Hey friend, welcome back to The Semi -Seminarian.
We have this week another installment of our
Bible study series, which you're calling the
Bible for Grown Ups. This week's installment
has a special place in my heart. Real quickly,
let me open tonight by telling you a quick story.
So several years ago, I was invited to participate
in a project, the Bible Project, a wonderful,
wonderful Bible study resource, and I got to
know the leader of that group, Dr. Tim Mackey.
In my time with the Bible Project, I heard Dr.
Mackey say one afternoon that angels don't have
wings. There's no place in the Bible where angels
have wings. I don't know if you've ever been
in that position when you had a Bible teacher
or perhaps a preacher say something new to be
wrong. So you went home after hearing that and
you searched the Bible for yourself and you found
out my goodness They were right and I was wrong
That led me to thinking about a whole bunch of
things we think about the Bible that aren't even
in there Let me give you another example Cain
killed Abel with a rock you were probably taught
that maybe there's a kids VVS song about it Bible
doesn't say that Eve fed Adam an apple. Bible
doesn't say it was an apple. I know these are
little bitty things. They're insignificant. But
they're endemic of something I think is more
important. That so often we just take this guidebook
that we have been given inspired by the Holy
Spirit. and created by humans in cooperation
with the Holy Spirit in which we've seen God
break through in the world. And we've just taken
it for granted. We allow ourselves just to have
this childish understanding of very important
matters. Tonight's episode, we deal with just
such a situation when we confront just exactly
what it is that angels are, who they are, what
they are. And we come to realize one and very
important fact, friends, angels do not have wings.
Let's listen. Okay buddies, it's six o 'clock
and I want to make sure I've got the entire hour
to work with. Again, I'm not sure exactly. How
much I've got here, it might be a little bit
short. If it is, hooray. If not, well, then we're
gonna get, we'll keep it close to time. So tonight,
we're looking at the subject of the study of
spiritual beings within the apotheos. What? We're
looking at spiritual beings within the divine
realm of heaven. The study, the thought of that.
That subject matter is called angel ology angel
ology It will refer to all spiritual beings In
the heavenly realm the angels of which are a
part but not all spiritual Beings in the divine
realm are angels There's actually other types
of beings with other functions. We serve God
in different ways Okay Now tonight's topic is
called angels don't have wings. We're going to
talk about angels tonight We're not going to
necessarily talk about these other classes Spiritually
spiritual beings which is going to focus on angels,
but as I begin talking about angels I'm going
to begin by talking about those beings that you
think are angels, but aren't in actually angels
Okay, the first one the first group. I'd like
to talk about is called the cherubim The cherubim
we find here in the first triad, very near the
top of the heavenly host, very close proximity
to God. They are the most frequently occurring
heavenly creature in the Hebrew Bible. In the
Hebrew Bible, the word cherubim appears 91 times.
First inference is in the book of Genesis 3 and
24. Despite many references, the role of cherubim
within the heavenly realms isn't clearly given.
Well, Hebrew tradition must have conceived of
the cherubim at least as the guardians of the
Garden of Eden, because after the fall and after
the expulsion of Adam and Eve, as well as Cain,
a cherub is placed to guard the Garden of Eden,
in essence, guarding the way to the Tree of Life.
They've also depicted as performing other roles.
In the book of Ezekiel, they are the transporters
of Yahweh's throne. So as God's throne flies
around, they're the ones that fly it around.
The cherub also appear in the Song of David,
a poem which occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible,
both in 2 Samuel 22 and the Psalm 18. And they
participate, these guys, right? They have four
wings. They participate in something that are
called theophanies. That's when God shows up
on the earth. Fancy word for when people see,
they think they see God, like the actual God.
These guys are around. And whenever God shows
up in people's visions, these act as the vehicle
upon which the deity descends to the earth from
heaven in order to rescue the speaker. We'll
find that in 2 Samuel 22, as well as Psalm 18.
