Dear River Reach Family,

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

Revelation 6:1-2

Satan has done a masterful job at convincing our world to ignore God and live as if He doesn’t exist or reign over them. Most people believe that they are the master of their lives and fate. They get to determine reality and truth. Someday there will be a massive collision between God’s sovereign authority over all (Rev. 4:2) and man’s rejection of God. These two incompatible realities cannot persist forever. As sovereign, God controls the resolution of this tension. He could at some unannounced moment just bring the world to an end like a game of musical chairs. Whoever didn’t believe the Gospel and receive Christ would immediately receive the just wrath of God for all of eternity. Thankfully God designed a much more merciful way to conclude man’s rebellion. Revelation 4-19 records a future period of time when God will make one last effort to persuade sinners to repent and receive His love and mercy in Christ (Rev. 3:10). Today God is patiently waiting for sinners to repent (2 Peter 3:9) and even pouring out His kindness on them to lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4). In the tribulation period the Lord will mercifully use the pressure of trouble in one last effort to bring sinners to repentance. Our passage in Revelation 6 records the moment when Christ will begin turning up the heat on sinners to bring them to repentance. Thank God for His love in attempting to persuade sinners to escape the justice of His wrath by receiving His mercy in Christ!

Sermon: “Merciful Persuasion” – Revelation 6:1-17

Wednesday evening back to Zoom meetings for the time being

While we gave it an attempt to return to meeting in person on Wednesday evenings this past week, after more consideration of the rise in Covid and other factors, we have decided to just meet on Zoom until the Lord provides a more opportune scenario. We don’t know when the time will be right. It could be a few weeks or months, but we will let you know of any further developments. We value your input on this matter.

Prayer Requests:

• Susan’s health and Bob’s strength to help
• God’s grace to help us fulfill our mission to make reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ
• Opportunities to share Christ in these uncertain times
• Spiritual growth and strength for each one in our church
• Our missionaries to be encouraged in the Lord
• Our nation to repent and turn to God
• Someone that the Lord can use you to lead to Christ
• Someone that the Lord can use you to lead to follow Christ

Blessed to be your Pastor!
Matthew Rowley