SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Church of the Lookout is in older Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.
SPEAKER_00: Visit us online at theLookout.church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just take a moment before the Lord before we open up the scriptures together.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just become aware of his presence together.
SPEAKER_00: Quiet our hearts and thankfulness.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, God.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for this season where you draw our attention back to you.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you this morning, God, as we celebrate these stories and we sing of who you are and the work you've called us to do.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, we get to be a part of what you're doing on this planet.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Jesus, that today your hope is that every heart would be able to hear your voice in a fresh way.
SPEAKER_00: And I just thank you for each one here today, God.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how we got here, maybe we reluctantly came, maybe we excitedly came.
SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason that brought us here in this room, I thank you, Holy Spirit, that you know the way to each of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So we bless you, God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you have your Bibles, please open up to Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're gonna start today.
SPEAKER_00: And uh Luke chapter 2 starting in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: And uh this is gonna be kind of our final week of this teaching series we've been in called Unseen Realm.
SPEAKER_00: Have you guys enjoyed this series over the last several weeks?
SPEAKER_00: It's been a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a lot of fun to explore together.
SPEAKER_00: And uh there's a few things that we haven't talked about yet that we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, there's probably a lot of things we haven't talked about yet, but uh I will let you continue your own exploration.
SPEAKER_00: But today uh we're gonna have some fun.
SPEAKER_00: So Luke chapter two is we're gonna start, starting in verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have your Bible, this will be on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.
SPEAKER_00: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.
SPEAKER_00: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God indeed.
SPEAKER_00: So for the last several weeks we've been walking through the scriptures and a lot of the stuff that preachers tend to stay away from because it gets a little weird, all right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but we've gone there over the last several weeks.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked everything about um uh the Elohim and and the holy ones and this council that surrounds God in heaven and and and these other created beings.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about demons and fallen angels, we've talked about spiritual warfare, we've talked about the purpose of the church, we've talked about uh a lot of different things, but you know what we have not talked about?
SPEAKER_00: We have not yet talked about the good guys.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot about demons, we haven't yet talked about the good guys.
SPEAKER_00: Who's ready to talk about the good guys?
SPEAKER_00: Um and so, you know, in this passage, it's kind of a fun one to end with this because it's a nice transition into this Christmas season.
SPEAKER_00: We we know this passage, we read it every Christmas Eve, every Christmas season, this beautiful scene of Jesus being born into the earth and all of the angels showing up.
SPEAKER_00: But have you guys, have we lost our sense of wonder?
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes I wonder as we come into these Christmas passages, the challenges for us, it gets so familiar that we lose our sense of awe and wonder at the fact that on the day that Jesus was born, not just one, but a multitude of heavenly hosts showed up to announce this very one thing.
SPEAKER_00: And it brings us deep into this bigger question of who are the angels?
SPEAKER_00: What are they?
SPEAKER_00: And what are their purposes?
SPEAKER_00: And so, all through the scriptures, from generation, from Genesis to Revelation, scriptures filled with stories of angels, messengers, and ministers of God who show up not only to announce things like Gabriel to Mary, but to protect, to strengthen, to guide, even to fight on behalf of God's people.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture that we started with at the beginning of this series was uh this beautiful passage in the Old Testament where the the enemies surrounded uh Elisha and his servants, and and they were surrounded by armies all around them, and and the servant was kind of freaking out.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: He was looking around thinking, I'm pretty sure we're outnumbered.
SPEAKER_00: And Elisha says, he says, You are mistaken.
SPEAKER_00: And he he he he prays for his servants.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Lord, open his eyes, and all at once for this servant, he opens his eyes, and this whole unseen realm opens up everything he that was previously invisible.
SPEAKER_00: He sees a host of heavenly armies, chariots of fire, beings in heaven, all at their back, ready to go fight on their behalf.
SPEAKER_00: How awesome would it be to live every day knowing that you have an entire army at your back willing to fight with you, the battles God's put in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, am I the only one here?
SPEAKER_00: And it's about time we wake up to the fact that there's a lot more, there's a lot going badly in the world, but guess what?
SPEAKER_00: When we read the scriptures, there's a lot more going for you for those of you who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You get the whole team.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So when you give your heart, you need to give your heart to Jesus, when you confess Jesus is Lord, you not only get Jesus, you get the whole team.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: You get the whole squad, the posse, they're with you.
SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You're not on your own slugging it out every day, just trying to do a little better than yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: You have all of the hosts of heaven fighting that the purpose of God may be made known in your life and in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is fighting for us, and he creates beings all around that are part of this thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so while there are fallen angels and demonic forces that exist to oppose you, there are armies in heaven fighting for you and assisting you.
SPEAKER_00: And but it begs a lot of the questions of who exactly are they?
SPEAKER_00: What were they made for?
SPEAKER_00: Are there such things as guardian angels?
SPEAKER_00: Do we become angels when we die?
SPEAKER_00: And the most important question this time of year, is it true that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna explore exactly what the Bible has to say about that.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I'll make it very quick.
SPEAKER_00: No, the answer is no.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a great movie.
SPEAKER_00: Clarence, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: George Bailey.
SPEAKER_00: So all of the Gen Z are like, I have no idea what you're talking about right now.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's a wonderful life.
SPEAKER_00: Look it up.
SPEAKER_00: Stream it this Christmas season.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna answer some of these questions, and then we're gonna talk about what's even better than angels, as far as God's plan for us, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so here's a couple things that we need to know before we start talking about angels.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there are a couple pitfalls when we start talking about angels.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same as when we talk with demons.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to be overly fascinated with them and turn our attention to them instead of the one who created them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole that's one of the pitfalls in this whole world that we've been talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to make all the conversation about here and forget that he's the one who sits on high, and he's the one who made them all.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of new age spirituality gives a lot of attention to angels, trying to name angels, pray to angels, even sects of um of Christianity have an inordinate fascination with treating angels like gods or saints, praying to them in themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But the scripture is very clear that angels are not mediators.
SPEAKER_00: We no longer have mediators, whether man or angels, we go straight to the throne room of God, we go straight to Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he paid for.
SPEAKER_00: So there's no mediators, so we got to understand what how to even relate to angels.
SPEAKER_00: What are we supposed to do with them, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the writer of Hebrews gets at when trying to make this correction a little bit, because some of the early Christians were having the same types of issues of not entirely knowing what to do with angels.
SPEAKER_00: And in the whole first chapter of Hebrews, it talks about the preeminence of Christ above over all other created beings.
SPEAKER_00: And he ends with this in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: He says, And to which of the angels has he ever said, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool under his feet?
SPEAKER_00: So the writer of Hebrews is saying, listen, God has never asked an angel to sit at his right hand.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the creator of all, the one who made it all.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one that we worship, he is the one we give our attention, our allegiance to, all glory to God.
SPEAKER_00: Goes to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But in verse 14, though, there's kind of a, there's also an invitation, I believe, to not dismiss animals.
SPEAKER_00: We don't dismiss angels.
SPEAKER_00: We don't worship them, but we also don't ignore them.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
SPEAKER_00: Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It's a stunning idea that, yeah, we don't worship angels, but how how wild is it that angels are sent to serve the saints?
SPEAKER_00: Who are the saints?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, everybody raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: We are the saints, we are the believers, those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: That includes us.
SPEAKER_00: And so, how wild and stunning of an idea is it just to settle into this fact that there are some angels that are created to serve you and to assist you, to serve the saints.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: The word angel in Hebrew is this word malak and actually means messenger.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the working title, the working definition of angels throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's this word messenger.
SPEAKER_00: So angels at their core are created to communicate God's nature and God's purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And they do this in all kinds of ways.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is we have a lot of things that come to mind when we think of angels, do we not?
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you a photo.
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of the first image that comes to mind when we think of angels.
SPEAKER_00: We think of cute little baby Jesus, and we think of pristine, beautiful, well-put together angels with wings, all surprisingly, musically gifted as well.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so hold that.
SPEAKER_00: So we have kind of this cultural idea of what angels are.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, when you look at the scripture, there's all different kinds of angels.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to talk about this.
SPEAKER_00: There's the cherubim, there's the seraphim, there's there's another kind called the offenim, all with different purposes and ranks and natures and functions.
SPEAKER_00: Some appear in human likeness, but some appear who are completely otherworldly and awe-inspiring.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's take a look at this scripture from Ezekiel.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Ezekiel saw when he looked into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: He looked in heaven, and this is the angel that he saw.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.
SPEAKER_00: As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction, their appearance was like the gleaming of barrel.
