Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good to see you this morning. This is the highlight of my week. I get to see all of you and you get to see me, which is the highlight of your week, right?
[00:00:07] Probably not, but I'm glad to be able to share God's word with you this morning and sing after these great songs. One of the things that God is doing in our church is he's really using us in the community.
[00:00:18] We have a new endeavor that actually we kind of jumped into two years ago and has kind of taken shape over last year. And we actually are diving, like, headfirst into it this year, which is we're getting involved in our community in some pretty amazing ways.
[00:00:34] Once in a while, we'll receive a call from the city and they'll call us and they'll say, hey, can you help us with this project or this project? And we're glad to be able to do that with them. We're glad to be able to have that relationship with them. And every once in a while, on some of the Sundays, we highlight and make sure that, you know, this is an ongoing ministry that we are building. We're seeing grow. We're seeing our relationship grow between us and the city of Carroll Stream, which is exciting, but we need to fund this thing. And so over the winter, over the Christmas time season, we actually funded a budget item called community outreach, and you guys did very good with that. We are going to give you a number on that as to how well we did. Our goal was 3000. We haven't actually got the exact numbers in yet, believe it or not, but we will have those in very soon. I think we've come very, very close to that. But I wanted just to remind you, if you'd like to still give to that, we are giving throughout the year to keep this fund going.
[00:01:33] Once in a while, we'll get a call like there's been a domestic incident in the city and a family is all of a sudden without one of the parents. The kids are in need. There's some special needs going on, and so once in a while we'll get to step in. Last week, we were able to do that again. This family was in need and we were able to kind of pitch in and help them immediately with some of the needs that they had because of these difficult situations they find themselves in, it's exciting for us to be able to do that. This past year, we did a backpack outreach for the community, and we developed some great relationships in this very special part of our neighborhood, and we are going to be doing that again this year. They've already asked us to jump on board and make that happen. So this ministry is going, it's going full throttle, and we want to make sure that it's funded so that when we're called on to step up and help out, we've replaced home fans for this sweet little lady that needed our home fan replaced, and so ceiling fans. So we are called upon to do a bunch of these things. It's a unique ministry. It's an awesome ministry, and we need funds in order to keep going. So if you would like to donate to that, all you need to do is go to give under vce.org, press the give button, give to Carolstream outreach, and then all that money will go toward this ministry. 100% of whatever you give goes directly to help these families, and we get a chance to actually pitch in in some unique ways to serve them. So I wanted just to highlight that every once in a while, I'm going to be doing that this year so that we can keep that ministry going. We could keep making an impact in our community.
[00:03:10] All right, here's your question for the morning. You ready?
[00:03:13] Are you sitting down? Good. Here's your question. You might want to kick me out after this, but here's the question. Are countries supposed to have boundaries to determine where they belong, where they begin, and where they end? Ooh, that's a hot topic nowadays, isn't it? Yeah. Is it a godly thing or is it a not godly thing? Can we even know?
[00:03:38] Well, it's interesting. I'm glad you asked. You didn't ask. We're going to be talking about this traps idea, and it's very interesting in our day and age that this is a hot topic because this is spoken about in scripture.
[00:03:52] We're going to do a couple of different games this morning, this little game that I have for you that every once in a while we're going to do as we go through the scripture, you're going to help me understand what I'm reading. You're going to love this. You're going to be glad you were here today. All right, so let's start. Every once in a while, when I sit down with somebody, they're going, I like to read the Bible for myself. I'm going, thank God. That's fantastic. Sit down and read it for yourself. And then they go, well, where do I start? What do I do? This is usually what I tell people to do. We're going to do it as a group, but this is usually the advice that I give. If you want to read the Bible and you want to get more out of it than just, like, reading through and just not really catching what is said, here's a way that you can do your devotions. Read through the bible small chunks at a time and get more out of it. All right, you ready to go? You want to do this? All right, this will be fun. All right, take your bibles and turn to acts 17, verse 26. It's up on the screen. Use your media devices if you want. Acts 17, verse 26. Here's what God says to us, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
[00:05:03] All right, let that sink in just for a second. We'll keep it up on the screen. Here we go. You ready for the game? Just when you read a passage of scripture, just ask yourself simple questions. All right, so the simple question is, did God start with one man, or did he start everything with a bunch of different people? This is a gimme. According to this verse, one man. It's right there. Okay, so he started with one man. Okay, so in your devotions, you were right. God started with one man. That agrees with the rest of scripture. It talks about Adam all the time. Adam and Eve. That's the Bible. That's how it is written. All right, number two, here's another question you could ask. Who determined the allotted period for nations to exist and then not exist? Whose job was that?
[00:05:49] Right? It's right in there. Right? So it is God's judgment. His authority determined the allotted period of time and the boundaries for their dwelling place. Okay, he's got. Who determined the boundaries of nations?
[00:06:06] You can say it. I know it's such a political subject, but it's literally right on the screen. So let's pretend we're back in kindergarten. We're not being influenced by people around. Let's just say we're reading this scripture. All right, so who determined the boundaries and the dwelling places of nations?
[00:06:22] You can say that. It's right there, right? I'm stealing all of this from scripture. All right, so that's what it says. All right, so we're reading that. We're going, yeah, that's interesting. I thought humans determined where the boundaries of nations are. Okay, hang on to that thought. Hang on to the thought, because you might be right and this might be right.
