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Series Code: AFNB
Program Code: AFNB002217S
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00:03 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:09 Doug Batchelor: Many legends and stories from around the world 00:11 talk about flying dragons, and some may even contain a kernel 00:15 of truth. 00:17 Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized bones of giant 00:21 flying reptiles called pterosaurs or winged lizards. 00:25 They've got long, thin beaks, bony crests on their head. 00:28 The largest pterosaurs weighed over 500 pounds and had a 00:32 wingspan of nearly 40 feet. 00:34 It's like a small Cessna airplane. 00:36 Pterosaurs had necks that were up to 10 feet long and the legs 00:40 up to 7 feet long. 00:42 To someone watching from the ground, the legs trailing behind 00:45 the flying pterosaur might have looked like a flying dragon 00:48 with a pointed tail. 00:50 Some pterosaurs may have even survived the flood. 00:53 In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about 00:57 winged serpents in Arabia. 01:00 Friends, we know of at least one dragon that exists today. 01:04 The dragon is also known as the devil. 01:07 While some people think he's just a religious legend, 01:10 scripture insists that he is very real and determined to 01:14 deceive as many as possible. 01:15 So, join me today as we take a closer look at this enemy, the 01:19 one the Bible reveals to be the notorious dragon of Revelation. 01:27 Doug: Now, as we always do, we use Bible stories to understand 01:32 these theological teachings of the Gospel, and 01:36 tonight is no exception. 01:37 We're going to look at a story that you find in the book of 01:39 second Samuel chapter 14 dealing with Absalom. 01:44 Absalom, his name, it means peace of the father. 01:48 We've learned shalom means peace, Abba means father or 01:51 papa, and so he was one of the favorite sons of King David. 01:57 And Bible tells us that he was handsome, he goes to great 02:03 lengths to say that from the sole of his foot to the crown of 02:06 his head there was no blemish in him, and it talks about how he 02:11 had this long, luxuriant hair that would grow so much every 02:14 year that he would even--they'd weigh it. 02:17 He had, like, five pounds of hair a year, you can 02:20 imagine that. 02:21 Obviously, I didn't get his genes. 02:24 I found that, theologically, hair gets men into trouble in 02:27 the Bible. 02:28 Look what happened to Samson. 02:30 Anyway, there's a scripture that says, "Go up thou bald head." 02:34 That offers me hope. 02:36 That's true. 02:37 Anyway, so he had this long hair and he wanted to be king, he's 02:42 very--David didn't give him, maybe, enough discipline, and he 02:47 was a little pampered prince in the palace of King David during 02:50 the glory days, got everything he wanted, everyone kind of 02:53 adored him, and he became very self consumed and very proud. 03:01 Now, he had an older brother named Amnon that was really next 03:04 in line to be king. 03:06 When Amnon mistreated Absalom's sister, Absalom had his brother 03:10 killed, and then he fled the kingdom for a little while. 03:14 Eventually, he wormed his way back into the favor of his 03:16 father, back into the kingdom, and then after that point, 03:20 Absalom would go and he began to exalt himself in the kingdom. 03:25 It actually says he got 50 men and horses to ride before him 03:29 and say, "Here comes Prince Absalom," and everybody 03:31 everywhere he went, it was like a parade. 03:33 He was a superstar in the kingdom. 03:35 He was in all the tabloids, I suppose, because of his good 03:38 looks, and then when people came to King David and they needed to 03:42 have some judgment issue resolved, Absalom would meet 03:45 them at the gate before they got to the king and say, "What's 03:47 your problem? 03:49 Oh, yeah that makes good sense. 03:51 I'm with you. 03:52 If I was king, I would judge in your favor." 03:56 And he started to do what some of the politicians do where he 04:00 blew sunshine at everybody and tried to make everyone feel they 04:04 were so wonderful, and he would embrace those that came to the 04:07 king for judgment, and the Bible tells us, you can read in 2 04:10 Samuel 15, he did this probably for a couple of years, "he stole 04:15 the hearts of the men of Israel." 04:17 Now, you steal something that doesn't belong to you. 04:20 He took the allegiance of the people that they should have had 04:23 for the king from David, who was a good king, and they took it, 04:28 and he stole it for himself. 