Participants:
Series Code: PME
Program Code: PME230121S
|
00:01 ♪♪
00:13 >> Well, hello and welcome to worship here 00:16 at Pioneer Memorial Church. Really glad to welcome all those 00:19 joining us in person. Thank you for joining us. 00:22 And really glad to welcome all those joining us online, 00:25 as well, from wherever you are. Thank you for joining us. 00:29 Okay. I want invite you now to turn to your worship 00:31 bulletin, or you can read along on the screen, as well, the call 00:35 to worship. And it reads... 01:04 Amen. I want to invite you to stand for the invocation, 01:07 and then you can remain standing for the opening song after that. Let's stand together as we pray. 01:15 Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are gathered here today, 01:21 both in person and all the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of locations online, 01:27 because we sense our desperate need of you. So, as we continue in worship 01:33 today through the songs and through praise, through the teaching of Your Word, 01:38 just thank you for blessing each person that's gathered to seek your face today. 01:42 For we do thank in the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen. 01:47 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 02:02 >> Good morning, Andrews family. So at the beginning this week, I got a little stressed out 02:09 and I was really worried. I added about five or six credits, and, so, I was really 02:13 stressed about how this week was going to go. 02:16 So, when I was in my dorm room later, like, that night, 02:19 I sat on my bed and I was like, "Okay, I'm going to have a 02:23 prayer, try to calm down, have my devotional, take my time." 02:27 And I just prayed. I was like, "God, please, please help me. 02:31 I know that You're -- I know that my problems are small, but I know that You're greater 02:34 than this and that You can get me through it." And my week went pretty solid, 02:39 to be completely honest. Like, I got through everything, and I had 02:44 a pretty good schedule, and I was pretty happy with it. And I'm ready for next week, 02:48 obviously. But I just kind of wanted to tell you guys this because our 02:53 God is greater than our problems, even if we think they're small. 02:56 So, please sing with us as we sing about our God and His greatness. 03:01 [ "Great Are You Lord" begins ] ♪♪ 03:06 ♪♪ 06:58 >> So, our Scripture reading today is found in 07:01 Psalm 103:20, 22. "Bless the Lord, you His angels, 07:05 who excel in strength, who do His Word, 07:08 heeding the voice of His Word. Bless the Lord, all you 07:11 His hosts, you ministers of His who do His pleasure. 07:14 Bless the Lord, all His works, in places of His dominion. 07:18 Bless the Lord, O my soul." 07:21 [ "Goodness of God" begins ] ♪♪ 07:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 11:39 ♪♪ 11:52 ♪♪ ♪♪ 12:05 >> ♪ There is a balm in Gilead 12:13 ♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ There is a balm in Gilead ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul 12:40 >> ♪ Sometimes I feel discouraged ♪ ♪ I think my work's in vain 12:52 ♪ But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again ♪ >> ♪ There is a balm in Gilead 13:14 ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul 13:25 >> ♪ There is a balm in Gilead ♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ There is a balm in Gilead 13:48 ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul 14:00 >> ♪ If you cannot preach like Peter ♪ ♪ If you cannot pray like Paul 14:08 ♪ You can tell the love of Jesus ♪ ♪ And say He died for all 14:19 >> ♪ Tell the love of Jesus ♪ And say He died for all ♪ He died for me 14:28 ♪ He died for you 14:39 ♪♪ >> ♪ Balm ♪ Gilead 14:54 >> ♪ There is a balm in Gilead ♪ To make the wounded whole ♪ There is a balm in Gilead 15:19 ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul ♪ There is a balm in Gilead ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul 15:43 ♪ There is a balm >> ♪ To heal the sin-sick soul >> ♪ There is a balm 15:56 >> ♪ There is a balm >> ♪ There is a balm >> ♪ There is a ba... 16:08 ♪ ...alm >> Amen. >> Amen. 16:21 >> "All my life, You've been faithful. And I will sing 16:28 of the goodness of the Lord." Thank you, Liesl, Michael... Ed Joseph at the piano, 16:39 Cheyenne at the violin. We've been in worship. We needed that. 16:49 We needed that for today. As you'll see. So let's pray. 16:55 Oh, God, all our life... 17:03 ...You've been faithful. 