Angels, Demons & You - Jesus & His Angels

[Music] hello church we're working on a study on angels demons and you and in this particular session we're talking about jesus and his angels the more i've worked on this topic the more i have come to think of them in that way that jesus and his engagement in the earth and with adam and his descendants is really inseparable from the angels they're messengers they're ministering spirits they're a part of the jesus initiative we're very aware of jesus and his redemptive work as we should be but i would encourage you to become more aware of those ministering spirits that are here to help us fulfill jesus assignment for our lives grab your bible in a notepad open your heart the topic for this session is angels demons and you makes the children cry angels and demons seemed inadequate if i used that title it's possible for you to imagine we're going to have a theoretical discussion about theological possibilities if i add you to it it gets a little personal if i told you we were going to talk about diet and exercise you think we'll talk on i said we're going to talk about diet and exercise and you you'd understand the difference i'm not interested in participating in religious lectures if i wanted to do that i'd stay in the university my schedule would be more manageable but i think we have to understand the implications of those spiritual forces in our lives these days and in truth i think we have too little imagination of spiritual things and we make too few allowances for spiritual influences in our lives we attend church we read our bibles and we will pray on occasion but i think we have a relatively small imagination of the impact of spiritual things i think it's far more common to imagine that our physical attributes our strength or our beauty or our financial condition our education our race our iq our social status all those things we think are far more significant in determining our life outcome than spiritual influences are and yet the bible presents us almost the the opposite view of that there's a lot of things that contribute to that and it would be naive or too simplistic to imagine that there's just one but i think a significant contribution to that separation between a meaningful spiritual life and ourselves has come from the way for several decades now we have approached biblical studies and i spent a significant segment of my life in formal academic training around biblical studies so i'm not unaware of the process it's not a new thing it hasn't happened in the last year or two or it wasn't it didn't begin with an election in recent days it's been in place for decades but kind of the big view of it is biblical criticism it's a school of thought regarding biblical studies and it's not an isolated school it has inundated the the approach to biblical studies now for decades it's it's commonplace in our most celebrated theological schools across all those denominational lines that uses critical analysis to explain the bible it's not an evil thing things like you know they approached the text and the context from which it emerged in the social settings from which the scripture emerged and so you get textual criticism and literary criticism and redaction criticism not criticism in the sense that you we would use it in the as a term in everyday language it's more has a technical application in that you unpack the background to get to the the real meaning of the text we're seeing something similar happen it's a bit of a it's a it's a newer form of social science but we see something similar with critical race theory it's arising with a similar approach you begin with an outcome in mind and you formulate a rational plan for achieving your outcome well the outcome of biblical criticism the outworking of that and i can tell you because i've been in the classroom with it is to imagine the bible as little more than an epic human effort it's a book compiled by people and you approach it that way you don't attribute anything more to it than that and if you attribute more to it than that you've you've drifted beyond the realm of logic so if you want to be accepted into the realms of intelligentsia if you want to be considered well-trained or academically upwardly mobile you'll have to learn to recite the mantra of the prevailing approach to biblical studies the bible is just an epic human effort and it shouldn't be understood to have a divine component or influence if you do that now you're on the lunatic fringe well just for the record i don't accept the premise i'm happy to have had the education and i'm grateful for what i took away from it but i believe the premise with which they began was faulty and so they landed in a destination that's not as helpful now by no means and you should know this it's not the only school of thought regarding scripture nor does it reflect the attitude of the early church or the church through most of the history of the church it is very much a late comer to biblical studies and so we talk about angels and demons and spiritual things i understand that i'm inviting you towards something that may seem a bit beyond the arenas that you have considered before but what i'm really asking you to do is believe i'm asking you to imagine there's a substance to our faith beyond a membership in a church or a location on a sunday morning that we're more than a polite society i'm asking you to reject the notion that the 11th commandment is thou shalt be kind i'm not opposed to kindness it's certainly evidence of the spirit of god in your life but it's not the objective of my life if you've read your bible there are times you don't think god's particularly kind because he isn't he's also a just judge i'll give you one example matthew chapter 13 jesus has come to his hometown he's begun his public ministry so he's moved from nazareth to capernaum nazareth is tucked away in the hills of galilee it's a sleepy little village in jesus day maybe 1500 people small place off the beaten path and he's left there and relocated at capernaum which is located on one of the major roads of the ancient world and one of the major water fresh water sources of the ancient world so