04:29 Finally, when he realized that he had more support than David, 04:32 it broke into an open rebellion. 04:35 Absalom got some of the leaders and the generals and the people 04:39 to support him. 04:40 They blew the trumpet, said, "Absalom is king in Hebron," and 04:44 then as he was making his way to Jerusalem, a messenger told 04:46 David, "Absalom is trying to steal the kingdom." 04:49 David said, "Look, he's going to destroy the city," and David 04:52 took some of his soldiers and his family, they fled Jerusalem. 04:55 Bible says David went up the Mount of Olives weeping. 04:57 Do you know Jesus went up the Mount of Olives weeping also? 05:00 Wept over Jerusalem. 05:02 Finally, they engaged in battle, and, you know, like Alexander 05:08 the Great, you read in the Bible David never lost a battle. 05:13 The Bible talks about David fighting with the Philistines 05:16 like Goliath, Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites, Syrians, 05:20 Egyptians, he never ever lost a battle. 05:24 So, it's not smart to go to battle against David. 05:27 And David's smaller group of soldiers, they routed Israel and 05:31 those who followed Absalom, and as they were retreating, the 05:34 Bible tells us that Absalom on his mule, he was riding through 05:38 the woods, and he looked back to see if he was being gained upon, 05:43 and his head got stuck in a low branch, in the fork of a branch 05:47 of an oak tree, calls it a terebinth tree, and the mule 05:50 went out from under him, and he was left hanging between heaven 05:54 and earth. 05:55 You can read this here in 2 Samuel 18. 05:57 "The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth 06:00 tree, and his head caught in the terebinth," probably his 06:02 hair got wrapped up, all that beautiful hair. 06:04 See, I told you, it gets you in trouble. 06:07 So, he was left hanging between heaven and earth. 06:10 Now, before I go any farther, here you've got a picture of a 06:15 son of David hanging from a tree between heaven and earth. 06:19 Do you find that picture in the New Testament? 06:23 And then when Joab the general saw him there, and he--the 06:26 general Joab fought with David, and he thought "This young 06:30 spoiled brat has caused all this death in the kingdom," even 06:34 though David wanted everyone to show Absalom mercy, Joab said, 06:37 "He's just going to cause more problems," and he took three 06:39 darts and pierced his heart, and like the nails in the hands and 06:45 feet of Jesus. 06:46 See, Jesus became sin for you and me. 06:48 Jesus took the evil for you and me. 06:52 But the rebellion of Absalom is an allegory for something that 06:56 happened in heaven. 06:58 Our study tonight is on the Prince of Pride, and let's look 07:03 at the story from the lesson in our--from the questions we're 07:07 going to see in our lesson today, and I think we're going 07:08 to learn a lot from that. 07:10 First question, what was the name of the rebellious Prince in 07:13 Heaven, and why did he rebel? 07:16 You can read here in Isaiah Chapter 14, verse 12, "How you 07:21 are fallen from heaven, O," what's that name, "Lucifer, son 07:26 of the morning!" 07:27 Nothing wrong with that name, that was the first name. 07:29 Lucifer means light bearer, and he may have lived millions or 07:35 billions of years before he finally rebelled, we don't know, 07:38 but he was the highest of God's angels. 07:41 What caused his problems? 07:43 It says, "You have said in your heart, I will be like 07:46 the most high." 07:48 So now, if you have your Bible and you turn to the book of 07:50 Isaiah chapter 14, start with verse, oh, 12, "How you are 07:55 fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! 07:57 How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened 08:00 the nations! 08:01 For you said in your heart," he didn't betray it openly first, 08:05 "'I will ascend into heaven. 08:07 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.'" 08:11 Stars are often used to describe angels, and the Bible tells us 08:14 that in Revelation. 08:16 "I will also sit," meaning enthroned, "on the mount of 08:19 the congregation." 08:20 They'll all worship me. 08:22 "'On the farthest sides of the north,'" that means the highest 08:24 place, "'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. 08:27 I will be like the Most High.' 08:30 Yet you will be brought down to Sheol. 08:32 To the lowest depths of the Pit." 08:35 So, here you've got this very powerful, not just very 08:38 powerful, the most powerful angel of God, and he begins to 08:44 think, "God is getting all the worship, Jesus has the power to 08:48 create, why don't I have the power to create?" 