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Good morning.

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My name is Kimberly.

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Today's scripture reading is from Revelation, chapter 12, verses 1 through 17.

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This is on page 1063 in the Bible, in the back of the pews.

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A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,

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and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

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She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth.

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Then another sign appeared in heaven.

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There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads

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were seven crowns.

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Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.

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And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when

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she did give birth, it might devour her child.

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She gave birth to a son, a male, who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod.

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Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

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The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God to be nourished

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there for 1260 days.

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Then war broke out in heaven.

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Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.

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The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place

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for them in heaven any longer.

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So the great dragon was thrown out, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan,

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the one who deceives the whole world.

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He was thrown to earth and his angels with him.

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Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of

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our God and the authority of his Christ has now come, because the accuser of our brothers

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and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been thrown down.

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They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they

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did not love their lives to the point of death.

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Therefore rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them.

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Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great fury,

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because he knows his time is short.

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When the dragon saw that he'd been thrown down to earth, he persecuted the woman who

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had given birth to the male child.

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The woman was given two wings of a great eagle so that she could fly from the serpent's presence

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to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half

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a time.

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From his mouth, the serpent spewed water like a river, flowing after the woman to sweep

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her away with the flood.

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But the earth helped the woman.

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The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from

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his mouth.

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So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her

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offspring.

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Those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.

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This is God's word.

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Thank you, Kimberly.

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Imagine being a U.S. diplomat in a foreign land.

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You've dedicated your life to serving your country when suddenly you're struck by a mysterious

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ailment, headaches, difficulty concentrating, memory issues, even brain damage, all stemming

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from an unknown source.

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This isn't a plot from a spy novel.

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It is actually a real life ordeal that some of our U.S. diplomats experienced in a few

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nations, particularly China and Cuba.

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After extensive study, the National Academy of Science concluded that what was likely

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going on, these ailments that they experienced in these countries, was what is called directed

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pulsed radio frequencies, an unseen yet potent force that affected the brain, affected the

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brain chemistry, and even caused damage, permanent damage to their brains.

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It is believed that it was purposeful.

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It was an attempt to undermine the work of the U.S. in those countries.

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And what we find in Revelation chapter 12 is a vivid reminder of the unseen realm.

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Just as these diplomats faced invisible assaults, we as believers are in constant unseen battle.

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Our adversary Satan doesn't attack us with physical weapons, but with spiritual ones

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like doubts and fears and accusations.

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Like the directed energy that baffled the scientists, his tactics are often cloaked

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in mystery, making them all the more challenging for us to combat.

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In Revelation chapter 12, we are reminded of a cosmic conflict between good and evil.

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Revelation 12 is peeling back the curtain for us, giving you and I a glimpse into that

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unseen realm.

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And it gives us an angle on the Christmas story, particularly that we are not at all

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accustomed to experiencing.

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But it's more than just that.

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It reveals the story that is behind our story, the story that begins in the garden and ends

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with the new heavens and the new earth.

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I want to remind you of the words of Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 that says, blessed is the

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one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of

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this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

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Now, some of you may think of Revelation as an intimidating book.

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It would be hard to take that macarism that I just read out of Revelation 1 that says,

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blessed are you to hear this and to keep its words.

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And you go, mostly I'm confused, not blessed when I read Revelation.

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And so I want to provide a couple of tools that we're going to need for reading and understanding

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Revelation this morning.

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The first one is, as one pastor put it, it cannot mean for us what it did not mean for

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them.

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It cannot mean for us what it did not mean to them.

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In other words, they understood it, and we can too.

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And the key is not in understanding modern events or deciding, you know, which star is

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the Black Hawk helicopters and which one is the this and the that.

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It's actually the key to understanding is reading and understanding the scriptures.

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Reading and understanding the scriptures, because there is nothing in Revelation that

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isn't already been said somewhere else in the Bible.

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There's nothing in Revelation that hasn't already been said somewhere else.

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And the next tool that we'll need, so the first one is that it can't mean for us what

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it didn't mean for them.

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It can be understood.

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And the next tool is that Revelation is not linear or chronological events.