In Exodus 25, God tells Moses to make multiple
images of cherubim, specific points around the
Ark of the Covenant. Many appearances of the
word cherub and cherubim refer to the golden
cherub images on the mercy seat of the Ark. If
you know anything about the Bible, the Israelites
had this very important golden box. Okay, and
the they believe that God's his manifest Essence
it was the place where God physically dwelt on
the earth and and to be specific about where
he dealt dwelt on the earth the box had two angels
two two cherubs with their wings extended forward
to almost a point where one on one side and the
other on the other and their wings almost touch.
In that space, that's called the mercy seat.
In that space is where God is said to have physically
manifested when on the earth, okay? In Isaiah
37 and one, Hezekiah prays addressing God. as
somebody who's enthroned above the cherubim,
or one who dwells among the cherubim, God. So
why I'm telling you this is the place where cherubim
hang out is in direct relationship to God. They
are very close. Often they are the vehicle of
the throne of God. Cherubim are also featured
at some length in the book of Ezekiel. When they
first appear in chapter one, they are transporting
the throne of God across the river Kabar. They're
not called cherubim, however, until the 10th
chapter. In Ezekiel 1, 5, and 11, they're described.
Okay, so let me describe what one of these cherubim
look like. They have the likeness of a man and
having four faces. So it looks like a man, but
it's got four faces. One of a man, a lion. on
the right side, an ox on the left side, and an
eagle. The four faces represent the four domains
of God's rule. Man represents humanity, the lion
represents the wild animals, the ox domestic
animals, and the eagles, the birds. These faces
peer out from a center of an array of four wings.
These wings are joined to each other. Two of
these are stretched upward and the other two
cover their bodies. Under the wings are human
hands their legs are described as straight their
feet of a calf shining like polished brass Between
the creatures glowing coals that move between
them could be seen and their fire went up and
down lightning burst forth from them the cherubs
also move like flashes of lightning Okay Somebody's
on a trip. This is crazy sounding talk right
crazy Animals that have wings they have four
of them Okay Let me move on now to seraphim Seraphim
are right up here at the top seraphim have six
wings we most Famously we learn about the seraphim
in the book of Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through
8 many of you have read that even if you don't
remember what those verses are but in those verses
Isaiah describes a sixth wing being that flies
around the holy I'm sorry flies around the throne
of God singing holy holy holy is the Lord holy
holy holy is the Lord okay that's their job this
throne scene with its triple invocation of God's
holiness profoundly ends up influencing both
theology as well as literature and art. It's
this influence that we frequently see angels
being depicted as having wings. It's this particular
story where we in art and literature get this
idea that angels are winged beings. But seraphim
are not angels. Seraphim are seraphim. They're
a completely different spiritual being with a
completely different purpose for God. Okay? So,
when we look at spiritual beings in the Bible,
and we look at every instance in which these
beings are mentioned and how they're described,
we find seraphim are described as winged beings.
Cherubim. are defined as winged beings. But these
guys down here, the angels, not one time are
they ever described as having wings, okay? What
are you talking about? Today I'd like to look
at God's spiritual beings. Known as angels because
truthfully so many people just don't understand
what roles Angels play in the spirit world and
our lives as well as a matter of fact a lot of
people just have a very common misunderstanding
About what angels are and what they're supposed
to do because often we gain that understanding
for public popular culture television shows Movies
right for example, how many of you seen touched
by the ain't by an angel? Touched by an angel
right very heartwarming show which leads most
people to believe that right Angels are British
women with British accents Right another show
angel a movie angels in the outfield angels in
the outfield, right? And then there's probably
the most theologically correct of all movies
about angels. I mean it biblically. It's just
spot -on It's a movie called Michael the one
with John Travolta the beer drinking angel who
wears wife beaters, right? Not biblically accurate.
A complete joke about that, right? But a favorite
Christmastime movie. Shows like four bazillion
times every Christmas season, every year, right?