it was a place where there was enormous traffic if you wanted to to establish a reputation and you wanted a message to be communicated capernaum was a much more likely location so jesus has left nazareth he's begun his public ministry but now he's visiting in the community where he grew up that's where we step into matthew's narrative he said he came to his hometown and he began teaching the people in their synagogue he'd been in that synagogue hundreds of times they were amazed where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers they ask isn't this the carpenter's son isn't his mother's name mary aren't his brothers james joseph and simon and judas aren't all of his sisters with us where then did he get all these things and they took offense at him and jesus said to them only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor and he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith jesus is in his hometown it's a simple story it doesn't really need a great deal of commentary and in the community where he perhaps knew the people better than any of the villages he would visit any synagogue that he would minister in he was more familiar with the synagogue in nazareth and the people who were occupying the seats in that place he knew their story he had grown up there and when he comes there and begins to teach from scripture they didn't say his teaching was wrong they didn't say it was heretical they didn't say he was incorrect but they were offended at the insight he had and the understanding he had they were put off by him they said we know him we know his family and as we know his siblings just precisely who does he think he is it's the outcome that most intrigues me because of their attitude because of their unbelief jesus did very little there and that's the idea that i want to hand you to reflect upon beyond the boundaries of just this session you see their familiarity with jesus limited their imagination and i think we have a bit of that challenge our familiarity with christianity our familiarity with spiritual routines and habits limits our imagination but we haven't done that before we haven't seen god do that before i don't know about that looks the world is different your cell phone has more computing technology than the computers that got the astronauts to land on the moon's surface a few years ago the world has changed i'm not saying that the fundamentals of our faith has changed but we're going to have to grow in our faith to meet the challenges of this season the stability of the world we live in has shifted and our faith is going to have to grow we're going to have to get to know god in a better way selfish ambition blinded the people in nazareth to jesus that's joe's son our kids went to school with his kids why does he think he's better than ours there's a lot of that in the background of this story if you don't guard your heart your selfish ambition will keep you in a place of unbelief you can't dare believe god because you might have to turn loose with some of your own ambitions i have to invite god into the midst of your life plan and after all i just really want god to bless my life plan i don't want him meddling with it they rejected what god had sent them and when they did they forfeited a great deal so before you decide what you don't believe or what you won't believe or what you haven't done or that's not the way i grew up i want you to be aware that in choosing not to believe you can forfeit much that god would bring to you there was an alternative to them they could have focused their attention on mary her character who she'd been in that community they could have talked about joseph there were positive things they could have said they didn't have to choose to be offended so when i pick up the topic of angels and demons and you and this is not a single session i don't have time to recapitulate all that we did in the previous session i would encourage you to to open your heart and begin to say to the lord lord i i want to see the world from your perspective more clearly than i ever have before and and to not just reject it out of hand in this particular session i'd like to explore with you jesus and his angels i spent a good deal of time lately going through the scripture and and looking at the role of of the spiritual forces that influence us and the more i've worked with it the more clear it's in my mind at least it's settled out that the angels are very much an aspect of what jesus is doing on planet earth it's true in the old testament the hebrew bible it's true throughout the new testament and it will very much be true at the conclusion of this age so that's our target just big picture stuff angels the bible tells us are ministering spirits spirits not bodies they don't have an earth suit it also says their messengers the name the title means messenger and we'll see their role as messengers in many ways the scripture invites us to imagine that angels are far more prevalent than we have thought about they're more engaged with our lives than we have typically been aware angels move between dimensions it's an important idea to to cultivate they they step into time but they also are active in eternity you see eternity is not just a long long time eternity is a completely different realm of existence time is a limiting factor your earth suit makes you a creature of time but your spirit is eternal and angels are are active in both the realm of time and eternity it's a very helpful idea hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14 says are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation ministering spirits to serve whom those who will inherit salvation who are the inheritors of salvation who is it that made salvation possible if you don't know his name is jesus of nazareth and through his redemptive work his death his burial and his resurrection he's made it possible for any human being who will choose him as lord and turn from their sin to experience a new birth into the kingdom of god to be made a totally new creation the word we typically use for that experience is salvation and it says plainly in hebrews that the angels are ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation they're here for our benefit now that makes me smile if you'll spend as much time thinking about angels as you do thinking about the bad news it'll change your worldview besides you're going to learn more about angels than you know about the goofy stuff that's going on in the world it'll change you we've lived with little interest and little awareness and little concern for too long in my opinion psalm 103 verse 19 the lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all bless the lord you his angels mighty in strength who perform his word obeying the voice of his word a little more insight into the angels they are mighty in strength when the bible decides to describe someone's strength as mighty it has my attention they're mighty in strength within their relationship to god they perform his word obeying the voice of his word so the angels give expression to the intent of god they bring his word to life then hebrews 13 and verse 2 says don't forget to entertain strangers hospitality's been put on the shelf for a while don't forget to entertain strangers for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it so you could interact with an angel the bible suggests and be totally unaware so you won't necessarily hear their wings flapping or have to put on your dark glasses because of the glow of their halo you could be in the presence of an angel and not know it wow now with that background let's take a few minutes and look at jesus and his angels there is no jesus story without angelic involvement and really if you're just going to take one idea away today that's the idea there just simply is no jesus story with angelic involvement so if you think you're going to complete your god assignment with angelic assistance from where did you get that idea you didn't get it from scripture you see we've had so much we've had so much affluence and so many resources and so many things to help us we have the best health care system in the world and the finest educational opportunities for our children we've had more abundance and better roads and more transportation and easier access to communication tools than any people in the history of society so it's been easy for us to imagine that you know god could be just a complimentary component of our lives but you can't afford that imagination if you're willing to believe that your life has a god assignment then it's not just your life it's the life god has entrusted to you and you offering it back to him is your gift to do that i assure you we're going to need some angelic assistance the angels begin in the preparation of jesus just preparing for his arrival in luke chapter one that's very near the beginning of luke's gospel zechariah is a priest and it's his turn they served by rotation in the temple in jerusalem and it's his turn to serve and as he's serving it says that angel of the lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense when zechariah saw him he was startled it's not an everyday occurrence he was startled and he was gripped with fear but the angel said to him this eternal spiritual being is going to talk to zechariah in a way that he could understand they're multilingual it's good to know well i mean i guess he could have been talking to his iphone and then letting zechariah read it but i think leek would have told us that so when zechariah saw him he was startled and gripped with fear but the angel said to him don't be afraid your prayer has been heard your wife elizabeth will bear you a son you're to give him the name john they were childless and they've been praying for a child it's an appropriate prayer to pray for married people and the angel has come to announce that elizabeth is going to conceive and zechariah asked the angel how can i be sure of this i'm an old man and my wife [Laughter] he's a wise man is he not just the in the outside chance that google was listening his choice is well she's well along in years it's the response that captures my attention the angel answered i'm gabriel he's one of the archangels i'm one of the most powerful of the angels i am gabriel i stand in the presence of god and i've been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news and now you'll be silent and not able to speak until this day happens because you didn't believe my words they will come true we read about angels just a moment ago in the book of psalms that they perform his word they obey the voice of his word we do growing kids god's way classes around here and i know one of the principles is first-time obedience that the aspiration of parents is that your children would cooperate the first time they hear the invitation not the 12th well i'm pretty certain god expects first-time obedience from us but i want you to hear that zechariah sees he doesn't know if it's gabriel or fred he has no discernment no recognition there's not a name tag there's nothing about his presence that suggests he is unique in any way but when he questions gabriel's message gabriel says basically do you know who i am and the answer is no i really don't well i'm gabriel and i stand in the presence of god and because you didn't believe it you just be quiet for a while when he came out of the temple he's mute until months later when his son is born and they ask him for the name and they hand him a tablet and he writes his name is john he's believing now but gabriel is not done in luke chapter one a few verses later it says in the sixth month god sent the angel gabriel to nazareth a town in galilee nazareth is the town galilee is the region to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named joseph a descendant of david the virgin's name was mary and the angel went to her and said greetings you are highly favored the lord is with you again it's a familiar story to us because of our familiarity with the christmas narrative but the role of the angel in the emergence of jesus into time is significant in fact if i were going to give you a big picture perspective at critical moments in the unfolding story of god throughout scriptures the angels are involved at those pivot points when there's a need for a message to be communicated with such