[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the host of the Lord this morning.
[0:21] Welcome to our worship service as we've gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful morning again as God has granted that to us.
[0:37] And we are again privileged to be here, to be together. Last night we did another wedding.
[0:50] And so we have this morning a baby announcement. We have new life and we have a wedding. We have a new family life beginning as well.
[1:04] And the Saturday before was a wedding as well. So the Lord is continually blessing and leading and showing His strength.
[1:15] And even though we face hardships and trials, it is the way of life here on earth. And so trusting that all of us are continually looking to the Lord for our strength.
[1:31] This morning I'd like us to get out of our routine a little bit. And just again stand up and greet our neighbor. Let's take two minutes.
[1:43] Let's take two minutes. So.
[1:59] All right. All right.
[2:43] All right. As we find our seats again. About a month ago, I had a message here titled, The Invisible War.
[2:59] As we started chapter 12. And this morning, we're going to continue that message. So, The Invisible War, part two. Or continuation.
[3:11] And that is the privilege of going through a series we can break off where we need to and keep going. Even though it's not always clean cut. But, so last, the last message we had talked about spiritual warfare.
[3:29] And that, that the very root of that is Satan lifting himself up against God, declaring himself to, to want to be equal with God, and, and forgetting that he is a created being.
[3:50] just like we are. And, and so, after that, there has always been enmity, strife, or strife is a very shallow word.
[4:05] There, there has been war. There has been war between God and Satan. And we looked at different aspects of that. And then we turned to chapter 12, and we looked at the beginning of the allegory, the story, using symbols and so on, to illustrate this invisible war.
[4:26] And that the woman representing Israel, God's plan of salvation through Israel, the dragon, Satan, and, and the child being the Christ child, Jesus Christ.
[4:42] and then being caught up to heaven again. And, and we ended up in, in, where the woman was carried away into the wilderness, fled away for three and a half years.
[4:57] And that leads us up to this morning. Just a thought before we engage there again.
[5:10] How many of us have perfect love? Oh.
[5:24] Let's turn to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. Verse 17 and 18.
[5:49] 1 John 4, verse 17. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
[6:04] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
[6:20] How many of us have perfect love? That is better. Thank you. I, I trust there's more of you than the hands that went up.
[6:32] You know, if we have been perfected, as in, become children of God, then we have his perfect love residing in us.
[6:46] Amen? We have his perfect love in us. And we, as we work out our salvation, that love overflows in many different ways.
[7:01] But one of the evidences of perfect love is that I am secure in Jesus Christ. And because I am secure in Jesus, I need not fear.
[7:19] Perfect love casts out fear. Remember that. When we are fearful, we are taking our eyes off of Jesus.
[7:33] And so, that is, as we engage in this chapter on warfare, let's keep that theme in mind.
[7:50] That we, God is not writing this to his children to cause fear, because we have been perfected. And I know that all of you, as in myself as well, our actions are not perfect yet.
[8:08] But our identity in Christ is. And he is day by day molding us to become more perfect as that love is being worked out.
[8:22] So let's turn back to Revelations, chapter 12. And let's continue the message there. We are at the midpoint of the tribulation period as we're working through Revelations here.
[8:39] So in the middle of the seven years, and in verse 7, the first, the first verse that is, that Eric read for us, it says, and war broke out in heaven.
[8:53] Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. So remember back in Daniel, we had, Daniel was praying and fasting for three weeks, and then finally, the angel comes with the answer, and he says, I was delayed for three weeks as I fought, and Michael, the prince, had to come and help me, ward off the demons, and so finally, I'm here to give you an answer.
[9:29] Spiritual warfare. Now, here in the middle of the tribulation period, war breaks out in heaven, and we have the parties identified.
[9:43] Michael, our chief prince, and his angels fought with the dragon, and who is the dragon? Satan, Satan, and his princes, or his angels, the two, Michael, and the good angels, Satan, and the demons.
[10:06] Now, this is very heavy. There's war in heaven before God, and it's like the last struggle as Satan wants to exalt himself before or to get at God.
[10:30] And there's, I don't know if you can anticipate or envision the fierceness of this battle that is yet future. As of today, it has not happened.
[10:43] And there will be a fierce, fierce battle, and I take it when it says in heaven, it means the third heaven where God is.