08:51 And even though the other angels adored Lucifer, and he probably 08:53 led the Heavenly choir, Bible alludes to his musical ability, 08:58 he began to resent that he didn't have ultimate power. 09:02 It says, "Your heart," this is now Ezekiel 28, the prophet 09:05 there tells us, "Your heart was lifted up because of 09:07 your beauty. 09:09 You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." 09:13 You know, sometimes if a person is very intelligent and they're 09:15 good looking, then they can get a lot of praise from people, and 09:18 with praise, you get pride. 09:22 Pride, you start wanting more and more attention and more and 09:25 more power, and that's what happened to Lucifer, began to 09:28 resent that he was not God. 09:30 He wanted the top job, and he started resenting that, and he 09:35 thought, if I can get all the angels to join me, my power and 09:38 all the power of the angels, we could overthrow God, and I could 09:41 be God. 09:43 Well, to you and me right now that sounds like a ridiculous 09:46 idea, that the creation could somehow overthrow the Creator. 09:49 Now, when He, when God knew that Lucifer was first beginning to 09:54 become preoccupied with His power and His wisdom and His 09:57 beauty and think that I could be God, God could've said, "Look, 10:01 he's going to be a troublemaker, I'm going to snap My fingers. 10:04 I'm going to blink, and he is going to just disappear." 10:09 God could do that. 10:10 God is all powerful. 10:11 One of the definitions of God is He's omnipotent, He's all 10:13 powerful, but what would the other angels think if God had 10:18 said, "Lucifer, you shouldn't be questioning Me. 10:20 Poof, there you go. Anyone else got questions?" 10:24 The other angels would go, "Oh, maybe Lucifer is right, but we 10:28 better not say anything." 10:29 They would have doubted the goodness of God if God had just 10:32 snuffed him out when he started his rebellion. 10:36 And it says, "Because of your beauty. 10:40 You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." 10:43 He had this this glory, this beauty, like Absalom, went to 10:49 his head. 10:50 And I heard a pastor say one time there's four kinds 10:52 of people. 10:54 You got people who are beautiful on the inside, but they might be 10:58 average, most of us are pretty average on the outside. 11:03 And even though they might just be, you know, normal on the 11:06 outside, because they're beautiful on the inside, they've 11:10 got a winning disposition and a quick smile, and people want to 11:12 be with them, and they're good listeners. 11:15 Everybody wants somebody like that, and people love those 11:17 people, they're beautiful people, but they might be homely 11:21 on the outside. 11:23 Then you've got people who are beautiful on the outside, but 11:28 they're proud on the inside. 11:30 I knew this one girl, and she spent all of her spare time 11:33 reading Glamour magazine, and she was a very attractive young 11:36 lady, but she knew it, and she was always looking at herself, 11:40 always pulling out a mirror. 11:42 She could not walk by a glass window without checking herself 11:45 out, and her friends used to tease her, because she was 11:47 obviously pretty preoccupied with her appearance, and guys 11:50 wanted to date her, but they didn't want to marry her. 11:54 It's kind of like those two guys who were sitting in church one 11:56 day and in walks this man with a very beautiful wife. 12:03 And they kind of all turned around and looked, and he 12:05 elbowed his friend, and he said, "That guy's wife always looks 12:07 like a million dollars." 12:09 He said, "Yeah, it's costing him a million dollars a month to 12:11 keep her looking that way too." 12:15 So then you got the people who are, you know, they're beautiful 12:17 on the outside, but they're kind of selfish on the inside. 12:20 Then you got a very rare individual that is beautiful on 12:24 the outside and they're beautiful on the inside. 12:28 The Bible says a beautiful woman without discretion is like a 12:30 jewel of gold in a pig's nose. 12:33 Did you know that? 12:34 That's what Solomon said. 12:36 So, if you've got a person who is beautiful on the outside, but 12:39 they don't have the beauty on the inside, it's kind of wasted. 12:42 But what you really want is that woman you find in Proverbs 12:45 chapter 31, she's a beautiful woman and she's a beautiful 12:49 wife, the beautiful woman, person, and same thing with men, 12:52 of course. 12:54 And then the fourth category we don't want to talk about, that 12:57 would be the ugly-ugly, inside and out. 13:02 But Lucifer started out beautiful-beautiful. 13:07 God made him beautiful, but he made himself ugly, and that's 13:11 what people need to understand. 