[MUSIC PLAYING] God isn't really
something to worship. He's just waiting to
destroy all of us. I guess there's a God,
out there somewhere. I hope there is a God. God isn't really something. God, Allah, Buddha. God is everywhere. [APPLAUSE] We want to welcome you
to our online service. We have a few friends
that are gathered in the sanctuary, about 50 of
us-- staff and other friends. So if you hear clapping and
you will or you hear noises, you hear them shouting,
that's what's going on. We know you're
joining us online. We trust you had a good
Thanksgiving with your family, and we prayed that you stay
healthy during this season. Now we're firmly moving
into the Christmas season. I am so excited I wore my little
outfit with a little red in it to say, I'm ready for Christmas. Let's get this thing going. But we are, today, in the
book of Hebrews, chapter 1. If you turn in
your Bibles there, we're going to look at that
very short chapter together. By way of introduction, I was
reading, this week, a NASA expert, who said, it
is highly unlikely that we are alone
in the universe and that we may be close
to finding alien life. He went on to say, in fact, it
may happen within the next two decades. Now, people have been
saying this for years. We're not alone in
the universe, there's life out there--
intelligent life. Probably became popularized
in our generations, all the way back with Star
Trek and then Star Wars. Earlier this year, NASA
announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets
in the constellation Aquarius that are warm enough to
sustain life on them, and that got a lot of
scientists in that community very, very excited. Well, here's the truth. We're not alone
in this universe. There is highly
intelligent life. His name is God. And besides God, there are other
beings that are intelligent, very, very powerful, can
move at unprecedented speeds. We call them angels. The Bible refers to them
a lot, as we will see. And while there is no shortage
of documentaries on UFOs, or people's personal
experience with UFOs, they've been abducted
by aliens, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
the real question to ask is how much of
that has something to do with angelic beings
and demonic beings, something we're going to look
at this time and next time. According to a CBS poll,
nearly 8 out of 10 Americans-- 77%, to be exact-- believe in angels. The article said,
but belief in angels is fairly widespread, even
among the less religious. And a majority of non-Christians
think that angels exist, as do more than four out
of 10 of those who never attend religious services. Over the last several
years, there's even been angel sightings a lot. I think it was really, really
popular about 10, 15 years ago. Seems like every week, I
heard of angel sightings. They became as popular as Elvis
sightings back in the 1970s. People who would take
a picture and then look at the picture later,
look at it up close, and there being some kind of
maybe angelic being perhaps behind that cloud or it
could just be a light streak, but it's an angel of them. Or I've heard people say,
I was driving my car, I picked up a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker was
telling me about my life and then vanished-- disappeared. So we have hitchhiking
angels as well. Very popular are
movies about angels. Some of them more famous
ones, Angels in the Outfield, another one, Angels in the
Endzone, and another one, Angels in the Infield. They seem to like major
league sports for some reason. There was a movie
called The Prophecy. There was a movie in 2007 called
Gabriel and one in 2010 called Legion. On, and on, and
on the list goes. But the most famous, the classic
movie about angels that comes out every time
this time of year-- goes all the way back to 1947-- starring Jimmy Stewart
called It's a Wonderful Life. And Jimmy Stewart plays
George Bailey in the film. He is very depressed,
loses his job, is suicidal on Christmas Eve
until Clarence shows up-- his guardian angel-- and convinces him that
his life is worth living, that he's done great things. And the story, it's an
emotional, fun little story to go on-- fun little ride. Unfortunately, though, like
many things, a lot of people believe in things, and
they take their cues not from the scripture, but from
popular media or popular books. And so it is with angels. That's why I want
to look at the Bible with you to see
what the Bible has to say about these very
powerful and interesting beings. So we're in Hebrews chapter 1. And I want to show you a list
of several traits about angels-- things they do,
things they are-- and we'll get a good
running start on it. It's a short chapter, so we
can read it all together. Hebrews 1 says, God,
who at various times and in various ways spoke in
time passed to the fathers by the prophets, has
in these last days spoken to us by his Son,
whom he is appointed heir of all things, through