[10:56] In the presence of the Lord, there will be spiritual warfare like never before. The good news is that the dragon and his angels did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
[11:17] And at the midpoint of this seven-year period, Satan is denied access to God. And he is cast down to earth.
[11:31] And God has ordained it. No longer will the devil come before my throne. And that is the kind of the focal point of this passage as or in this story, I guess, this allegory is that evil is coming to an end.
[11:59] Not yet on earth, but there too the days are shortened or limited. And so we have a further description as we look at this invisible war of Satan.
[12:12] So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old. And we think of the serpent, we think of the garden of Eden, right?
[12:24] That's the first appearance of the serpent or Satan as a serpent. And so the great dragon, the serpent of old, called the devil and Satan.
[12:39] Various names for him. In heaven, before he was exalted himself, what was his name? Lucifer, son of the morning.
[12:54] And here his names have all changed and there's various names to him. the New Testament also gives names as in he is a murderer, a liar, the father of all eyes, but also the devil and Satan, which we are more familiar with.
[13:20] Verse 10 also brings out that he is the accuser of the brethren, accuser of the brethren, another name for Satan.
[13:36] And this very well-rounded description of our enemy and especially as believers to think that the dragon, the serpent, the devil the accuser who accuses us day and night before the father.
[14:03] That's a very sombering thought that Satan is accusing us before the father. You know, we are promised that we have an advocate, a mediator, or a person that is between us.
[14:28] And he is standing good for us. He is defending us before the throne. And when Satan accuses us, I trust it is mostly with lies, falsely accusing us.
[14:55] But do we sometimes give occasion for Satan to go there with truth? that's a sobering thought as well.
[15:10] And then the Lord Jesus in his grace still advocates for us. That is the grace of God as he defends us even when I've been guilty of that sin.
[15:30] And he says my blood has covered. That inspires me to live for the Lord.
[15:44] And it should inspire all of us to strive more and more to walk in the Spirit. So this is the picture this Satan has been cast out and is cast down to the earth and his angels with him.
[16:06] And then in verse 10 as we move down through this then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down and so there is a cry of joy I would say in heaven as they see their enemy has been cast out of their presence out of the heavens and but down to earth and salvation strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come so as evil is climaxing here and God shows Satan his boundary and he's cast to the earth we are going to see evil climax on the earth in the time that comes after this the three and a half years that follow there will be unprecedented evil meaning like never before and yet there is joy in heaven that the end is in sight the time of the reign of
[17:35] Christ is near and it's three and a half years away at this point verse 11 and they overcame him the saints overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to death what follows is persecution on a scale again that is unprecedented never before and the saints in the blood of Christ stood strong and they did not love their lives unto death in other words there will be martyrdom they will give up their lives for their savior it's like casting your crown at his feet and the crown being our life god this is going to mark the last three and a half years as the tribulation period saints will face this kind of opposition this is nothing new to the world there's always been persecution there's always been martyrdom but never to this extent and many of us have
[19:11] Mennonite backgrounds here when I've read books on the on the reformation the time of Meno Simons you know they thought they were in this seven year period because of the heavy persecution and martyrdom as they broke away from the catholic church and sought to bring truth back to life from the scriptures and Meno Simons one of our forefathers in the faith lived in that time and so you know it's always been I grew up here in Canada I've been extremely sheltered many of us have been very sheltered in our growing up in fact the first time I saw a body that had died a dead body was when
[20:11] I was I think 11 years old and it was of old age there are so so many places in the world where children grow up with death violent death all around them and we've been sheltered many of us have been sheltered from that and which is the blessing of the Lord that is what he would desire for that not to happen but this is going to come again in its severity only even worse and continuing in verse 12 therefore rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time so a proclamation in heaven as they rejoice woe to the inhabitants of the earth woe is you and it's speaking to the saints the believers during that time period and so it's going to be very very real to them this is this is the war that
[21:46] Michael spoke of in Daniel chapter 12 verse 1 I'm quickly going to turn there and read that verse just to connect the Old Testament with the New if you have your Bibles turn with me Daniel chapter 12 and chapter 12 is the end in Daniel where God will bring things to a head verse 1 says at that time Michael shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time and at that time your people shall be delivered everyone who is found written in the book prophesied in