[00:06:41] But this is right all the time, because especially the next verse tells us why it's important. Look at the next verse that they should. What's the next two words? Church?
[00:06:53] That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each of us. What is the best scenario for people to seek God and find him? A global community or nations around the globe, according to this verse and the one before it, nations. Isn't that crazy?
[00:07:21] Literally, the Bible tells. I'm not here to pick a fight with anybody. Politically, I couldn't care less about what the political structure is because it's going to change tomorrow.
[00:07:29] I am reading this scripture and it's interesting to me that God determines the boundaries, determines the times for nations to exist, determines all of these things. And why does he do that? So that people will seek him. There's no other reason for there to be nations that exist. Apparently this is God's best way to evangelize the world. So the final question is this, is this God's plan? And we say yes, otherwise it wouldn't be in scripture, right? This is God's plan. Now you're thinking to yourself, well, Craig, that seems like that's just one scripture. I'm glad you asked that question. So if you go back to Genesis ten after the flood, ham, shamp, Japheth, all these kids of Noah actually all have kids. And they have kids and they have kids and they build nations. And if you read Genesis ten, you'll find a whole bunch of nations all of a sudden being developed, being constructed according to God's plan. Families made up clans, clans made up tribes, tribes made up nations. And nations exist on the earth. This has been since the beginning of time, well, since the fall, since after the flood. And now it is also God's plan according to the book of acts, that this is actually still going on today. And I might be thinking to yourself, okay, every time I write something for this message, I was thinking, okay, what are they going to be thinking next? All right, so this might be what you're thinking next.
[00:08:59] Are these boundaries God's plan since the beginning of time? Good question. Well, actually I came up with it. So, Craig, good question. Genesis 128, this is right at the beginning. Genesis one is the first book of the Bible. Seriously? Yeah, right. Genesis one, verse 28. God told Adam and Eve, God bless them. God said to them, read this with me, church. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. This has been God's plan from the beginning of time. Later on in the book of deuteronomy, also a part of the tentative part of the Tentatuch Pentateuch. Genesis. Exodus for the numbers. Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy. 32. Seven says this. When the most high gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the numbers of the sons of God. God created nations. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, okay, Craig, that's interesting. I've never seen it like that from scripture before. I know where you're going with this. Thank you for the benefit of the doubt, but I am going somewhere with this. And that is there have been times in human history when people have tried to not live in their nations and live in a global community.
[00:10:15] Actually, it happened way at the very beginning in the book of Genesis. Do you remember what happened in Genesis chapter eleven?
[00:10:23] You remember Genesis chapter ten, I just told you was about all of these different ham, Japeth, all of these sons of Noah have all of these different kids. They develop nations. God puts them in these different locations. But in Genesis eleven, somebody has a brilliant idea. And the brilliant idea is, let's all come together and see how good we can be together. Do you know what happens in Genesis chapter eleven?
[00:10:53] Babel. Ever heard of Babel before? Not the app where it helps, you know, different languages. No, that's not it. That was named after. By the way, what happened in Genesis chapter eleven? In Genesis chapter eleven, all the people got together and they said to themselves, we don't like living in different communities, we don't like living as different nations. We like being together. I mean, who doesn't, right? And we can be more powerful and we can get a lot more done faster, better. If we are together, we can do more. Oh, you've heard all these phrases. Well, they're not new. They're all the way back from Genesis eleven. And so what they decided to do was they decided they would build a tower to the sky, and this tower would represent their ability as humankind to be better together.
[00:11:42] Babel was an attempt to unify the globe without glorifying God.
[00:11:48] Here's what it says in Genesis eleven four. I'll read you their exact words. Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be. Isn't this interesting? Lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. Do you remember what God said he wanted them to do in Genesis chapter one?
[00:12:13] Fill the earth. They said, nah, bad idea. It's better for us to come together. It's better for us to come together and do more than be dispersed over the whole earth.
[00:12:27] Now, was that pleasing to God? Was God going, yeah, that's a better idea. I like what you're doing at Babel.
[00:12:33] How did God respond to that?
[00:12:36] If you read this story, it's one of my favorite scripture because it is so sarcastic.
[00:12:42] In the Hebrew, when you read this story, right after this verse, it literally says, so God came way down.
[00:12:51] You remember they were going to build a tower in the heavens. They wanted to join the heavens with the earth, and they wanted to be the in betweens, connect the spiritual with the physical.
[00:13:01] They didn't want to include God in this. They wanted their own power connection with the spiritual.
[00:13:08] And so the next verse, God says, yeah, hang on a second. I gotta come, like, way down there to see this big tower you're building. Like, way down there. Let's see this big tower.
[00:13:18] And what does God do at Babel?
[00:13:22] What does he do at Babel? Does he say, yay, let's get together, let's have a global community? Or does he. No. Disperse a or b? Which one was it?
[00:13:32] B. And what did he do to disperse them?
[00:13:35] Gave them different languages. All of a sudden, they woke up the next morning, somebody speaking Spanish, somebody speaking. Somebody speaking French, somebody speaking Canadian. They come together, they're going, why do you say a so often? And all of a sudden they get dispersed.