17:08 And, so, we will sing, as we have, of the goodness of the Lord. 17:16 Be good to us now through Your Word. We humbly pray in Jesus' name. 17:21 Amen. 17:23 Do you know what an avatar is? Hmm? 17:32 The world's gone gaga over avatars. 17:37 Get this -- "Avatar 1," and four weeks ago, "Avatar 2," as we 17:41 would call it. 4.9 -- excuse me -- 17:45 $4.8 billion garnered. $4.8 billion. 17:52 Highest in history. Unbelievable. I suppose there are nations on 17:57 Earth that would love to have $4.8 billion given to them. And that's what we Westerners 18:05 shelled out to watch avatars. So what's an avatar? 18:12 Most people have no clue what an avatar is, and I certainly didn't, 18:15 so I went to Wikipedia. You're going to be surprised. It's a word from Sanskrit. 18:22 Okay? Here we go. On the screen, Wikipedia. 18:42 End quote. So who's this spirit on Earth that's trying to get everybody 18:49 to believe he's the God of this Earth? Is he in "Avatar 2"? 18:56 How'd we get in this mess? Wasn't he the one that instigated this -- 19:01 what do they call it -- great controversy, war? Come on. 19:07 Avatars. Are you serious? Avatars and angels. 19:14 'Cause the truth of the matter is... we've got a capital-G God 19:23 named Christ faced off with a little-G god named Satan. And you can't help it. 19:32 You're stuck in the middle of this war. And so am I. 19:38 Avatars and angels. Because when you have a day of prayer like we did on Wednesday, 19:43 a beautiful, beautiful day on these three campuses, both sides draw very near. 19:50 Because in a day of prayer, there's provided a supernatural realignment of alliances. 19:59 Everybody wants you to be on their side. Avatars and angels. 20:06 Because in a universe of free choice, you get to choose. Which is why there's part two 20:12 to a prayer we began together, you and me, last week. Two-part prayer. 20:18 Two petitions in one prayer. We got the first one. Now, if you weren't here 20:23 this last Sabbath, let me give you a video trailer back story. 20:26 You remember the fishing buddies, Peter and John? You remember them? 20:30 Followers of this Jesus of Nazareth. So they're having a day of 20:34 prayer, an afternoon of prayer at the temple. They're going. And you remember the story. 20:37 There's a lame man born lame 40 years ago, never been able to walk. 20:42 They see him. They take pity on him, and boom, silver and gold I don't have. 20:46 But what I have in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk. 20:50 He walks. There's a crowd that gathers. You can understand. 20:54 And the moment there's a crowd, the authorities are there. The two boys are arrested. 20:59 They're thrown in jail overnight. We'll get you in the morning. 21:02 They release 'em in the morning. They bring him before the supreme council. 21:06 And they utter this threat -- "You will never again ever teach using the name Jesus 21:11 of Nazareth in your teaching. If you do, we will silence you." And not long afterwards, 21:18 John Boy's older brother, James, was beheaded by this council for speaking about Jesus. 21:25 They're serious. The boys go to their group. They have a prayer meeting. 21:30 It's not an all day of prayer. It's an all night of prayer. And we went to that prayer last 21:36 week. We only read the first half. Notice now -- avatars and 21:40 angels -- the second half. Okay. Open your Bible with -- You brought your Bible today. 21:45 Good for you. Open your Bible to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. 21:49 We'll go straight to the heart of the prayer that has two petitions embedded in it. 21:55 We'll go to the first petition. So this is Acts chapter 4. They're in the middle 21:59 of the prayer, but they now get to the petition. Here we go, verse 29. 22:02 "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable Your servants 22:07 to speak Your Word with great" what? With great boldness. 22:12 We're not threatened. They can cut our heads off. We're not going to quit talking. 22:16 But we need courage. Enable us to stand up for You on this campus with courage. 22:24 Give me that courage. I can't do it alone. It's a good prayer to pray. 22:30 And then they say, "Send in heavy artillery. We need help." 22:34 Where's the heavy artillery? Well, it's certainly not in the first part of that prayer. 22:42 No heavy artillery there. So what's the second part? Well, read it. It's verse 30. 