Why Evil Exists and How We Overcome

well friends i want to welcome you to journey church as you're taking a seat my name is keith the lead pastor of journey church and i want to personally say happy mother's day this is a day that impacts all of us because we all have a mama whether you like her or not and so we got to recognize god gave us moms in fact right now i just want to give a very special warm happy mother's day to the mother of my life the first lady of this house her name's kara she gave you three incredible kids and i'll tell you my kids are great that's because of their mama so could you just give a just a warm celebration to kara she's here almost every service every sunday in fact she's the preacher behind me so she's the one making the words up on the screen she makes me look better all the time so

i'm so grateful to be married to her and i'm just so grateful you're here today and we get to spend some time together before we get into this book of revelation would you just join me and just ask god to speak to your heart right now so wherever you are in your journey of faith prayer is just talking to god so in your heart would you talk to him right now lord i ask that you would speak to us as we get into your word would your word get into us god bring clarity today i pray if there's any confusion or any distraction that that would be removed because of who you are you're god that cares about all hearts and for that i thank you and i say have your will and your way today in jesus name amen [Music] well all of us at some point in our lives will ask the question in our hearts why does evil exist

it usually happens at a young age when you're hurt by someone or someone's left you or you lose a loved one we'll all ask why do bad things happen today we will turn to a text that actually answers that question why does evil exist why do we war between good and evil on the days in which we live why do we have some triumphs in our lives and so many trials why do we go through hell sometimes and why is it like heaven at other times why do we go through the things that we go through we find ourselves in the book of revelation everyone shall revelation revelation comes from the greek word apocalypses which means to unveil to

reveal the the book of revelation reveals to us who our god is it's the revelation of who come on it's always okay to shout jesus a church come on it's the revelation of jesus it's told by the author john who happened to be a friend of jesus he was a student of jesus a disciple he was also the apostle john the word apostle means sent by god he was sent by jesus john gets this revelation on the island of patmos the island of patmos is a place you can visit today people go on vacation and see this historic site but john was not on the island of patmos to vacation he was imprisoned on this island because of his faith in jesus it was during the reign of the evil emperor domitian the emperor of

rome that he was cruel to christians and he he persecuted christians and john found himself isolated on this island and he gets the revelation of jesus christ and he tells us jesus is a faithful witness he's true holy jesus is the first and the last the beginning and the end meaning jesus is eternal he never changes he's the son of god and in revelation chapter one john says he's coming with the clouds so exactly what jesus did before he kept his word he's going to do it again as you read this revelation of jesus john gives us a greater understanding of why we're going through what we're going through and also he gives us an understanding of things to come john writes this to the first century

church that was being persecuted over under the oppression of the roman empire and this church would have had the very scriptures we have in our old testament they would have been familiar with some of the apocalyptic writings like ezekiel and daniel that uses imageries like animals or symbols signs and numbers so john two uses these these same images or this apocalyptic writing as he gives hundreds and hundreds of references to the old testament if you want to understand the book of revelation you have to understand the entire bible this is what i love about the book of revelation it turns our hearts towards all of the scriptures and today we turn to revelation chapter 12 and we'll skim chapter 13 and we'll look at this terrible trio what's been referred to as the evil trinity the word trinity is a reference to our

triune god he is one god and three persons he is perfectly in harmony one god and three persons the father the son and the holy spirit and perfect community and perfect love we have this one god who is in three persons the enemy satan is a counterfeit he comes and lets us know that the time in the end god reveals to us what will happen there will be this evil trinity a counterfeit satan the antichrist and a false prophet and today we turn our attention to why these things happen where evil came from why we still are at war today and what will happen to come turn with me to revelation chapter 12 starting with verse 1. and a great

sign appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars she was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains in the agony of giving birth and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven diadems his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child he might devour it i think this text speaks for itself today so no need for an explanation

totally kidding john the author writes several other books of the bible and it gives us a better understanding who jesus is he writes a biography a biography of jesus it's actually entitled john and he tells us in the book of john how great jesus is that he's the god of miracles and he refers to the miracles of jesus as signs we see this in john chapter 2 with the first miracle of turning water into wine it's john that says this the first of his signs simply meaning a miracle this was first of many miracles that jesus would perform revealing he is the son of god the christ the chosen one of god now we read here in revelation 12 the same author john says he sees a great sign we see a miraculous sign

