Angels

So we are finishing a three-part series on Supernatural. And this is, the series kind of is, was influenced by the scripture Ephesians 6-12, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. What does that mean? Your struggle is not against people.

So when you're dealing with that person, or you're having that conflict, or you're having that issue with your boss at work, when you're having that issue with your kids, kids when you're having that issue with your parents, or whatever it is, remember that it is not the person. The battle is not against flesh and blood, but there's something greater going on. There's, it's against rulers, it's against authorities, it's against the powers of this dark world, and against the evil forces of, or the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. And there is something more going on that is trying to keep you from reaching your purpose, what God designed you to be, your destiny. God has a tailored design destiny for you.

And Satan is doing everything he can to prevent you from reaching your purpose, your life-giving purpose. So your battle is not against that person. Your battle is not against that family member, or that person in the church. We have that a lot. I see it all the time.

That God wants to wreck churches, the local church. And you know how he does that? He puts people against each other. Somebody said something, somebody did something, gossiping is going around, right? That happens, right?

And when that starts to happen, we need to take our mind off of the situation, whatever it is, and focus on the bigger picture. There is something going on greater than this. And we need to, as believers, we step up and say, this is not against this person. It is, what is going on is, it is, is not what's really happening. There's something greater happening, more powerful, an authority above us, an evil force beyond us.

So that's what got our series going. And in week one, we introduced that reality to you and talked a little bit about, Chris shared with you a little bit about how the devil operates and how he works. Last week, we dug deep into demons. We talked a lot about how they work and how they scheme and that they're strategic and, and they're not going to come up out looking like Michael Myers, you know, because what will we do? We probably run straight to Jesus, right?

Oh, Jesus, you know? No, they're not working that way. They're studying you strategically. They're, they're, they're working on it strategically. They're looking to see, you know, what, what's, how you're acting, your culture.

They studied the culture. Did you know that? How, how, how you respond to people, how you work through your life, looking at your family. They, they, they, they see that. I know I'm preaching another message.

It's just important for us to know that demons are, are at work. They're God's fallen angels. But this week, I want to kind of bring you some, some more hope. Some more hope. Because demons actually were angels.

Create, they're created beings. They were created by God. They're basically fallen angels. But there's a greater number of angels that are still on God's side. Three-fourths of the angels did not fall.

And they were bidding, and they were at work. So it's important for us to understand what angels are, what they do, and what that really means to us in everyday life. And first, I want to, you know, state that we don't worship angels. Angels, we first need to realize that angels are God's beings, God's creatures. And hopefully, I can show you a little bit about that.

But pop culture has given us a lot of ideas about angels, right? There's been a few shows on TV. There's been movies. And we kind of think about angels from those perspectives. Last week, I shared this, this, this series that's called Supernatural that a lot of people were into, like pop culture.

These, these two good-looking guys that ride around and, and, and battle demons and have angels on their side. So you kind of see that happening. There was a show, this was probably dating me a little bit, but back in the 90s, it might have been early 90s called Touched by an Angel. How many of you watched that show? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's got some, got some people my age in here. Yeah. Um, uh, and, uh, how about this one? Highway to Heaven. How many of you remember Highway to Heaven back in the 80s?

Michael Landon. Yeah, Little House on the Prairie, you know, kind of goes back. Some of you may not know this, Little Joe. Little Joe Bonanza. Bonanza.

Actually, that was before my time, but my mom loved Bonanza, so I'd watch Bonanza all the time when I was a kid. So, um, um, we have Highway to Heaven, so we get ideas of angels that way. Or how about Angels in the Outfield? We, we have Angels in the Outfield, and that was a cute Disney movie where the angels were helping the ball team. How about this one?

Uh, uh, the, the movie Michael. John Travolta. Not quite the angel we want to represent. An angel that wasn't quite fallen, but figured he wanted to do his own thing. And this is the most popular angel.

And Christmas is coming up. Clarence. Clarence, you know. It's a wonderful life. Come on, people.

I was, it's a wonderful life, right? We got Clarence. Clarence, I want to live again, you know. I don't know if that's a good impression of, and he's working for his, uh, his wings and, and things like that. So we got all these, these things about angels, and then we see baby angels in pictures, and then we see, you know, and then, and then we have the people who say, well, you know, my relative passed away, and they're kind of walking.