22:47 "Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name 22:52 of Your holy servant Jesus. They quietly petition God. "We need heavy artillery. 23:00 Stretch out Your hand." By the way, whose hand is being stretched out? 23:03 Oh, this is Your hand. We don't have a hand to stretch out. 23:14 I'm intrigued by this phrase, "signs and wonders." So I check it out 23:20 this last week. 20 times it appears in the Bible. 23:23 It is a technical phrase. It isn't just a throw aside. No, no, no. Something's embedded 23:31 in those words, in Hebrew or Greek, "signs and wonders." 23:35 It's code language for supernatural intervention in the war, the great 23:39 controversy, that's what it is. Code language. "Send us heavy artillery." 23:44 "Signs and wonders." 20 times in Scripture. Half of those times 23:49 are describing the ten plagues over Egypt. You know why the ten plagues 23:55 happen? Because there's a capital-G God and there are little-G gods, 23:59 and God is trying to appeal to Pharaoh. "Pharaoh, come on, 24:02 I'm the capital-G God. You go with me, boy. What do you have? 24:06 Those little-G gods? They're nothing." Pharaoh says, "I'm not going 24:09 with you. I have my own little-G gods." "Oh, yeah? Show them to me." 24:13 And ten times, God marches through the pantheon of Egypt. Gone. Gone. 24:19 Every God that Pharaoh brings forward -- gone, gone. They're all avatars. 24:26 "I am the living God." God takes that iron fist of Egypt, 24:34 releases the children of Israel and they're set free. Signs and wonders. 24:39 And by the way, it's not just an Old Testament phrase. It's used in the New Testament. 24:42 No plagues, you can understand. But Jesus three times uses the phrase. 24:46 The Book of Acts four times displays and uses the phrase "signs and wonders." 24:51 Paul uses the phrase himself, "signs and wonders." When Paul uses it one of those 24:55 times, we understand why the signs and wonders are such a big deal. 24:59 Watch this. This is Paul over here in Romans 15:18 25:03 Paul says, "Hey, listen, guys, in Rome, I will speak of what Christ has accomplished though 25:08 me in leading the Gentiles" -- the pagans -- "to obey God by what I have said and done." 25:13 Now I want to show you how he got people to believe what I was saying and doing. 25:17 Here's how he did it. 25:25 That's how people came to believe, they saw. And by the way, the tricky thing 25:30 about signs and wonders is both sides use them. It's not the monopoly of one. 25:35 Both sides have the razzle dazzle. Signs and wonders. 25:41 That's how they came to believe. Let's be clear. Signs and wonders are not 25:45 about power in you. They are not about power in me. They are not about the power 25:48 of a Pentecostal preacher. Though he may claim it. Nope, they are divine. 25:55 The ultimate source is divine. The imitation source, you know who. 26:02 Paul insists they are the power of the Spirit of God at work. Will we see them 26:09 in our lifetime? I think so. May we participate them -- 26:14 participate in them one day? I think so. I think so. But I'm going 26:21 to push this farther now. I'm going to share with you a concept you may never have 26:25 thought of before. And I'm going to tell you in advance what the concept is 26:31 and then put a line on the screen that led me to this concept. 26:36 Fascinating. And namely it is this. It was through the power 26:41 of angels that our Lord Jesus himself performed all his miracles. 26:49 Angels. Come on, Dwight, lay it on me. Okay. 26:53 "Desire of Ages." Love that book. 27:05 "...through the ministration of" what? Of angels. Keep reading. 27:10 "And it is true Christ, by the ministry of His heavenly messengers" -- 27:14 the Angels -- "that every blessing comes from God to us." Hmm. Now you're making me think. 27:22 Are angels Heaven's delivery system of all that is good, including signs and wonders? 27:28 You know what? We have simply not grasped, as a generation, we have not grasped 27:34 the significance of the ministry of angels in our midst. We just blow them aside. 27:40 We have not. We have not. If every one of Jesus' miracles was performed by angel 27:47 intervention through Jesus command -- No, get it right. 27:50 Jesus is the one giving the commands. "Be healed." 27:54 "Daughter, your faith has healed you." "Get out of him now." 27:59 If every command of Jesus is immediately responded to by celestial beings 28:06 that are greater than you, that are greater than I... Oh, yes, they're greater. 