It's a Wonderful Life. And if you love It's a
Wonderful Life, you know probably what I'm about
to do. What did this movie teach us about angels?
Angels, there's at least At least there's one
named angel in the movie that's named Clarence.
You guys remember? Right? And we learned from
Clarence that every time a bell rings, what happens?
Angels don't have wings! See what I'm saying?
A lot of people get this idea about angels from
movies. Not from scripture. Right some people
some people you may have even at one time got
a card that has like a little naked bald -headed
baby angel Playing a harp on a cloud So some
people think that angels are little naked babies
right with no hair Playing harps on clouds with
truthfully all it is is a naked baby with no
hair playing a harp on a cloud It's not an angel
All right, that's not what angels are like And
I'll explain why here in just a moment. Some
people believe this is rather common. Stick with
me till the end, guys. Remember, this is called
the Bible for grownups. So I might dispel some
rumors and some misunderstandings about what
you think about your life. And it might hurt
your feelings a little bit. Might like be finding
out about the tooth fairy or something, right?
But listen, I need you guys to hear this, right?
Some people believe that like whenever, it's
very common. When one of your relatives dies,
Right that they go to heaven and they become
your guardian angel Right a lot of people believe
that So if your grandma passes away some people
say well grandma's watching over me I just want
to say I don't know about you, but there are
times in my life when I don't want grandma watching
over me Just some things are right right thankfully
friends thankfully that that's not true Grandma
does not become an angel and she's not your guardian
angel as well. Sorry. We need to understand,
according to scripture, angels are God's servants.
They're supernatural beings that are created
by God, for God, for God's glory. They do the
exact bidding and work of God. Now what's amazing
to me is that so many spiritual beings, right,
or so many of these spiritual beings that we
talk about, angels, some of them were so fierce
that they could kill 100 ,000 people in an instant
and yet they're so gentle they can protect one
infant child. Angels are messengers, that's what
the word means. Angel means messenger, that's
all it means, messenger. They are the messengers
and they are spiritual beings of God. Now what's
very interesting to me is that although very
likely that there are angels all over the place
right now Right here right here right but in
the spirit world Right most likely there are
angels all around us But what's hard I think
for our finite minds to grasp but there are times
when angels actually show up looking like human
beings And admittedly that's a little bit far
out to me. It's kind of crazy But when you look
at examples, there are tons of examples of this
in fact in back -to -back chapters in the Bible
Genesis 18 and 19 Genesis 18 Abraham's just hanging
out by the by a tree one day right and three
guys show up and Abraham was like, oh, hey, come
on over here He goes into the tit -sera make
some of your famous bread, you know Come you
guys come and sit down and hang out with us,
right and and and he can't even realize Who or
what it is in front of them and then the very
next chapter something similar happens lot in
the city of Sodom Sitting out by the gate Right.
He said hey, what are you guys doing? They've
got no place to stay. We're just gonna divide
them stay at our place Hey, you guys come stay
with me. I'll take care of you guys for night
for the night and lot didn't realize that right
in front of him were two angels sent from God.
In fact, the letter to the Hebrews in the 13th
chapter says this very specifically in verse
two. Here's what scripture says. The Bible says,
do not forget to entertain strangers for doing
so, for in doing so, some people have actually
entertained angels without even knowing it. Right.
What are angels to answer? What are angels? Let's
first answer the question Who exactly are angels?
Right angels are spiritual beings created by
God and for God Who are angels angels are basically
three things in your notes there, right? The
first is angels are worshipers Okay, whenever
you find God or Jesus, you will always find angels
worshipping God or Jesus In fact the scripture
says this again going back to the letter to the
Hebrews in the first chapter this time in the
sixth verse of Hebrews The writer says and then
when God presented his honored son to the world
God said let all of the angels of God Worship
him What are these angels do they worship God?