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If you go to Revelation and you think this and then this and then this and then this,

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you got a whole lot of things you got to deal with.

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But what it's like, it's more like scenes, flashes, and they're marked by then I saw

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or then I heard or then this happened.

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And for John, the writer of Revelation, it was as if he is looking through windows and

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he's seeing different scenes.

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And sometimes he'll go from one window to the next and he'll be seeing the same event

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from a different angle.

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We see that, right?

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Movies oftentimes will use that as a play in their cinematography, as they'll show one

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event from one angle and then they'll show it from a different perspective.

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In other words, it's not what happened next.

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It's what did John see next?

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That's important.

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It's important to remember.

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These tools together will help you read apocalyptic literature like Revelations with a keen eye

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and maybe a little bit more understanding.

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So let's go ahead and jump in to chapter 12.

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Chapter 12 gave us two signs.

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Twice, it says there was a sign and the first one was the woman.

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The first sign is the woman.

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Signs are symbolic tools that are used to communicate spiritual truths, prophetic revelations

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about events and ongoing cosmic struggles between good and evil.

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They're loaded with meaning.

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Signs are loaded with meaning.

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They're multifaceted.

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They don't just have one narrow meaning.

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The first sign is a woman.

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A woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars

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on her head.

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She was pregnant, crying out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth.

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It's a crazy picture.

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Stars and moons and crowns with 12, you know, with sun and pregnant and labor agony.

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It's like, who is she?

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Who is this woman?

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Well, in verse five, we get a little bit of insight.

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Verse five tells us that the son she gives birth to is a male who is going to rule all

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nations with an iron rod.

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And so some of you are already connecting the dots.

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Who is the one who rules with an iron rod?

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Jesus, which makes the woman Mary, the mother of Jesus.

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The one who rules with an iron rod.

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We'll see a little bit later that that comes straight from the scriptures as well.

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What's up with the moons and the stars and the suns?

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Anyone?

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12 tribes, 12.

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That's an important number, right?

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In fact, the sun, moon and stars is a direct reference back to Joseph.

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You remember Joseph had some dreams and it caused some trouble in his family.

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Joseph had some dreams and one of those dreams was that the sun, the moon and 11 stars all

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bowed down to him.

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And his father and mother knew exactly what that meant.

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His brothers too.

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His brothers killed him for it or threw him in a pit at least.

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They knew that the sun represented his father, that the moon represented his mother and that

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the 11 represented the sons, the sons of Jacob and Rachel.

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11 sons plus one, Joseph is 12.

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So who are these people?

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They are the patriarchal family of the people of God.

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They are the 12 tribes of Israel.

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They are the faithful of people of God, the faithful of God who have walked with him.

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He called them out beginning with Abraham down to Isaac and now Jacob and Jacob has

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the sons who become the 12 tribes of Jacob.

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So this woman represents them as well.

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Not just Mary but also the people of God before Christ, the Old Testament.

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Isaiah 66 already gives the image of the people of God as a whole like a woman.

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Isaiah does this frequently but Isaiah 66 uses the imagery of the people of God like

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a woman bringing forth sons.

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It says before Zion was in labor she gave birth.

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Before she was in pain she delivered a boy who has heard of such a thing, who has seen

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such things.

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Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant?

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Yet as soon as Zion was in labor she gave birth to sons.

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Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it says the Lord or will I

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who deliver close the womb says God.

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Mary the mother of Jesus, the people of God who have been faithful through the Old Testament

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and we will see also loaded into this meaning is that this woman also represents us today,

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the church, the faithful after Christ.

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If you guys remember we talked on this a little bit a couple weeks back but Genesis chapter

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3 we talked about the advent of hope and what is this hope predicated on?

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It is the fall of humankind and the necessity to have hope of some sort of deliverer to

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come and Genesis 3 talked about the serpent and the offspring of the woman.

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We were told that God put enmity between the serpent and the woman between her offspring

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and the serpent's offspring and that ultimately the woman's offspring would crush the head

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of the serpent and the serpent's offspring would strike the heel of the woman's offspring

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and we talked about how this became a picture that is traced throughout the Old Testament.