[00:13:51] Ultimately, what happened was you just gathered with people that you understood, and the tower was abandoned, and they ended up filling the earth like God wanted them to do. Babel was an attempt at globalism centered around human achievement. Let me say that one more time. Babel was an attempt at globalism centered around human achievement.
[00:14:11] Any attempt to unify humans globally without the authority of God is Satan's goal to mirror God's best by introducing an incredible evil in the end times? This will be attempted again.
[00:14:31] The Antichrist, the. With the capital T-H-E. Antichrist will unite not a nation, not a nation of people that will go, we like this guy. No. In scripture it says, he will unite the globe and he will seek to create a global community. Remember, this has been attempted throughout time, starting all the way back at Babel. And every time, God ends up dispersing them, changing, interjecting himself. Because here's what I want you to get out of this. Satan's goal is to mimic the ultimate good, but exclude God's kingship.
[00:15:07] Read it with me on the screen. Satan's goal is to mimic the ultimate good, but exclude God's kingship.
[00:15:17] You may think to yourself, okay, Craig, well, what gives Satan the right to do this. Like how much power does he have?
[00:15:25] Now I am glad you're sitting down for this because I want to take you to the temptations in the wilderness. And a conversation that Satan had with Jesus Christ. He tempted him three different times. On one of those occasions he tempted him by offering him the kingdoms of the world.
[00:15:41] Now you read through this and you're going to. Oh, that's interesting. No, it's really more than interesting.
[00:15:48] In this temptation, Satan was trying to replace God. In Jesus'life. He was trying to become God. He was trying to get Jesus to yield to him, rather than him yielding to Jesus.
[00:16:01] He picks three amazing temptations. One of them is he offers Jesus. One of the offers was, I will give you the kingdoms of the world. Now I'll show it to you so you can see exactly what it looks like in Luke chapter four, verse five. The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. I don't know how that looked, but it must have been cool. Got to see all the nations, all the kingdoms of the world, moment of time. And he said to him, verse six, to you, I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I will give it to whomever I will. If you then worship me, this will all be yours.
[00:16:43] Now you might read that and you might think to yourself, wait a minute, does Satan own all the nations of the earth?
[00:16:49] That's a good question. Because what he literally is saying to Jesus is you can have all these kingdoms back now. You can start unifying them right now. You can go around the suffering that you have to endure as a human being. You can go round the cross, but you must allow me, devil says, you must allow me, the devil to be their authority.
[00:17:13] Jesus turns him down, withstands a temptation, and then if you remember correctly, when he raises from the dead, he says, all authority has been given to me on the cross. Jesus stole back the authority of the devil over the nations of the world.
[00:17:33] And it's interesting, the devil tried to get him to go around the cross by selling it a little sooner rather than going to. Jesus didn't fall for it. Here's the deal, church. Real unity only works under God. Real unity only works under God. Unity under God's authority is God's perfect plan from eden to eternity. Someday the world will be unified, but it will be unified under the authority of God.
[00:18:00] Satan, however, will continue to take God's best plans and twist them.
[00:18:07] There are sinful authorities, sinful powers in the world.
[00:18:12] They are behind boundaries, they are behind borders. They are nations to themselves. But what Satan is doing is he's trying to twist God's best, a unified globe under his God's authority and twist it into a unified globe without God's authority.
[00:18:31] Satan's goal is to unify the globe without God as their authority. Listen, everybody wants peace, freedom, more. That's the problem.
[00:18:43] People long for globalism. They long for a unity of the world. Satan knows that. And so he whispers, it is possible all the way through history. And even in our day today, globalism is a common word.
[00:18:59] Devas just met over this past month. You can listen to the speeches, but almost all of them have to do with a global community built around the world, not including God. This is nothing new. It is absolutely terrifying.
[00:19:19] And it is Satan's plan. Work through human leaders from the beginning of time. This is his scheme to subvert God's authority, to bring an imitation of God's best through human globalization, without God.
[00:19:34] And it should be nothing that surprises us because he's been doing the same thing since Babel.
[00:19:40] The evil woman will always try to do this by swaying human leaders, to sway the masses to get on board.
[00:19:50] Ephesians six, verse eleven.
[00:19:52] This is what God tells us to do. In the meantime, put on the whole armor of God. Don't you love that? I noticed that wearing armor while you're watching tv is just. It's got to be a pain in the neck, right? It's really hard to get the popcorn in. It's hard to be comfortable.
[00:20:10] When do you put on armor?
[00:20:13] There is a time to put on armor. It's not when you're sitting watching tv. It's not when things are going peacefully. It's not when you're swinging in a hammock. When do you put on armor?
[00:20:21] When you're going to battle, God says, church, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And we're going, okay, what are the schemes of the devil? I'm glad you asked because it's right in the next verse. Want to play the game? Here it is, verse twelve. For we. Here's the schemes. This is it. This is what he just said. This is schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against what.
[00:20:48] We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. All right, would you keep that on the screen? I want to play the game again. You ready to play the game?
[00:21:07] What is flesh and blood? Point to flesh and blood. If you would, for just a minute. I can't see you real clearly, but if you would just point to flesh and blood, you can point to the person next to you. Yeah. Okay. And that's flesh and blood. All right? Point something. What is not flesh and blood.
