’s Word as chauvinistic, anti-women,
but God’s Word is describing the church as a bride! Uh that’s pretty feminine, and it’s because
God loves females and uses the identity of female in powerful ways throughout Scripture, so
don’t let them bait you on social media.)
Back to our passage, as a follower of Jesus, we want to have seasons where we raise the
spiritual temperature, because during this season of “already, not yet” it is easy to get
distracted. It is easy to get discouraged. It is easy to forget that this life is just a season.
This is why the Apostle Paul describes the follower of Jesus as “heavenly citizens.” It is
because this time on earth isn’t our home. We are just passing through.
The Apostle Peter describes the follower of Jesus as “foreigner” because this place on earth
is a temporary residency. We are strangers in a strange land, so that sometimes this life on
earth is going to feel strange and we are going to feel like we don’t fit into this world,
because in Christ, we don’t!
In Christ, there will be days we feel weighed down with disappointment. We will lament
that sadness of our sin. We will get baited into arguments where we put each other down.
We will get hung up on hurts from our childhood, but God’s Word says, “Don’t sweat it,
because now we see in a mirror dimly, but one day we will see His glory in full!” (1
Corinthians 13).
I wish I could tell you listening to this sermon today will change how we think going
forward, but the ruts and habits are too deep. We need to be spiritually stretched. Look at
verses 3-4:
Revelation 21:3-4, “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling
place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There
will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away.”
Our passage this morning is describing this great moment with the Lord that is to come, but
I want to acknowledge the “NOW” doesn’t always feel great with the Lord.
Let’s be honest, the “NOW” doesn’t always feel close to the Lord. The “NOW” doesn’t
always feel like gathering for worship on Sunday. The “NOW” doesn’t always enjoy other
followers of Jesus.
Sometimes we don’t but in the “already, not yet” it isn’t about feelings. It’s about living by
faith in what is to come one day.
Over the next 5-weeks those feelings are going to be stretched. Right now, we might be
optimistic. The first 1-2 weeks might be great. New year, new you!
The idea of raising the spiritual temperature sounds awesome right now, but somewhere
around weeks 2-3 we are going to hit a lull.
Maybe our time in God’s Word is going to be confusing? Maybe our car will break down?
Maybe something we want? Maybe a new relationship will start? Maybe someone doesn’t
say, “Good morning to us’ in the right tone?
It is in those moments that we tend to dial back the spiritual temperature into that spiritual
place of comfort. It’s like getting back into bed, hitting the snooze button, because it feels
so good to snooze.
But, just take a moment to see what is coming in verses 3-4. In fact, let’s say a small prayer
right now in our heart to the Lord, “Lord, will you help my heart soften to see the glory of
what is to come?”
Because, look at verse 3, a day is coming when the Lord will be with His people, and His
people will be with Him. It’s gonna happen! Therefore, we can grow in our awareness of
His presence now, today because the fullness of what is coming! Does that make sense?
A day is coming when He will wipe every tear. Therefore, we can bring our tears to Him
now, because we know the warmth of what is coming.
We can anchor ourselves in Him today, because a day is coming when we will see Him face
to face, therefore, “Why would we wait?”
Turn to your neighbor! Why would we wait? Our passage isn’t just telling us where we are
going. Our passage tells us how to live as we wait on that day!
Listen, I am not saying we can get the whole of this today. I am not saying Jesus expects us
to walk around smiling all the time. But I am pretty sure we can taste more of His glory
today!
Therefore, the whole purpose of the spiritual formation guide found on page 106 is to stir
up in us perseverance. It is to raise the spiritual temperature of endurance. It is to give us
a new norm to help us remember that the fullness of life is found in Him!
This is all built around John 15 as God’s Word describes the follower of Jesus as being
attached to a vine, because our relationship with God doesn’t naturally thrive.
Over Christmas, my sister-in-law got me this plant for Christmas. It’s called self-watering
plant, and I got excited because doesn’t that sound awesome to have a self-watering plant?
I asked my sister-in-law, “How does the plant get water?” She said, “You have to water it!”
I said, “But it’s called self-watering?”
I think, in some ways, we love the idea of our spiritual life being self-watering. Wouldn’t
that be great? We just wake up tomorrow with deep roots in Jesus?
But God’s Word is teaching us, “One day those roots are going to be self-watering in glory,
but right now there is going to be some pruning, some stress, some fertilizer, some water,
and it’s going to be hard, but not always, therefore, let’s practice living out what is to come
one day.”