SPEAKER_00: And the four had the same likeness, and their appearance and construction being, as it were, a wheel within a wheel.
SPEAKER_00: When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went.
SPEAKER_00: And their rims were tall and awesome, and their rims of all four were full of eyes all around.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Cool, bro.
SPEAKER_00: So take the image we just saw, contrast it with this image that Ezekiel saw.
SPEAKER_00: Here's one rendering of what Ezekiel saw was a concentric circles of wheels that were turning and moving and full of eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: So uh the it it's no wonder that oftentimes when the angels appeared on earth, the first thing they had to say was, don't be afraid, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because that is very scary, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That is not like a cute little angel coming, you know, to shoot you with an arrow on Valentine's Day.
SPEAKER_00: This is like freaky stuff, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's just that's just one type of angel.
SPEAKER_00: There's another type of angel called a cherubim.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a cherubim.
SPEAKER_00: Cherubim are uh the the angels that gardened, they were positioned to guard the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: There were also the angels that were constructed on the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_00: They are their functions, they're protectors of sacred space, and they have many wings.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, um a lot of the visions of heaven, they are uh they have human faces and then also animal faces, depending on which way they're turning.
SPEAKER_00: And again, full of many eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And these particular angels are full of many eyes because their main function is to, again, to reflect the mystery, the mysterious nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: And God gives them eyes to behold him, because if your main job is to behold God and protect sacred space and to give honor and glory to them, you're gonna need a lot more eyes than two eyes to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You can need all the eyes in the world in order to behold just another facet of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: So he created beings with a ton of eyes to give them even more chances to see how beautiful and awesome he is.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_00: But then there's also the seraphim.
SPEAKER_00: We only hear about this in in uh the prophet Isaiah, but seraphim is kind of a similar thing, six-winged creatures that minister before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's their whole job is to minister before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna ask this question if you were about to fight a cosmic battle, who would you want beside you?
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh one of these guys?
SPEAKER_00: I would say yes, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or would you want a cute angel like this one here?
SPEAKER_00: This little tune brightens your day.
SPEAKER_00: Stay safe out there.
SPEAKER_00: All right, come on.
SPEAKER_00: I uh man, he looks so familiar.
SPEAKER_00: Gosh! I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take the weird guys and I'll take Josh as an angel.
SPEAKER_00: How about we'll take both?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you guys too?
SPEAKER_00: You guys too?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So we got a lot of options when it comes to angels.
SPEAKER_00: Um but in a but in heaven, angels seem to have all these purposes that either reflect the mysteries of God, but there's also, aside from the creepy, wild, mysterious-looking angels that we just have to acknowledge, those are there and they don't look inviting.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's also in the scriptures plenty of passages that talk about um angels that come more in human likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, they're so ordinary looking that you can you can almost miss them.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the writer of Hebrews says later in in chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, some people have uh shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So what he's see he's seeming to indicate is like, don't just assume everyone that you talk to is just a person in human likeness, that there are beings that God creates that that come in order to assist us, to serve, to strengthen, to support.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's an interesting question, though.
SPEAKER_00: Why are some angels look like otherworldly beings and why do some appear as human?
SPEAKER_00: And again, this goes to the function and the purpose of angels, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Angels appear to human on earth, um, and God often uses them in a form that we can engage with reasonably, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So there's a reason why like the wheels with eyes probably were not the one that came down to Mary.
SPEAKER_00: It was an angel called, actually named called Gabriel, who we know is an archangel in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but but throughout the scriptures, there's angels that visit Abraham or the angel that speaks to um uh to Zechariah.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's angels that that come and release, uh, that release Peter from prison.
SPEAKER_00: And and but these angels are given specific purposes, and they have a messenger.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, angel means messenger, and their function is to communicate clarity, not cosmic terror all the time, even though it's the glory of God that's funneling through them.
SPEAKER_00: So there's always part of it that invokes the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: So oftentimes they appear to us as a man or two men or an otherwise recognizably human.
SPEAKER_00: And then again, there's angels that are created to depict the mystery of God, to surround his throne room, to be heavenly attendants, not as not as mediators for humans.
SPEAKER_00: They have a specific purpose in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So, in short, angels do what they were created to do, which is to give glory to God and to assist the saints, and they will show up in whatever form best serves God and his people.
SPEAKER_00: They are submitted to God, which is what makes angels different than demons.