[22:50] Daniel that when this time comes this last three and a half years known as the great tribulation period that there will be a time of trouble like never before but the good news is and Michael is told this your people will be delivered out of this and God will intervene for the Jewish people we see that in the scriptures as we continue in verse 13 now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time times and half a time from the presence of the serpent now as we look at this picture and
[24:07] Satan is cast to the earth our accuser to deceive the world have you ever pondered why has God allowed Satan to deceive why did God not cut his enemy off right in the start and cast them into the lake of fire who can help me out he has a purpose and what is that purpose okay so Satan is representing evil okay so it's so that we can choose between good and evil okay okay so that had to be dealt with first okay okay so deception means to deceive means that we actually believe the lie right
[25:54] Eve believed the lie Adam did not he says he sinned openly with his eyes open he ate of that fruit knowing he was going against God and Eve was deceived she believed what Satan was telling her was true who is in control of your life whether you are deceived or not it points back to us as individuals we can choose truth or the lie and God God has allowed that as well that we that we choose to worship him over over
[27:02] Satan who is now the God of this age so this is part and parcel we wonder why is God enduring with his enemy for so long and God is testing his creation as well now with this we see that that we have no excuse even as believers I often hear the phrases that that Satan was very powerful in this or Satan influence was very great in this and I couldn't resist does that fly it doesn't is
[28:04] Satan's influence great yes but but who do we have inside of us we have we have the Lord himself who is greater than Satan and never are we entitled to say that Satan's influence was so great I had to give in that is a lie from Satan always always God gives us the way out to every temptation and so as the one that would like to deceive us to believe the lie we are to turn to the truth as God's children and so that is maybe part of this as well when
[29:06] I give in to temptations it is because I am not walking in the spirit and I'm yielding to fleshly desires the devil is cast down for to the earth for a short time he knows that his time is short and if we turn to revelations 20 when Jesus Christ returns to earth what's one of the first things he does he chains Satan he puts chains on him shackles and he is cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years and at the end he is ultimately cast into the lake of fire so
[30:11] Satan knows all of this his time is short and he comes down to earth raging mad to work against God's children so that sets the stage for the last verses and because we have a communion service I'm going to stop here I just to so we don't go too late but we'll finish the chapter and Lord willing start chapter 13 next time but we will see God's provision for for Israel and one thing I want us to think about as there's martyrdom like never before scripture also teaches us that Israel the woman will flee to the wilderness and we had touched into that and she will be nourished and supernaturally protected why is
[31:20] God allowing Christians to get killed for their faith and Israel to be saved through this and we'll take that up Lord willing next week but give that some further thought on the outside it looks unfair but we need to understand God's program and it'll bring about fairness so with that let's close this portion I know it's very short but it's probably better that we do that and take the time to finish it off let's close in prayer for this portion Father as we look at your scriptures regarding this very dark time on earth that is yet to come
[32:25] Lord we thank you for your faithfulness that even as we read that your people will be strong in the faith and will not love their lives but rather lay them down at your feet and so Father we will see that your program will move forward and even in that that you will protect the church to take her out of this world before all of this and so as we ponder these things Lord we look to you in trust that you are in control and then Father above all I thank you that we do not need to fear that you have not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of boldness in understanding who we are in you and that we're covered by your blood so
[33:27] Lord as we move on to to have communion the breaking of bread together may you bless us in this as well and we just pray this in Jesus Christ's name amen at this point for those children that want to go downstairs for children's ministry down there you're free to go at this point again as families it's up to you whether your children stay in or not don they day into them as able as to the dak had ice cap
[34:29] Thank you.
[34:59] Okay. I think we can proceed. So as we have a communion service, why do we commune?
[35:13] Why are we commanded to have communion service? Okay, so to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[35:28] What else? There were one body. Okay. The new covenant.
[35:41] Salvation. His return. So all of these aspects are embedded in the concept of communion. And to commune has the very essence of oneness.
[35:56] A being in the body of Christ together in harmony. And in oneness as all of us have been put into this body by the Spirit of God.
[36:11] As we're baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now, as we partake of communion, let's focus for a moment on the return of Christ.
[36:26] As was mentioned. It's probably the last aspect of why we commune. And I just want to open it up for some sharing. A way of being. Why are you looking forward to the return of Christ?
[36:38] The struggle with sin will cease.
[36:48] No more aches and pains? Okay. You're looking forward to a new body?
[37:00] To be reunited with saints.
[37:12] To meet the Lord Jesus face to face. If there's something on your heart, open.