28:12 Where is it, Psalm 8. I've been trying to memorize Psalm 8. 28:15 And in Psalm 8, the old King James -- Speaking of the creation 28:19 of the human race, David, speaking of God, he says, "You have made mankind. 28:25 You have made humanity a little lower than the angels." The Hebrew word there is Elohim, 28:34 a little lower than God. We'd like that part. But the New Testament says, 28:38 "No, he means angels." Quote said, "A little lower." So whoever these celestial 28:45 beings are, don't look at -- let's not look at each other and say, "Huh? Like us." 28:50 No, not like us. Bigger. 29:01 Does that mean, Dwight, that the angels that appear in the Old Testament 29:04 or the New Testament, all those, this is they? Yeah. 185,000 Assyrian warriors. 29:11 Remember that? 185,000 Assyrian warriors one night woke up dead. 29:18 Gone. The Bible says one angel went through. 29:22 Ten plagues in Egypt. Gone. What's going on here? We're in a war. 29:30 And once upon a time, there was war in Heaven. And those angels split. 29:36 One third of them followed a brilliant being named Lucifer. Two thirds said, 29:42 "No, we're staying with Christ." And, thus, the war was engaged. Wow. Avatars in angels. 29:53 This is no fairy tale war we're talking about, is it? My. The healing of the layman, 29:59 they called beautiful. Who did that? Was that Peter? "In the name of Jesus of 30:04 Nazareth, get up and walk." Peter gave the command. Guess who did it? 30:09 Angel. Boom. Wobbly legs. Suddenly. Chhk. 30:13 Never walked on in 40 years, and now the man's dancing. Name of Jesus. Let's be clear. 30:20 Angel. Boom. Wow. Signs and wonders. 30:28 Supernatural interventions by God through his angel friends. His angel servants. 30:34 His angel armies. Angels and avatars. Am I making all this up? 30:42 Well, the avatar part, You can thank James Cameron for that. 30:46 But the angel part. Hmm. Listen to these triumphant angel declarations. 30:53 Oh, I love this. Everybody knows -- Oh, excuse me. 30:56 I left a story out. I thought I was going to skip it, but we're going 31:00 to get the story anyway. You remember when Paul and Silas were in prison? 31:03 You remember that? Their backs lacerated. You remember that? 31:06 They're in shackles and stocks. And what are they doing? What are they doing in prison? 31:12 You remember that story? What are they doing? They're singing their hearts 31:16 out, true? Praising God and praying. And all of a sudden -- poosh! -- 31:21 and "Jailhouse Rock." Man, that place just went thump. "Acts of the Apostles." 31:25 "All heaven was interested in the men" -- Paul and Silas -- "who were suffering for Christ's 31:30 sake, and angels were sent to visit the prison. At their tread, the earth 31:34 trembled." Here they come. 31:46 God doesn't mess around. And I hope what you're 31:49 getting here, I hope it's growing in your mind. 31:51 I hope you're thinking very carefully now because 31:53 this is a bright audience. 31:55 I know you're beginning to think, "Man, if angels showed up back then and they could do 31:59 that, could they be of help to me today?" I hope you're thinking that. 32:05 Avatars and angels. Which do you want? Ugh. Come on. 32:11 Hebrews 1:14. 32:18 Take a look around. Anybody in this room is meant to inherit salvation? 32:22 You have an angel sent to minister to you. There's an angel standing by you 32:25 right now. 32:30 Wow. Well, give me another one, 32:33 Dwight. Okay. Psalm 91. 32:35 Oh, by the way, the fallen angel, 32:37 Lucifer, you do remember him. The fallen angel that became 32:40 Satan, he once met Jesus in the wilderness, and he quoted 32:43 to Jesus this very Psalm. He did a little bit of cut 32:45 and pasting, and I'm going to show you where he did 32:47 the cutting and pasting. 32:48 But he quoted this because this is a big angel promise, and everybody knew it back then, 32:53 and we need to know it today. Psalm 91:11. "For He" -- God -- "will command 32:57 his angels concerning you." And Lucifer says, "That's all." We don't need anything more. 33:03 And this screen -- Dwight, change the slide quick. I don't want them to see 33:06 the rest of the line. No, Jesus knew what the rest of the line was. 33:10 "And He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." 