starting with this pregnant woman there are many speculations about this woman some have concluded in the catholic church that this woman must be married that's why she's worthy of worship mary the mother of jesus others have speculated in the scientology no that's not mary the mother of jesus this is mary hubbard the wife of ron hubbard who started the church of scientology and the scientology was birthed through her but as we look at this text more carefully this woman had the splendor of the sun standing on the moon with the sparkling stars as a crown it's reminiscent of genesis chapter 37 when joseph just a young man has these dreams of his brothers bowing down to him one of these dreams was of a of a son

and a moon and 11 stars and he tells his family this dream and they're upset at him his brothers call him a dreamer they hate him for this dream of the fact that he said you will bow down to be adam and he wasn't even certain of what this dream meant as if they call him a dreamer they eventually threw him into a pit they they sold him into slavery you see joseph was the son of jacob jacob is the son in this dream rachel his mother was the moon and his 11 brothers were the stars and in this dream we begin to understand that jacob is the one that wrestled with god and his name was changed to israel and his 12 sons including joseph were known as the 12

tribes of israel we start to better understand in this story this woman is israel in fact when you read through the old testament scriptures israel is constantly referred to as a woman this woman here is a representation of israel and we have the counterpart in this story is a dragon not just any dragon john says this is a sign this is this is a miracle here that this dragon is red red is uh represents blood it's actually a symbol of death in the scriptures this dragon represents death this is none other than satan he represents death in all of his ways today we have costumes at halloween where people dress up in their

red with a tail and horns where did we get that image of the devil right here in revelation chapter 12. now why don't costumes have seven heads that's because it's hard to have a costume with seven heads and ten horns but we see here symbolically john is painting the picture of us the wickedness and evil of satan now what does satan want to do he wants to devour israel why does he want to devour israel because israel represents god's people god has had a plan for israel from the beginning you read the origins of israel in the book of genesis and god has had a plan for israel from the beginning and he continues to have a plan for israel god loves israel and so should we and we do love israel here at journey church we

support a ministry in israel today that brings the message of jesus yeshua as the christ to the jewish people in israel i spoke to someone just this week from that organization letting me know of not just the thousands but the millions who are hearing about jesus in israel it's absolutely awesome you can go watch these testimonies at one for israel.org see this organization that we support for this is who god supports he he loves israel it represents who he is now if you look at the story of israel it's such a small nation geographically it's small it's a small nation in population but yet this nation has been in the news from the beginning this nation has constantly been the underdog and i'll tell you what kind of god we have he's the god of the underdog

he loves it when we trust in him where he can do the impossible god does not need a lot to do a lot and so we see with the nation of israel what god wants to do in our own hearts but since israel represents god's people satan is an enemy to god therefore he's an enemy to god's people he's also an enemy to the church he wants to destroy what god is doing we see from the beginning satan has had a special hatred for the jewish people the power behind all anti-semitism in all history is satan we can go back to the beginning we look at the book of genesis and exodus and we see pharaoh what did pharaoh want to do he wanted to oppress the israelites he wanted to oppress the hebrew people he wanted to eradicate them he wanted to hold them back we later read in the book of esther haman what did he want to do remove all

the israelites he want to get rid of the jewish people and this hasn't changed even today the likes of stalin hitler and the evils that exist today the power behind that is satan and so it will be until these final days that he's going to go after the people whom god loves now this is not just anti-semitism all racism is ego yeah evil we see satan has has this motive of dividing people mankind is made in god's image there is no race that is superior and so we see that our god wants to give us the truth the word devil simply means accuser it's where we get the word defamer it comes from the devil he wants to defame us the word satan is comes from the hebrew version of that it

means the same thing an accuser it could also be translated adversary he is the adversary the enemy the accuser jesus when speaking of the enemy the devil he says in john 8 44 he was a murder from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies when it comes to satan he will always lie and he uses two primary lies and we see this in all of our hearts the first lies he wants to have you question if god is telling the truth if you can question the truth of god everything else falls apart he started in the garden did god really say this this is the ultimate lie of satan