whom also he made the worlds; who being the
brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high, having become so
much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the
angels did he ever say, "you are my Son, today
I have begotten you?" And again, "I will
be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" But when he again brings the
firstborn into the world, he says, "let all
the angels of God to worship him"
And of the angels, he says, "who makes
his angels spirits and his ministers
a flame of fire." But to the sun, he says,
"your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your
God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness
more than your companions." And, "you, Lord,
in the beginning laid the foundations
of the Earth, and the heavens are
the work of your hands. They will perish,
but you remain. They will all grow
old like a garment. Like a cloak. You will fold them / and
they will be changed. But you are the same. For your years will not fail." But to which are the
angels has he ever said, "sit up my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool?" Are they not-- that is, angels,
are they not all ministering spirits sent forth
to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Now, Hebrews chapter
1 is about Jesus, but the author compares
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with other beings. And angels are mentioned
several times in this chapter, as he compares them to that. So kind of taking
our cues from here, let me list several
traits about angels. First of all angels,
are significant. They are significant
in God's plan. Six times in those 14
verses, he mentions angels. He talks about God, the
Father, Jesus, the Son. And he speaks about angels, all
of them, as very, very real. 34 books in the Bible
talk about angels, 17 in the Old Testament,
17 in the New Testament. If you were to add up
all the times that angels are mentioned, you would have
almost 300 specific places where angels are
mentioned in the Bible. The word "angel," singular,
shows up 199 times. The plural form, "angels," shows
up 93 times-- so almost 300. When we get to
the New Testament, it uses a very specific word
translated into English, "angel." It's the word angelas
which literally means one who is
dispatched or a messenger. An angel is a messenger,
as we're going to see-- a messenger of God. Now, that's a word
that can refer to any messenger--
a human messenger-- but it most often refers
to these spiritual beings, a certain class of
spiritual beings. There are other names
that are mentioned in the Bible for
these creatures. For example, in Job
chapter 1 and chapter 2, these angels are
called Sons of God. And they're given that title
because angels don't procreate. I'm going to touch
on this again, but they are direct
special creations of God and, therefore, can go by
the term "Sons of God." That's Job chapter 1 and 2. They're called, in
Psalm 89, holy ones. They're called spirits
here a couple of places. Verse 14 calls them
ministering spirits. Daniel chapter 4 refers
to angels as watchers. And Ephesians and
Colossians call them dominions, principalities,
powers, or authorities. Then there are special
kinds of angels. The Bible talks about cherubim,
and cherubim were sort of like special agent angels. Their task was to guard the
entrance to the Garden of Eden in the book of
Genesis chapter 3. Think of sentries at Buckingham
Palace, or the Swiss Guard in front of the
Vatican, or the Secret Service guarding the president. On the Ark of the
Covenant, there were two cherubim
that were carved out with their wings
touching in the middle, and God said that, is the
place that I will meet you. That is the place from
where I will speak to you. God was seen and
called one who dwells between the cherubim,
that special class of angelic beings. There is another being of
angels called seraphim. And the seraphim seem to provide
the background music to heaven. They're the ones crying
out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, God Almighty. The whole Earth is
filled with his glory. So we have cherubim,
we have seraphim, and then we have, in
the Book of Revelation, something called
living creatures-- four living creatures. Now, they may be related. They may be one of the
cherubim or seraphim. We're not sure, but these
four living creatures are singled out as unique. They come to us in Revelation
chapter 5 and Ezekiel chapter 1. And what makes them
really weird is that they have very unique faces-- four faces, the face of a
lion, the face of an ox, the face of a man,
the face of an eagle. Time forbids going into
all the exegesis of that, but enough to say that there
is a lot of different types of angels. Question is, where
did they come from? Answer, God made them. God created them. They didn't always exist. So they're not eternal, but
they are immortal, that is, God created them, and