And they're kind of walking. They're my guardian angel and they're watching over me. Grandma's watching over me. I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't want grandma watching over me at times, but that's how we see angels.

Pop culture kind of gives us these ideas of angels, but not a lot of this isn't really true about angels. The best way for us to learn about angels and how they work is to actually go to Scripture and look at angels. Angels are, according to the Bible, are God's messengers created for God's glory. To do His bidding on our behalf. And they were created in such a way.

And this is wild. They can be as fierce as can be. They can take out thousands of people at one time, while at the same time protect a little small baby. Be as gentle in protecting a child. Angels are very mysterious, interesting beings.

And many stories about angels show up in unexpected times and places. You hear the stories about people stranded somewhere. One report or one interview I saw from someone is they were trapped in a snowstorm. And they prayed to God that they would send an angel to take care of them. And obviously he didn't see the angel, but when the state trooper found them over a long period of time, he basically made it through this heavy snowstorm.

And the trooper showed up and found them and was asking if he was okay, yada, yada. And as they were leaving, he says, you two take it easy, you know, as he was leaving. And he was like, two. The guy actually saw another being in the car. He couldn't see them, but you hear stories like that.

Or there was one where a guy was involved in a storm and there was a tornado, a Cat 4 tornado coming through. He didn't have anywhere to go, so he jumped out of his car and ran up under a bridge, which that's the last place to go if a tornado is coming at you. They say, do not go under bridges, right? But he didn't have anywhere else to go, so he went under a bridge. And he saw this man there with a blanket.

And he asked a guy, he said, what do we do? There's a storm coming. There's a storm coming. We need to take cover. And the guy said, is that so?

You know, and he was just really calm. And he kind of went over into the corner and he braced himself. And he said, you know, the storm came through and he could feel, you know, stuff on his back. And he went through the whole event. And when he got through it, he saw the man once again, we made it through.

And the guy's still sitting there in the same position, you know, with the blanket. And he's like, how in the world did he not grab onto anything? And then when the paramedics came and found him, they walked up in there. The guy could not have left, but they were looking. They found him and he turned around.

He says, this man's with me too. And he's gone. And he says, there's no way this guy could have left without coming past me or me noticing him. And leaving, it was a small little quarter that they were in. He just disappeared like that.

And this guy believes that that was an angel. So you hear stories about this. And in the Bible, we hear stories about, particularly people showing up in interesting places. And they're called angels. They sometimes take the form of men.

And in fact, in Hebrews 13 too, it says, as the writer of Hebrews is aiming towards hospitality, encouraging the church towards hospitality. He says, do not forget to entertain angels or entertain strangers. For by doing so, people have entertained angels without knowing it. What is he referring to? He's referring back to Abraham.

When the angels visited him. The men visited him in Lot. And Sodom, when they showed up at the door. And there's many more angel appearances. Others in the Bible have recorded having dreams of angels and visions of angels.

So whether you're skeptical or not today, I want to say angels are real. And they're among us. And they're working. And they're bidding. So how are angels?

Who are angels? And what do they do? Is the question. Who are angels? What is the purpose of angels?

So first of all, let's look at who are angels. And the first point, if you're following your notes, angels are worshipers. Angels are worshipers. You will often find angels worshiping when you go to Scripture. They were built to worship.

They're made to worship. Worshiping is their main thing. They're all about God. Just like you are worshiping your ball team or your favorite rock band or whatever that is. You know, oh my goodness, they're all, you know, they're on TV.

This is what angels are all about. They're all about God. They worship the very ground God walks on. They worship Him. In Hebrews 1.

6, it says this in the NLT, it says, And then when He presented His honored Son to the world and said, Let all the angels of God worship Him. Revelation talks about that in chapter 5. Then I looked and I heard a voice of many angels, many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousands times ten thousands. Could you imagine that vision of angels gathered around God and they encircled the throne and in a loud voice they sang, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honoring glory and praise. What a powerful picture of angels of the throne room of God and angels worshiping God.