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Much of how the Old Testament story unfolds is how against all odds men and women of faith

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but particularly women of faith persevered in the battle to save the people of God from

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the serpent's evil schemes.

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Yes men were a part of that, women were too and often times evil and evil schemes attack

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women and women and children to accomplish their goals.

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Through barrenness, abuse, threat of death and rampant evil Sarah, Rebecca, Tamar, Jacobet

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and Miriam, Deborah, Ruth and Naomi, Esther and the people of God they faced the threat

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of evil as they believed that through them God would bring about the promised serpent

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crusher.

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This woman here in Revelation 12 represents all of this and as we'll see the faithful

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people of God are wrapped up in that imagery, in that sign, the woman.

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The second sign that we're told about in Revelation 12 is the dragon.

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The next sign is that we see a red dragon and he has seven horns and horns mean rulership.

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He has universal authority, seven being the number of completion.

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He has complete universal authority albeit that it was given to him for a time it is

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not something inherent in him.

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He has ten horns and horns means strength.

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Throughout the Old Testament you see scriptures that talk about lifting up my horn, is lifting

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up my strength, returning to me strength.

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He has ten which means he has great strength and seven crowns to rule through the nations

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and rulers of this world.

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Verse nine tells us that the great dragon is the ancient serpent who is called the

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devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole earth.

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He is the ancient serpent.

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It says that his tail swept a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them down.

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It's probable that this refers to the portion of angels who fell in rebellion against God,

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one third.

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He is the Genesis three serpent.

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The red dragon of Revelation 12 is the Genesis three serpent.

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It's the one who was promised would be an enmity with humanity and it was the one that

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promised that one from the line of humans would eventually crush his head.

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The dragon is the deceiver.

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And the next character that we're introduced to in Revelation chapter 12 is the son.

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But the son is not introduced as a sign.

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See a sign is loaded with meaning and multifaceted, right?

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The son is not introduced as a sign.

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We're just told our attention is turned to him because he is not a sign.

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He is someone specific.

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The dragon stood in front of the woman who was also about to give birth so that when

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she did give birth, it would devour her child.

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She gave birth to a son, a male who was going to rule all nations with an iron rod.

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Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

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Here's that iron rod again.

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He will rule with an iron rod is a reference back to one of the most powerful messianic

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Psalms, Psalm two, where the anointed son breaks the authority of the evil nations with

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an iron scepter.

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He is the son, Christ, Jesus.

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And where in scripture do we see the dragon plotting to kill the newborn king?

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Is it not Matthew chapter two?

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Matthew two, Herod, the wicked ruler orders that every male child under the age of two

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in the region of Bethlehem be murdered so that he can once for all put a stop to the

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seat of the woman, the promised king.

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And it's interesting this connection between the iron rod, Herod and his orders in Psalm

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two, because Psalm two actually began with a question.

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This powerful messianic Psalm begins with a question.

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Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain?

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The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the Lord

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and his anointed one.

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Why?

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Why?

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Because the dragon, the serpent is deceiving and manipulating and trying to destroy the

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work of God.

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He's using authorities and powers.

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Remember, he has crowns on his head.

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He has authority and he works through nations and rulers in an attempt to destroy the work

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of God.

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We see that with Herod.

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Each ruler has the choice.

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Will they rule with righteousness as an image bearer of God or will they rule as the serpent

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destroying the work of God?

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Everyone made his choice.

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But we're told that the son was caught up to God and to his throne.

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In his ascension, after his work was complete, it's interesting how Revelation 12 just skips

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over all of it and goes right to, he's caught up to God.

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His work is complete.

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He sits down next to the throne.

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Says that the woman, the faithful people of God, the church now enter a time of wilderness.

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The place where in the past, if you guys remember the wilderness motif, what was the wilderness

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motif?

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It was a place of testing.

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It was a place where God would lead and guide them if they would trust in him for their

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provision.

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For step by step, he would go before them, but it was not a place of comfort.

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The wilderness was a place of trust and testing.

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Would they place their trust in God as their strength in their provision?