13:13 Question number two, one of the biggest questions of the night, 13:15 did God make a devil or a defective angel when He 13:20 created Lucifer? 13:22 Well, what does the Bible say? 13:24 "You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created." 13:28 It tells us he wasn't born, he's created. 13:30 You were perfect, "Until iniquity was found in you," and 13:34 some of you might be arguing, no, no, Doug, you can't have it 13:37 both ways. 13:38 God cannot be all knowing and all powerful and not know that 13:40 there was something defective about Lucifer. 13:42 I mean, didn't God know that he would ultimately go bad? 13:44 Yes, He did. 13:46 Then why did He make him? 13:48 Cause us all these problems? 13:50 God needed to demonstrate what was the truth all along, that He 13:54 makes His intelligent creatures perfectly free, because you 13:58 cannot love unless you're truly free. 14:02 Doug: Don't go anywhere, friends. 14:03 We're coming back in just a moment to complete 14:05 today's presentation. 14:07 Have you ever wondered before if God is loving, if God is good, 14:11 why would He make a devil? 14:13 Well, we have a special study guide we'd like to send you for 14:15 free by the same title, "Did God Create a Devil?" 14:19 In this beautifully illustrated and scripture-filled resource, 14:22 we'll address the very important questions regarding the origin 14:26 of evil. 14:27 Where did the devil come from? 14:28 Why did Lucifer rebel? 14:30 How did he turn into Satan and the devil? 14:32 And more importantly, how can you have victory over 14:35 his temptations? 14:36 To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen and 14:39 ask for offer number 107 or visit the web address. 14:43 And after you read this incredible resource, make sure 14:46 and share it with a friend. 14:47 Well, let's get back now to today's presentation and learn 14:50 some more amazing facts from the Word of God. 14:54 Doug: Now, a way that I'd like to illustrate this is I'm 14:57 workin' on an app. 14:59 You didn't know that I do my own programming. 15:02 And how many of you want love? 15:06 Show of hands? 15:08 C'mon, some of you say-- [grumbling] 15:11 Of course you want love. 15:12 I like to be liked, don't you? 15:14 I mean, compared with the other option. 15:17 I mean, who wants to be hated? 15:18 I'd rather be liked than hated, so. 15:20 And we all like affirmation and appreciation and love and 15:24 affection, I as much as others. 15:28 And so, I've developed this new app to help improve 15:31 our self-esteem. 15:36 smartphone: Good evening, Doug. 15:38 Doug: Good evening, smartphone. 15:39 smartphone: I want to tell you something, Doug. 15:41 Doug: We're all listening. 15:42 smartphone: I want to tell you how much I love you. 15:46 It's because you're just, well, you're so lovable. 15:49 Everything about you is adorable, and you're just 15:53 so intelligent. 15:55 You're brilliant and you're smart and you're so 15:58 good looking. 15:59 It's just absolutely stunning. 16:01 You have the strength of Samson, you have the wisdom of Solomon, 16:05 and the courage of Elijah all wrapped up in one of the most 16:09 absolutely remarkable--that's why I love you, Doug. 16:12 I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. 16:16 Roses are red, violets are blue, and I love you. 16:17 I love you, Doug. 16:19 Doug: Oh, I feel so much better already. 16:22 Don't you think this'll sell? 16:25 I've got love now. 16:30 Do you think it really makes me feel better? 16:32 Why? 16:34 I program it to say all those things. 16:36 Even though they're true, I'm the one who made it say all that 16:40 stuff, so it doesn't really love me. 16:42 Smartphone doesn't love me, it's a piece of electronics. 16:45 Does God want robots? No. 16:49 If God had made us robots that say, "I love you, God. 16:51 I love you, God. I love you. 16:53 I praise you, Lord, I praise--" 16:54 If you're not really choosing to do it, it's not love. 16:57 Forced love is not love. 17:00 Forced love is sometimes called rape. 17:03 It's got to be freely given, and so if God had made only 17:08 creatures that would love Him, it stops being real love. 17:12 God made creatures free with the ability to make independent 17:16 choices, and Lucifer said, "I think I love myself more." 17:23 And that's when everything went bad. 17:25 See, God originally designed us where our greatest fulfillment 17:28 comes from expressing love away from ourselves. 