is he wants you to question is jesus really the only way is jesus really the only truth is jesus the only life certainly you can find life in other places and so satan lies to every heart and says god is not the truth the second primary lie of the enemy is that god is not good for when you go through a problem or something that is difficult in your life that you would somehow blame god and we say that in our own lives if god is good then and you fill in the blank why would this person leave me why would god allow that person to die if god is good why would he let me get hurt if god is good and fill in the blank and then you begin to blame god instead of seeing his eternality that god is always good he never stops being good he is infinitely good satan

is a liar john describes him here as a red dragon the depiction of death he wants to accuse you here's how he works he wants to tempt you to sin sin separates you from god the word sin means to miss the mark that's what that's what he wants to do he wants you to miss the mark so he's going to tempt you to sin and then when you do sin because you think that this is the best decision which the scriptures say that for the wages of sin is death sin separates you from god at least to death and then this is what the devil does he accuses you he reminds you that you're a sinner he reminds you of the consequences of sin and he keeps coming back to that reality that is who you are he wants to keep you in that identity of sin for he is a liar he condemns

yet paul says in romans 8 1 for there is therefore now no condemnation when you have jesus christ there's now no condemnation because now you have the holy spirit and when the holy spirit convicts you of sin it's not condemnation it's to lead you to the truth and the truth is this you're forgiven of all your sins if you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive your sins here's the great news of god when you confess your sins you give him your sins he gives you his love you give him your life he gives you his life now all of a sudden you have righteousness but not because you've earned it but it was given to you as a free gift in jesus but the devil is a liar he would love to keep you in that place where you don't know the truth because jesus said the truth will set you free oh this dragon the devil has constantly

worked through history to work through people that's how he works he works through humans he did it with pharaoh ezekiel the prophet called called pharaoh a dragon ezekiel 29 verse 3 says thus says the lord god behold i am against you pharaoh king of egypt the great dragon oh jeremiah called king nebuchadnezzar a dragon he works through drags and dragons and he still is today we see the reason he works through humans is satan is not infinite in knowledge he is not infinite in power so he has to try to guess what god's going to do when god said he would provide a solution to sin in genesis chapter 3 god said that he's going to make it right and he'll step on the serpent's head

he told us that he would send a messiah he said he would step on that monster's head and he said that that monster would try to bite him back but satan throughout history has tried to figure that out so he would use the likes of pharaoh to try to kill those that might be a deliverer he would use those through history including king herod when king herod found out that there was a baby born near bethlehem who was was to be a king he lied to the magi and said hey tell me where he is so that i could worship him as well these magi were wise men and they saw the schemes of herod so they did not tell him where jesus was born which made herod angry matthew 2 16 tells us then herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became

furious and he sent he sent and killed all the male children in bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under the devil represents death and he'll use anyone he can to bring forth this message to destroy the works of god but he couldn't do it he tried to stop jesus he's tried to stop the messiah from coming but we read the christmas story in revelation 12 5. look what john tells us she gave birth to a male child who's the male child come on remember i said it's okay to shout jesus a church she gave birth to a male child who's that jesus one who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron this is to fulfill what was written in psalm 2 verse 9.

this messianic call in the psalms that there would come a messiah that would rule with within a rod of iron this is to say he has a political power unlike any other a kingdom unlike any other political kingdom but her child was caught up to god into his throne this is the quickest christmas story and easter story put together and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a has a place prepared by god in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days john goes back to the past and then he goes towards the future and then we'll see in just a moment he also goes to the present he goes back to the past to that christmas story when we see the messiah came through israel jesus is jewish god did what he said he

would do he brought forth the messiah himself through jesus yeshua hamashiach that is jesus the christ the lord and savior the messiah the chosen one it's in that place that he didn't last long he died on the cross and on the third day he rose from the grave he revealed himself to hundreds and then acts chapter 1 says he ascended into heaven just as he's going to return again he's going to come with the clouds he ascended into the clouds and then we fast forward to this tribulation time after the church is caught up with god john gets this vision that the israelites will be protected for half of the seven year tribulation time 1 260 days by the jewish calendar 42 months the jewish people during this