It's what they do. They worship Jesus Fact scripture
says this revelations 5 11 12 and 13 John on
Patmos says then I looked and I heard the voice
of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands
and ten thousand upon ten thousands They encircled
the throne and in a large loud loud voice They
sang worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive
power and wealth and wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and praise angels friends are
worshipers Second thing, you know it's there,
angels are also warriors. They're fierce warriors
who do battle on behalf of God. Okay, this is
the longest portion of scripture we had tonight,
but I wanted to read this portion from Daniel
chapter 10, because it's fairly long conversation
between Daniel, a man, and this angel, plus there's
another little preacher teaching point I wanna
pull out here, right? Daniel's praying to an
angel. 21 days later, the angel shows up, says,
I've been trying to get here, but I've been doing
battle against the Prince of Persia. That's what
the angel tells him. Finally, Michael, the archangel,
Michael's kind of the chief of all of the angels,
he shows up and he's handling the prince so I
can come and talk to you, Daniel. Let's read
that story. Daniel chapter 10, beginning with
one. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
a revelation was given to Daniel who was called
Belted Azar. Its message was true and it concerned
a great war. The understanding of the message
came to him in a vision. At that time, I, Daniel,
mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food,
no meat or wine touched my lips, and I used no
lotions until the three weeks were over. On the
24th day of the first month, as I was standing
on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I
looked up and there before me, Right was a guy
with wing day. No a man Dressed in linen with
a belt of fine gold from a pass around his waist
his body was like topaz his face like lightning
his eyes like flaming torches his arms and legs
were like the gleam of burnished bronze and his
voice like the sound of a multitude a Daniel
was the only one who saw this vision Those who
were with me did not see it but such terror overwhelmed
them that they fled and hid themselves I think
that's pretty cool Right, so I was left alone
gazing at this great vision. I had no strength
left My face turned deathly pale and I was helpless
Then I heard him speaking and I listened to him.
I fell into a deep sleep my face to the ground
A hand touched me and sent me trembling on my
hands and knees. Daniel, you who are highly esteemed,
consider carefully the words I'm about to speak
to you and stand up, for I have now been sent
to you. And whenever he said this to me, I stood
up trembling. Then he continued, and friends,
whenever angels show up on the scene, you are
gonna hear these words. and time and time and
time again through the Bible. And it's not just
because it's something fun to say, it's because
something that the angels have to address every
time an angel shows up to a human. And what are
those words? Do not be afraid. Fear not. You
should, I get it. I should scare you to death.
I am an angel. Fear not. Right? Right. But here
it is. Here it is. We're gonna stop we're gonna
continue But I'm gonna stop on this but this
is I want you guys to listen to the sentence
Since the first day that you set your mind to
gain understanding and to humble you humble yourself
before God Your words were heard and I have come
in response to them. How long had he been praying?
21 days Right The angel comes to him after that
time and says since the how long since the first
day As you set your mind to gain understanding
and to humble yourself before your God, your
words were heard and I have come in response
to them. Friends, how many times do you pray
and nothing happens and then you just stop praying?
Because what you don't see is that from the very
first day that you started praying whatever that
thing is that you were praying, your words were
heard by God. But it might take 21 days for the
angel to show up, right? But it ain't your timing.
It's God's timing. From the very first time you
make that request to God, your words have been
heard. But sometimes you got to go whoop up on
the Prince of Persia before he could come and
help you out. So be patient, right? But the Prince
of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then
Michael one of the chief princes came to help
me because I was detained there the king of Persia
Now I have come to explain to you what will happen
to your people in the future For the visions
concern a time yet to come while he was saying
to this this I bowed my face toward the ground
and was speechless Then one who then the one
who looked like a man touched my lips And I opened
my mouth and I began to speak. I said to the
one standing before me, I'm overcome with anguish
because of the vision, my Lord, and I feel very
weak. How can I, your servant, talk with you,
Lord? Right? He says, my strength is gone and
I can hardly breathe. He is confronting himself.