[00:21:24] Yeah. Spiritual. It's hard to point to it, right? It's a spiritual realm that exists around us.
[00:21:31] All right. Is our battle with flesh and blood?
[00:21:35] No, no.
[00:21:39] You see Kim Jong il on your tv destroying his people, abusing his people, fat and hungry for power. Our battle is not with Kim Jong il. He is flesh and blood crazy, right?
[00:21:56] Who is our battle with? If it's not against flesh and blood, who is our battle with? It's on the screen. It's against rulers, cosmic powers, spiritual forces. Those are not flesh and blood. Church. Our battle is not against flesh and blood individuals. Our battle is with spiritual individuals.
[00:22:17] The spiritual realm, demonic forces over and influencing flesh and blood people to do what they want them to do.
[00:22:28] Spiritual forces looking to rule over physical powers through physical authorities.
[00:22:38] Verse 13 reminds us again, therefore, it's like a sandwich here. You're not wrestling against flesh and blood. You're wrestling against spiritual powers. Therefore, like, remember what I just told you in the verse before this. I'll say it again. Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all stand firm. The evil day is when God's plans are being determined and undermined by rulers and authorities, being manipulated to do ungodly things.
[00:23:14] This is something we need to be aware of.
[00:23:17] Let me give you a couple of biblical examples. First, Saul had an evil spirit. Did you know that Saul had an evil spirit? Every once in a while he would lose it. The Bible says that he had an evil spirit that would cause him to lose it, and he did bad things.
[00:23:36] Saul was oppressed by an evil spirit that took control of his actions. Nebuchadnezzar had an evil spirit that drove him insane. Ahab, one of the kings of Israel, influenced to go into battle by an evil spirit, says it right in scripture. One chronicles 21. The demons convinced David. King David, like, oh, best king of Israel. The demons convinced David to take a census when God told him not to.
[00:24:04] And in the last day, activities of the kings of the world, presidents, princes, activities of the kings of the world will be influenced not by flesh and blood, but by spiritual forces. Let me read you the verse in Romans, revelation 1614. For they are demonic spirits performing signs. Listen to this. This is what gets me who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle in the great day of God the Almighty.
[00:24:36] You ever watch the ring? What's the one with the ring?
[00:24:43] Lord of the Rings, remember that worm tongue would whisper into the ears of the king. Remember that scene? He would whisper into the ears of the king. And the king lost all. He just looked like a ghost. He became the puppet of Wormwood. Worm tongue, worm tongue. And worm tongue would whisper into his ears and he would be like a parrot that parrots it back.
[00:25:06] We live in a world where we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. And it will go on until the end of time.
[00:25:19] Let's look back at Jesus. How did he respond? Maybe Jesus is not agreeing with all of this.
[00:25:25] Now I want to take you back to the temptations in the wilderness. Remember, I just read this for you. I want you to notice Jesus response because it is shocking. Luke four six, verse six. Remember, Satan says, for it has been delivered to me and I will give it to whom I will. If then you will worship me, this will all be yours. And Jesus answered him and said, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. You know what gets me about this? You want to play the game again? Here's how we play the game. What's really weird about this is Jesus. Does Jesus contradict Satan? Does he say, no, you're wrong?
[00:26:07] Nope, he doesn't. He agrees with the devil and he approaches it from a different angle.
[00:26:17] What is really weird about this verse? As I was studying through this message for this morning and I came across this verse that just talks about how the kingdoms of the world are constantly influenced by the spiritual realm. I even read about Jesus'temptations in the wilderness and he does not look at the devil and say, ha, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard.
[00:26:39] He doesn't contradict him. He doesn't say, you don't control things. I do. He doesn't do any of that.
[00:26:47] So maybe church, just maybe the devil is right.
[00:26:54] It was delivered to him and he can give it to whoever he wants.
[00:27:00] Satan is the prince of the power of the heir, the spirit. Now that is work in the children of disobedience. Satan does give power to the authorities and nations. But church, here's what I think. Satan gives power to authorities of nations and countries. But he also posts somebody that is in the spiritual realm to whisper into the ears of the leaders.
[00:27:25] Satan will make sure that he continues to maintain control. He's not stupid. He's not going to let it just go willy nilly. He's going to post some soldiers. He's going to make sure it's done like he wants it done. The demonic realm still whispers into the ears of flesh and blood authorities and kings.
[00:27:43] And so we are told to put on our armor. We are told to go into battle, we are told to get ground back.
[00:27:50] It is a war that we are in and we are told to put on the armor and be ready and stand firm when the evil day comes.
[00:27:58] This all belonged to God at one point. And Satan sin stole it from God. This is why when Abel was killed, you remember the first thing that God said to Cain? He said, cain, where's your brother, Abel? Cain had just killed his brother.
[00:28:14] And Cain said, I'm not my brother's keeper. I don't know where he's out doing something. I don't know, am I my brother's keeper? And God said, I got to find him because his blood is calling to me from the ground.
[00:28:28] Interesting.
[00:28:31] At one point, God was compelled to destroy his own creation because of the evil that was in it. You remember that occasion, the flood?