SPEAKER_00: Demons are fallen angels.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I I heard a story um uh from Father Carlos Martin.
SPEAKER_00: So I mentioned him before in one of these sermons.
SPEAKER_00: There's a podcast called The Exorcist File.
SPEAKER_00: So he's a Catholic priest and he does deliverances.
SPEAKER_00: We call it deliverances and Catholicism, you call it exorcism.
SPEAKER_00: But he he gets he visits people all the time.
SPEAKER_00: They're div dealing with demonic spirits to varying degrees.
SPEAKER_00: He gets called to the really intense cases, and he was sharing a story one time of how he showed up to for a deliverance, and oftentimes what he does is he when he's interacting with somebody, there's the person, and then there's the demon that sometimes is talking as well.
SPEAKER_00: And then when he talks to the demon, first of all, he asks the demon its name.
SPEAKER_00: Um but then he also asks a second question what was your created purpose in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: What was your created purpose?
SPEAKER_00: Because that sometimes it's revealing to understand how to bring freedom to that person.
SPEAKER_00: And in this one particular case, and he said this happens actually a lot, but he shares a story of one particular case where this demon just was not responding.
SPEAKER_00: And it was he's kind of thrashing around, and and it was uh it was kind of a what we would probably consider a very scary scene, and this this this demon is very stubborn, it wasn't coming out, wasn't naming itself, wasn't talking about its creative purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And so Father Collis Martins, just out of nowhere, he said he got this word of knowledge to start singing a Christmas song.
SPEAKER_00: And so he starts singing at Silent Night, just really softly, and he starts singing this song.
SPEAKER_00: But the demon all of a sudden just starts shrieking, just shrieking.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally he tells the demon to stop it, you know, to be silent, but then he asks him again, Demon, what was your creator's purpose?
SPEAKER_00: And the demon responds to him and says, I was made to be a part of the throng that proclaimed glory to God above the shepherd's field.
SPEAKER_00: So that story that we just read, we opened with.
SPEAKER_00: If this is true, and I think it is the fact that God would create beings just for that one event.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna create he created angels that for no other purpose were to show up in the skies above the shepherd's field and to say glory to God on the highest peace on earth.
SPEAKER_00: And yet this particular demon rejected the purposes of God and wanted more than what God offered or designed for him.
SPEAKER_00: Rejected the purposes of God and settled for less than the glory of God, which is what demons have done.
SPEAKER_00: But angels, the ones who have not rejected God, they're submitted to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: And they won't they only do his purposes and his will.
SPEAKER_00: And at some point, in the at some point in the heavenly realm, there was a decision moment where angels were able to decide, are you, are you gonna live for the glory of God or not?
SPEAKER_00: And and and we read in the scriptures that many of the angels that that fell away from heaven, that that kind of came to earth, became part of the land of the dead, and and uh and and rebelled against God or wreaking destruction or havoc.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: But there's many of angels who who still exist and they their entire life is nothing else but just the complete obsession with the glory of God and his purposes among the saints on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Which is Interesting because when you think about it, I was just you know when you ponder the question, it's interesting that people can be possessed by demons, but you never hear of anybody being possessed by an angel.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because angels know that our bodies are a temple that are only reserved for the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Demons will try to possess us because they're possessive.
SPEAKER_00: Any demonic activity in your life or in the people in your life, one of the the main ways you're gonna know is it's gonna it'll feel controlling, manipulative, and possessive.
SPEAKER_00: There's parts of that that are kind of that are kind of hallmarks of demonic activity.
SPEAKER_00: They always draw attention to themselves and and try to seek to control and manipulate and to be in it for the glory.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas angels oftentimes they go unseen and unrecognized because their goal is not to distract you from the one who made them.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why they go under incognito so many, so much of the time.
SPEAKER_00: So probably so many, many, so many of us.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't had any, you know, personally, a distinct encounter with an angel that I'm aware of, but I have no doubt that in my life, God, the entire heavenly host, has been at my assistance to protect me, to guide me, to bring safety, and to cover me in the moments where I needed it most.
SPEAKER_00: And so the angels, God has surrounded us, he surrounds us in all of heaven with these angels that have these specific purposes.
SPEAKER_00: How might we know that we've encountered an angel?
SPEAKER_00: And again, they don't, they're not trying to steal the show, they're trying to assist us and bring glory to God.