Angels are worshipers. Secondly, angels are warriors. They are warriors. Last week I shared in Daniel 10 that Daniel fasted 21 days. And it was to receive a message from God.

And the angel that was on his way to deliver the message, he finally made it to Daniel on the 21st day. But we see the reality of what was going on by the angel's message. He says, I was trying to get to you, Daniel, but I could not make it to you because I was bound, I was trapped, I was in captivity. And then Michael the archangel came and released me from captivity. So you can see that there is something going on, something going on on the outside.

I mean, when we're praying or we're desiring God to do something or move on our behalf, there may just be something happening between the angels and the demons in the other realm. In 1 Chronicles we see David. David actually looked up into the sky and over Israel. He saw an angel with a drawn sword ready to take Israel out. And what did God do?

God intervened and said, have compassion. And the angel took the sword and put it back in his side, in his sheaf. Angels are warriors. In 2 Kings 19, 35 it says this, the night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death, get this, 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. On behalf of Israel, in one blow, this powerful warrior angel took out, just one angel.

Angel of the Lord took out 185,000. In Revelation, we actually see the battle that's going on in the end times. And there was a war in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. So we see that there's a war going on. Angels are warriors.

They're warriors. And angels are messengers. Angels are messengers. We see this clearly in the story of Gideon. When Gideon was hiding from the Mennonites who were taking the land of the people in that day, and an angel appears under the tree and has a discussion with Gideon.

And he says this in Judges 6, 12. Gideon, take this, Gideon was very afraid. He didn't want to step out. God was calling him to do something. And then the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, and he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

So they're messengers from God, encouraging people in the Word of God. And then we have Mary, little Mary, little young Mary, who's giving birth to the Christ child. And an angel came to her, and what did he say? Do not be afraid, Mary. Mary was fearful because this was an interesting situation she was in, a young girl that was pregnant.

Who would believe her? You have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. So angels are messengers. Angels are worshipers.

angels are warriors. Angels are messengers. So what do angels actually do? We know what they are, but what do they do? How do they interact?

What does this really mean for me? What does this really, how does this really translate in to what's going on? Well, there's a few things. There's a lot of things I could say about angels, and I had to, like, push it down a lot because you could do a whole series on what they look like and how they work and how they act. But I just want to narrow it down just to a few things just to help you out today to give you a launching pad if you want to study angels more.

But angels direct us, number one, if you're following your notes. Angels direct us. They give us direction. They redirect us sometimes. Going back to the story of Joseph and Mary, I think it's interesting that Joseph's reaction wasn't so willing at first, right?

When he heard that Mary was pregnant. I want you to put yourself in this picture. Here's Joseph. He's engaged to Mary, and Mary shows up on the scene and says, Joseph, I've got something to share with you. I'm pregnant.

What's Joseph's first reaction? Oh, who were you with? What happened? No, no, no. I'm not through.

I'm not through. It's from God. It's from God. Now, not only Joseph is like, what's going on here? He's like, she's crazy.

What? God seeded you? God gave you a baby? I can't believe this. What happened?

So, Joseph, what was he ready to do? He was ready to leave her. He was like, we hear the story. We think, oh, Joseph just jumped on board. Let's go, you know?

Yeah, you're pregnant. Let's do this, you know? But Joseph was trying to find a way to peacefully let her be and move on. You have to understand the culture in that day. If you, you know, this was a grave defense or offense, excuse me, to the Lord's command.

If you committed infidelity, it was your life. So, Joseph was out. And what happens? The angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. An angel appeared and redirected him.

There's another funny story, Balaam in Numbers in the Old Testament. Balaam and the talking donkey, if you want to call it that. There's actually a talking donkey in scripture. Isn't that interesting? You should read your Bible, really.

It's kind of funny, you know? And then it says this, Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the prince of Moab. But God was very angry when he went and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. And then Balaam was riding on his donkey and his two servants were there with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand.

And she, the donkey, turned off the road into the field. And the story goes on. Balaam's basically riding along, you know? And then the donkey, and then the donkey starts, you know, pulling back. And he starts beating the donkey.

He starts beating it. He's like, go, go, go, you know? And he's like, he's going this way. So he goes forward and he's going this way, right? So the donkey's trying to redirect him, right?