17:33 Something was going wrong inside Lucifer because he just began to 17:37 think about himself more than God, resent that God was getting 17:40 more power and had more power and was receiving more adoration 17:44 than him, and the compass needle flipped around, and it started 17:49 pointing inward, and that's when you begin to self destruct. 17:53 That's what happened to the human race, selfishness. 17:56 It's what happened to Lucifer. 17:57 What finally happened? 17:58 Well, Lucifer began to circulate among the angels, and when he 18:02 realized he could not be God, he thought, well, I'll get the 18:04 other angels to support me. 18:06 Don't underestimate his power, how clever he is, and how 18:09 persuasive he is, because the Bible says he was able to 18:12 persuade a third of the angels to believe him and to follow him 18:16 in his rebellion. 18:18 "And a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought 18:23 with the dragon," who's the dragon represent? 18:27 He represents Satan. 18:30 "Michael and his angels fought with the dragon: and the dragon 18:32 and his angels fought." 18:34 You read about this in Revelation, I told you this is a 18:36 prophecy seminar, and all this is going to play into prophesy. 18:39 The devil is mentioned quite a bit in the book of Revelation. 18:44 What powerful beings work under the devil's command? 18:48 Well, we sort of just alluded to that. 18:50 You can read here in Revelation 12, verse 4, "His tail drew a 18:55 third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth." 18:59 Who are these stars that were following Lucifer? 19:04 They're angels also. 19:05 You can look at Revelation chapter 12, verse 9, "He was 19:08 cast to the Earth, and his angels were cast with him." 19:11 So, most of the time when we say, "Well, the devil tempted me 19:16 or the devil made me do this," of course, the devil doesn't 19:18 make you do anything unless you're demon possessed. 19:21 I think it was Flip Wilson used to always say, "The devil made 19:23 me do it." 19:24 You can't always blame the devil, and, first of all, the 19:26 devil is not omnipotent. 19:28 He doesn't know everything, he can't read minds and hearts, but 19:31 the devil has fallen angels, his minions, probably millions 19:35 of them. 19:36 One third of the angels in heaven, and if God has guardian 19:40 angels for every person and there are billions of people in 19:42 the world today, do you know the Bible actually gives us the 19:45 highest number that is found in Greek, it applies to the angels 19:48 of God, 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. 19:54 Tries to describe this innumerable company of angels, 19:58 they're described as coming in a cloud when Jesus returns. 20:01 So, God's got a lot of angels, but one third of them followed 20:05 Lucifer in his rebellion. 20:07 He kept saying, you know, "God's not fair. 20:09 We should have more freedom. 20:10 We don't need God's laws to govern us. 20:11 We should make our own. 20:13 We should have the power of God to create, have our own worlds," 20:15 and as he began to plant those desires in his heart and the 20:19 hearts of the other angels--by the way, what did he tell Adam 20:22 and Eve? 20:23 If you eat this fruit, you'll be like God. 20:25 That's what he wanted. 20:26 He began to plant his desires in the hearts of the other angels, 20:30 and they followed him in his rebellion. 20:32 Ultimately, they were cast to the earth because there was only 20:36 on earth that Satan found another race of creatures made 20:41 in God's image that followed him instead of God. 20:46 God said, "Do not eat of the tree." 20:48 The Word of God said, "Do not eat of the tree." 20:50 Lucifer said, "Go ahead, eat of the tree. 20:52 You'll be like God." 20:54 Adam and Eve had to make a decision, who do we obey? 20:57 When they chose to obey Lucifer instead of God, Paul says in 21:01 Romans chapter 6, "Whoever you obey, that's whose servant 21:04 you are." 21:06 The dominion of the world that Adam had received was handed 21:08 over to the devil, and even Jesus calls the devil the prince 21:12 of this world. 21:13 So, the prince of this world comes and he has nothing in me. 21:17 That's why the devil said to Jesus, if you fall down and 21:20 worship me, you don't need to die for this world. 21:21 I'll give it to you. 21:23 He claims the dominion of this world. 21:26 When the devil meets God in some heavenly meeting and God says, 21:29 "Where did you come from?" 21:30 God knew, but He's asking for the sake of others, said, "I 21:32 came from the earth, from walking up and down and to and 21:35 fro in it. 21:36 It's my territory." 21:37 So, people say why is there all this evil in the world? 21:39 It's because our first parents made a decision not to follow 21:44 God, and God--He allows things to play out. 21:48 You know, we live in a country where we get to elect 21:51 our leaders. 