SPEAKER_00: And so here are some of the ways they help.
SPEAKER_00: They bring protection.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 91 talks about this.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have made me the Lord, made me, because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the most high who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all of your ways.
SPEAKER_00: On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.
SPEAKER_00: Is it comforting to know that God commands his angels concerning you to guard you?
SPEAKER_00: That Psalm 91 is a promise that God actually, at his command, and this is an important, uh, this is an important side note as well.
SPEAKER_00: We don't command angels.
SPEAKER_00: God commands angels.
SPEAKER_00: They don't answer to you.
SPEAKER_00: They have one, the authority structure of heaven, they don't answer to you.
SPEAKER_00: So you can pray to God to release his angels, but we're not supposed to be, I don't think there's any biblical precedent to be praying to the angels or to be relating to the angels.
SPEAKER_00: They have one job, and that's to do the will of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He goes where He, they go where He sends them, right?
SPEAKER_00: They respond to His commands because that's how the authority structure of heaven is that they are obsessed with doing the will of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so they bring protection to us, it says in Psalm 91.
SPEAKER_00: They bring provision to us.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the angel that fed Elijah when he was too weary to go on, or the ministering angels that came to Jesus when he was weak from fasting for 40 days in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: At the very end, it said angels were ministering to him in his weakened state.
SPEAKER_00: How awesome is it that there are angels that exist to bring you provision where you need it most in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Strengthening.
SPEAKER_00: They bring protection, provision, and strengthening.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the angel that strengthened Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when none of his friends could stay up with him to pray with him, Jesus was agonizing to the point where he was sweating blood because on the he was at the precipice of going to the cross to ultimately lay down his life.
SPEAKER_00: And he knew that this next 24 hours were gonna be brutal.
SPEAKER_00: And it says in the Gospels that as he was in the garden, that an angel came and ministered to him and strengthened him in this place.
SPEAKER_00: The angels can bring you strength.
SPEAKER_00: They did for Jesus, and I suspect they do for us as well.
SPEAKER_00: They bring breakthrough.
SPEAKER_00: This was the angel that released prison Peter from prison in Acts chapter 12, actually released the gates, and Peter is able to walk out.
SPEAKER_00: So they can bring breakthrough in physical circumstances on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: They bring guidance, sometimes through dreams, impressions, divine interruptions.
SPEAKER_00: This was Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, or he had an open vision at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even like the middle of the night, it was like 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and angel shows up at Cornelius and gets his attention.
SPEAKER_00: And basically it unfolds the plan of God for this Roman centurion.
SPEAKER_00: So angels can bring revelation and guidance.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the most stunning passages of angels in the scriptures and how they offer us assistance and Revelation chapters 5 and 8, as it talks about the throne room of God and all these really mysterious images and pictures about what God's heaven is really like.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the passages that you talk about in Revelations 5 and 8 talk about the angels are the ones who are actually holding the bowls of the prayers of the saints and offering them before God and heaven.
SPEAKER_00: They're actually carrying the prayers of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: How wild is it that your prayers, when you pray, when you pray, your prayers don't just vanish into thin air.
SPEAKER_00: They're not hopeful wishes.
SPEAKER_00: Your prayers are treasured and precious in heaven to the degree they actually fill up bowls in heaven and angels, it says, or actually carry them before the throne of God as an offering and incense in the throne room of God.
SPEAKER_00: To know that your prayers are carried before God.
SPEAKER_00: How wild is that?
SPEAKER_00: And so there's all of these ways that God has given Himself and given the created world, even the unseen created world, to us to assist us.
SPEAKER_00: But we have to hit some of these FAQs, right?
SPEAKER_00: Do we become angels when we die?
SPEAKER_00: No, you do not.
SPEAKER_00: Angels are a specific kind of created being.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't just become an angel when you die.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you get wings or not.
SPEAKER_00: There's really no indication that any of you are getting wings.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: You might be able to fly, but there's no indication you're getting wings.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry if that really let you down.
SPEAKER_00: But the but the cool thing in the scriptures it talks about us getting resurrected bodies.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have like ultra body, alright?
SPEAKER_00: So everything you're trying to do with your body between Thanksgiving and Christmas and January, it's gonna even be better than that, all right?
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be amazingly fit and glorified.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it basically there's gonna be a glory, how God had originally tended our bodies to be.