[00:28:42] Nations that outright reject God's authority today, by the way, will also outright reject any citizen that claims to follow God's authority. First, the number of countries in which christians have been harassed rose every year except one, from 2013 to 2019. Did you know that?
[00:29:04] Let me read it for you one more time. The number of countries in which christians have been harassed rose every year except one from 2013 to 2019. The number of countries that christians are not safe to live in in 2024 has risen from 102 in less than ten years to 153.
[00:29:29] Open doors USA gives these statistics.
[00:29:33] 360,000,000 christians last year lived in countries where persecution was significant.
[00:29:40] Roughly 5600 christians were murdered last year. More than 6000 were detained by authorities or imprisoned, and another 4000 were kidnapped.
[00:29:52] These massacres, these abuses, are rooted not in acknowledging, not in acknowledging, necessarily acknowledging God, not acknowledging the authorities of the nation in which they lived.
[00:30:05] This is the hammer coming down by the authorities that are because these christians are being a hassle.
[00:30:11] Christians are at the top of the list because they acknowledge God's authority rather than whoever the authority of the nation is that is in place. Satan is fully invested in setting up nations under authorities that reject the authority of God, rulers, authorities, spiritual forces in heavenly places.
[00:30:32] Now, you might be thinking to yourself, oh, man. This is a really interesting subject, and maybe I'm thinking about it for the first time. So now I'm going to kind of get to the end here by giving you one of the best illustrations I think the bible gives us.
[00:30:45] There was a country called tire in the Old Testament. Not tire like on your car tyre. All right. Tyre. This country was very powerful at one point. This country had a lot of land, a lot of people, and a lot of power.
[00:31:00] In Ezekiel, we are told about the king of Tyre and the prince of Tyre.
[00:31:06] The prophet is told to go speak to the king and give him a message. And here's what he's told to say. Ezekiel 28, verse one. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, who are we talking to? Let's play the game.
[00:31:22] The prince of Tyre. Thus says the Lord God, because your heart is proud and you say, I am a God, I will sit in the seat of the gods in the heart of the seas. Yet you are but a man and no God, though you make your heart to be like the heart of a God.
[00:31:42] All right, this is written to who again? Prince of Tyre. Yeah. All right.
[00:31:48] Does the prince of Tyre think that he's a God or a man?
[00:31:54] It's right there. Does a prince of Tyre think he's a God? Small g. Or a man thinks he's a God. Right. God corrects him and says, hey, you think you're a God, but you are a what? You are a man. Okay, good. Condemnation of this. Prince of Tyre, saying, listen, you're no God.
[00:32:13] You're human, flesh and blood. You had a start and you'll have an end. You're just a human being.
[00:32:20] But the verses that follow are extremely unique.
[00:32:25] In verse eleven, the prophet then talks to the king of Tyre. Verse eleven. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, raise a lamentation over the. Read it there. Who is it? Oh, sorry. Let's switch it.
[00:32:40] Yes. Raise a lamentation over the. Who are we talking to? King of tyre. And say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were. Now, listen carefully. You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was on your covering. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian. Cherub, I placed you. You were in the holy mountain of God. In the midst of the stones of fire. You worked. Was the king of Tyre in the Garden of Eden? Yes or no?
[00:33:16] Yes, he was back up one slide.
[00:33:22] One slide. There you go.
[00:33:24] Was the king of Tyre in the Garden of Eden?
[00:33:27] Is the king and tyre flesh and blood or something different?
[00:33:33] The king of tyre is not flesh and blood.
[00:33:37] The prophet Ezekiel is told to go to the powers that rule Tyre and say to the prince of Tyre, you're an idiot. You think you're a God. You are flesh and blood. Now, hang on a second. I got something to say to the guy right over your shoulder, who was in Eden, who is not flesh and blood, who is whispering into your ear, and I've got something to say to him. Back off.
[00:34:02] Isn't that interesting?
[00:34:07] This demon looks over the shoulder and it's like the prophet can see him and addresses him after he addresses the human puppet that he's just talked to.
[00:34:20] Crazy, right?
[00:34:23] There are not different global agendas, which is crazy if you think to yourself, why is there only one global agenda? Do you know what the global agenda is? Global agendas of Unity. This is the global agenda. Unity built on human strength. And they are all strikingly similar because they originate from one location. Nobody comes up with a globalized idea that does not originate from the one location. And the one location is prince of the power of the air. And he whispers into the humans that be. And he says, let's get bigger.
[00:34:59] Let's make unity.
[00:35:01] Let's not include God in this. Let's say you can do that.
[00:35:06] Nobody really needs God. So how about we just kind of. We do this on our own? And while we're at it, let's build a big tower in the middle of a nation.
[00:35:16] The goal of globalization is to break down God's ordained institutions that have the ability to protect and preserve truth.
[00:35:25] Globalization is, after one thing. To break down the institutions that God created. And you remember what those are? Tribes, clans, nations. Remember, those make up the nations in our day and age. You know what we call them? Individuals, families, nations and God's people.
[00:35:44] That's who you find in any nation around the world.
[00:35:48] Satan's goal is to blur all the boundaries so that your family is not yours any longer. It's the global family. It takes a village so that your church isn't so distinct. Let's join with the other churches. After all, we're mainly on the same page.