33:15 If it's the angel of God working on you, he will never guard -- 33:19 he will never guide you into violating your conscience. He will never guide you 33:23 into darkness. He will never guide you into behavior 33:27 for which you are ashamed. He will never guide you that way. 33:30 He's always standing there. When you're contemplating a fork in the road, he's saying, 33:34 "Come on, girl, we're going this way. This is the way. 33:37 You go that way... it's your choice." Lucifer didn't want us to know 33:43 that. He didn't want Jesus to know that either. 33:45 Keep reading. "For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you 33:48 in all your ways. And they" -- the angels -- "will lift you up in their hands, 33:52 so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." That's what Lucifer quoted. 33:57 But keep reading. Lucifer left this out, too. 34:06 Quiz time. Question one. Who in the Bible is called a roaring lion? 34:10 Hmm. Who's called a roaring lion? Who in the Bible is called 34:15 that old serpent? Satan. The power of angels will enable 34:21 you, even if you face the incarnation of evil himself, will enable you to trample 34:28 that enemy assault. We're not talking about Mickey Mouse Disneyland 34:36 fairy tale moments now. This is the war -- and we have no choice -- 34:42 that we are engaged in. Wow. You know what? God must love you a lot. 34:49 He must really love you a lot. I mean, I'm looking at you. You look like a lovable person. 34:53 But God must really love you. I mean, look at you. He must love you a lot to assign 34:59 one of these celestial beings who are greater, these beings, than we are. 35:04 Talking about unselfish. Why would one of these beings -- I have one standing beside me 35:09 right now. I had a woman in church once who saw my angel standing 35:12 right here, and she had been involved in the occult, so I knew that her eyes had 35:16 a way of seeing that normal human eyes don't see. I've never forgotten that story, 35:21 and I never will till I die. I have an angel standing beside me now. 35:26 Can you imagine? Little old you and little old me. The angel says, "I'll stay with 35:30 her her entire life. That's my covenant." "Are you serious?" 35:36 "I'm serious." Wow. 35:44 What's not to like about this? Angels and avatars. I don't know about you, 35:47 but I'm going with the angels. In fact, if there weren't an angel beside me now, 35:52 I'd have been dead years ago. Dead years ago. I can tell you a time and place. 35:56 Dead. Dead. Dead. You would have been dead. You wouldn't even be here. 36:02 Somebody's been looking out for you. Man, God must love you a lot. 36:05 Look at you. Praise God. But hands down, one of my 36:09 all-time favorite angel stories, and I'm gonna tell it to you right now. 36:13 See if you can guess it by the way we begin. "The lad" -- because the Bible 36:17 calls him a lad -- "woke up early that morning." Maybe he woke up to brush 36:20 his teeth. Can you guess it yet? Nope. Maybe he went outside 36:25 to have his devotions. Maybe he went to visit Mother Nature. 36:28 What we know is that he happened to, while he was out, take a peek over the wall 36:31 of the city, and what he saw on the other side of the wall, his stomach just froze. 36:37 Obviously, in the dead of night, enemy hordes have surrounded, besieged this town, 36:44 and there's no way out. He panics, races back, wakes up the sleeping prophet, Elisha. 36:49 "Elisha, Prophet, Prophet, come!" Elisha says, "Give me a minute." 36:55 He finally follows him. "Okay, I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm coming." 36:59 "Come. Come. Up. Climb up here." Elisha looks out. He says, "Oh. You don't know 37:07 what we're dealing with." And I love the ending to this story -- it's just two lines. 37:11 I love this. Elisha says to the lad, "Don't be afraid. 37:16 Those who are with us" -- are what? -- "more than those who are with them." 37:21 Isn't there a verse somewhere in the Bible that says, "Greater is he who is in us than he who 37:24 was in the world"? 1 John 4:4. There it is right there 37:27 in the Old Testament. Those who are with us are more than all the darkness. 37:31 Don't keep worrying. And then the prophet prays, "Open his eyes, O Lord. 37:37 Please, open the boy's eyes"... 37:51 And the boy. Chariots of fire. A wall of fire. 37:57 There are times when I pray for this campus and I say, "God, just surround us with that 38:02 wall." We may never see it in our lifetime. 