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It was a place where God would lead his people, be it the people of Israel after Egypt going

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through the wilderness or Elijah fleeing from the queen Jezebel or Jesus in his time of

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testing in the wilderness.

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Would he rely upon God?

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Eugene Peterson said once, it is John's spirit appointed task to superintend, let's get this,

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there it is.

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It is John's spirit appointed task to supplement the work of Matthew and Luke so that the nativity

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cannot be sentimentalized into coziness nor domesticated into worldliness.

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This is not the nativity story we grew up with, but it is the nativity story all the

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same.

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Jesus's birth excites more than wonder.

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It excites evil.

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Evil knows what this birth means for evil.

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The passage in Revelation 12 then shifts back after talking about the son to retelling the

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story from the perspective of the heavenly realm.

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So listen to this.

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Again remember we're getting glimpses.

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This is not chronological order.

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This is in a different story.

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This is the same story told from a different angle.

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We're now in heaven as the Christ child is born.

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It says then war broke out in heaven.

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Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.

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The dragon, his angels also fought, but he could not prevail and there was no place for

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them in heaven any longer.

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So the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent, the ancient serpent who was called the devil

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and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world.

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He was thrown down to earth and his angels with him.

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And then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, the salvation and the power and the kingdom

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of our God and the authority of his Christ has now come because the accuser of our brother

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who accuses them day and night before God has been thrown down.

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They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony for they did

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not love their lives to the point of death.

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Therefore rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them.

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The woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you with great fury

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because he knows his time is short.

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Right here we get profound insight into the reality into which you and I were born.

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The reality that we were born is that there is a battle that had already taken place in

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heaven and the dragon and his angels were overcome and thrown down to earth.

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I heard one preacher say that the Greek there is actually means bounced.

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The devil got bounced.

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If you're into slang, let's bounce.

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The devil and his angels got bounced from the heavenlies down to earth.

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They were evicted.

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They were kicked out of heaven and for a time they are loose on the earth.

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And we're told woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you with

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great fury because he knows his time is short.

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The focus of the war has switched from the war in the heavens to the war here on earth.

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The war behind every war is a spiritual cosmic war and one of the parties in that war is

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a wounded desperate serpent whose fury is great to destroy the work of God.

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And through accusation, through deception and death, Satan attempts to wreak havoc on

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the faithful people of God.

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Just read it.

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We don't have time to really dig into all of the chapter 12 there, but read it with

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the eyes that the woman represents the collective faithful people of God.

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And you'll see he's wreaking havoc.

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He first goes after her, it says, and he attempts to persecute her.

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But there's some grace that God gives.

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And so then he goes off to find the offspring of the woman throughout the world that he

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can bring his fury against.

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Accusation, deception and death, Satan attempts to wreak havoc on the faithful people of the

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world.

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Why are things difficult?

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Why are things the way that they are?

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Why is there affliction?

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00:25:49,540 --> 00:25:51,080
Why suffering and death?

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Why the mocking and scourging?

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Why the accusations?

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This is why.

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This is why Satan is raging against the people of God.

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Don't fall prey to his evil schemes.

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Why is there always opposition when the people of God are on mission to spread the good news

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of the gospel?

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We, my dear ladies that I meet with on Tuesday for Bible study, one of my highlights of my

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week, I go to Campus Commons and I meet with some dear ladies plus Kim.

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No, I was going to say dear old ladies plus Kim.

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But Kim is older than me, so she's, you know.

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00:26:50,140 --> 00:26:55,840
I will say though, Ron, a gentleman from Campus Commons has joined our Bible study, so there's

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a little more testosterone in the room.

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We are, we were going through the book, or we are going through the book of Hebrews,

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we broke for the holiday here.

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We're going through the book of Hebrews and we made it to the hall of faith.

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You guys know the hall of faith?

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By faith this person, by faith that person.

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And then it gets down to that like crescendo part where it's like just going, like man

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they're this, that, they receive their dead back, their sons back from the dead, they

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overcame this, they resisted that, they da da da.

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And then it just switches right in the middle, it's like, and then they were sawn in half

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and they were torn apart and they were ripped to shreds and they counted it a joy that they

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would suffer for the gospel.