[00:36:08] The goal of globalization is to simply break down all of the boundaries that God has put in place.
[00:36:14] This pattern has always been the same. Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Russia, Germany, blah, blah, blah. They're all the same. Let's build a world built on one simple idea. Global dominance under one authoritative structure.
[00:36:31] The only country, by the way, and I don't want to get political, but it should be said, the only country in the world ever that has gone against this idea is the United States of America.
[00:36:44] We are the only nation that has ever existed on the planet that goes into a war and wins and gives the countries back and lets them rule their own. And lets them rule their own structure, their own authority, and gives them land back. The only one. Every other nation that has ever existed on the planet has gone for global dominance. The USA has never done that.
[00:37:04] And the reason is because we are built on a judeo christian ethic. This is God's plan.
[00:37:11] Borders with their own independent laws and leaders, ruling over their families, their clans, and their nation.
[00:37:19] Global agendas of unity built on human strength. Look at this. Up on the board are strikingly similar. Why? Because they originate from one location, the demonic realm. And they move toward a common objective. And what is the common objective of globalization? To unify the world without yielding to God.
[00:37:42] We are just seeing appetizers right now, but the main meal will eventually come. Antichrist will arrive at some point, and he will succeed. And globalization will become a reality. And it will become an interesting place to live on this planet.
[00:37:55] The world will become united, but not under God. They will be united under another guy who thinks he's God.
[00:38:03] And it says that in two Thessalonians two, when the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every other so called God or object of worship, so that he takes a seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be what church?
[00:38:19] Somebody needs to be the ultimate authority. And whoever's playing you for globalization is playing you for the authority over you, your family, and your nation and your church.
[00:38:32] The good news is there's not just spiritual forces working their power on the evil side, but there are spiritual forces working for the good, too. Daniel twelve and verse one. Look at this. Daniel tells us, at that time shall arise Michael, the great prince, who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation. Interesting way to put that. Until that time. But at that time, when globalization occurs and nations are broken, but at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name is found written in the book God is telling Daniel, there will be a day when globalization does work. The Antichrist will be revealed, and you will be saved.
[00:39:17] God has spiritual powers engaged for righteousness over nations as well.
[00:39:24] And the truth be told in the book of revelation. God gets it all back.
[00:39:29] This is just stuff.
[00:39:31] God gets it all back.
[00:39:34] No more crying. No more pain. We will have him as our God. New Jerusalem will come. And with the descent, we will be one globe, united under the authority of God. Which is from the beginning, how it was meant to be, and in the end, how it will be.
[00:39:50] Revelation 22 three no longer will be anything accursed but the throne of God. And the lamb of God will be in it. And his servants will worship him. They will see his face, his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. There'll be no need of lamp or sun for the Lord. God will be their light. And they us, church, us. The church will reign forever and ever.
[00:40:11] So don't fret.
[00:40:13] Globalization might take control. One day we may end up with one head, ruler over it all. We'll be looking at it, going, oh, boy, when are we building the tower? Let's see the tower. I can't wait to see the tower.
[00:40:25] But even then, know that God wins it all back. And listen, you should know this. In our day, God is working behind enemy lines. This is an area that Satan does maintain control over with his little demonic realms. But God is still taking ground. This is why Jesus said, all authority has been given to me. Because he says, now I give you the authority, the church. Now you go out and you take ground behind enemy lines.
[00:40:55] He takes ground back through the church. This is why Satan hates the church and is always seeking to divide it. Because we are doing the process of reconciliation now, being one as a group. Canadians, Americans, Hispanics, whatever. We are all together as a people. There's no jew, there's no greek, there's no slave, there's no free, there's no female, there's no male. There's no one that arcs over the other for any other reason. Because we are equal under God. Jesus is our brother. We are a family brought together as a globalized community inside a nations, inside a globe of nations.
[00:41:36] Two corinthians five says this. All this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is in Christ.
[00:41:44] God was reconciling the globe, the world, to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. The new has come. We are taking ground today. And Jesus said, if you take ground for me, where people will come into my family and recognize me as their authority, not even the gates of hell can withstand you.
[00:42:11] The gates of hell. Don't move. They stay firm. What we do as a church, we charge through and we take prisoners for God's glory.
[00:42:22] Sound like a war, doesn't it? We should put on our armor, don't you think?
[00:42:27] So what? Number one, it is essential to pray for kings and authorities.
[00:42:35] These demonic forces have always been and will always be at work. It's essential that church. We pray. We pray for those in charge of us who lead over us. One Timothy two, one says this. First of all, is this second on? Let's play the game. Is this second on Paul's mind? Third, fourth? Or is this first on his mind?
[00:42:56] All right. This is like when you start a sentence. Okay, listen, I'm leaving the house. You children are in charge. First of all, shut off the fireplace. All right? Whatever it is, this is the first thing I want you to do. First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for how many people church, particularly verse two. For who?
[00:43:20] Kings and all who are in high places. First of all, pray for kings, presidents, princes, all who are in high positions. Why? Verse two, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God. Our savior church. Your prayers might just keep demonic forces at bay in our nation.
[00:43:53] That crazy.
[00:43:55] First of all, this is important. Pray for your leaders.