38:06 But, Sir, keep the wall there, please. But there's no 38:13 greater angel story, in my humble opinion, than that one. Just because we can't see them 38:17 doesn't mean they're not here. A little book called "Truth About Angels." 38:21 Let me just share this line with you that, "Angels of God that excel in 38:24 strength" -- Psalm 103 -- "are sent to minister to those who shall be heirs of 38:29 salvation." That be all of us. "These angels, when they see 38:33 that we are doing the very utmost on our part to be overcomers, will do their part, 38:39 and their light will shine around about us and sway back" -- just shove -- 38:45 "back the influence of the evil angels that are all around us, as well, and will make 38:49 a fortification around us as a" -- what? "as a wall of fire." 38:56 Oh, my. Signs and wonders here at Andrews University. "They will make a fortification 39:02 around us as a wall of fire." God just loves this school. A wall of fire. 39:11 Then, how carefully and prayerfully you and I must fulfill our mission 39:15 and spiritual responsibilities to the young who are in our midst. 39:19 You are young and I'm looking at you. Proud of you. 39:26 Do you know the angel's attitude to you? Same book. Watch this. 39:32 "The angels are with us" -- This is written to a young adult, okay? 39:36 "The angels are with us every day to guard and protect us from the assaults of the enemy." 39:41 God knows we need it. "You are not alone in the warfare against wrong. 39:47 Could the curtain be rolled back" -- my young friend -- "you would see" -- see what? -- 39:51 "you would see heavenly angels fighting with you. This they must do. 39:56 It is their work to guard the" -- what? Guard the young. 40:01 Guard the balcony. Guard the back of the church. Guard the front of the church. 40:05 Guard the dorms. Guard the classrooms. "It is their work to guard 40:10 the young. Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of 40:14 angels minister to" -- whom? To the young. Some of us have been assigned 40:19 professionally to serve the young. We are here 40:23 for that solitary mission. That means the angels need us who've been assigned 40:34 to be on the watch. There's darkness in this world. And the wall of fire 40:43 can be penetrated by free choice. It's your choice. 40:50 It's my choice. It's every student's choice. Nobody's put 40:56 in the straitjacket. You will be covered by a wall of fire. 41:00 No, you don't want to fire? You prefer darkness? You may have it. 41:05 But it's your job and mine to make sure the choice. It's for the King of Angels, 41:10 Jesus himself. Ah. We're blessed to have three campuses. 41:15 God sure loves Andrews University, He sure loves Andrews Academy. 41:18 He sure loves Ruth Murdoch Elementary School. And I know that you who are 41:22 young are under attack. Come on, you've talked to me many times. 41:25 So I understand that part. I'm not negating that at all. Mnh-mnh. And I know that 41:30 sometimes, as a young thinker, because you're a good thinker. you cannot correlate 41:35 what you see and hear with what you know to be Jesus' will for your own life. 41:39 You spot the incongruence around you. You're not dumb. 41:43 You weren't born yesterday. You see it, and then you wonder, "What do I do now?" 41:48 Something's not right here. It's not adding up. I know what I was taught, but 41:54 what's this? I have two actions that you can take. 42:00 They're both simple. Action number one. Call on Jesus. Fernando Ortega. 42:05 You like Fernando Ortega? That song of his, "Jesus, King of Angels, 42:08 that's just a beautiful ballad. I mean, it's so beautiful. Jesus, King of Angels. 42:14 So here's your first action. You call on Jesus, King of Angels, to send 42:18 in reinforcements. You see darkness where darkness should not be. 42:23 You say, "Send in reinforcements." I don't care 42:26 how many angels you ask for. You just ask for angels. All they need 42:30 is just one prayer. Boom, you asked? Okay, so that's number one. 42:35 Call in reinforcements. Here's action number two. You can take this, as well. 42:39 If you discern that your friends, your peers need more protection from the forces of 42:45 darkness and you sense it, you see it, then you go to talk to somebody in authority. 42:51 That's your professor. That's your dean. That's an administrator. 