they will never die. They will live forever. So in Genesis chapter 2,
verse 1, we are told, thus, the heavens and the
Earth were finished and all the host of them. So God created the
heavens and the Earth and the angelic beings
called the host of heaven. Now, we don't know exactly
when they were made. Some speculate they were
made before the heavens and the Earth were made,
before the universe. Others figure that
they were created between day 1 in Genesis
chapter 1 and 2 and day 6. But certainly, they were
created before the seventh day of creation, when God created
human beings on the Earth. And that is because of the
texts that I just read. God finished the heavens and the
Earth and all the host of them. So it could be they were made
before he made anything else, or they were there and got to
witness part of the creation having newly been made. In the Book of Job, when God
interrogates Job at the end of the book-- it's one of the
best sections of the book-- God says, where were
you when I created the heavens and the Earth
and I formed the universe? And he said,
concerning that, when the morning stars sang
together and all the angels shouted for joy. It seems to indicate that
whenever God made them, they shouted for joy
and got all happy when God made an inhabitable
planet and put mankind on it. So let's say they were
just created either way before he created anything
else or while he was making the heavens and the Earth,
somewhere between day 1 and day 6. Something else, according to
Jesus, they don't reproduce. They don't procreate. It's not like you have a daddy
angel and a mama angel only have all sorts of
little angels, cherubs, like in the paintings-- fat
little babies with wings-- not at all. Again, a special creation
by God, each one individual. I might even say,
like snowflakes. Snowflakes are unique
one from another. You never see two alike. I think God instantly
created the angels, and they were all
very, very unique. But Jesus said this,
when he was having an argument with the
religious leaders of his day. And they were talking about
the future Resurrection, and they were trying to
trap Jesus with an argument. And Jesus answered
their little argument about the future Resurrection
by just saying this. You're ignorant, not
knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. But concerning the Resurrection,
in the Resurrection, they neither marry nor
are given in marriage-- that's human beings-- but are like the angels of God. So God specially made them. They are immortal,
but not eternal. They will live forever. Now let me throw
something else at you. Do you know that you may
have actually met an angel? You say, no, no, no, I would
have recognized an angel by the wings. Certainly, I've
never met an angel. Well, you wouldn't have
recognized it as an angel. The book of Hebrews
chapter 13 says, don't forget to show
hospitality to strangers. For some who have done this
have entertained angels without realizing it. I think that one of the reasons
we tend to dismiss the idea of angels-- most
people do, by the way, they don't give angels a
thought as being real or being in their world-- is because of all of
the Hollywood movies, all of the sightings
people have had, all of the lame caricatures
that people have come up with. Angels always have long robes. They always sit on clouds. They always play harps. They're always fair-skinned
and often feminine, right? They are always female. That's how they're portrayed. One man said that his wife
reminded him of an angel because she was always up in
the air harping about something. [LAUGHTER] Well, in the Bible,
these creatures are very, very strong. Michael, for example,
in the Book of Daniel is a warrior angel. And the Talmud, the Jewish
writings from the past, always describe angels
as fiery beings. In one little passage
of the Talmud, it said, the essence of angels is fire. So one thing we know is they
are very, very powerful. So they're significant
in God's plan. That's the first trait. The second trait, they
are several in number. In verse 4, 5, 6 of
Hebrews chapter 1-- verse 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 14,
it uses the plural, "angels"-- angels. How many angels are there? Answer, we don't know. A lot would be a good answer-- a whole lot. We don't exactly know
how many, but let me give you my take on this. There are only three that are
identified in the scripture by name. Number one is Michael. Michael is called,
interestingly, an archangel-- arch angelas-- some
kind of superpower being in rank, an archangel. He's called that
in Jude verse 9. But when Michael shows
up in the Old Testament and in the Book of Revelation,
he is seen as a protector-- a warrior protector-- of a
nation, the nation of Israel. He is associated specifically
with guarding and protecting God's people, the Israelites. And that's in Daniel
chapter 10 and in the Book of Revelation chapter 12. Another one by name,