clarity and such specificity that so oftentimes is beyond the the normal routine of expectations the angels are involved we went through the old testament in the previous session matthew chapter one this time it's not mary or zechariah it's joseph when joseph her husband was a righteous man he didn't want to expose her to public disgrace he had in mind to divorce her quietly why does joseph have that attitude she's pregnant and he wasn't involved and i know you and i would go it's the holy spirit but that's an awkward discussion between a couple of teenagers you have no peer support there's no literature on the topic after he'd considered this an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and said joseph don't be afraid to take mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the holy spirit joseph would have missed the god opportunity before him without the help of an angel there was a breach of trust and there was no explanation that could have bridged that gap other than a message from beyond time because there was no explanation in time folks we need god's help we will not see evil yield it will not yield its influence over the lives of our children their emotions over the things that have beset them it will not yield because we organize it won't yield because of resources that we pool it won't yield because of elections or political parties the only thing that evil will yield to is a power greater than itself and that power the only power that it will yield to is the power of god and the delivery system for that is the church of jesus christ and it's been on our watch well we've watched this descent we've been distracted we've been interested in other things if they had enough if they were vacationing in the in an experiential way that we thought was fulfilling enough or training enough we've been good to go but we haven't had the imagination that the power of god was available or that it was necessary or that godliness or holiness or period purity really mattered so with kind of a wink and a nod we've been kind of casual with all of that and we find ourselves where our children are being decimated don't be afraid to take mary home as your wife don't be afraid to stand up for godliness don't be afraid to be an advocate for righteousness and holiness and purity not everybody's going to cheer we had a we we scrolled forward 30 years or so and we saw the attitude in nazareth just who do you think you are and there'll be people saying that who do you think you are what's made you so holier than that i'm not holier than now folks i'm in process just as much as you are i hit my thumb with a hammer praise the lord may not come out maybe i wished it would but and if you hit my thumb with a hammer i promise praise the lord it ain't coming out so [Laughter] it doesn't stop with the preparation the announcements of jesus birth the angels are involved it's an important premise one of the things we're going to look at is the angels in the book of revelation but long before we get to the book of revelation we need to understand that the angels are involved in announcements or are preparing the the the current generation for what god is doing in that season in luke 2 and verse 8 again it's familiar because it's wrapped in the christmas story but listen to the angelic role there were shepherds living out on the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night and an angel of the lord appeared to them an angel of the lord appeared to the shepherds and the glory of the lord shone around them they were terrified the angel said to them don't be afraid good news of great joy that will be for all the people today in the town of david a savior is born to you he's the messiah the lord this will be a sign you'll find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger sounds so romantic i've fed animals a good chunk of my life folks the place where you put the grain and the hay for the horses and the cows is not a place you want to put a newborn trust me suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising god and saying glory to god in the highest on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests you see one of the mistakes we make or if not a mistake it's just too small of an imagination we think of jesus as having a 33-year engagement with humanity born in bethlehem crucified in jerusalem ascended to heaven in acts chapter 1 that jesus stepped into that little portal of time and interacted with us but the reality is that scripture shows us that jesus has been engaged from the opening of genesis to the conclusion of the story we can talk about a pre-incarnate jesus activity with us we could talk about jesus during his days under the sun while he had an earth suit it says he he learned obedience by what he suffered we can talk about jesus post-resurrection the man jesus christ having overcome death interacting with his closest followers we can also talk about a post-ascension involvement of jesus in the earth in acts 9 he came to get saul of tarsus in revelation chapter 1 he came to see john his best friend jesus has been involved in the story from the opening chapters of genesis until this thing wraps up in the revelation we've got to open our hearts a little bit and the angels are celebrating because jesus has stepped into time good news for all people the messiah has come to the earth and the angelic hosts are shouting the announcement freaking out the shepherds but it doesn't stop there in matthew chapter 2 when the wise men have departed these characters we know very little about it says when they had gone the angel of the lord appeared to joseph in a dream i'm thinking by this time joseph just doesn't like to go to sleep get up he said and take the child and his mother and escape to egypt stay there until i tell you for herod's going to search for the child to kill him angels are involved in protection insecurity our contemporary word would be intelligence not iq they give you information that your adversaries don't intend for you to have ministering spirits sent to serve those who are the beneficiaries of salvation joseph you're going to need to move now we've got to reconcile some things