43:02 That's a chaplain. You can go to a pastor. And I want to assure you, 43:09 if you say to that person of authority, "I need help. My friends need help. 43:14 We need this wall of fire to protect us from incoming darkness," 43:17 I am sure the one in authority will do what is proper for him or her to do. 43:25 You have been heard. You have been heard. After all, what did we just 43:33 read? In their work, the angels, tens of thousands minister 43:40 to the young, and every adult in this community is hired to protect the young. 43:50 You're in safe -- You're in good hands. You'll be okay. 43:56 These heaven-sent angels are a wall of fire to keep the darkness out. 44:02 They're here to protect you, who are young and. They're here to protect all of 44:07 us, to be honest with you. The truth for all of us is we cannot let moral values, 44:14 once protected and embraced, be ignored and effectively eliminated. 44:19 We can't. We cannot let a laissez faire spirit allow the enemy 44:25 to import his darkness into this place through a gaping hole in our fortification. 44:30 Close the hole. Close the hole. Keep it out. 44:41 Sometimes, in our efforts to protect the vulnerable, we may inadvertently, 44:48 unintentionally endanger the innocent. Of course we need to protect 44:55 the vulnerable. I get it. I want to be the first to do that. 44:59 But we need to protect the innocent, as well. Because if we're not careful. 45:06 What starts out as protection either becomes advocacy or can be misunderstood as advocacy. 45:19 And there is nobody that wants that. "Mission: Impossible (Maybe)." 45:28 Because it shouldn't be impossible around here to build a wall of fire from Heaven. 45:35 That should not be impossible. Mnh-mnh. Signs and wonders. The supernatural interventions 45:42 of God to protect his children. We must pray for these angel interventions. 45:46 We just concluded a day of prayer. Hallelujah. But you've got to keep praying. 45:51 You don't stop with one day. You just pray day after day. But listen. 45:56 Call on the angels, of course. But we can't ask them to do what is in our own power to do. 46:03 We need to speak up. We need to act. How different history would be 46:11 if one man named Martin Luther had not spoken up to challenge the incoming darkness, 46:17 the encroaching darkness. How different history would be if one man named 46:22 Martin Luther King Jr had not stood up to challenge the encroaching darkness 46:31 that must be challenged. You be that man. You be that woman. 46:37 History is changed by courage like that. This is God's school. 46:47 These are God three campuses. And, so, we must partner with God to keep the darkness out. 46:54 And call on the angels. "How many should we call on, Dwight?" 46:56 I don't know. 100, 1,000. That's good. Call on the angels. Hundreds of us pleading 47:03 with God, "Send the angels. Build the wall of fire. Surround us with chariots 47:11 that will defend us. This is your school, O God. This is not my school. 47:16 It's not his school, her school. This is your school. Save us. 47:23 Help us. John Dawson, 47:25 in his wonderful book, "Taking Our Cities for God," 47:28 makes a point I never read before. 47:31 And I got to share with you right now. 47:33 John Dawson. "The prayer of a human being can alter history by releasing 47:39 legions of angels into the Earth." You don't believe that? 47:49 He's right. Now, notice his conclusion. 48:04 "Are you serious? Angels come when I pray?" 48:07 Yeah, they come. Then call on the King of Angels. 48:12 And why would I stop? Oh, God, I ran into darkness 48:15 today. Send angels there. 48:17 Why would I quit? Send angels. 48:21 We need help. 48:26 Avatars and angels. Trust me, the avatars will not deliver you. 48:37 They will sell you short to the wrong master. It's not worth it. 48:44 It's not worth it. 48:50 So we must pray. There is no darkness Christ cannot overcome. 48:56 And by the way, he endured the worst, the most hellish darkness of all 49:00 in history when, on that cross for three dark, dark hours, He struggles. 49:09 The angels were held at bay. The Father himself chose not to penetrate that darkness. 49:17 And because Jesus has experienced that darkness, you and I may never have to live 49:22 in darkness again. If there's darkness in your life right now, ask Jesus. 49:28 That darkness can be removed. Needs your permission, Of course. 49:33 If there's darkness in your soul, call on the King of Angels. 