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Why are they torn apart?

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00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:38,680
Why are they sawn in half?

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00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:40,280
Why are the nations raging?

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00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,640
They're raging against the work of God.

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Jesus has gone to sit at the right hand of God and will surely come again.

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And when he comes, he comes not as the first one in John 3, 16.

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God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not

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perish but have everlasting life.

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What's the next verse?

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God did not come, he did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, right?

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But to save the world, that was the first advent.

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The second advent, he comes.

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And the image that we have of the Jesus who comes is not the cute little baby who needs

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his passey and a little like, woo.

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No, no, it's Jesus dressed in white, stained with the blood from trampling the grapes of

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wrath.

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Dressed in white, stained with the blood, tattoo on his thigh, eyes blazing like fire,

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a sword coming out of his mouth.

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00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:51,640
Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead.

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Satan knows his time is coming.

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And all who have followed the path of evil, all who have said, here's my choice, I will

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00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:07,160
rule in righteousness with the authority God has given to see that God receives the glory

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or I will rule with selfishness and I will rule in line with the evil one and I will

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follow his ways.

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That's how you become the offspring.

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That's how you are the seed of the serpent or the woman.

385
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:29,200
The woman, the promise that God would bring about someone who would crush.

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00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,840
Those who walked faithfully are represented in the woman.

387
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Those who said, forget it.

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I want what I want.

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Who rule with evil intent.

390
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,080
Who rule with selfish ambition.

391
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They've chosen and God comes to judge.

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Why all the affliction?

393
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,800
Why all the suffering and death?

394
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,800
Don't fall prey to his evil schemes.

395
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:04,120
We can expect that if we are aiming to be on mission as a church fellowship, if Village

396
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,880
is going to be on mission to bring the gospel to life, we will experience the fury of the

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00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:10,600
dragon.

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We will.

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00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,400
He will make every attempt to accuse.

400
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:22,440
He will make every attempt to deceive and to produce in us fear because fear is the

401
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,360
enemy of faith.

402
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,480
And fear causes us to shrink back and shrivel.

403
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:35,720
And I love that about Hebrews when the writer of Hebrews says, that's what it causes.

404
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:37,720
And he says, but you're not of those.

405
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:39,520
You're not like that.

406
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:43,800
You're not the ones who drift away or you're not the ones who shrink back.

407
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,080
We're not like that.

408
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:47,080
But we have to be prepared.

409
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,400
We have to know the evil schemes of the enemy.

410
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,360
And so I want to say to us, expect a fight.

411
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,240
It's already been going on.

412
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,040
Maybe you've been oblivious to it.

413
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,680
Maybe for you, it's been like those those directed microwaves.

414
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:04,160
And you're like, I don't know why I've got headaches all the time and why I'm irritable

415
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,720
and why I don't like all the people at church.

416
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,680
I don't know why.

417
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:17,240
He will try to deceive you into forgetting the gospel, and he will try to deceive you

418
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:24,740
instead and and lead you into believing that you must be good enough for God to love you.

419
00:31:24,740 --> 00:31:25,840
He will try to deceive you.

420
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:31,000
I promise you, he will try to convince you that it is your lack of goodness, your lack

421
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,160
of being good.

422
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,460
God does not love you because of that.

423
00:31:34,460 --> 00:31:35,940
That is deception.

424
00:31:35,940 --> 00:31:37,040
That is evil.

425
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,040
That is anti gospel.

426
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:45,340
It is not what we do, but it's what Christ has done.

427
00:31:45,340 --> 00:31:48,760
He will tell you lies about other people and try to divide us.

428
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,920
He will say that these people around you, they don't care about you really.

429
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,300
He will say that they're not fighting for you.

430
00:31:55,300 --> 00:31:56,320
They don't really love you.

431
00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,640
He will try to deceive you.

432
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,680
Anything that can divide us.

433
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:08,480
He will accuse you by saying that you are terrible at praying.

434
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,640
What kind of Christian are you?

435
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,820
You can't even pray for five minutes without getting distracted.