The power of the spiritual being in front of
him. Again, the one who looked like a man touched
me. gave me strength and then says what Do not
be afraid Right you who are highly esteemed Peace
be strong now be strong When he spoke to me,
I was strengthened and said speak my Lord said
you've given me strength So he said, do you know
why I've come to you? Soon I will return to fight
against the Prince of Persia, and when I go,
the Prince of Greece will come, but first I will
tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.
And this is how the prophecy of Daniel begins,
right? With a conversation with a being that
he describes as a man, who two different times
has to tell him, chill out, it's okay, I'm not
gonna burn you down. First Chronicles chapter
21 shows the time when King David looked up and
saw suspended between heaven and earth a mighty
angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem God
said I want to have compassion on them and he
said to the angel put away your sword and the
king obeyed angels are warriors See an incredible
example of this in second Kings 19 and 35 That
night the angel of the Lord went out and put
to death how many people? 185 ,000 men in the
Assyrian camp on behalf of God, of God Almighty.
The warring angel put to death 185 ,000 men.
Angels are warriors of God. Scripture says this
again in the revelation of John of Patmos, the
12th chapter and 7th verse of that revelation,
and there was a war in heaven. Michael and his
angels, what do they do? They fought against
the dragon. And the dragon and his angels, what
do they do? They fought back. Why? Because angels
were created by God and for God. They are worshipers
and they are warriors. Number three, if you're
taking notes, angels are also, and this is where
you get the name, are also messengers. Over and
over and over and over and over again in scripture
whenever you see an angel show up They come with
a message from God for God's people That's what
angels do They come from God with a message for
God's people great example of this very uplifting
example of this story in the Old Testament Hebrew
scripture book of Judges And one of these judges,
a guy named Gideon, was afraid. He was scared
to death of this group of people called the Midianites,
right? Because the Midianites, there's a lot
more of them than there were of Gideon's people,
and they were looking to beat him up. And Gideon's
actually hiding out. He's on the run from the
Midianites. Scripture says in Judges 6 and 12,
when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon,
he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
What happens? An angel of God shows up to Gideon
to give him this message. From God to God's people,
God is with you. You can win this battle because
the Lord is with you. Gideon, you are a mighty
warrior. Jumping to the New Testament, the Gospel
account according to the physician Luke. The
first chapter of the physician's Gospel account
in 30 and 31 shows one of the most famous messages.
from an angel one that if you've lived through
one christmas in church you've probably heard
right angel shows up to a teenage virgin girl
with this particular message the angel said to
her do not be afraid do not be afraid mary you
have found favor with god you'll be with child
and give birth to a son and you were to give
him the name jesus the angel of the lord appeared
right with the greatest news for god's people
ever the virgin will be a child, his name will
be Jesus, and he will be the savior of the world.
Who are angels? Angels are worshipers, angels
are warriors, and angels are messengers. So now
that we've looked at the question who are angels,
now let's try to deal briefly with what exactly
do angels do? Because they do so much, but we're
gonna look briefly tonight at just three things.
I tried to really take, guys, I really tried
to make this all of the story of angels into
like one, two, three, one, two, three. I am oversimplifying
a lot about angels. I'm just trying to get us
to get a basic understanding of the spiritual
world, which I believe is a reality in which
we live. Okay. We're going to look at the other
side next week. Next week, we're going to look
at this character called Hasatan. Hasatan, the
accuser. The one you think of as the devil. We're
gonna talk about that and demons. That'll be
next week. So that's right. So we've got the
angel food cake this week, next week, devil's
food cake, okay? So let me deal briefly with
this question. What exactly do angels do? Because
they do a lot, right? Number one, angels often
give us direction. If you're like me, you are
directionally challenged, right? I can get lost
just going to the bathroom in my own house. Right?
Angels come and guide us, give us direction.
For example, we looked at the story of the little
teenage girl, Mary. Right? We all know that story.