49:41 He's got what you need. He has all the light. And when they show up, 49:45 it's light. We must ask. And, so, Elisha prayed, 49:53 "Oh, God, Lord, open his eyes so that he may see." And then, the Lord open the eyes 50:00 of the lad, and he looked, and on the hills, there were horses and chariots of fire 50:06 all around them. 50:12 So we must ask. 50:17 We must ask. Please. 50:25 How many angels should we ask? You'll know. Just ask. You'll know. 50:37 Would you pray? Would you be willing to be one of those 100 pleaders 50:42 that we need to ask God to keep sending angels this direction? I'm going to pray with you. 50:50 But I want to put the Connect Card here first electronically. If you're here, just text 50:57 MISSION3 to the number you know, 269-281-2345. Text MISSION3 51:05 to 289-- 269-281-2345. Because here's what I need. I need you to say yes to this 51:13 one. 51:14 And it'll set you right up to see this. 51:27 I'll ask Him. He, Dwight. I'll ask. I'll join you. 51:31 Come on. Would you really? Put a check mark there. Say, yeah, I'll do that. 51:38 Not costing you a thing. But it can make the difference for somebody who's in darkness 51:44 that needs light and deliverance. 51:52 And the other one? 51:58 Some of you have been thinking about baptism, haven't thought about it at all maybe. 52:04 It doesn't matter, either one. There's no sense -- There's no sense living 52:08 in a world in between these armies. Both sides want you. 52:15 Only one side died for you. And only one side can save you. And that's the Jesus. 52:21 Put a check mark there. Send a note to me electronically. 52:24 Say, "Yo, I'd like to think about it. I'm not committing to it 52:28 right now. I'm not going to make that decision. 52:31 I just -- Pray for me. Get in touch with me, will you? Get in touch with me." 52:37 If you put a check mark there, we'll be in touch with you 52:39 electronically. Why not? 52:42 Hey, they're choosing up sides faster and faster now. 52:47 Why not make your decision today? Come on. Today. 52:52 Today. Put a check mark there, send, we got it. 52:58 I want to pray with you. Oh, God. You must really love us. 53:04 This is unbelievable. Why would a God go to this much trouble to save 53:10 little old me, little old us. Oh. We don't understand the depth 53:18 of your love for us. But there isn't a soul here that doesn't understand the intensity 53:24 of the war going on right now. And we want to be on the right side. 53:28 Send angels to us, please. Send more angels. We're wavering. 53:35 We're not sure yet. Don't want to step across the line. 53:39 God, we can't live in between. No man can serve both sides. No woman can serve both sides. 53:44 You're either on one or the other. Send angels. 53:48 Waft the influence of Heaven over our minds and our hearts and let us choose 53:54 the King of Angels to be our Lord and Savior. Save us all in Christ 54:02 right now with that wall of fire. In Jesus' name. 54:11 Jesus, the friend of sinners' name. Amen. 54:18 [ "Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners" begins ] 54:23 ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:32 ♪♪ 56:41 >> Amen. Let's bow our heads for the benediction. 56:47 And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. 56:51 Lord, make His face to shine upon you 56:53 and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance 56:56 upon you and give you peace now and forevermore. 57:00 Let all the church say... Amen. 57:06 >> Thank you for taking the time to join us in worship today. 57:08 I'd like to spend another moment with you here at the end 57:10 of our program to share a word of hope. 57:12 In fact, that's what this little book is all about. 57:14 In these uncertain times, and let's face it, they're 57:16 uncertain all over this planet, this book, entitled 57:19 "The Great Hope," will help you understand 57:22 not just what God has planned for your future 57:24 but for the future of the entire human race. 57:26 Light keeps shining on this dark old world, and new truths, 57:29 long forgotten, are being constantly rediscovered. 57:32 If you need a fresh dose of hope for your life these days, 57:35 or you know somebody else who could sure use 57:37 that gift of hope, then I'd like to invite you 57:39 to grab your phone, dial our toll-free number... 57:41 887, the two words "His will." 877-HIS-WILL. 57:46 And at no charge to you, we'll get a copy in the mail 57:49 to you right away. Till the next time we meet, 57:52 may the peace and hope of the Lord Jesus be with you 24/7. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:13 ♪♪ ♪♪ |
Revised 2023-02-01