after Daniel, is Gabriel. Gabriel shows up in Daniel
chapter 8 and Daniel chapter 9 and, in the New
Testament, Luke chapter 2. He seems to be
one who's involved in the coming of Jesus Christ. He's the one that gives the
announcement to Mary and Joseph that they're going
to have a baby, and you will call
his name Jesus. For he will save his
people from their sin. That is Gabriel. The third one mentioned--
is anybody know? Lucifer. This is before he fell. Isaiah chapter 14,
he is called Lucifer. Lucifer means son of the
morning, or light bearer, or day star, or shining star. Lucifer, son of the morning,
how are you fallen from heaven, Oh, Lucifer? So those three are mentioned. Now, back to the
number of angels. We don't exactly know
how many there are, but do you know that people
have guessed how many there are? In fact, I read about one
guy in the Middle Ages named Albertus Magnus-- or Albert the Great. He was a philosopher,
he was a theologian, and he also taught
science at the time. And he said he knew
the precise number, and I know you want to know
exactly how many angels are. So according to Albertus
Magnus, there are 399,920,004. Have no idea how he calculated
that or came up with it, but we know there must be a lot. Because for example, when God
gives the law on Mount Sinai, we are told in
Deuteronomy that the Lord came with myriads of his holy
ones-- or angelic beings. At the birth of
Jesus Christ, there was a multitude of
the angelic hosts-- or company of angels. In Hebrews chapter
12, verse 22, it says that when we worship we
worship with an innumerable company of angels-- innumerable, can't no them. It doesn't mean that you
can't have an exact number eventually, but when he saw
that, it's just an innumerable crowd. Probably closer to the
number is Revelation chapter 5, when John sees the vision of
the heavenly system and setup. It says, then I looked and I
heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the
living creatures, the elders. And the number of
them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
of thousands. So at least there are
100 million angels-- that's the math there-- plus thousands of others. So let's just safely
guess there are probably billions of angels. They are innumerable. So they're significant
in God's plan. They're several in number. A third trait of angels,
they are seen only rarely. Notice that they are
called spirits here. Verse 14 of Hebrews 1,
are they-- the angels-- not all ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to those who will
inherit salvation. So they are spirit beings. They are non-corporeal
beings, that is, they don't have a
physical body, ordinarily. I want to qualify
that, ordinarily. You say, ordinarily? What does that mean? Sometimes they do. For whatever purpose-- God's purpose-- he allows
angels, from time to time, to have some kind
of a human visage. After all, even in
Hebrews, it says, some have entertained
angels without knowing it. So they have some kind of a
physical manifestation or God gives a person the ability to
see into the spiritual realm, which is very, very real. We don't see it, but
from time to time, God allows that to happen. Now, the best example
I can think of, when it comes to trying
to understand this, comes from a movie. It comes from a series
called Star Trek. So in Star Trek--
any trekkies here? Do we have any trekkies? OK, so in Star Trek, what
did they do for entertainment on long trips? It was called the Holodeck-- the Holodeck. And the Holodeck was a
room that you went in, and it was like a
virtual reality room. In the Holodeck, you
could create holograms-- three-dimensional images-- that you design and then have
an experience, like a vacation. So if you're an
Earthling, you could create, in the
Holodeck, the Alps and you could have a trek--
a hike through the Alps. If you were a Klingon, you
could recreate famous battles from the past and hone and
test your battle skills. And when you're all
done with the Holodeck, you simply say,
computer, end program. So from time to time, God
puts his program in place so people can
actually see angels. One of the famous ones is a
guy by the name of Balaam. Balaam was on a donkey,
was not obeying God. In Numbers 22, the Lord
opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the
Lord standing in the way, with his sword
drawn in his hand. Uh oh, don't mess
with that angel. One of my favorite stories
is a less famous story, but I love it. It's about Elisha in
2 Kings chapter 6. In 2 Kings chapter 6 Elisha
the prophet and his assistant go to a town called Dothn-- D-O-T-H-N. They're kind
of hiding there until they're found out, and the
Syrians come down and surround the town of Dothn. So the assistant to Elisha says,
alas, master, we're surrounded. And I love it. Elisha said, actually, there
are more with us than with them. And I'm sure that his assistant