I want to press on this, because raising the spiritual temperature is going to be hard. We
take a few hits in life. We get to a certain age, and we start to settle, because sometimes we
become better disciples of this world than we are disciples of Jesus, and we start to think
our physical appearances are all that matter, our career is all that matters, our status
symbols are all that matter, and we start living for our earthly citizenship, and earthly
citizenship never delivers! (Thoughts on below, not above)
In the beginning, that car is amazing, and pretty soon, it’s just a car. In the beginning that
romance is amazing, and then it’s just a relationship. Our earthly citizenship isn’t horrible,
but it’s always promising and it never lasts, so like a rat on a wheel we have to keep chasing
that high, chasing that sweet tooth, chasing that thrill, and God’s Word is saying, “You were
made for more in Him, so why wait!” Do you know this quote?
C. S. Lewis – If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most
probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
This is why the Apostle Peter that we just studied began and ended 1 Peter with the
reminder that the life we live on this earth is just, “A little while.” In the span of eternity, in
the glory of God, the ups and downs of life are just a little while. Amen? Look at verse 5:
Revelation 21:5, “5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Isn’t that good? Listen to me, I love what we are talking about. And right now, I might look
like I have it all figured out, but I get distracted just like anyone else.
In my head, I know God is near, but I get a phone call from my kid. I get stuck in my
marriage. I hit a lull in the areas of life I am pursuing, so I want to try to give us some
practical steps as we bring our time to a close. Let me give you 4 practical steps to write
down:
1. Prayer: Rejoice, reflect, repent, and rest. Throughout spiritual formation guide
you are going to see a guide to your prayer life around rejoice, reflect, repent, and
rest, therefore, we can start thinking about your prayer life today. When do we
want to set aside time for prayer every day? Waiting to pray when we feel like
praying isn’t going to raise the spiritual temperature. Throughout these next 5-
weeks we want to stretch our prayer life from vague prayers to a specific process to
go through in prayer. Pick a day. Pick a time. Start with 30 seconds if you’ve never
done this before with the intent of growing yourself to 3 minutes, or 30 minutes.
We are going to pray this evening at 6pm for 50 minutes! It gets uncomfortable.
You should come!
2. New Habits: Don’t overestimate what can be done in 5-weeks, but don’t under
estimate what can be done in 5-years. Some of us get excited about new
possibilities. Me most of all. I can go into these 5-weeks and think, “If I do this, I will
never have problems again!” That’s too much! Consistency beats intensity! Little
changes over time can make a huge difference, therefore, if you don’t read the Bible
now, let’s not assume we are going to read the whole Bible this year! Start off with 5
minutes a day, and over time you will read the whole Bible.
3. People: Let’s not try to do this alone. Why would we try to do this alone?
Nobody grows alone. Let’s start thinking about 2-3 people we can partner with in
this journey. Ideally, there are 2-3 people in this church in Austin we can have a
shared experience. We need to read God’s Word with other people. We need to be
praying with other people. (Groups kicking off in January). If you are married, why
not do this you’re your spouse? You might push back and say, “Oh, my spouse and I
haven’t prayed together in years?” Why not rip that band-aid? Husbands, lead out
in this area. Wives, if your husbands aren’t leading, then talk about the elephant in
the room, so that we can grow with people.
4. Taking Thoughts Captive: The most consistent voice in our life is the voice to
ourselves, therefore, we want to know the voice before we obey the voice. We want
to become aware of our self-talk. We want to ask, “Are those words consistent with
God’s Word and God’s Character?” Journaling is probably the easiest way to gain
better clarity and I am guessing that some of us don’t like to journal. Sometimes I
will do this in prayer and ask the Lord to help me walk through my day in my head
with Him. The goal is to make note, “What is helping me live in the already not yet
and what isn’t?”
Make a commitment to lean into this season. Don’t wait till 2-3 week to start thinking
about it. Start today!
It’s so easy to complain. It’s so easy to be cynical and skeptical and critical. Let’s ask the
Lord to bring heaven into our hearts!
Maybe it’s 2%? Who doesn’t want more heaven! We can be sure that 2026 is going to
bring frustrations and disappointments. It’s called life. It’s supposed to be hard, therefore,let’s ask the Lord to help us build deep roots in Him!
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.