A Vision of Heaven
Thirteen months ago we started a sermon series called "The Story of God." The premise of the series is this: You have to read the Bible as a story. So, for over a year we have continually sought to come back to the big picture, "what is the message of the Bible?" It is necessary to do this because it is easy to get bogged down in details. In fact, I would say this, when ever we lose the big story we usually wind up in some kind of legalism or oppressive religion. Look at the religious folk of Jesus’ day - when they missed the grand story of God's never stopping, never ending, and long-suffering love for them, here is what happened - it became about them and all the things they had to do to get God to love them. In the process, they became oppressive, mean, and judgmental; religion always leads you to that end.