[37:37] Open your mouth. Bring it out. Bring it out. Why are we looking forward to His coming? Peace?
[37:53] Peace? Okay. Peace? Peter? To hear well done. Hmm. We all long for those words, right?
[38:06] Yeah. To see perfect love. The root of perfect love. Perfect love. To see perfect love.
[38:20] To realize our redemption. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[38:45] The strife and sin will be done. Yeah. As we sometimes say it, at salvation, we are saved from the penalty of sin.
[38:59] And as God then starts to work in our life to conform us to His image, that we are saved from the power of sin. And ultimately, when the Lord returns, we will be saved from the presence of sin.
[39:15] Three Ps. Three Ps. Three Ps. Three Ps. Three Ps. The penalty and the power and the presence. In their order. Some other thoughts. Some other thoughts.
[39:26] Why are you looking forward to Jesus coming? Okay. To see things clearly.
[39:38] Okay. Okay. Okay. That's a different aspect, right? Will we worship Him face to face?
[39:50] We will. No more death. No more death. No more death. No more death. No more death. No more death. Yeah.
[40:03] To see God in His full glory. There's a lot of reasons out there.
[40:19] Are we to focus on this? Should this be in our mind that we're looking forward?
[40:32] Absolutely. Absolutely. And so all of us need to have, to come to grips with this as His children. The Lord is going to return.
[40:46] And why am I looking forward to meeting Him? And if I'm not looking forward, then we need to look inward and see why not.
[40:58] As we read in the beginning of the message, perfect love casts out fear. And if I understand that I am a child of God, then we need not fear His coming.
[41:17] So I thought it would be good for us, you know, as we partake of communion, to focus on that aspect. Why am I looking forward to His coming?
[41:30] And let that vibrate in your mind or meditate, that thought, even as we leave here today.
[41:43] And you may not have shared what was on your heart, but just give that thought and allow that room. As we leave here later, why am I looking forward to Christ's return?
[41:59] And as we meditate on those things, it changes my everyday outlook. The way I look at life. It's a good thing.
[42:11] So I trust as we commune here this morning, the Lord will bless us in that. I'm going to turn to Mark 14, just as the backdrop of the communion.
[42:29] Mark 14, 22. And they've just finished the Passover meal. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread. In verse 22, He blessed and broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, eat, this is my body.
[42:47] And so here, Jesus then for the first time took that and says, He was looking ahead at the next day when His body would be crushed, broken for our salvation.
[43:05] As He would go to that cross. And so, and on the other side, when He returns, the Scriptures say we're going to see the nail prints in His hands.
[43:20] We're going to see His body as He is. It will be a reminder of the price that our Savior paid for us. So with that, let's, I'll ask the, the, the, the servers, ushers that come forward to, to serve the bread as we participate with that.
[43:42] Thank you. I'm not sure if you want to guide on the middle and the other two that way.
[43:57] Yeah. You can go ahead and start. Thank you. Thank you.
[44:29] Thank you. Thank you.
[45:03] Thank you.
[45:33] Thank you.
[46:03] Thank you.
[46:33] Thank you.
[47:03] Thank you.
[47:33] Thank you.
[48:04] Bread? Okay, good. Let's partake of it. Again, remembering the Lord's body broken for us. Thank you. And then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
[48:52] And he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. And as we partake of the cup now, I'll ask the ushers to come forward again. And as we partake of it, and as we partake of it, and as we partake of it, remembering that representing the covenant of grace, that salvation is by faith in God's provision.
[49:15] Thank you. Thank you.
[50:15] Thank you. Thank you.
[51:15] Thank you. Thank you.
[51:46] Thank you. Thank you.
[52:16] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[52:38] Thank you. Thank you. Again, I want to ask, make sure everyone received the cup. Let's partake of it again, remembering his bloodshed for us.
[53:17] Let's pray. Father, what a privilege it is to partake as your child.
[53:36] To eat the bread and to drink the cup. Lord, knowing, Lord, that the price that you paid at the cross was everything.
[53:56] It was a price that man, that we could not pay, but that you gave yourself. And, Lord, as we contemplate the significance of that in my life, that you freed me from death, from the power of sin.
[54:27] And, Father, we look forward to your coming, where you will gather us from the presence of sin. What a beautiful, beautiful thought. Father, we praise you.
[54:40] We give you thanks. Amen.