you know in my mind if god's capable of orchestrating a virgin birth and directing wise men from the east to bethlehem a little insignificant village on the outskirts of jerusalem he's well able of foiling herod's plans and keeping him from murdering those children but that's not the pathway god chose god chose to send joseph some inside information and say you're going to need to move because they're coming for the boy we get a little choked up sometimes we get a little crossways because we know how we want god to work we know what he wants we want him to do that we will dictate how the creator of all things should engage with our lives that's not the paradigm the bible presents it says that you and i will submit ourselves offer ourselves as living sacrifices to god we will do his will so if he says move don't tell him to fix the problem while you stay stationary matthew 2 a little further in the story after herod died an angel of lord appeared to joseph in a dream in egypt take the child and his mother and go to the land of israel for those who are trying to take this child's life are dead he completes the circle protection and security you'll benefit from angelic participation they bring strength and renewal to your lives they did to jesus matthew chapter four it's in the chronology of his story i tried to put these in chronological order but not completely after jesus baptism the spirit leads him into the wilderness where he fasts and prays for 40 days he's tempted by this devil himself satan himself comes to tempt him the end of the time it says he was hungry in matthew 4 and verse 10 it said jesus set him away from me satan it's written worship the lord your god and serve him only when the devil left the angels came and attended him there is no jesus story without the angel's help do you think you're going to finish your god story with angelic help really you think you're more clever than jesus more discerning more powerful wiser luke chapter 22 we're going to step forward three years it's the night of jesus betrayal he's in gethsemane praying and he is at the end of himself his friends are of no help they're not even going to have the courage to stand with him through the evening and he knows it he's alone and in the garden it says it's luke 22 and verse 42 the first sentence you know father if you're willing take this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him angels will bring strength and renewal to your life we're in a season right now where i interact with people on a daily basis that are exhausted emotionally physically spiritually it's not an easy time we need to understand there are resources available for our renewal and our strengthening i've talked a bit today about the children i put just one verse in on this matthew 18 jesus is speaking see to it that you don't look down on one of these little ones i tell you that they're angels in heaven always see the face of my father in heaven like to pray with the kids more than that i'd like to get the children to pray for me they have a hotline they don't have the inhibitions that you and i have god we need help help let me just stand and watch we don't want to lose sight of that we will be judged if we turn our children over to wickedness and immorality and ungodliness very few things in scripture bring a response from god more quickly than the abandoning of our children to wickedness in matthew 26 we get a little window into the capabilities and the availability of the angels again this is jesus in gethsemane and they stepped forward and seized him and arrested him and with that one of jesus companions reached for his sword drew it and struck the servant of the high priest he cut off his ear that's peter god bless him i mean he's got a sword but he's not very good with it he wasn't aiming for the ear i mean they're coming to arrest the most remarkable man you've ever known the best you could do was an ear i'm just saying jesus said put your sword back in its place if you draw the sword you'll die by it do you think i can't call on my father and he'll at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels 12 legions and the in the roman [Music] military a legion was anywhere from 3 000 to 6 000 soldiers 12 legions call thousands of angels and we'll rock these boys world they're ready and available as excited as they were to announce his birth in the shepherds fields outsides of bethlehem don't you think they were more on point at that moment don't you think gethsemane would have been different but he said i have to do this i'll toss in a little aside i got just a moment i don't think we we live with a great deal of awareness in seeking the lord i think we've been trained and i've been a part of it so i'm not casting stones at anyone we have kind of a benchmark approach to faith you're you're you're lost and then you're born again and you're baptized and you you read your bible a bit maybe you do some nice things and you change how you handle your money a bit and those are all appropriate i'm not saying they're not but once we've kind of done that initial business we've lost the imagination that we have to continue to say yes to the lord it's like well you know i repented but but the heavy lifting's over because it's a gift and it's a free gift and let me ask you a question suppose jesus got to gethsemane and he said look i just really don't want to do this. i've led a sinless life a perfect life an obedient life i've been rejected in the villages and the synagogues of this nation i've been repudiated by the religious leaders and i've done my part this is just more than i'm at a point in my life where i'd rather just relax he wouldn't have fulfilled his assignment would he now i'm not suggesting you're the messiah but i am suggesting that god has an assignment for you and if you think i'm doing an injustice to the context i'd take you back to the exodus generation those people that were delivered from the brick pits of egypt and taken to the to the the boundaries of the promised land their inheritance and they said we just don't want to do it it's too hard it says god was angry with them and he said you'll die in the wilderness you'll die in