SPEAKER_00: That's what He's gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna restore us in heaven, and we'll be a part of the created order, giving glory to God in that kind of way.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have guardian angels?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's an interesting one.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's one passage in uh Matthew where that seems to suggest that we have angels around us.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus' words in Matthew 18, 10, um he's he he talks about little children, um, that the children have angels who represent them before God.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, uh, see that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a really interesting one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus seems to indicate that these little children have angels that see the face of the Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And where did he get the idea?
SPEAKER_00: He got it probably in Job chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Job's friends are speaking to Job, trying to give him counsel.
SPEAKER_00: They say, Call now, is there anyone who will answer to you?
SPEAKER_00: Which of the holy ones will you turn?
SPEAKER_00: And it's almost like their expectation was which of the which of the holy ones, which of the angels that God has given you are you going to turn to get out of this mess?
SPEAKER_00: And so they they seem to indicate that there's more activity than we think.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does that mean that we pray to angels?
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't, as we've already talked about.
SPEAKER_00: Um we pray to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We pray to Jesus, we pray to the Holy Spirit, we pray to the Father in heaven, and we let him direct the rest of his created beings on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: And so we don't get caught up in that.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the cool thing, here's the awesome thing.
SPEAKER_00: Aside from all the angels, which I know that you're stoked to come to church and hear about angels all morning, but what's even better than the angels that God has given us when you think about the full force of heaven that is with you, that is journeying and fighting on your behalf, what's even better than the angels is God Himself has given his spirit to you to live from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: So it again, this is not a fair fight.
SPEAKER_00: You got some of the angels who became demons, you got this losing adversary we call Satan in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: They have lost their power, their grip.
SPEAKER_00: They are clinging to anybody they can convince to say yes and agree to their diabolical purposes on earth.
SPEAKER_00: But for those who have given themselves to Christ Jesus and we're committed to his will and his purposes, not only do we get the wild-looking cherubim and seraphim and the wheelie guy in heaven, and all of the angels that are just kind of wandering about, you know, just kind of helping us and serving us, but we get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: They're all on your side, and the Holy Spirit was given to you to empower you from the inside out, to lead you, to encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, God said, Listen, I got something way better than angels.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you myself, the uncreated one.
SPEAKER_00: He is not a created being.
SPEAKER_00: He is the uncreated one who was before all time, he will be after time.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who was, who is, and who is to come, Alpha and Omega.
SPEAKER_00: He owns it all.
SPEAKER_00: It's his, and we are part of his story, we are part of his plan to such a degree that he gave us his very spirit to live on us from the inside.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that wild?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, church.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not wild?
SPEAKER_00: And so we are not left alone.
SPEAKER_00: He has given himself to us to strengthen, encourage, comfort, to counsel, to convict us, to lead us into all truth.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures talk about the Holy Spirit as our paraclete is the Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: It's an advocate of the same kind.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's the one who comes alongside of us in our weakness where we do not know what to pray.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit knows how to pray on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're like, I don't even know how to fight most days, listen, you're not the only one, which is why in Romans it says that not only is the Holy Spirit interceding for you, but Jesus is interceding for you.
SPEAKER_00: You have two parts of the Trinity in stereo format that are interceding on your behalf because you don't even know what you're doing most of the time.
SPEAKER_00: That is so comforting to me.
SPEAKER_00: So this isn't about this isn't about trying to become a better person.
SPEAKER_00: This is realizing that God has set you up to win, to be victorious in him, that you would know beyond a shadow of a doubt the power that is inside of you in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Paul, this is why he prays in Ephesians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: And he's praying for the saints, and he says, For this reason, I bow on my knees before the Father, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
SPEAKER_00: That according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with the power through his spirit in your inner being.
SPEAKER_00: So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all of the fullness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, fill to the fullness, and because of that, here's where he goes in chapter in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly all that we can ask or think, according to what?
SPEAKER_00: To your good looks, to your giftedness, to your power, to your money.
SPEAKER_00: No, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You guys did get that.
SPEAKER_00: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read this again.
SPEAKER_00: Now to him, he was able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to anything you can ask or think, according to the power at work within us.
SPEAKER_00: To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody say amen to that.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: He has given you his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: We've been in this series for several weeks, not just because we like talking about the crazy things, even though we do.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we spent so much time on this, here's a few things.