tribulation time will be protected and as we look at this story we see that god has a plan for his people even in the future now how does the enemy do what he does well he doesn't do it alone we go back to revelation 12 verse 4 we're told that he takes his tail and he whips at that a third of the stars from heaven and cast them to earth stars throughout the scriptures are symbolic of angels jesus tells us in revelation chapter one the stars are the angels now the word angel comes from the greek word angelos it means messengers they're created beings of god meant to be a messenger of god created by god that's exactly who satan is he was originally created as an angel but then he takes a third of of heaven's angels with him and it's

in that place that we begin to understand how and where this evil came from in the book of isaiah the prophet tells us in chapter 14 verse 12 how are you fallen from heaven oh day star son of dawn that phrase oh day star is where we get the name lucifer that's literally what it means some translations say lucifer it's it's a morning star a bright star this translation says oh daystar son of dawn how you are cut down to the ground who laid the nations low you said in your heart here's what happened i will ascend to heaven see lucifer had so much pride he didn't want to worship god he wanted to be in the place of god and then we're told he said i will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the earth i skipped a phrase there above the stars

of god i will set my throat on high he wants to be above all the other angels that's what lucifer wanted to do from the beginning he played the role of god it's a temptation in each of our hearts to play the role of god i can make my own decisions i can come up with my own rules i can do what i want and that's exactly what satan did and so he was cast out of heaven but he didn't do this alone he had convinced one third of the angels to go with him this is important for you to see he's so convincing he's such a great deceiver that's what the devil does he deceives he deceived a third of the angels to join the rebellion of this army against god i tell you this so that you would see how powerful the

devil is some of us think i can go against the devil but i'll tell you if he can argue a third of the angels out of heaven who are you to argue with the adversary satan don't do it i just sent some tension and silence here like some of you have done that before i'll tell you why you shouldn't do it you're not god what you should do is cling to the promises of god you let jesus fight those battles jesus has already beat the devil down he's already won the victory so you don't need to be go fighting some fights that jesus has already won you go to your advocate you go to the one who is the king of all kings the lord of all lords the one who is infinite knowledge the one that is

infinite in power you go to the one that was there in the beginning he'll be there in the end you let him fight for you you don't need to do the work of god you just have to know there's an enemy of god that wants to go after god's best you have problems in your life that just means you're an enemy of satan he wants to bring you down but you have a god that's greater than anything you go through we see this is the war that first took place john takes us back to the very beginning where this all started revelation 12 verse 7. now war arose in heaven michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back but he was defeated there was no longer any place for them in heaven and the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and satan the deceiver of the

whole world he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him and i heard a loud voice in heaven saying now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our god and the authority of his christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our god we're told of a wild war that takes place in heaven this is this is how satan and his legion of demonic armies came to this earth they were thrown out of heaven the word here throne was is the word balance they were bounced out of heaven michael was the first bouncer he he was protecting heaven making sure that the wrong people weren't there and he bounced him right out of heaven along with the third that that bought into the lies of satan and now they come down to earth and what

does satan do with his army he accuses i want you to see this he accuses them day and night jesus tells us that satan fell down from heaven like a light in luke 10 18 and jesus said to them i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven jesus described where satan came from and so we ought not be surprised in this world when john tells us in revelation 12 10 the accuser comes to the brothers he comes to the family of god and what does he do he accuses day and night i want you to note this the devil doesn't stop he's made a career out of condemning this is what satan does best satan never shuts up you wake up he's going to go after you you lie down in bed he's going to go after you

he's the great accuser he's going to try to remind you who you were he's going to try to lie to you about who you are he's going to try to say all sorts of things he is the great accuser and you're not alone in this sometimes we feel isolated like oh god why am i the only person going through what i'm going through you look around if you're a part of god's family the enemy's going after you he's going to try to condemn you but remember the holy spirit's resolve is that you would repent you would change your thinking you would turn to god and that you would no longer have regrets you have a god this for you and if god is for you who could be against you but you've got to fight this battle you've got to recognize that wherever you go satan's going to try to accuse you he's going to try to do when you're lying alone in bed he's going to try to do it in your family he he divides and destroys that's what he does