[00:44:01] Our prayers can bring a shadow of godliness behind enemy lines, and this is good and pleasing to God. Why is this so important? The next verse tells us because God's desire is that how many people be saved? Church.
[00:44:18] Yeah.
[00:44:19] Who desires that all people might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? You want to know the best way to get your nation a prosperous, thriving nation? Get the kings and the princes to bow their knee to Jesus Christ.
[00:44:36] More power doesn't do it.
[00:44:38] More people that think like they do doesn't do it. Better words don't do it.
[00:44:45] Surrendering to Jesus does.
[00:44:48] God can break through the whispers of humanistic philosophy of any nation, and only hearts are changed by Jesus when they can withstand the demonic forces against them. So, church number one, pray for our leaders. Number two, don't fret. Don't fret. God's power is always greater.
[00:45:10] If it's dark in this room and we turn on the lights, what wins? Darker light, always and every time. And it works that way in the spiritual realm as well. One. John four says this. Verse three. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you've heard was coming and is in the world already. Little children, however, you are from God and have what church? Oh, come on. Next one. I'm sorry.
[00:45:39] Little children, you are from God and have what?
[00:45:43] And have overcome them. For he who is in you is greater than he is in. Who's greater then? Is God greater? Or is the demonic forces in the world greater? Who's greater?
[00:45:54] This passage speaks about the Antichrist that have come and the ones that will come and the one, the big one that will come.
[00:46:01] But the power that christians have always wins. God will always take prisoners from behind enemy lines and bring them into freedom. God never loses those who belong to him.
[00:46:14] Those who follow Jesus cannot beaten by those who do not. Bottom line, God's power is greater than any other power. All right, number three. Live as though it is the end, even if it is not the end. This is the armor of God idea. You ever do a now and later candy?
[00:46:32] You wonder why I call it now or later. Those hard candies, I think I figured it out. Like, you put it in your mouth and you get this immediate feeling, like this sweet feeling, and ever. And then inevitably you want to chew it, and then like 8 hours later, you go, oh, every time I rub it with my tongue, I can taste the. It's kind of disgusting. But it explains the now and later idea. Don't you think we live in the same way as the now and later idea? We live now as if it is the end, but it's not the end. We take land back for God now by yielding to his authority over everything and everyone around us. We proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ as if their lives depended on it.
[00:47:15] We charge into nations. We cross boundaries with the only message that can ever bring unity, justice, and hope in a sin fueled world. Why would I say that? Back to the beginning, verse, act 17. So that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. We cross every nation, every boundary, everything that cuts us off from the rest of the globe so that we can give them the good news of Jesus Christ, so that they would seek him and maybe find him. In a world of distinct nations, cultures, divisions, the greatest change that people need and the greatest change that can do them good is not in hiring a new leader. It's not in electing a new leader. It's not in coming up with a better political idea.
[00:48:09] It's surrendering to the authority of Jesus Christ.
[00:48:12] God is taking ground behind enemy lines. He's still doing it today. And he's setting up camps where this can happen called churches. And these churches go out unashamed, bold, courageous into the world.
[00:48:28] And we bring people into the knowledge of the truth.
[00:48:33] If Jesus waits for another millennium to come back, are you fighting for truth and justice? Now, why would I do that? Because I've seen example after example of cities and nations brought back from destruction because the message of God was carried into that nation.
[00:48:52] The first one that comes to mind is Nineveh.
[00:48:58] Nineveh in the Old Testament. Jonah. You remember the story of Jonah? Jonah did not want to go to these people. I just had this conversation with somebody yesterday, and it just reminded me of how amazing this was. Jonah did not want to go to these Ninevites. They weren't jewish. They weren't like him. They were a different culture. They were in a different nation, and they did bad stuff.
[00:49:17] God said, forget you. Just go do what I tell you to do. Like a right? Just. Just go. Jonah said, I'm not going to do it. So he tries to run away from God. You know the story, right?
[00:49:27] Then he goes, finally, after getting swallowed by a whale, thrown overboard to all that stuff, swallowed by a great fish. Sorry. Then he ends up going, he's all bleached. He looks like trash. I mean, he just spent three days in the belly of a fish, smells bad. He walks through the gates of the city. I can imagine these guys going, whoa.
[00:49:47] And then Jonah says, all right, here's the deal. You got to bend your knee to God. If you don't, he's going to destroy you. And you know what? The city does great revival.
[00:49:59] Nineveh, by the way, has been a bastion of Christianity through generations. And it wasn't until ISIS rose up over the last couple of years that this has become one of those nations. They kicked all of the Christians out.
[00:50:12] They were an amazing christian nation since Nineveh. Can you imagine that?
[00:50:17] Since Jonah's time, Jonah was unhappy with this. And the book ends in a tragic way, because Jonah's sitting on a mountain thinking to himself, I got all these new brothers and sisters. I don't like them. They don't smell like me, they don't look like me. I don't want to have anything to do with. They are trailer trash, and I am a jew.
[00:50:37] And he's sulking.
[00:50:40] God comes to him and he says, why are you sulking?
[00:50:43] These are his words.
[00:50:45] Because I knew. I knew you would save them.
[00:50:51] That an awful thing.