We found out she would be pregnant, not by her
husband, Joseph, but by the Holy Spirit. Right?
Her fiance, Joseph, you can only imagine what
Joseph's response might have been whenever he
comes in and says, guess what? I'm going to be
a mama. Right? And Joseph was like, um, but I
wasn't there. And then she says, oh, no, wait,
no, wait, no, wait. This is actually the cool
part. It's from the Holy Spirit, you know? And
Joseph, put yourself in his sandals. Has got
to be thinking, yeah, right. You're crazy. Right?
I saw you the way you were looking at that guy
at the market. Right? Whatever. Whatever. Right?
No, no, no, no, no. Really, really, really. God
got me pregnant. Right? Sure. Sure. Like, I'm
going to go tell my buddies that. Right, and
so he did what every other guy would do. He planned
to break things off with her Tried to get out
of town But God sent one of his heavenly messengers
in a dream to give Joseph direction in his life
Here's what scripture says I'm gonna read about
this account from the gospel account of Matthew
first chapter and 20 an angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream and said 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. Angel of God appeared to Joseph
and gave him direction. I'm gonna give you another
example of direction, this time from Hebrew scripture,
from the Old Testament. Stories in Numbers 22
and 21. It's a pretty funny story, powerful story,
but pretty funny to me. This is what the Bible
says. There's this guy named Balaam. Alright,
one day Balam got up in the morning and saddled
his donkey and went out to the princes of Moab.
But God was very angry when he went, and an angel
of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him.
This guy's going in the wrong direction, so God
sends an angel to redirect him. Balam, scripture
says, is riding on his donkey and two of his
servants with him, verse 23. This is when the
donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in
the road with a drawn sword in his hand. She,
the donkey, turned off the road and into a field.
Alright, so here we have Balam. He's riding on
his faithful old friend, his old donkey, right?
The donkey sees this fierce angel and Balam does
not see. And is like, I don't want any of that.
And takes a right turn, so the donkey veers off.
Balam, not happy about this. Right? He gets off
the donkey and I mean he just beats the tar out
of this donkey. Bad donkey! Bad donkey! Right?
Gets on the donkey, starts going again. If you
read the whole story, an angel actually shows
up a second time and blocks the donkey and diverts
Balam into a mountain. It ends up kind of crushing
his foot. He took Balam's foot and he jammed
it into the side of the mountain. There was such
a narrow space that whenever the donkey Tried
to get away from the angel that crushed between
the donkey and the mountain crushed his foot
this time I mean Balaam is madder than you can
imagine He gets off and he starts whipping the
tail end of this donkey bad donkey, right? He
gets on the donkey again Donkeys going forward
sees the big fierce angel the donkey says uh
-uh and just gets down just lays down with Balam
on him. Just lays down on the ground. Gets off
another time and is just beating the snot out
of this poor cute little innocent donkey. And
evidently God felt sorry for the little donkey
because he does something very cool. He actually
opens up the donkey's mouth and lets the donkey
speak for himself. Go home and read this. This
is in Numbers 22. The little donkey says, Balam,
I thought we were friends. I've been your faithful
little donkey all these years. Do you think I
would really run you off the road? Have I ever
been unfaithful to you? What's crazy is that
Balaam just starts talking to the donkey back.
Like, wait, when did my donkey all of a sudden
start talking? Doesn't say anything about it,
just goes into arguing with the donkey. Right,
he starts talking back and all of a sudden scripture
says that God opened up Balaam's eyes. and that
he could finally see the angel. He was like,
whoa. He actually bows down before the angel
and the angel speaks to him. Very interesting.
The angel says to Balaam, the angel speaks to
him and says, basically, Balaam, if you had have
gone any further, buddy, I was going to kill
you. But I was going to save that little donkey.