And because he sees the angels. Balaam doesn't see the angel, but the donkey sees the angel. And first thing that happens after about three times of beating him, the donkey looks at him and says, what are you doing? Why are you beating me? I mean, he literally said that.

Why are you beating me? I picture Shrek, donkey and Shrek, you know? What you doing? You know? Like, why are you doing that?

For, haven't I served you all these years? You know, I just have Eddie Murphy in my head for some reason when that happens. And then as Balaam is looking up, the angel appears in the path and reveals himself to Balaam and says, if you had gone anymore, I would have killed you. Because Balaam was going a path that he didn't need to go. So sometimes angels redirect us.

And thank goodness for donkey, for pulling him away. So sometimes angels redirect us. They direct us in different directions. And next, if you're following your notes, angels protect us. Angels protect us.

Does scripture say that We have guardian angels, no, sorry, it's a good idea, and maybe so, I don't know, but scripture doesn't give us any indication that we have like specific assigned guardian angels, but scripture does share with us that they do protect us. In fact, we know this famous scripture from Psalm 91, when Jesus is tempted, Satan even uses it against him, but it says this, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. Angels protect us. Angels will often protect you from danger. We see it with Peter, Peter's in prison, he has Herod the king over him, ready to execute him, and it says this in Acts 12, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off of Peter's wrist. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals, and Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, and the angel told, the angel told him, and then it goes on to say, then Peter, in verse 11, then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent an angel to rescue me from Herod's clutches. So angels often protect us.

For example, I want to share a story with you. I haven't personally seen a real live angel standing there, but my sister has, and I was actually with her when it happened. And the story goes, we were very young, probably about, I'm a couple years older than her. I guess I was about six or seven, maybe eight years old. She was around six years old.

And our house was on a very busy intersection, and we would ride around this little town, you know, we'd go to the store and sneak, you know, and get candy and stuff like that, you know, when our parents didn't want us to, and we'd ride all over the place. That was back when you could do that. And one day we were passing along this real busy four-lane highway over to the store on the other side, and I was in front of her like a good brother. I'd left her behind, you know, and I was taking off towards the store, and she's following behind me. She's no longer than five or six years old on her little bicycle crossing the road, and this huge transfer truck comes through, and he's going.

He's going really fast. And all of a sudden, the brakes just hit right. She falls off her bike, and the brakes hit, and my sister is basically around the other side of the vehicle, but it barely hits. It comes right up, right up, almost hitting her, and just stops like it hit a brick wall. And afterwards, my sister kept saying, the white lady in the dress helped me.

The white lady in the dress, and we could not figure it out. What we learned from the truck driver is he's like, I don't know how this truck stopped, but it hits something. It hits something. And my sister kind of filled in. She says it's a bit hazy because she was really young, but she still remembers to this day.

A white being looked like a lady. When you're really young, she just thought it was a lady that helped her out of the street. Probably long, blonde hair, and a white came, ran out, and hit the truck, and then grabbed her and pulled her off the road. There was nobody there. I saw it.

There's nothing there. An angel. As for me and my family, we believe in angels. They protect us. They're involved.

They're real. And then the last note I want to make is angels minister to us. Angels minister to us. Angels can actually bring love, healing, strength. They can minister to us.

As the Holy Spirit ministers to us, God sometimes in certain situations sends angels to minister to us. Hebrews 1.14 says, are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. They minister to us. When Jesus was tempted in the garden, remember he was tempted and Satan showed up and said, you're hungry.

Why don't you make these stones bread and use the scripture against them? And Jesus fights back. And then he says, you know, he goes on through through several different stages of temptation. Jesus is weary. He's tired.

He's hungry. After battling Satan for those 40 days of temptation, and here we see that angels came to minister to him. It says, then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. Angels often minister to us. the word, the Greek word, diakone, or diakone, I guess that's how you pronounce it, to be an attendant is what it means, to wait upon, to minister as unto a friend.