jesus says in john chapter 10 verse 10 the thief he's referring to satan the thief comes to steal kill and destroy that's what he wants to do but jesus says i came that they may have life and have it abundantly one of the lies of the enemy is that you would just have a little life jesus has come that you would have great life but satan wants to steal your peace oh he wants to kill your dreams he wants to destroy your destiny that somehow you think there's no future ahead of you but with jesus christ the best is always yet to come god's not done your best days are not behind you you're never too old with god you're never too young to be used by god i'll tell you there's no sin too great that god can't forgive and there's no person he can't use if you're willing god is able to use you

but the demonic oppression of this world is to lie to you it's to let you think that you're someone that you're not i'll tell you the enemy would love for you to think that somehow the battle is with another person we tend to forget this spiritual war because we can't see it so we think our battle is with our ex we think our battle is with the person that hurt us we think our battle is with some other person maybe it's the governor or a president or some other political party that votes differently than you or someone that thinks differently about something in life differently than you and you think they're your enemy but the scriptures say our battle is not with one another this is a spiritual battle paul writes in ephesians 6 he says for we do not wrestle we do not war we do not battle against flesh and blood we shouldn't fight with one another but our battle is against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic

powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places therefore church take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil days and having done all to stand firm so what are we to do in this war we're to armor up you should have the truth of god the righteousness of jesus salvation you should have the gospel which is the good news of peace you should have your faith that protects you from the lies of the enemy and you should use the word of god as your weapon you should meditate on it you should memorize it and most importantly you should put it into practice jesus said pray for your enemies not post some meme and get a bunch of people to like that they have the same enemy as you

you should be speaking life not death you should be on your knees praying we should be a people that armors up we should recognize the battle's already been won i am more than a conqueror i'm on god's side jesus said i will build my church and not even the gates of hell will prevail against it no matter what we're going through we get to be a part of god's eyes for jesus is our advocate oh the word for the holy spirit in the greek is paracletus he's our advocate we come before the judge and we've got we've got a prosecutor satan trying to tell the judge our righteous god why we shouldn't get into heaven when jesus steps forth through the power of the holy spirit and says i'll take that penalty i'll make sure that i right every single wrong and he gives us freedom he sets you free where you deserve death our god gives us liberty

and life and so john tells us in revelation 12 verse 12 exactly what that looks like for us and they that's the church they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb who's the lamb come on jesus and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death this is what we ought to do when the enemy comes accusing you remind yourself that jesus has already conquered the whole reason he went to the cross was for your sins he who was without sin took our sins on the cross it was his blood shed so that you can live he's described as a lamb because he was the last sacrificial lamb there's no longer a need for a sacrifice because jesus was the last

lamb of god and it's because of the blood of the lamb that we've conquered the devil thought he won when jesus died it looked like he was it was over when he was buried in the tomb but i'll tell you when jesus rose on the third day he not only defeated death he defeated the devil it's because of the blood of the lamb that we have a testimony so that every time satan comes to accuse you you say i have a testimony because of the blood of jesus unforgiven or when the devil comes back and says but what about your past you say i've got a testimony the blood of jesus covered that as well oh when the devil comes and says but you came from a broken family a generation of misfits of problems you came from a generation of curses oh you have a testimony those strongholds are broken in jesus name i'll tell you you have a testimony today that no matter what you wake up with no matter what you

go to bed with we have overcome satan we've conquered him not because you did it you you didn't earn this you weren't born into this you don't deserve this you don't get this because you go to the right church or you do the right things it's all because of the blood of the lamb that you're even willing to die this was written to the first century church who were being put to death because of their faith in jesus and like paul said to the philippians you say for me to live is christ that's what i'm going to give my life to but even if i die it's a game and so he says in verse 12 therefore rejoice o heavens and you who dwell in them but woe to you o earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short

he knows who's won so he's going to go after god's people and we have to decide this day which side we're on we conclude this chapter in verse 13 and when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth he pursued the woman who had given given birth to the male child he continually goes after israel but the woman was given two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nursed for a time and times and a half of time that's three and a half years now let's just pause here for just a moment so many times when we read the scriptures we try to find ourselves in this story the bible is not your story it's god's story so god invites you into his story