Everybody likes the little donkey. Now Balaam
been riding a cat. Right we can only imagine
right Angels Angels could have wiped about things
right but here we see this guy with everything
in him wanted to go in a certain direction and
we see an angel coming to redirect him there
may be times in your life when you are just hell
bent on doing something. You just got to do it,
man. You just got to do it. And you seem to keep
hitting roadblocks. Even the fact that you feel
you just got to do it, you keep hitting roadblocks.
What could it be? Perhaps. Perhaps it's an angel
of the Lord redirecting you off the wrong path
onto the right path. Angels do a lot of things.
What do angels do? First thing, angels give us
direction. Now not only will angels give us direction,
but if you are looking at your names notes angels
also protect you from danger Now occasionally
people ask do I have a guardian angel does everyone
have a guardian angel? Well truthfully truthfully
scripture never says that everyone gets a guardian
angel It's just not in there guys All right.
Sorry Clarence right but What the Bible does
say is very specific. Psalm 91, 11, and 12 says,
for God will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways. Verse 12 says,
they'll lift you up in their hands so that you
will not strike your foot against the stone.
Angels often can protect us from danger, right?
So I guess thanks, Clarence, right? Another great
example of angels protecting people. In the New
Testament, Peter, Apostle Peter's locked up in
prison as much as he wants to be free. out in
the city square preaching about Jesus. Right
instead, he's chained up in prison. He can't
get free at any moment. The king Herod is his
name. He could have pronounced the judgment on
him. And just like that, had Peter executed.
But in the middle of his time in prison, here's
what scripture says. The story is in Acts chapter
12, beginning with seven. Suddenly an angel of
the Lord appeared. The Bible goes on to say,
and a light shone in the cell. The angel, he
struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick,
get up, he said. And the chains fell off Peter's
wrist. I just want to say real quickly, this
is one of those instances where the angel doesn't
have to say to the apostle Peter, fear not. Because
I think it's because Peter's filled with the
Holy Spirit at this point. He's preaching boldly
in the square. He's converted 3 ,000 people.
He gets angels. He's got no reason to fear angels.
Just something to think about. Quick, get up.
Chains fell off Peter's wrist. And suddenly Peter's
free. Verse 8 says, the angel said to him, put
on your clothes and your sandals, which he does,
wrap your cloak around you and follow me. Verse
11 says that Peter came to himself and said,
now I know without a doubt that the Lord has
sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, God sent one of his
supernatural beings to rescue me. And friends,
You may never know. There may come a time in
your life when you could say those exact same
words beyond a shadow of doubt. The Lord said
his angel to protect me. I've heard a lot of
people actually say that, right? They say, I
just know, I just know there was an angel in
my life. Now I don't personally have any, you
know. Angel stories like that some you know 10
foot tall scary Being where I feel like I'm afraid.
I don't have any of those But I do believe this
right I absolutely by faith believe that there
are angels all around us and may he in fact be
Protecting people that I love and care about
right now all the time and we don't know You
may never know. You never know how many times
God is doing something supernatural to protect
you or the ones you love. You just don't know.
Well, what do angels do? Angels can direct you.
Angels can protect you. And then perhaps my favorite
in notes is this. Angels can also minister to
you. They can minister God's love and healing
and power to you. In fact, scripture says in
Hebrews 1 and 14, are not all angels ministering
spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation?
They're ministering spirits. In fact, Jesus,
when he's tempted three different times by Satan,
after a 40 -day fast, Jesus was physically exhausted.
And he was tempted three different times. by
Satan. Jesus faithfully fought Satan off each
individual time with the word of God, but at
the end he was just physically wasted, both physically,
spiritually, and totally exhausted, recovering
from a very intense and spiritual battle, right?
And what happens? Again, from Matthew's Gospel
account, 4th chapter, 11th verse, then the devil
left him and behold, guess who shows up, and
behold angels came. And what did they do? They
ministered to Jesus. That word that is translated
as ministered in the Greek language is an awesome
word. It's the word diakono, diakono. And it
means to be an attendant. It means to wait upon
someone. It means to be a servant to someone.