looked at him and said, there are? We're surrounded by an army. How is that possible? And so Elisha the prophet
prayed, and I love his prayer. Lord, open his eyes
that he may see. And the servant of
Elisha looked and was able to see chariots, and
horses, and a vast army all around the army of
Syria, surrounding them. So before, he was thinking,
poor us, we're surrounded. And he thought,
poor them, they're surrounded by an
entire army of angels. So they are seen rarely. Let me give you a
couple more examples. They were security guards. They were the first security
guards in the Bible. Genesis chapter 3,
they kept Adam and Eve from going back into the garden,
holding up a flaming sword. Adam and Eve were
able to see them. Three angels were
Abraham's dinner guests in Genesis chapter 18. Actually, two of
them were angels. One was God, the Bible tells us. And I don't know what you
serve an angel for dinner. I'm guessing angel hair pasta
would be a safe bet, topped off with angel food cake. You couldn't go wrong with
that, but we don't know. They were also divine bouncers. They showed up in a physical
form in Sodom and Gomorrah, when the men of Sodom
made sexual advances at Lot and his family. And here's an interesting thing. One time, it seemed
that an angel shows up and enjoyed scaring people. And what I mean by that is
when Jesus rose from the dead in Matthew 28, it says,
an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came
and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. I've always loved that,
roll the stone away and just sit there and wait. And it says, his countenance
was like lightening, his clothing as white as
snow, and the guards-- the Roman guards--
shook for fear of him and became like dead men. I just picked to the angel
just going, [COCKY LAUGH] that's fun. Then there was a
special ops agent in Acts chapter 12 that
released Peter from prison. Peter was able to
see this being. The church had prayed for
him, and an angel was sent. So they're significant
in God's plan. They are several in number. They are seen only rarely. I'll give you a fourth
trait, as seen in Hebrews 1. They stand in God's presence. They stand in God's presence. There is a hint of
that in verse 6, where we are told, when he brings
the firstborn into the world. Now, this is the nativity. This is the Christmas scene. When he brings the
firstborn into the world, he says, let all the
angels of God worship him. Like troops that
surround a King, like a Secret Service group of
agents that surround or stand with a dignitary so
are these angels. They stand in God's presence. They're ready for action,
ready for service. Daniel chapter 7, Daniel
gets a vision of heaven. He sees the ancient of days
on a throne, and he writes, 1,000 thousands ministered to
him, then 1,000 times 10,000 stood before him. There they are, standing
before the Lord. Revelation chapter 8,
an insight into what's going on in the heavenly scene. I saw the seven angels
who stand before God. Then another angel,
having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense
that he should offer it with the prayers of
all of the saints upon the golden altar which
was before the throne, and the smoke of the incense
with the prayers of all the saints ascended before
God from the angel's hand. In Luke Chapter 2,
Gabriel identifies himself as one who stands before God. When he gave that announcement,
you're going to have a son, I am one who stands
before the Lord. Now, some theologians try to
get really picky with this, and they call these
seven angels that I just told you about in Revelation
8 the presence angels. But in Daniel, there's
thousands upon thousands, standing ministering, waiting
to do the bidding of the Lord. A fifth trait or
characteristic of angels is they share in God's work. Verse 7, of the
angels, he says, "who makes his angels spirits and
his ministers a flame of fire." You know the word angel
means a messenger-- so somebody who is sent,
somebody who is dispatched. And it would seem
that angels were used by God at different periods
of history for special events that occurred that God
wanted their involvement, wanted their help. In Psalm 103, they are called
mighty ones who do his bidding and who obey his word. Years and years
ago, Billy Graham wrote a book about angels
called God's Secret Agents. Sometimes they're
secret, sometimes they're not so secret, but
they share in God's work. For example, they were
present at creation. Job 38, they served God when the
law was given at Mount Sinai. When the Revelation was given
to Daniel, God used angels. And they were very involved
in the life of Jesus Christ, as I've already showed you. An angel announced his birth. Angels were singing in the skies
above Bethlehem at his birth. Angels warned Mary and
Joseph about Herod the Great wanting to kill the child. When Jesus was
tempted in the desert, the angels ministered to him. When he was in the Garden of