[00:50:53] I'm sulking because I knew you'd save them. You know what that tells me, oh, there's so much work to do. There's people that need to be brought to Jesus, that live in different countries, look different from us. They do different things from us. We're all different. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same. We bring it to every nation, every culture. We bring it to every country, and we say to them, listen, you need to bow your knee to Jesus Christ. The fields are white under harvest. There's only one thing we're lacking. Know what we're lacking? People pray, therefore, the God of the harvest, that he will send forth workers into the harvest. The only thing we're lacking are your feet. And this I finish with. How blessed are the feet of those who bring the good news of the gospel of peace. So I urge you, church, put your armor on. We're in a battle. You take your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace and walk into the battle. Don't be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it, because there are spiritual forces influencing nations to trash God and his people. And the only thing that can save it is, number one, our prayers, and, number two, our feet.
[00:51:59] Let's make a difference.
[00:52:01] Lord, we pray that you would give us the grace we need to accept this truth, to accept what we've heard, even though it's not something we typically hear in church, but it is very real.
[00:52:16] I mean, how many demons did you talk to? One on one?
[00:52:21] So forgive us for forgetting that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but it is it against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. And let us pray. Let us pray as if those prayers build spiritual walls to keep the devil back and your word moving forward.
[00:52:39] Use us in any way that you can to salvage this generation and maybe even father, maybe even see a revival where you take more and more people from behind enemy lines. Satan may think he owns the ground, but your church crashes the gates, and we build your kingdom one person at a time.
[00:53:03] Thank you for using us. We don't deserve it, but we're excited to be enlisted.
[00:53:08] Give us the power to do it in Jesus'name I pray. Amen.
[00:53:13] All right, that was a little different, but we come to communion, and so let me introduce it a little differently, as well.
[00:53:25] We don't just get the power of God because obviously, because we're not of one nation or we're not the right color or the right background. We have the power of God working in us because of one thing, and that is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:53:42] If you don't know Jesus as your savior. You do not have that power at work within you.
[00:53:48] That power you need, you absolutely need, especially in this world today. So I would urge you, if you need to talk to somebody about that, let today be your day of salvation.
[00:53:58] Don't let this fall on deaf ears. You got to do business. That's what the prayer banner is here for. We want you to go over there afterwards and get this done. You can put your head on the pillow tonight and know absolutely for sure what side you are on.
[00:54:12] We can help you in any way that we can. And God will give you peace beyond understanding.
[00:54:20] For those of you that do know Jesus Christ, you've followed him. You've given your life to him. You bow your knee to his authority. We do communion because it's a celebration of what it took to get us there. We don't just get this. We get this because it costs something. It cost our savior his life. He came here for one reason, to die. That's why he lived a sinless life. That's why he took on a flesh and blood body. And that's why he was put into a tomb. His body was killed. His blood flowed. It was all to fulfill prophecy so that that blood would be the thing that covers the sins of all mankind, all humankind.
[00:55:00] So when you come and do communion with us, you take the juice and you take the cup. When you come up front, you'll hear the band play. Just come up and take from the front. If you want to join us at home, you're more than welcome to do that as well. Grab something at home. We want to do this together as a family.
[00:55:15] Take the cup off the top and the one off the bottom. The bottom has the bread and the top has the juice. This represents what Jesus did at the last supper, when he sat with his disciples and he explained to them, this is what it takes to make you right with God. It takes me giving my blood and my flesh for you. And so when we eat and we drink, that's what we celebrate.
[00:55:41] All of that is because of his grace and nothing else.
[00:55:46] It's not because we're in the right nation.
[00:55:49] Definitely not. And it's not because we speak the right language or have the right color of skin. It's because Jesus came to save the world.
[00:55:58] And if you would like to be a part of that, we invite you to do that. If you are a part of it, celebrate with us by drinking and eating the bread.
[00:56:07] The band's going to come up. They're going to play. You can come up and grab those things. Don't eat or drink. Just hang on to it. I'll come up. I'll read a passage of scripture. We'll eat and drink together. The reason we do that is because I, like you, am flesh and blood.
[00:56:23] And all of us need to celebrate what makes us right with God.
[00:56:30] There's nothing that separates us from God except our sin. And that we all share.
[00:56:36] So celebrate with us. I invite you to let me give you a moment of silence. Just as you're sitting in your seat, spend a few minutes with Christ. Thank him for his salvation. And then we'll eat and we'll drink together. All right?
[00:57:20] Thank you, Father. That there's no foe you've ever gone or will ever go up against that will best you.
[00:57:28] And because of your victory, we have victory. Because you rose, we will rise.
[00:57:35] Everything we have to brag on is because of you first.
[00:57:39] And so that gives us nothing to brag on but you. So this morning, as we eat and we drink one more time, remind us of the price it cost to give us this privilege.
[00:57:57] And help us, Father, to look at ourselves in a very real way, humbly, honestly recognizing who we are and who you are.
[00:58:06] As we eat and drink again today, help it not just to be another moment, another Sunday.
[00:58:13] But may you remind us, fresh and new, the cost of our freedom.
[00:58:21] The cost to save us from the spiritual realm that would seek to do us harm. The cost of our salvation.
[00:58:31] Thank you for your spirit who gives us the power to overcome. May we celebrate that right now. In Jesus name. Amen.