They minister to us when we're at weak points in our life. Sometimes God sends an angel, and we may not even know it, and I'm not sure even how it works, but there are times in my life where I call on God, and I feel like I'm at an end, and I don't know where to go, and I don't know what to do, and then this overwhelming sense of joy and peace, and sometimes that may be the Holy Spirit, but on occasion that might be an angel sent to minister to you and strengthen you, because they are for God. For example, there's another example of Jesus. Jesus had angels often ministering to him, and in the hour of his, he was getting ready to go into the greatest torture and death that any human should ever experience. Jesus was going to wear the pain of sin, and he was so in agony and stress over the situation that he began to sweat blood blood.

It's an actual scientific proven fact that if you have enough stress, if you're weighed down with stress enough, you can actually sweat out blood. And he prayed to the Father, and an angel from heaven, and Luke 22-43 says, An angel of heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. Angels direct, protect and minister to us. So, what does this mean to us as the band comes up? What does this mean to us?

How does this, you know, all this stuff about angels and messengers, and what does it really mean, how does this tie together? Because we know that angels have a redemptive purpose. A redemptive work in the overall plan of God. We see through angels, we see through these heavenly beings ministering to us, directing us. All the tasks that they do, where they're involved, whatever area they're involved in our life, we see the love of God.

Because God deeply cares about us. And is concerned about every area of our lives. Where he's willing to redirect us, to challenge us sometimes. There is a war going on. Why is that war going on?

Because there's a war for your soul. And some of you woke up this morning and you said, I don't even know if I can make it. It's raining outside, it would be nicer. And you almost didn't make it to church this morning. But something in you told you, I gotta be here.

I gotta be here today. I've gotta show up today. You know what was going on? There was a war in heaven saying, You don't need to go. And then the warrior angel shows up and says, Let's get the church today.

Because God's got something for you. Because God's got something for you. He's got the greatest gift that you could ever know. And ever experience. I wanna pray over everybody in this room.

If you'd all bow your heads and close your eyes. I just wanna pray with you today. And I'm gonna ask you to consider a God who absolutely loves you, endures you so much that thousands and thousands of angels can be sent down at a beck and call. To bring you through a hurt or a pain or a situation or redirect you or minister to you. There's a God that loves you so much.

And if you're dealing with hurt and pain. I just wanna pray over you right now. If you're in a place where you just feel like there's nowhere to go. I want you to allow God and his angels just to minister to you right now. Allow the Holy Spirit, who is God, minister to you along with the heavenly hosts around the throne.

Lord, be with people today. As they come into this place. It's no coincidence that they're here today, Lord Jesus. Begin to minister to them. Call out to him.

Call out to him, people. Call out to Jesus. Call out to God. Call out to the heavenly host that's happening. Your war is not against flesh and blood.

It's the powers, the principalities, and those things in high places that are keeping you from experiencing all you can be and all you can do in Christ. If you're a believer today or you're not a believer, I want you just to call out to him. I want you to call out to him. Just call out to him. Let him enter in.

Let him bring peace and hope to your heart. There are some of you here today that you've heard this message and something struck a chord. It struck your heart. And you've been challenged. You're like, you know, I don't really know you, God.

You feel pulled towards him. That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we call that. That Holy Spirit's calling you, come know Jesus. Come know me. Well, I'll give you rest.

I'll give you peace. For my yoke is light. My burden is easy. My heavenly realm is waiting for you. I want to bring you into the life that God originally, that he originally intended you to have.

If that's you today, I want you to just gently raise your hand and just say, Pastor, that's me. Please pray for me. Please do that for me, Lord. I want to commit my life. I want to commit my heart to you.

Amen. I want to commit my life to you today. I'm not in it. I'm in it for the long haul. I'm making a decision for you today.

Thank you. I'm making a decision for you today. I'm ready to call it all out. I'm tired. I'm tired of choosing my own way.

It doesn't work out. If there's another one here, this is your time. Do that. Make that decision today. Make it today.

I want you to pray with me. I want you to pray with me. Dear Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. That you died on the cross for my sin. And that in the heavenly realm, you have the victory.

Demons have no chance. Satan has no way with me because you've conquered the grave. You have resurrected. And I believe that today. I receive your gift of salvation.

Come and live in my heart. Be with me. I turn from my old ways. And I go your way, Lord Jesus. In your name.

Amen.