the wilderness see i don't think it's appropriate to receive the blessings of god and the power of god and the deliverance of god and all the things that god brings to our lives and then to say to him well wait a minute that's just a little harder than i want it to be jesus said if i needed help there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of angels that far away but i got to walk this path i won't ask you but i'll tell you on more than one occasion i've said to the lord if the path has to be this difficult i'm not sure i want to walk it when i signed up to serve the lord in my imagination i thought i was signing up for like a kind of a happy skip down the yellow brick road that i would yield to the lord and he would pour his blessings out on me with such abundance that they would crush me and the truth is the lord has blessed my life he's been good to me and kind to me and gracious to me in ways beyond any imagination or expectation i held but i would also tell you that following the lord has taken the very best that i have and if you've never thought of giving god your very best i would invite you to begin to think about that because we talk about angels and demons and spiritual influences this is not casual stuff see god can't entrust you with insight and discernment and awareness until you've chosen to take him seriously in the same way we don't entrust children with things that will harm them we don't let them play with sharp pointed scissors until they have the dexterity to walk without falling [Music] so there's kind of a beginning point in this little journey as we start to explore some of these topics and themes to begin to quietly say in your heart to the lord lord i'd like to know you better i don't like all my circumstances i don't like necessarily everything that's happening to me but i would like to know you better god i've been pretty indifferent i've tried to secure my future in my own self and my own strength and my own there's nothing wrong with i'm an advocate for hard work and good planning those aren't evil or wicked or ungodly but beyond those we need god's help i'd call 12 legions of angels jesus said then the angels got involved with the resurrection events in matthew 28 there was an earthquake and an angel of the lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb he rolled back the stone and sat on it i don't think god needed an angel to roll back the earthquake could have shaken the stone out of the way i think the angels wanted a roll that's my opinion it's not in the text you could disagree with me i think they'd watched jesus be crucified and they wanted engaged in the next chapter let me move the stone i'd like to at least look at those soldiers guarding that tomb [Music] i bet they never forgot the expression his appearance was like lightning and his clothes were as white as snow and the guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men they were playing possum the angel said to the women don't be afraid i know you're looking for jesus he was crucified he's not here he's risen [Music] boom can you feel the electricity rippling through heaven thousands upon thousands upon thousands of angels he's back and then there's an enormous and we'll just begin this we're going to look at the angels in revelation in a future session but the angels in jesus at the end of the age first peter 3 and verse 22 it says jesus who's gone into the heavens and is at god's right hand with angels and authorities and powers in submission to him whereas jesus he's in the heavens but the angels the messengers those who are ministering spirits on our behalf are in submission to our lord and king our great high priest you better believe he's engaged in what's going on in the earth today and the angels are doing his bidding they're his ministering spirits they're messengers on his behalf that the purposes of god would come forth in our generation we can't afford to say well you know i just don't know if i believe in all of that in matthew 16 what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what can a man give in exchange for his soul at that point it's kind of a theoretical discussion somebody would say well if i gained the whole world what better could i what more could i have and then jesus gives us the reason he said for the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels when you see jesus and all the glory of the kingdom of god if you conquered the world and everything that's in it is going to look like a shabby representation of nothing compared to the glory of god so what is it we're pursuing and then he'll reward each person according to what he's done time and again jesus links his return to this gathering of angels that are coming with him because they've been so engaged in the story from the beginning to the conclusion that when it's time for the conclusion of this age they have pivotal roles to play we've been so unaware that hasn't always been the story of the church it was an angel that walked into the prison in the book of acts and led peter out he was going to be executed the next day and an angel came and got him so there have been chapters and seasons in the unfolding story of the church where god's people the believers on earth understood they needed the help of the angels it's an angel that showed up to see john in revelation chapter 1. he said i have a message for you of what's coming there was an angel that visited daniel when he's a slave in babylon and said you are highly valued by god i brought you some information i happen to believe we're at the beginning of the culmination of the age we're going to need help but it's available to us second thessalonians 1 and verse 6 god is just he'll pay back trouble to those who trouble you and he'll give relief to you who are troubled to us as well this will happen when the lord jesus is revealed from heaven and blazing fire with his powerful angels matthew 13 and i'll close with this jesus is taught a parable about the wheat and the tares we typically refer to it as the wheat and the weeds but the the word that's used in greeks suggests a specific weed that looked like wheat so that when you looked at the fields