21:52 And what we elect, we experience for the next four years. 21:56 Good or bad, does--I'm not advocating any party, just 22:01 you're going to live with the consequences of your choices, 22:04 and that's what's happening in the world right now is we are 22:07 living out the consequences of the choices that were made by 22:10 our first parents. 22:11 But it's going to come to an end soon. 22:13 God just wanted the whole world to see what is the result of 22:16 following the devil's government. 22:18 The devil said, if I was in charge, we'd be happier in 22:20 the universe. 22:22 God said, all right, you found a world that's listening to you, 22:24 let's see how that goes. 22:26 And if Jesus had not come to our world to intervene--that's why 22:29 we pray. 22:30 See, if we don't pray, the devil's really in control 22:33 of things. 22:34 It's just the mercy of God that intervenes to protect. 22:37 Otherwise, he'd exterminate the whole planet. 22:41 You know, I like science, and black holes are 22:43 kind of fascinating. 22:46 It's a collapsed star, and they've pretty much proven the 22:50 existence of these black holes, and the density of matter in a 22:55 black hole is so incredibly powerful that, you know, matter 22:59 creates gravitational pull, the gravitational pull of a black 23:02 hole is so incredible that light, which travels 186,000 23:06 miles per second, cannot even escape. 23:09 It just sucks in, and the devil is like a black hole. 23:13 Everything is about me, me, me, and people who follow the devil 23:18 in the world, they've got the same attitude. 23:20 All of their thoughts are, how will this affect me? 23:22 What's in it for me? 23:25 Jesus, on the other hand, everything Jesus did was love. 23:28 What's the great command? 23:30 Love the Lord, love your neighbor as yourself. 23:34 See, with the devil, it's you first; 23:36 everything else is secondary. 23:38 With God, it's God first, it's others first, and then it's you. 23:42 The devil is the polar opposite of God when it comes to values. 23:46 The plan of salvation, you're born again, and instead of being 23:49 controlled by selfishness, you're now controlled by love. 23:53 It changes your life. 23:55 The polarities reverse, so now you think about others, you 23:58 love because Jesus loves others. 24:01 Now, before I go any farther, when David finally learned that 24:04 Absalom had died hanging in a tree, pierced, you know, when 24:11 Absalom was running, you remember he was caught by the 24:14 hair and he was hanging in the tree, and Joab and his soldiers 24:18 executed him, and that hearkens to another son of David that 24:24 died hanging into a tree, in a tree between heaven and earth 24:28 that was pierced. 24:31 And it says, "When David heard this, he was deeply moved." 24:35 And, years ago, Karen and I got word that while we were 24:39 overseas, one of our children died in a construction accident. 24:43 And I can't tell you--I would not wish that grief on any human 24:51 to know that suddenly, unexpectedly, a beautiful son 24:55 has died and you didn't get to say goodbye. 24:59 Just heartbreaking. 25:01 And David had such high hopes for Absalom. 25:05 Says, he went and he said, oh, he was much moved, and he went 25:10 over the gate, and he wept, and everybody could hear him 25:12 weeping, and he said, "O, my son, Absalom, my son, my son. 25:18 If only I had died in your place. 25:19 O Absalom, my son, my son!" 25:23 And where else do you find that phrase? 25:25 God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. 25:29 Jesus, who is a son of David, died for you and me that we 25:34 might be saved from sin and from the Devil. 25:38 The Bible says, "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the 25:41 sea, for the devil has come down having great wrath because he 25:44 knows his time is short." 25:46 Question is, friends, do you know the time is short? 25:49 We're living in right near the end of time and soon everybody's 25:52 going to have to make a decision one way or the other. 25:54 Don't wait. 25:56 1 John 4:4, "You are of God, little children, and you've 26:00 overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is 26:04 in the world." 26:05 Don't say how it's going to be hard to follow the Lord. 26:08 Life's hard. 26:09 It's a lot easier following Jesus than following the devil. 26:12 It's easier being on your way to the promised land than being a 26:14 slave back in Egypt, can you say amen? 26:18 So, will you make that decision to turn your eyes towards Jesus? 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