436
00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:17,480
He will accuse you.

437
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:22,040
And he will attempt you to believe and tempt you to repeat that story.

438
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:23,880
How many of you are guilty of that?

439
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,320
I'm not very good at praying.

440
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,160
You just repeated the lie of the enemy.

441
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:34,560
You just spoke the gospel, the anti gospel of the snake.

442
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,480
Don't go around quoting the anti gospel of the snake.

443
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,320
Quote truth.

444
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:46,360
He will accuse you and say that you're terrible at reading your Bible because you skipped

445
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,600
those days.

446
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:49,860
Or you're terrible.

447
00:32:49,860 --> 00:32:53,800
You must not have the spirit because you don't understand what you're reading all the time.

448
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,200
He will lie to you.

449
00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:00,240
And he will tempt you to believe and repeat that story.

450
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,720
Don't preach the anti gospel of the serpent.

451
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,840
He will accuse you by saying you can never share the gospel.

452
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,520
You?

453
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,160
What do you know?

454
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:20,120
And you will be tempted to believe that and tell that story over and over again.

455
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,680
He will tempt you to believe that you do not need the fellowship, that you don't need instruction

456
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,800
in the word of God, and that you don't need to sing songs in worship, and that you don't

457
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,220
need to care and love for your brothers and sisters in the faith.

458
00:33:32,220 --> 00:33:40,040
And what he will do is he will steal love from them by lying to you and getting you

459
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,580
to withhold what God has commanded you to give to them.

460
00:33:44,580 --> 00:33:46,360
He will lie to you.

461
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,800
Don't believe the lie and he'll steal from them because you believe the lie.

462
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:52,760
We need you.

463
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:54,360
We need you.

464
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,200
We need your love.

465
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:57,320
We need your counsel.

466
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:58,320
We need your encouragement.

467
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:00,320
I need your encouragement.

468
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,880
Don't believe the lie.

469
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,580
Don't believe the lie.

470
00:34:06,580 --> 00:34:11,000
He will steal love.

471
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:16,200
He wants you to run from the things that will bring you life.

472
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,960
He wants you to run from the things that will bring you life.

473
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:26,620
And so he'll do anything he can to make them look like death.

474
00:34:26,620 --> 00:34:34,420
One pastor said, accusation gets its power from agreement.

475
00:34:34,420 --> 00:34:37,120
Accusation gets its power from agreement.

476
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:44,520
When you believe it and you start telling the story, stop believing it.

477
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,080
Stop repeating the story.

478
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:51,360
Stop measuring your reality by the word of God alone.

479
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:56,320
What he says is yours is yours.

480
00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:02,600
Who he says you are in Christ, you are.

481
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:10,480
What he says he will do in and through you, believe it and tell that story.

482
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,880
Tell that story to brothers and sisters.

483
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,160
Seeing that story in song, he will do it.

484
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:17,160
He will do it.

485
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:20,560
I'll give a little, bind the curtain here.

486
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:26,760
I came in today probably feeling the most something down, discouraged that I felt in

487
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,960
the entire time I've ever been here.

488
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:30,720
I knew I was preaching this.

489
00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:37,280
And so I kind of had a little bit of a cue that maybe something might be up.

490
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,560
I was hopeful that, yeah, I could discern the schemes of the enemy at least a little

491
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,800
bit this many years in, but who knows?

492
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,760
I get blindsided all the time.

493
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:50,680
But I was coming in and honestly, I was kind of doing that flip the Bible, like looking

494
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:51,680
for something.

495
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:55,240
I don't know what I was looking for, but I was just looking.

496
00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:59,440
And I landed on Psalm 23 of all things.

497
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,680
And as I thought about the new year and I thought about where we're at and we were sitting

498
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:07,680
here praying together, and it just struck me.

499
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:13,520
As a congregation, we've moved to the CSB as our translation of choice because it's

500
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,200
a little easier than ESV, but a little bit more literal than NIV.

501
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:17,720
We don't need to get into that.

502
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:25,720
But I don't know that I've ever read exactly the way that it said it in the CSB or how

503
00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:28,040
it translated it, but it chose to translate.