Gethsemane he and sweating great drops of
blood and in agony, angels came and
ministered to him. And of course, at
the Resurrection, they rolled the stone away. When you get to the
book of Revelation, the end times will have
almost, like, the activity of angels on steroids. They are mentioned 75 times in
the Book of Revelation alone-- an angel doing this, angels
worshipping, angels with bowls poured out on the Earth,
angels with trumpets announcing a future judgment. This is something that
shouldn't surprise us. Jesus said that angels will
assist in the final judgment. Jesus said, the son of man
will send out his angels, and they will gather out of the
kingdom all things that offend and those who practice
lawlessness and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Quick question, how
powerful are angels? Well, they're
called mighty ones. Paul calls them powers,
dominions, authorities, thrones. So these are rankings of angels
that have enormous power. One angel in the Old Testament
killed 185,000 Assyrians. You don't want to
tick off an angel. And if you think of one
angel killing 185,000, that puts a whole
new blush and texture on what Jesus said in
the Garden of Gethsemane, when he said to Peter,
put up your sword. Don't you know that I could
call for 12 legions of angels? That's 72,000. So if one angel can
knock off 185,000, imagine what 72,000 could do. They are very, very powerful. So they're significant
in God's plan, they are several in number,
they are seen only rarely, they stand in God's presence,
and they share in God's work. I'll give you a final one. We could go on, but I'll
give you a final one. Six, they serve God's people. This is to us the
best news of all. It's fun to learn
about them, but it's wonderful to think that God
uses them for our benefit. For example, look at verse 13. But to which of the
angels has he ever said, "sit at my right hand,
till I make your enemies your footstool?" Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth-- here's part of their job
description-- to minister-- to help, to serve, to attend,
to minister-- for those who will inherit salvation? That's us. God uses angels in your
life to do his work. You say, well, what
do angels do for me? Let me give you
just a few things. Number one, they watch us. They watch us. Daniel calls angels watchers. So there are people-watchers. Think of them as heavenly
surveillance teams. Others would call that spying. You know, we don't like
it when the government knows what we're doing,
watches what we're doing. Let me tell you,
God's government knows everything you're doing. The mike is always on,
the camera is always on. There's nothing
you do in secret, but you don't have an
audience of angels. So they are watchers. They watch our obedience,
they watch our disobedience. So they watch us. Second, they protect us. They protect us. Psalm 37, the angel of
the Lord guards all those who fear him and rescues them. I'm sure that if we were
to go through this room, with just the 50
people we have here-- I'm sure if I were to ask
you, our audience, at home-- you could tell me
stories in your life that could or couldn't have been
the intervention of an angel. I can tell you my own stories,
where I believe angels of God rescued my life. Happened to Daniel. In the lion's den,
after he was rescued, he said my God sent his angel
and shut the lion's mouth. I'm sure he saw some kind of
a being go [POPPING SOUND] to that lion-- shut its mouth. In Acts chapter
12, as I mentioned, an angel was sent from
heaven to rescue Peter from prison so he wouldn't die. So they watch us, they
protect us, they join us. Whenever we worship, we are
joining the choirs of heaven, or you might say
they are joining us. They are beings who
have been worshipping God for a long, long time. In Hebrews chapter 12,
he talks about worship. He says, you have come to
the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of the living God. You have come to
thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. Now, one of the great
thoughts, for me, that enhances my
own worship of God is to realize, with a
sense of reverence and joy, that I am being joined in
my worship by these beings. It's like, they're
doing what we do. Let's join them. The Bible also
says, when a sinner comes to repentance, all the
angels in heaven rejoice. So they watch us, they
protect us, they join us. Finally, they usher us. They usher us. In the New Testament,
Luke 16, Jesus tells a story-- not a parable,
a story-- of a rich man and Lazarus. And he said, the rich
man died and was buried. But with Lazarus, he was ushered
into Abraham's bosom, ushered into the presence of God. Imagine that. One moment, you're a
beggar on Earth in poverty, the next moment, angels
of God are taking you into his presence. And I think that when
every child of God dies, they don't turn
into angels, as-- I don't know, wherever