and as american christians many times the church wants to somehow find america in the bible we love our nation it's a great nation don't you love the country we live in i love america and we use the eagle as a symbol of america so we just try to find somehow america somewhere in the bible right this this young little nation that we're in so we go to scriptures like this and say this must be it finally we found america's gonna come rescue israel's somewhere in here we we found this but once again we go back to the old testament and we see that eagles have always been a symbol of israel always it was isaiah that said they shall mount on wings like eagles you go through the book of psalms it has nothing to do with america so we can try to find our story in there but we've got to use all of the scriptures to better understand what god's going to he he's

going to take those who are weak and he's going to make them strong i know that in your weakness the devil's going to lie to you and say it's over but that's actually the opportunity for you to trust in god that's the opportunity that he's going to show you what he's able to do that in your wilderness experience god has not left you he's getting you ready for more and he's doing that with israel have you ever wondered why why is everybody going after israel why why do all the nations around the world they circle around this one nation israel because god has a plan look at verse 15 the serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood just me he did everything he could to kill her but the earth came to the help of the woman and the earth opened his mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon poured from his mouth then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war

on the rest of her offspring this is the church so if i couldn't get israel i'm going after the church on those who keep the commandments of god and hold to the testimony of who jesus and he stood on the sand of the sea so israel survives everyone is shocked how did she become a nation out of the rubble how does she continue to do what she does and we continue to witness this today that god has a plan i'll tell you because this war is not on israel it's on god and satan is going to go after god's people he's going to go after the church so you have to decide today what side of the war are you on are you on the side of jesus and if you're not on the side of jesus there's only one other side i do not say that to be emotional or to exaggerate

it's the truth i have found myself constantly on the opposite side of jesus listening to the lies of the enemy about who i am or about somebody else i spew things with my lips and i'll later look back and say that was not of god we have to decide today am i on god's side i'm going to take him serious and his word because the reason john wrote this book of revelation is to let us know that jesus is real his second coming is real and the tribulation is real and we can be ready we can armor up and we need to know that god has a plan for our lives i don't normally in discernment this way but i believe it's really important for us to identify what the church is the church is not a place that you come to for a service and then leave

the church is made up of a body of believers so today i'm going to finish the sermon by asking you to go read revelation 13. i'm gonna give you homework uh i don't like homework i've never liked homework in fact i've always hated homework but i'll tell you the only way that you're gonna know the word of god is to study the word of god i told you about an evil trinity the terrible trio we've only talked about satan at this point in revelation 13 i'll give you a glimpse of what you'll study and you need to study this i want you to study the bible on your own you're going to read about a beast at the beginning of revelation 13. that beast is the antichrist it's a super leader that's going to come into this world and satan is getting that person ready in every generation

this super leader will come and look like he unites all people including the jewish people that's the first three and a half years of this tribulation and then we're told of a second beast that second beast is a false prophet the false prophet will be a counterfeit he'll look like the lamb but he's not the lamb the antichrist and the false prophet they will look a lot like the messiah there will be miracles there will be a union of a kingdom political power and they'll unite together this antichrist will actually be indwelled by satan himself just as jesus is the incarnate son of god 100 man 100 god so satan will take over this person he'll die but he'll come back to life he'll mimic jesus

the devil is a counterfeit there's only one creator and that's god our god brings something out of nothing the devil can't do that he's a liar he wants to look like but he's good at it this is why you need the help of jesus as we begin to understand this terrible trio we start to see that god wants us to know his plan he wants us to know who the true waymaker miracle worker is he wants us to know what the true life is that you don't find it in the things of this world for the antichrist will come with the false prophet and there will be a one world order there'll be one currency and the only ones that won't be welcomed into this family will be christians

they'll be persecuted unlike anything the world has ever seen and pers christians are persecuted much right now all over the world we think we were persecuted during the pandemic the last year that wasn't persecution [Music] persecution is when all of your freedoms are stripped from you when you lose your life when you lose everything you have and this will happen in the days of tribulation god gave us this so that we would understand his ways so that we'd start living it now why why wait another day today is the day of salvation didn't die so you keep living the same way you've lived he didn't die so you could live like other people jesus died to set you free john writes in first john 3 8 whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil

don't keep sinning for the devil has been sinning from the beginning the reason the son of god appeared was to destroy the works of the devil he died so that you could start experiencing his kingdom now do you remember the prayer of jesus he said pray that god's kingdom would come and his will would be done where on earth as it is in heaven just make that personal god i want this in my life as it is in heaven i want this in my church as it is in heaven i want this in my family i want this today i don't want to wait another day but he died so that you could live in it this is his kingdom he he stooped so low as to be born at such a time the devil couldn't figure it out he was he was born enough an animal trough laid in a manger

he served he came to not be served but to serve he stooped down to the point of being slapped and spit upon and hit he was he was beaten he was whipped he was crucified on the cross to show you the depth of his love the enemy is going to lie to you but paul tells the romans in chapter 8 verse 34 who is to condemn jesus christ is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of god who is indeed is interceding for us jesus is for us condemnation is the commodity of satan if you feel condemned it's not a god if you feel convicted turn to jesus he gives you a clear conscience he sets you free he gives you a high calling to let you know that you have a purpose

and a plan and if you look back and say i've i've made some big mistakes i've had some major problems you're in the proper place to be used by god because your path does not define you jesus does and it changes the trajectory of your future but you should be aware that once you do once you follow jesus the enemy is going to go after you satan declares war with you and those around you i don't need this lightly i don't mean this to scare you this book is to prepare us not to scare us do you know what the enemy will love to do in your life keep you away from the bible don't read this don't study it don't know it don't memorize it because the closer you get to god the more you'll know his word

he's given you everything you need and it's not just for you now is the time for our kids for our kids kids now is the time in this generation for us to stand for truth the way jesus would that we would have the fullness of grace and truth we can stand for something without being mean come on you do not need to share a post to try to get others to hate like you have hate in your heart we we can love like jesus it's possible by the power of the holy spirit we can live like jesus and be a salt and a light to the world that we live in right now we can say the truth of god does not change he's eternal he's sovereign he has a will and a way and i will not allow the government or any educational institution to determine

what the truth is my god is the truth so we choose this day am i am i for jesus or am i for satan i know it sounds dramatic but it's true there's two ways not many ways not a million ways two ways we choose today whom we serve i hope you know jesus because there's a healing that happens in your heart if satan has gone after you which i imagine the pains in this room and those even watching online right now are much greater than i could fathom or understand i heard some already at the first service sometimes i forget how awful and evil satan is he

wants to molest children he wants to destroy kids at an early age i forget that and then you grow up and it's still with you so you're no longer just a person in your 60s you're a child that is carrying the hurt of six decades of pain i don't minimize that pain i mean to bring you to the healer [Music] the only thing jesus kept with him after the resurrection are his scars you may have scars it might be a reminder that god is healing you it's not over it's not over it's not over our god is able would you join me in prayer as we just welcome god to have his way lord have your way today as we turn to your word god it's just a reminder that we

need you desperately bad we need you just as adam and eve needed you in the garden that god we come before you right now and we petition heaven and we ask god that you would have your way that your kingdom would come and your will would be done [Music] lord help your church right now to rise up in unity i ask in jesus name be glorified through your church may satan have no place in this church god i pray for healing and families healing in marriages i prophesy life and life abundantly for that's what you're able to do almighty god you are wonderful in all your ways remind us of your goodness

[Music] remind us of your truth remind us of the blood of the lamb that you're simply making a testimony to remind satan that you can do anything we know that one day he will be locked up forever and until then you've given us the revelation of who you are that we have everything we need you've given us hope you've given us faith you've given us your love so we seek those things today to be the pillars of our lives faith in you jesus we unite in hope today in community and lord we just come with your love so that we would love on other people and compassion we just lay us our sins to you now you promised us if we confess our sins you

are faithful and just to forgive our sins we confess our sins lord we're sorry we're sorry for our doubt we're sorry for our bitterness we're sorry for our resentment that we've carried in our hearts we are sorry for the jealousy the greed of the american dream that things will make us satisfied we're sorry lord we're sorry for the fear that we've placed in the things of this world [Music] and so we embrace your love we embrace your grace your goodness in jesus name amen yes [Music]