504
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:32,920
In fact, let me read it right out so I don't butcher it.

505
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:37,800
The Lord spoke to me this morning and it just, it really hit me.

506
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,040
And so why not go off script?

507
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:48,720
All right, Psalm 23.

508
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:53,680
The last line, right before it, it says, you prepare a table before me in the presence

509
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,880
of my enemies.

510
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,560
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

511
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:08,560
And then it said this, only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life.

512
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,720
And I would dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

513
00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:18,200
Surely goodness, and I've heard that version before, only, and it connected to me back

514
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,840
to the verse before, enemies.

515
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,680
Enemies pursue us, hot on our trail.

516
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,400
We're trying to outrun them and we're looking over our shoulder constantly in fear that

517
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,400
they're about to overtake us and take us down.

518
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:37,720
And the writer of Psalm 23 says, only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days

519
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:38,720
of my life.

520
00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:44,360
The only thing over my shoulder is his goodness and his faithful love.

521
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,280
I don't need to be looking back for enemies.

522
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,920
I don't need to be cowering in fear.

523
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:54,640
That's the only thing behind me that's pushing me and moving me along is his goodness and

524
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,200
faithful love.

525
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:05,200
That's the story I'm telling myself today.

526
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:10,800
When the dragon seeks to intimidate us with death, I want us to remember this too, that

527
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,560
Jesus flipped the script.

528
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:18,280
Jesus flipped the script on death like nothing else.

529
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:24,520
Evil only ever had death as the ultimate fear to hold over any of our heads.

530
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:26,920
That's all it ever had was death.

531
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:32,040
We could hold death over our heads and say, I will hurt your body.

532
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:33,120
I will torture you.

533
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:38,200
I will abuse you and you will die.

534
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,240
Run in fear for death, from death.

535
00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:41,840
But what did Jesus do?

536
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,600
What's at the heart of the gospel?

537
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:53,640
For the faithful people of God, Jesus flipped the script and made death ultimate gain.

538
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,200
He went right over and took it right out of the enemy's hands.

539
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:02,720
And he says, that thing that you've been holding over people is the doorway into life, into

540
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:04,920
ultimate gain.

541
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:10,080
Death, where is your sting?

542
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:15,160
Fear where is your power?

543
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,200
For the faithful people of God, death is ultimate gain.

544
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:22,400
He emptied the dragon of power by flipping the script and making the very thing that

545
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:27,480
Satan taunted every human being with since the fall of mankind death, he made it the

546
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,560
doorway to life.

547
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:36,360
First in his own body and then extending it to us.

548
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:43,360
As we are hours away from the new year, I want to challenge you.

549
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:51,120
Punching in and out on Sunday mornings will not be enough for the fight that we are in.

550
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:56,160
They conquered him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony.

551
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:01,520
And they did not love their lives to the point of death.

552
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:06,240
I want us all to wake up to the fights, the cosmic reality, the battle that is raging

553
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:11,040
right now as we prepare to head into a new year.

554
00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:20,240
Discipleship, frequent gatherings for encouragement, frequent, I'm not just saying for your encouragement.

555
00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:26,720
Look around you, look to your left, look to your right, your brothers and sisters, frequent

556
00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:34,520
gatherings for encouragement, reading, studying and obeying the scripture, fervent prayers

557
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,120
together.

558
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:40,320
We always want to compartmentalize our faith and make it something that's very private.

559
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:47,720
And I love the way one pastor put it once, your faith is personal, very deeply personal,

560
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:50,920
but it is in no way private.

561
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:59,200
There are a plethora of scriptures, a plethora of scriptures that do not address us as individuals,

562
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:02,180
but address us as a whole.

563
00:41:02,180 --> 00:41:08,520
And so we need discipleship, we need frequent gathering for encouragement, reading, studying

564
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,600
and obeying the scripture.

565
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,780
We need fervent prayers.

566
00:41:12,780 --> 00:41:17,520
If we are going to build a kingdom fellowship of Christ honoring disciples, we need everyone

567
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:18,520
in this fight.

568
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:48,440
Will you pray with me?