It means to minister, to care for, to love as
a friend, okay? Diakono. That's what that's exactly
where that word deacon comes from and that's
what the angels did it minister to Jesus as unto
a friend Angels are ministering spirits. They
can minister to you and they can minister to
me another Powerful example involving Jesus was
whenever he's in the garden of Gethsemane, right?
just hours, hours before his horrible torturing
death on the cross. And he knew what was coming.
So he prays out to God. Here's what Jesus says.
He says, God, if there is any other way, any
way at all, may this cup of suffering be removed
from me. And he was in so much agony knowing
what that was to come that as he was sweating,
he was actually sweating blood. That's how intense
this was. any other way. And what happens? Here's
what happens. Verse 23 of Luke's gospel, 22nd
chapter of that gospel, an angel from heaven
appeared to him. And what did the angel do? Scripture
says the angel strengthened him. The angel strengthened
him and Jesus went on to say, then the powerful
words, okay, God, not what I want, right? Now
may your will be done. Angels can strengthen
us, even now. Maybe you have a vision of something,
and you just don't see how it's gonna come about.
And maybe an angel can come and give you strength,
keep you going. Maybe you're facing a challenge
in your life. Maybe you're facing a challenge
in your marriage. Maybe we just can't get through
this. An angel of the Lord might come and give
you strength and hope. Maybe you're facing a
temptation. I can't overcome this sin. Maybe
God will send a ministering angel that gives
you the strength to overcome the temptations
of the evil one. And maybe you're just exhausted,
physically, mentally, spiritually, burned out.
God may send one of his ministering angels to
re -energize you. Don't know what your situation
might be, but here's what I do know, friends.
Know that beyond a shadow of doubt that we do
live in a physical world But there is equally
Equally is real and perhaps maybe even more important
There is a spiritual world where the forces of
darkness battle against the forces of light where
the kingdom of God right battles against the
plans of the evil one and Remember friends we
battle not against people not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, the powers
of the dark world. We are given weapons, weapons
by God to fight that are not out of this world.
The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness,
the shield of faith, the belt of truth, the shoes
that are prepared to God's peace. We have the
sword of the spirit. And the great news is this,
we don't fight and engage trying to gain victory,
Jesus. Jesus has already won the victory for
us, right? Remember, if you're a disciple of
Jesus, if you're a follower of his, then that
greater is the one who is in you than the evil
one who is in the world. So call upon God, depend
on him, and supernaturally, he'll sustain you
and bring you his ultimate and perfect victory.
angels any questions yes well no satan is an
angelic well what do you think friends am i making
a mountain out of mole hills out here am i am
i maybe making too big of a distinction about
whether this type of angel or that type of angel
has wings or maybe Is there some truth to what
we were talking about tonight that, well, maybe
there is a lot more to this spiritual world that
I haven't really given much consideration to.
Is there a lot more going on in the spiritual
world that I just don't think about? Have I forgotten
that maybe, like we learned in Daniel, that from
the moment that I pray, My prayers are heard.
It might take 21 days. It might take 21 years
for my prayer to be answered. It doesn't mean
that in the spiritual world from the first moment
I made my petition to God, my plea was heard.
That's something to think about. It's a lot bigger
spiritual world out there than sometimes. I guess
we give credit for. It's something for us to
think about how important our spiritual lives
are compared to our physical lives. And maybe,
maybe even in these little distinctions I've
made tonight, we've realized just how big, how
big the divine world of God, the world that exists
outside of space and time, actually is. Maybe
if we're able to see it, maybe we can plug into
it supercharge our own lives maybe we can move
out of the natural into the supernatural like
i said i think it's something to think about
hey we're going to continue in the spiritual
realm next week next week we're going to look
at our old buddy satan and satan's demons i hope
that you will come back and thanks this is the
semi seminarian