SPEAKER_00: You need to know that you are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You are not alone on this planet, you are not alone on this earth, you are not alone in time.
SPEAKER_00: You need to know that you are in a battle, but you're on the good team, and you're on the winning team.
SPEAKER_00: You have not been left empty-handed, you have been given a victorious place in the battle through Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to know that we, in this day and age, we get to walk in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Last closing thought here, and then we're gonna sing.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 John, he says, there's spirits that are gonna come after you.
SPEAKER_00: You need to test the spirits.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them masquerade as angels of light.
SPEAKER_00: They're not.
SPEAKER_00: You need to know how to discern the spirits in the day that you live in.
SPEAKER_00: Don't just assume you know what spirit is coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read the passage.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone into the world.
SPEAKER_00: By this you know the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and now is in the world already.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds scary, it sounds intense, it sounds like a lot, but here's how he ends, and here's how I want to leave this with you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! Some of you need to hear that today.
SPEAKER_00: You feel darkness, don't sit down yet.
SPEAKER_00: You feel darkness around you, you feel overwhelmed, you feel like everything is against you, but I'm telling you what, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
SPEAKER_00: You have not been left empty-handed, you have not been left orphaned out.
SPEAKER_00: You are a son and a daughter of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Thanksgiving and praise are the weapons of your warfare.
SPEAKER_00: You lay down your life and you serve the world like Jesus did, and as you do, you announce to all the rulers and principalities that you have lost.
SPEAKER_00: Your day is coming, you will be judged, and Christ will be king over all and for all.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, give it up to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that fortifies your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sing here.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sing to Jesus before we leave.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to think over this next several weeks as we talk about the multitude of heavenly hosts that were positioned and created for no other purpose but to glorify God and to announce his birth that was their created purpose.
SPEAKER_00: We as well, to get to give our lives to his purposes, to give him glory, to sing holy, holy, holy like the angels in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Let's sing this out, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Put your hand on your chest across the room.
SPEAKER_00: God, we ask that you would open our eyes to see what you see.
SPEAKER_00: Open our eyes to see what we have been blind to, God.
SPEAKER_00: Open our eyes to see all around us, not just for our sake, for our sake, or for our family's sake, but for the sake of the people all around us, Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to see your kingdom unfolding and that work in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for those in the room who have not yet put their trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I just think, okay, if there's anybody in here that has yet to put your trust in Jesus, do it now.
SPEAKER_00: Confess his name, believe in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's all you have to do.
SPEAKER_00: And you get to be a part of what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: You get access to his strength, his resources, and he wants to bring you comfort.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to bring you love and healing in the deepest places.
SPEAKER_00: Just cry out to his name and invite him into your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I thank you, Lord Jesus, as we leave this place to send us, not with a spirit of timidity, not in a spirit of fear, not in a spirit that shrinks back, but a spirit of power and love.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're made for, and that's what you're sending us out with.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, give it up for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, some of you are here today.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are feeling weak.
SPEAKER_00: You're feeling you've been doing this alone.
SPEAKER_00: You want someone to pray with.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're gonna we're gonna have our prayer ministry team on the sides of the room.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see them because they have a purple badge, like down here.
SPEAKER_00: And if you if you're part of the prayer ministry team, you can line up on the side of the room.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you just want someone to pray with you today, you may not even have your own prayers, but you're here today and you you know in your heart, I cannot leave this place until somebody prays with me and prays over me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't leave this place until you do that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And and as as we go, if you're a guest here, you're gonna see a sign in the back that says connect with us.
SPEAKER_00: We want to get to know you in the back.
SPEAKER_00: Um, don't forget, ladies, tomorrow night is the favorite things party here at the church, 5:30.
SPEAKER_00: Bring a gift or just come for the food, whatever you need to do, all right?
SPEAKER_00: Um, 5:30 here at the church is gonna be a great time.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have an exciting December coming up next week.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start a three-week series on the topic of joy and cultivating lives marked by joy.
SPEAKER_00: Who could use some of that in your life?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about what the Bible has to say about that.
SPEAKER_00: Invite a friend.
SPEAKER_00: The next few weeks are gonna be an incredible times to invite people who don't normally come to church, and we're gonna have a great time in the Christmas season.
SPEAKER_00: That being said, blessings to you as you go in the peace and the strength and the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Love you guys.