that came from. But angels do attend
to that person's soul and convey it into
the presence of God, turning every tragedy
of death into a triumph for a child of God. That's why in
Psalm 116, it says, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. There's something else you
need to know about angels. As they watch us, they study,
with curiosity and amazement, God's grace. It says, in 1 Peter
chapter 1, verse 12, he talks about our
salvation and God's work in our lives, God's
work of grace. He says, which things the
angels desire to look into. I think angels
look at us and go, I can't believe that
Skip guy is so stupid. He doesn't take advantage
of God's mercy and grace and help more often,
or he doesn't do this. I'm looking at--
he's such a bonehead, and yet God loves him so much. I don't get it. What's with these
people that God loves. JB Phillips, who is a
New Testament scholar-- a brilliant scholar--
had a fun little story of an angel showing a new
comer angel the universe. And so they're flying
around, and they are whirling past galaxies. And they get into this
one called the Milky Way, and there's one particular
planet called the Earth. And so JB Phillips
writes, the senior angel pointed to a small sphere
turning slowly on its axis. It looked as dull and as
dirty as a tennis ball to the little angel,
whose mind was filled with the size and glory
of what he had just seen. Watch that one particularly,
the senior angel, pointing with his finger, said. It looks very small
to me, said the angel, speaking of the Earth. What's so special
about that one? He listened, in
stunned disbelief, as the senior angel told
him that this planet, small and insignificant
and not overly clean, was the renowned
"visited planet." Do you mean, said
the young angel, that our glorious
Prince stooped so low as to become one of these
creeping, crawling creatures in that floating ball? I do, and I don't think that
he would like you calling them creeping, crawling creatures. For strange as it may
seem to us, he loves them. He went down to visit
them to lift them up to become like Him. The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost
beyond his comprehension. You know, the idea
of angelic beings is beyond most of
our comprehension. The idea of God is
beyond our comprehension. The idea of God sending
his son to die for us is beyond comprehension. The idea of sending
his Holy Spirit to live in us, beyond
our comprehension. But it's true. And just as there is a
physical universe that is real, a world that is real-- and
people say, get real, man, live in the real world-- there is another world
that's the really real world. And one day, you'll
be able to see it. One day, you'll be with
the angels in heaven if you're a believer, or you'll
be with fallen angels in hell if you are not a believer. You see, God gives
you incredible power to make a choice that
determines your destiny. And during this Christmas
season that we're coming into, we celebrate the visited
planet that God sent his son into this world to
pay for our sins to raise us up to new life. But you have to say, come
in, Lord, be my Savior. If you've never
done that, I'm going to give you an opportunity. You're watching this at home. You're watching
this on your device. You're seeing this on your
computer, your television, wherever you might be--
maybe a radio station. Maybe you've never sincerely
given your life to Christ. I want to give you
that opportunity. Do it right now. Say a simple prayer. Let me lead you. Say this to him. Say it out loud
wherever you are. Say, Lord, here I am. Take my life. I give myself to you. I know that I'm a sinner. I have blown it. I have fallen short. Forgive me. I believe Jesus died on a cross,
shed his blood for my sin, and I believe he rose
again from the dead. I believe he's alive
right now, and I believe he's coming again. I don't understand it. I believe in. I give you my life. I turn from my sin. I repent. I turn to Jesus,
as Lord, as Savior. Fill me with your
Holy Spirit, dear God, and help me to live a
life that pleases you. I can't do it alone. I need you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Listen, if you
prayed that prayer, if you have your phone with
you, text the word "SAVED"-- S-A-V-E-D-- to area
code 505-544-5433-- "SAVED" to 505-509-5433. Or if you're on our
website, calvarynm.church, there's a little button-- I think it's on the
right-- called knowgod-- K-N-O-W, not N-O,
but k-n-o-w, knowgod. Click that. And either way, if
you text it by phone or you click that little button,
we're going to contact you, and we're going to
tell you next steps-- what it is to have a walk
with the Lord, a relationship with him. Congratulations, though,
if you prayed that prayer, and welcome back God's family. [APPLAUSE] We want to pray for
you and walk with you and help you in
those next steps. God bless you. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