you couldn't really distinguish between the the grain that you were trying to grow and the weed that it intruded competing for resources so he's not talking about godly people and the pagans i think he's talking about all of those that would be hiding under the umbrella or presenting themselves it's faith but the disciples privately asked for the meaning of the parable and he left the crowd the disciples came and said explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field and he answered the one who sowed the good seed is the son of man again jesus is active in the earth we've got to open our hearts to that he didn't leave us alone in acts chapter 1. the field is the world and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom the weeds are the sons of the evil one the enemy who sows them is the devil the harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are angels the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire so he'll be at the end of the age and the son of man will send out his angels and they'll weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth and the righteous will shine like the sun and the kingdom of their father he who has ears let him hear the angels are going to be integrally involved at the end of the age with the purposes of god coming into time they're here to help us now we're not alone spiritual forces are real they're as real as a virus that we don't see there's an opportunity for us as we walk through this study we're going to look at two separate agendas one is how do we open our lives to cooperate more fully with the spiritual forces that will help us the alternative to that is how do we separate ourselves from the spiritual forces that would diminish us while we're working with the angels we want all the help that's available so the word that to me best suits our response is invitation we want to be certain that we have given a complete wholehearted unreserved invitation to the help of the spirit of god and any support he would bring to us does that seem reasonable so there's there's there's a number of ways to walk towards that but i would encourage you to just begin quietly saying holy spirit you're welcome in my life you're welcome in my life and just stop right there don't put any reservations don't define it by a specific experience or the lack thereof don't point an experience you've had and said well because i speak in tongues i know everything about the holy spirit there is to know no we're all learners stop with the limits holy spirit you're welcome in my life you're welcome in my life i'll tell you if you want to attract the attention of the holy spirit the most effective way i know to do that is to give yourself to exalting jesus if you will lift up jesus the holy spirit will show up so there's some practical things we can do wherever you go take jesus with you don't go any place without arriving with jesus as a part of the arrival don't go to work without him don't go to recreate without him whatever you're doing invite jesus i'm for jesus i'm his representative he's done so much in my life he's changed my life he's changed my heart he's brought meaning to me and a purpose to me he's brought freedom to me he hasn't diminished me in any way do you know jesus i hope you do oh you're one of those people yes i am i hope you would become one too i'm not trying to recruit you for church i want you to meet my best friend i don't know anybody like him if you'll begin to exalt jesus and honor him you will find the holy spirit's engagement and your life will change if you're ashamed of him embarrassed of him you're reluctant about him you're timid about him if you trust the other resources in your life more than you trust jesus you're creating a very narrow opening for the spirit of god to cooperate with you holy spirit you're welcome in my life lord jesus i want to thank you for what you've done for weeks and weeks now i've been singing this little song we learned as kids jesus loves me this i know for my bible tells me so i've got much further than that i just get over and over because it changes everything but we don't have to be confident god doesn't need my iq he just needs me to yield i believe if you'll begin to do that exalt jesus in the practical ways of your life and consciously invite the holy spirit in that he will bring to you an awareness of spiritual things that you won't believe you've been looking past we're spending way too much time looking at the darkness we're way too much too way too aware of the threats and the challenges we need to know jesus wasn't worried about who came to arrest him in the garden he didn't care how good they were with clubs and spears he wasn't frightened because peter was a little clumsy he said do you understand the resources i have these clowns have no chance i will go with them he went with them he yielded himself to them they didn't take him it was their pride and arrogance and pomposity that caused them to think they had arrested jesus we've got to become more aware of who is for us and what is at work on our behalf i brought you a prayer i couldn't fit it into your notes but they'll put it on the screens when i ask you to say it with me why don't you stand with me for this it'll be on the you can download it it'll be available to you i promise or you can commit it to memory as we say it together well you could let's read it together almighty god forgive us for our unbelief and indifference we humble ourselves and acknowledge you as the creator and the sustainer of all things now open our hearts and our eyes that we may have understanding and insight from you deliver us from deception holy spirit teach us we are listening and we will follow give us a new boldness to believe to serve and to respond as never before may the name of jesus be lifted high and may his people be strengthened in jesus name amen hallelujah god bless you hey this is pastor allen thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content when we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

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Length: 51min 14sec (3074 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021