WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.520 I'm going to continue the series. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:04.240 The title of the message today is called The Story. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:09.359 And this is what I've been, if you've been following along the series, you know this is what I've been waiting to share with you. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:31.920 I don't know if you'll like it or not, but what happened to me is I got done with the first chapter of Who Ate Lunch with Abraham, and I set the book down, and as if uh a million files in my brain all came together, I saw one complete story that had looked like fragments up until then, and then it was one entire story. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.359 So I don't have any I don't have any scriptures for today, although all of this is scripture. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:38.799 I'm telling you the story of scripture. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:40.960 I don't have any points for us today. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:49.520 I just want to tell you the story, and we're gonna go through the story, and and and it just was amazing to me the way that so many things came together. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:58.479 Whenever I read through this book, started praying through this, and things just sort of uh fell into place within this story. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:05.040 The grand story of all of this came together, and that's the story that I want to tell you today. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:07.519 Jesus is the king. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:17.120 He's the king of the universe, he's the king over our realm, he's the king over this earth, he's the king over this physical realm and the spiritual realm. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:18.719 There's no question about that. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:27.439 Yet there is an enemy, there is someone who is fighting against the forces of good, fighting for the forces of evil. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:37.120 And we we believe and know that God can do all things, that He can He can speak a word and cause creation to come into existence. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:47.519 But there are heavenly laws or spiritual laws or realms that exist that are honored within the spiritual realm, and a battle is taking place over the earth. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:52.959 A battle to take dominion over the earth is taking place, and we are a part of that. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:02:03.359 Jesus is the king over the earth, he created the world through the power of the Father, and everything that was created was created through him and for him. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.120 That's who Jesus is. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.240 He designed every single thing that we see and everything that we don't see. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:16.879 And this is important because everything that we actually know about the Father only comes through Jesus. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:26.879 We've been pointing to all a myriad of passages that say that no one has ever seen the Father or heard the Father's voice, obviously, or seen God. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:31.120 And obviously, that's not what it's necessarily saying, is that we've never seen God. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:34.800 We know that Jesus is God and people have seen Jesus. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.039 We Jesus spoke to people. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:44.080 It's really that no one has ever seen God the Father except as being revealed through Jesus. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:56.719 So even in the times where we hear the Father's voice, in there's an instance in in Matthew and in Mark and a couple different places where the Father says things like, This is my son, in whom I am well pleased. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.280 Every time the Father speaks, the Son is present. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:03.039 He is what makes the Father's word known to us. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:08.800 This is what the Bible describes as in the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, the Word was with God. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:10.719 This is Jesus. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:17.039 Everything that we know about the Father is revealed to us through Jesus and Jesus alone. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.240 This should blow our minds actually. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:47.919 Because if we just think about Jesus creating the world, Jesus becoming his own creation, coming down to the world and being crucified for us, rising again in all of his power, all of the miracles that he did here on earth, all of the ways that Jesus has worked, and he made himself in a form that we were able actually to see and to interact with. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:04:00.400 But God the Father, if you were to get a glimpse of him, you would be obliterated because his glory is so powerful, his nature is so pure, and ours is so corrupt. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:06.400 God is so much bigger and more vast than we realize in any way at all. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.080 He's so much bigger. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.199 We like to think that we know everything about God. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:18.800 We like to think that we know everything about our belief or our belief in Christ, or religion, or anything like that. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:26.319 And we like to have all the answers to everybody's questions so that we can prove that Christianity is real and right. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:38.480 And I'll tell you in a moment why that doesn't work, but but but God is so big, and there's so much that we don't know or understand about him, and yet we have this glimpse of him that we have seen through Jesus. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:46.160 Jesus has been around since the beginning, he has always been with us, and so we don't understand as much as we think we do. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:57.519 And so there was an angel, a son of God, as some translations call him, that rebelled and was thrown out of the kingdom and thrown down into the earth. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.240 That is what is called the beast, or you may call him Satan or the devil. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.279 The beast was thrown down into the earth. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:11.920 And so this happened before, before uh, you know, obviously the beast is the one that tempts Adam and Eve. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.319 So at some point in that time frame, the beast is thrust down into the earth. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:26.560 I believe that we as human beings were created, mankind was created to destroy, through our dominion over the earth, to destroy the beast. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:32.879 So the beast, Satan, was expelled out of the kingdom and sent down into the earth. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.560 And the beast was then losing power because no one was worshiping him. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:43.120 He was had been expelled from the kingdom, and so he wants to establish his reign over the earth. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:48.160 We talked a little bit last week about a reimagining of the story of the prodigal son. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:06:06.800 But think for just a moment about the story of the prodigal son, about a son of God that was that chose to leave the kingdom, then lived in in absolute, abject, uh, destitute, terrible conditions, off an awful, awful place. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:10.480 And he lived in that, but he decided to go back to his kingdom. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:22.079 If for a moment we think that God's grace and forgiveness wouldn't extend even to someone such as the beast if he were to confess, we don't know or understand God's grace. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:30.319 The story of the prodigal son could easily be the story of the beast returning back to the Lord, but he chooses not to. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.720 He chooses to want to be worshipped and to want to be God himself. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:43.519 And this is what his whole uh his whole idea is, is that we would worship him, and in doing so, we would give him power. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:54.319 And so then his way of doing this, of trying to take over the dominion that we have over the earth, is either to tempt us or to kill us. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.120 Now he can't physically kill us. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:04.160 Satan, the beast, cannot actually physically kill us because we have dominion over the earth. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:05.439 How would he do it then? 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:10.399 He comes along and he whispers in someone else's ear to get them to do it for him. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:15.439 He can't actually take away the calling that God has on your life. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:21.680 Instead, he can come along and he can whisper into your ear and he can tempt you to throw it all away for yourself. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.680 But you are the one who has dominion. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.879 All he has is a level of authority that was handed over to him. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.199 Our dominion is ours. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.720 It is given to us, it is engraved in our very DNA. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:43.680 We are made in his image, and in that image, encoded within our very body, is the dominion of the earth. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:50.399 And so, as we talked about last week, in the fall of man, we didn't lose our dominion over earth, we lost our authority. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.439 All right, let's just pause there for a moment. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:56.079 I'm gonna go ahead in the story just for a brief moment. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:05.600 Jesus is crucified, he goes down, he defeats hell, he comes back up, and he's gonna res He's gonna rise back up into the heavenly realm. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:06.720 And what does he say? 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:09.839 I have given you all authority. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:15.839 Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:21.439 Authority is what Jesus won back for us in his death and resurrection. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:28.560 And so those levels of authority are laws within the spiritual realm, and they are truths that cannot be violated or broken. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:38.080 And so the king, Jesus, has in essence been expelled out of the lives of Adam and Eve because what they said is we'd rather be God for ourselves. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.759 We'd rather choose what is right and wrong for ourselves. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:49.600 And so, therefore, then uh we as humans expel the king out of our lives and say, we don't want to live by your rules. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:54.320 We don't want to live in your kingdom, we want to establish our own kingdom. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:02.320 And so he comes along to Adam and Eve, the beast, and he tempts them in exactly the same way that he was tempted himself. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:10.240 The beast wanted to not serve in God's kingdom anymore and pass on the worship to him. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.519 He wanted to decide for himself what was right and wrong. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.960 He wanted to receive and take all of that worship for himself. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:22.639 And so that's the plan that he knows, and that's the way that he goes and tempts Adam and Eve. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:24.559 You can be like God. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:27.679 You can decide right from wrong. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.600 And when mankind falls for this, it expels the one true king from being the king in our lives. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.320 We can only have one king in our lives. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:45.519 And so Jesus says that through the seed of this woman, Eve, through the seed of this woman will come a man that will crush the beast's head. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:54.480 So out of the seed, and this is really important because the Bible clearly states that it will be out of the seed of this woman that a man will rise up and crush the head of the beast. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:02.799 Adam and Eve then have Cain and Abel, and the beast is fearful about who will rise up and destroy him. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:06.399 You might remember that Abel was serving the old king. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:10.240 He was serving the king faithfully and doing what was asked of him. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:15.679 He was abiding by the rules of the old kingdom, abiding by the rules of the king. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:20.720 And so Satan, the beast, he cannot take out Abel himself. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:21.679 So what does he do? 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:25.519 He comes along to Cain and he tempts him to kill him. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:27.360 What is he attempting to do? 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:37.039 Not just to wreak havoc, not just to cause problems in the world, but to destroy the seed of the woman so that he doesn't get destroyed himself. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.039 This theme will run all through the rest of what we're going to talk about. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:42.080 So remember that. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:44.960 He has two ways, again, of dealing with us. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:50.559 And uh the the only two ways that he has is to tempt or to tempt people to kill. 00:10:50.639 --> 00:11:01.679 And so Abel serves the one true king, finds favor, and this is the way that the beast removes him in an effort to maintain his uh authority in the earth. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.840 The beast is tirelessly working to take the kingdom of earth as his own. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.679 And so he sets in these fallen sons of God over different territories that are called principalities. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:25.600 These principalities are regions of the earth where different fallen angels, fallen sons of God, uh rule over those different areas and and cause as much chaos and destruction as they can. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:44.399 I don't know exactly what happened pre-flood, but we know that because we see it in scripture, we know that even pre-flood, some of these fallen sons of God took human wives and and and those those the offspring of those people were part of what was causing so much trouble. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:49.679 And the Bible even talks of these giants that made the Israelites look like grasshoppers. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:55.200 Again, there's so much we don't know about the actual spiritual warfare that is taking place. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.200 We only see what we see in front of us. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:00.639 It is a loss of vision, but there's so much more taking place. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:07.279 These giants are actually mentioned three times more in the Bible than Mary, the mother of Jesus. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:11.360 Something was happening, and I believe that the flood had something to do with it. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:19.679 I believe that the flood was a way for God to uh to the king to exterminate these forces of evil that were taking over. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:20.879 And so what does he do? 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:22.639 He takes a man like Noah. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.720 He begins a new covenant with him, much like he had with Adam and Eve. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:30.720 And he goes to Noah and he goes, Hey, I want you to build a boat. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.799 And everybody in the world was like, You can ignore that crazy guy. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.320 He's just over there building a boat. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:38.000 We haven't seen rain in forever. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.840 You don't have to pay any attention to that. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:50.080 That's the brilliance of the way the king works, is he does it in ways that the enemy will not know or recognize, and he always uses people that the enemy would not expect. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.440 And so here he comes along to Noah and he tells him to build a boat. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.480 And the flood then cleanses in some way. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:10.159 And after that, he continues to make these covenants with different men and women on earth that he can partner with to help pull himself back into his kingdom and take his rightful place as our king. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:22.720 This is a story of a king who loves his people so much that even when they reject him and they push him out, he will do whatever it takes to break back into their lives and to be a part of their lives again. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.519 And so he does this through these spiritual covenants. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:31.279 And we know that we are not at war with flesh and blood, that this is a spiritual war. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.519 And so he continues to preserve the line of Adam and Eve. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:37.919 This is what happens even in the flood. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:45.759 He's continuing to preserve the line of Adam and Eve, the seed of Eve, by causing the Israelites to grow into a powerful nation. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:52.799 Abraham and Sarah are hit with extreme temptation, and the strategies of the beast have not changed. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.600 It's either to tempt them or to try to kill them. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:01.759 And so God keeps making these covenants, and he keeps trying to preserve this line. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:06.879 And the beast tempts a man named Pharaoh to enslave the Israelites. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:15.200 And the Pharaoh is even concerned with the growing numbers of the Israelites because God is causing them to grow in number and in power. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:29.519 And so the king partners with a man named Moses, who was preserved even through what the beast had planned, and even through the beast tempting Pharaoh to kill every young male that was born, the king preserves Moses. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:35.440 And so the beast knew that a man would still rise up out of that line of Eve to defeat him. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:40.559 And so he does everything he can to enslave and kill the Israelites. 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:42.720 But the king hides Moses. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:43.840 Where does he hide him? 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.840 In Pharaoh's own castle. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:57.759 In all of his brilliance, he continues to work to make a covenant with mankind so that we can conquer the enemy, the beast that so easily ensnares us. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:03.200 And so the king frees the Israelites and takes them on a journey to a land that he has reserved for them. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.840 You could say it sort of like this He was preparing a place for them. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:11.519 But to get there, they would have to go through the wilderness. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:26.399 And the wilderness is the place where we are strengthened for battle, and it is also the place where trials cause us to question the goodness of the king, and only obedience to the king and covenant faithfulness will allow us to escape. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:34.080 Questioning the will of God and his love for us is the oldest and most used tactic by the beast. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:36.000 You still hear it today. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:40.960 I hear it all the time, and it's a question that I've had a lot of difficulty answering in the past. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:48.320 When people say, Why would a loving God allow such terrible things to happen to us here on earth? 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.399 Why would that take place? 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.600 What kind of God would do that? 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:00.960 This is the original thing that happened with the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:09.039 When I thought, I was reading through this book and I went back to this question why would a loving God let all of this happen? 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:14.159 I started to reconcile in my mind that Jesus as the king was fighting a war. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:24.720 And when we see some of the violence in the Old Testament that takes place, this is a king desperately fighting a war to make it back to his people so that he can reign over them once again. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:29.279 And then I thought about it and I started thinking, what an arrogant question. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:34.639 What kind of loving God would cause all these bad things to happen? 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:35.600 Wait a second. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.279 I'm not in charge of deciding what is good and bad. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:41.919 That's me living out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:43.440 I'm called to serve God. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.039 I'm called to serve the king. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.799 I'm called to obey him no matter what he asks me to do. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:56.720 What arrogance would I have to have to say, God, what are why what makes you so good that you would let bad things happen? 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.919 Because I've decided for myself what is good and bad. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:04.960 This is the oldest temptation and the one that will continue to plague the world. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:08.319 It is the one that we must be able to answer. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:14.000 It is it is a a thing that that a lie that that mankind believed. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.599 It continues to be this strong temptation today. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.799 And so let's remember that we are not to decide what is good or bad. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:33.119 Uh, I spoke last week about our our our mission as Christians is not to go and fight whatever culture wars are most frustrating us. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:34.240 We will do that. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:46.960 We will be a beacon of light, we will stand for morality, we will stand up and fight for morality, we will do that, but only when the commander of the Lord's army tells us which battles to fight. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.359 We're called to stand as an example. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:57.839 That was his entire goal for the Israelites, is that they would be a light on a hill, that people would see them, and that they would stand out as an example. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.279 Jesus didn't walk around going, uh, I know, I know what you did. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:04.240 I mean, he has knowledge of what every single person has done. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.720 He didn't walk around and just shame them and go, I know what you've done. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.359 Oh, I know the bad thing you've done, I know what you've done. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:12.079 Instead, he was ministering love to them. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:18.799 I I I genuinely let me think about how to say this. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:29.519 I sometimes feel a responsibility to stand here and challenge us and not the world. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:34.799 Because we could stand here and say, oh, what they're doing is wrong. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:43.759 This is so wrong, this is so bad, look at what they're doing, and we would all cheer and we'd feel really good about ourselves that we're not doing some of those things, and that would be great. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:49.440 It might feel medicating for that moment, but that's not what we're that's not our goal in this time. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:54.960 Our goal is to continue to work towards bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:03.119 And in order to do that, we will need to be able to evaluate ourselves and not sit here and go, the whole world is against us, everything is wrong. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:12.319 We will need to be able to see what our actions are doing in the world, and and we'll need to be able to take responsibility for them. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:23.920 So the king goes to war on our behalf, and he guides the Israelites when they go into battle. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:25.119 He protects them. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.920 No matter how many times they break the covenant with him. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:34.880 The Israelites eventually make it to the land that God has preserved for them, a land that he redeemed and set apart for his people. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:39.519 A land that is supposed to be that beacon of light to the surrounding darkness. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:47.599 And the Israelites have been growing in number and strength, but the forces of evil rise up to stop this invasion from the king. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:54.319 And many tribes and nations of the beasts will fight the people of the king, but his strength is too much for them. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:57.519 He causes them to be a mighty and powerful nation. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:03.119 And when darkness rises against them, he fights for them and protects them. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:12.319 Each man of covenant or woman of covenant faithfulness is tested through extreme temptation, and many times their lives are threatened by the beast over and over. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:18.079 Sarah is a woman of covenant faithfulness, just like Abraham, yet she is tempted with the lie of the beast. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:24.559 Don't believe that the king really does want good things for you and will give you offspring. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:25.599 Don't believe that. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:29.359 That is the same lie that the enemy always tells. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.319 Joseph is a man of covenant faithfulness. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:44.799 And while the beast couldn't tempt him, he tried to kill him, so he caused a seed of jealousy to rise up in his brothers, and in his fear that Joseph may be the one to crush him, he does everything he can to end the life of Joseph. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:58.559 David is one of those men of covenant faithfulness who was indeed a threat to the kingdom of darkness, and the beast continues in his path to destroy the seed of the woman, and he tempts David with sexual sin, and David gives into the temptation. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:03.039 This is the same plot of the enemy over and over and over again. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:11.119 And it is the same faithful, patient, loving king who continues to go, I'll trust you. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:12.960 I'll partner with you. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:15.200 Together we can do this. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:22.160 You are co co uh co-authors, co-dominion uh people of this world. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:27.039 I've given you this dominion over the earth for us to do something with it. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:36.079 And so over and over, the men and women who rise up as forces for good and war against the beasts are plagued with overwhelming temptation or death. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:49.759 One day there was an earthly king named Herod, and while he was in command as an earthly king, but still serving the beast, Satan, a group of wise men came looking for the Messiah, the one who would save the world and set things right and become the new king. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:59.519 The beast works in the way that he always has, in the way that he did even with Pharaoh and Moses, and he causes Herod to issue a decree to kill. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.759 All of the young males once again, so that he can destroy the seed of Eve that will one day rise up to kill him. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:09.839 Yeah, this is no ordinary man. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.279 He is the son of God, Yeshua, Jesus. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:19.839 This is the one that is born into the world, the man that will fulfill all of the covenants that have been made before. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:27.519 And the beast fails in his attempt to kill him as a child, and the whole spiritual realm is thrown into war and chaos. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:29.039 Is he really the son of God? 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:30.960 Is he really the one that will crush Satan? 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.319 Is he here to issue a final judgment on the beast? 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:39.359 Will he be successful in overthrowing the authority that the beast has over the world? 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:42.799 Or will he fail like so many before him? 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:48.880 And if this man really is the king, shouldn't he be gathering an army and preparing for battle? 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:58.480 Instead, he chooses twelve men and several women who will be in his inner circle, and these men are largely uneducated and seemingly in no way a threat to the kingdom of darkness. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:04.000 The king is even rejected by many who had followed him faithfully before. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:10.559 And yet the beast has only two options in the war to either tempt the man or kill the man. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:16.319 So when Jesus is at his weakest, after fasting for forty days and forty nights, what does he do? 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:17.680 He shows up to tempt him. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:19.200 What does he tempt him with? 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:20.160 The authority. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:25.920 I'll give you the kingdoms of the earth, because he has authority over them. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.599 Jesus doesn't fall into temptation, so he says, Well, fine then. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.559 What I'll do is I'll just kill this man. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:39.839 And so he causes a seed of jealousy yet again to rise up in his brothers, and they make a plan or a plot to kill him. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:55.759 And what he doesn't know or understand is that because a covenant has been made, and because Jesus has never sinned and he has never broken that covenant, that in his death he fulfills that covenant and removes the enemy's authority. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:01.200 This is the way that he breaks that curse that took place in the fall. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:03.920 And so then he gives us back that authority. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:13.279 And just when the beast thinks that he has won because he has killed the king himself, the king himself actually shows up in the depths of hell. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:34.000 He's supposed to be there to atone for his sins and suffer under the rule of the beast, but the rules of the spiritual kingdom say that he will suffer the rules of the spiritual kingdom say that he will suffer death and hell only if he himself has committed those sins, not if he bore the consequences for someone else. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:37.519 So the beast has been tricked. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:38.720 He's been defeated. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.680 The king defeats the beast through his suffering for his people. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:52.079 He defeats the beast through the love that he has for this creation and all of us, so much so that he would lay down his life for the ones that he loved. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.799 Yet the king does not issue his final judgment on the beast. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.599 Instead, he gives us what we had lost, which is our authority. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.039 And he says, You want to be my partner again? 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:08.640 You want to give this one more try? 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.880 Will you recognize the dominion and the authority that's been given to you? 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:20.400 Will you step into the calling that the king has ordained for your life? 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:25.599 He could have just issued a final judgment on the beast right there. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:27.920 He has defeated him. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.720 And yet he says once again, I'm going to go prepare a place for you. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:39.039 Might feel like the wilderness for a little while, but we've got work to do. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.319 The wilderness will prepare you for battle. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:53.279 And you, mankind, were designed and destined to destroy the beast. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.839 So, when will the beast get his final judgment and be destroyed? 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:12.799 Three things are needed for the return of the king and for the beast to be finally defeated. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:20.720 The bride must be ready, the nations must hear the gospel, and the Jewish people must see Jesus as the Messiah. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:27.839 Now, uh, quick note here um don't just walk up to Jewish people and be like, you need to see Jesus as a messiah. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.359 It's not a good idea. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:30.400 All right? 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.920 I'm telling you that this is what needs to take place. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.160 Um, but uh that's not gonna be the way that we're gonna go about it, all right? 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:40.880 Get involved in the Jewish ministry if you want to find out how we're doing that. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:42.240 I don't have time to talk about it. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:44.480 All right. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:49.200 So what is the beast's plan then to make sure he gets to continue living on earth? 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.319 Same plan it's always been tempt you or kill you. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:06.960 Tempt you to follow other gods, tempt you to to disobey the king, tempt you to to to squander your inheritance, to squander your authority. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:16.880 And this is why there has been an outrageous amount of animosity towards Jewish people, because if the beast can exterminate the Jewish people, he can avoid his final judgment. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.880 And this is why the temptation on you is so great as well. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:33.039 Because you're the workers in his kingdom, you're the one with dominion, you're the one with authority. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.720 You're the one that he has chosen to partner with. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:48.480 And so if the beast can exterminate the Jewish people, just like he destroyed tried so many times to destroy the seed of Eve, then he can stop us in our tracks from destroying him. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:52.480 There's a new religion that's popping up everywhere. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.799 It's the one of rationalism. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:59.839 One where people claim to have no ideologies, yet they are riddled with them. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:10.720 Ideologies that are so strong that there are even punishments for doing it wrong, saying the wrong thing. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:15.839 A religion that has popped up that will punish you if you speak against it. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:22.160 A religion that has popped up that says, we're we don't need myth or legend or story. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:27.759 We're purely scientific while still ignoring the science of simple things like biology. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:33.599 Okay, that was a shot at the world. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:34.000 I'm sorry. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:35.519 I said I wasn't gonna do that. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:41.680 We can have just one. 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:43.200 We can have just one. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:46.559 This religion is taking over. 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:54.880 The new religion claims to be purely scientific, and it has moved past and decided that it is better than all of its ancestors. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:29:00.079 And part of the reason why I wanted to do this is so that we would rediscover the faith of our ancestors. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:04.960 The Jewish scriptures, what we might could try to call the Old Testament, it's fine to say that. 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.640 The Old Testament, the New Testament, it is one story. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:18.400 It is one story of one king breaking in and trying to interact with his people and us learning to live under the king's rule. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:24.000 And this new religion says that they have ignored everything that our ancestors have brought to us. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:28.240 In the future, the algorithm will be the new God. 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:32.000 I genuinely believe this. 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:40.640 Already, um, somehow my phone knows that I I I don't have a beach towel and wanted one. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.400 And it told me which beach towel to buy. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.319 I did it, I obeyed it. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:48.400 I just ordered it right then. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.319 The beach the the algorithm will tell you how to get to places. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:30:04.559 The algorithm will will know everything about you and it will deliver everything to you, and you will hope that the algorithm is kind to you and brings you good fortune, and some will even pray to it. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:11.440 Oh, I hope the algorithm gives me long life, long life, health, wealth, and prosperity. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:16.720 I hope the algorithm has decided that I have a good enough social status to get this job or that job. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:25.440 I hope the algorithm has decided one day medicines will show up to your door that you didn't even know you needed, but the algorithm decided for you that you needed it. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:35.359 And you can see how quickly and how tempting that would be to then start saying, I hope the algorithm does well for me. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:36.559 I I do this. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:41.359 I I use whenever I'm navigating somewhere, I use Waze, and I'm like, don't do me wrong, Waze. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:43.440 You better send me on the right path, all right? 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.200 I know that they split people up. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:50.079 Like if there's a wreck, they go, We'll send some people the fast way, we'll send a few people this way, so that way I'll stay fast. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:50.480 I know it. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:53.440 So I'm like, Waze, give me the right way, come on. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:01.119 We tend to deify that that we don't understand. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:10.319 Because we deify that that we don't understand, we will soon deify. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:13.200 Many people across the world will deify the algorithm. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:22.640 They won't know why they got a certain job, they won't know what parameters it calculated, they won't know how it decided what their fate would be. 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:27.920 And so they'll listen to that, they'll deify what they don't understand. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:31.039 And there's an important lesson in that. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:35.759 We as Christians need to stop acting like we understand God. 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:46.400 You cannot deify something that you know because if God can fit in our human brains, he's not that great after all. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.920 We need to be okay with a little bit of mystery. 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:56.319 We need to be okay with a little bit of not understanding why God does what he does when he does it. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:00.880 We need to be okay with saying, I don't understand. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:14.240 We need to be okay with even in times of apologetics or talking to people, witnessing about Christ, when they ask us such a question, we need to be able to say, that, my friend, is a mystery, and that's why God is so great. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:20.480 I may not understand it, but I know that he has a plan and I trust in it and I believe in it. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.400 So today we see the King and his name is Jesus. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:29.039 He's still breaking into our realm and still preserving his people. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:32.400 He's faithful to his covenant even when we aren't. 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:37.200 And for some reason, he still chooses to partner with us. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:52.880 And this faithful remnant in a desperate world is standing as a light on the hill to the nations, and when all hope is lost, we remember that not even death could defeat our king, and he has rescued us from the beast. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:33:05.759 We remember that it is us who have dominion over this earth, and we will be part of the generation that stewards this creation well and ushers in the kingdom of heaven. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:07.839 And you are part of his plan. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:25.279 So this uh couple of months or weeks ago, I guess, uh couple weeks ago, I guess, uh we decided to take a vacation. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:30.400 Some friends of ours invited us to a place in uh Cabo. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:41.920 And so we went and we stayed there, and for a couple days, it was uh like um just a little resort place, you know, and so it had the swimming pools and the beach right there, and the weather was perfect. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:34:07.119 And one day I was sitting in a lounge chair, and I was I was just sitting there by the pool, and this guy walked by, and uh he was he he was ripped, you know, and uh he was walking into like the VIP section, you know, the part I couldn't get into, and and he was he was walking and he had so much confidence, even in the way that he was walking. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:09.760 And this thought just occurred to me. 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:12.960 I thought, I wish I was, I wish I was him. 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:27.199 I wish I was there, enjoying this great resort, being all confident and all this stuff, you know, and and and for some reason I found myself imagining what his life is like and how great it is and all of this stuff. 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.199 And then I got quiet for a second. 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:35.199 It was like a a thought just came into my mind. 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:40.000 And here I was going, I'm so jealous of this guy. 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:42.000 Look at this resort that he's at. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:44.159 And I go, well, I'm here. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:48.079 I'm right here. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:52.320 Why do I do this so often? 00:34:53.360 --> 00:35:01.280 And what I've been learning lately is that a lot of times I'm physically here, but I'm not present. 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:06.000 I'm physically in a place, but I'm somewhere else. 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:12.559 And I I think actually, when I think about it, I think I'm living most of my life that way oftentimes. 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:22.320 Where I'm rarely ever actually there in that moment, realizing where I am and who I am. 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:29.599 So I I want I want you to forgive me and just try this for a second, okay? 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:31.920 We're just gonna do something a little bit different. 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:41.039 If you'll bow your heads and close your eyes, I'm gonna pray in just a moment, but I want us actually to just locate ourselves for just a second. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:52.800 I want you to imagine that you are staring at the world from a very zoomed-out view. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:55.920 A Google Earth type of view. 00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:02.079 And you see the world. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:09.199 You see its round shape, you're very zoomed out. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.519 I want you to get that picture in your mind. 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:19.760 God can hold the world, that that world that you're looking at right now, in the palm of his hand. 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:24.320 Imagine like a cue ball from a pool table. 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:27.920 That's how God can hold it in his hand. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:35.920 In fact, if you were to shrink the earth down to that level, it would feel as smooth as a cue ball. 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:46.000 And so now, in order to see the ridges and the topography, we need to start zooming in. 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:52.480 So I want you to imagine where you are in the earth. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:02.639 The picture just as it does, zooming in more and more and more. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:10.719 And now pull yourself to right where you are right now, sitting in your seat. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:17.760 There's people all around you, you're sitting in your seat. 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:21.360 I want you to feel the weight of your body in your seat. 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:25.760 Your feet on the ground. 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:32.880 Here you are. 00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:39.840 Now imagine that right there wherever you're sitting, all the people around you are gone. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:50.079 And now you're sitting in that seat, and I want you to imagine now where you are in time. 00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:59.280 The king has created the earth, the beast has attempted over and over to take it. 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:03.119 God has remained faithful and true. 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:06.079 And now you're here in this moment. 00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:13.519 Life often feels like it's passing you by so quickly, but here you are. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:36.159 Oh, so many people have missed the king. 00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:41.280 He's been standing right in front of them. 00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:47.360 He's been reaching out to them, giving them ways to partner with him. 00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:52.400 And now he's here with you. 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:04.079 His goodness is made manifest to you. 00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:23.119 Or at any of the campuses or gatherings that you know you've not been serving that king. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:31.920 You know that the beast has taken too much ground in your life. 00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:36.480 And it needs to end today. 00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:48.320 For some of you, it'll be surrendering your life, giving it to the king, and saying, I'll follow you and your rules, and your rules only. 00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:55.119 I'll serve you, king, for whatever purpose you have for me. 00:39:56.079 --> 00:40:09.840 For some of you, it'll be that the beast has been tempting you to think that God doesn't love you because of whatever bad thing has happened to you, that God doesn't care for you, that he's not there for you. 00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:17.199 This is the oldest lie, and it is being revealed to you today so that you will not believe it anymore. 00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:20.000 So, in just a moment, we're gonna take a moment to pray. 00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:23.760 There will be people at the front of every campus that you can pray with. 00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:38.239