Participants: Danny Shelton (Host), David Asscherick, Ty Gibson
Series Code: TLB
Program Code: TLB012531
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00:11 Hello and welcome back to "3ABN Today Live."
00:13 Thank you for joining us. 00:14 I hope you are with us the first hour, 00:17 if not we have with us our guest tonight Ty Gibson, 00:21 I started to say James Rafferty 00:22 because I've never--I hardly ever said those two names- 00:25 You say them together, don't you? 00:27 But Pastor David Asscherick and-- 00:29 I wish James was here actually. 00:31 Me too I love him, great guy, 00:32 like having here all three you guys really, 00:36 to me you're a miracle what God can do with people 00:40 when you submit and commit. 00:41 Because all of you're backgrounds are suspect, 00:43 you know, when you-- It's true actually. 00:47 Tell us how you really feel? 00:48 Yeah, yeah, all of your backgrounds are suspects 00:50 so as mine of course but I'm saying, 00:52 knowing where you come from, 00:53 now weren't you one time a skateboarder and-- 00:56 I'm still a skateboarder. 00:57 But I was punk rock skateboarder. 00:58 Okay, punk rock skateboarder. 01:00 You were in a gang or something, right? 01:02 Yes, I was. 01:03 Now, maybe surely, James didn't have, 01:04 he didn't have anything back like that. 01:06 It's sorted. It got sorted, okay. 01:09 So isn't that great that God can take for all you human agents 01:13 when you submit and commit your life 01:15 that He can do a great and mighty things, 01:17 you know, it's amazing, He says, 01:19 "Greater things shall you do than I have done." 01:21 And so but none of us would say, 01:23 "Well, I'm doing something greater than Jesus today." 01:25 What did He mean? 01:26 I have thought about it, you ever think about it, 01:28 I mean, with me, when Jesus, He went places, 01:31 He walked from place to place. 01:32 When He spoke, whoever has been hearing. 01:34 Today, He's given us technology to reach the world 01:37 setting right here in this chair 01:39 greater things that we're doing than He did. 01:41 Not in the fact that he said, I'm gonna give you tools 01:44 I'm gonna give you equipment 01:45 to take this gospel to the world. 01:47 You don't, I've got to have to do it, 01:48 like I'm doing right here. Beautiful. 01:50 But I'm going to help you. 01:51 That's just does saith, Danny, 01:52 but-- No, I like it, 01:54 I mean I was on plane to Eugene this morning and here I am. 01:57 You know, I mean, it's-that is something 01:59 that would have been inconceivable 02:01 in those times, here we are. 02:03 So He has given us every advantage 02:04 to get the gospel to the world. Absolutely. 02:06 I also want to mention, Danny, if you don't mind. 02:09 We've mentioned James and he is definitely 02:13 a part of Light Bearers and what we're doing 02:15 and he and David and I are co-directors. 02:19 There are three of us that are running 02:21 Light Bearers together, 02:22 but I think it would be appropriate 02:24 to also mention that Nathan Renner, 02:28 who was a co-founder with David of ARISE, 02:33 is also still active in ministry and still working with us in, 02:36 in a different capacity but he is still working with us. 02:38 He teaches at ARISE. 02:40 He is actually pastoring a church in California, 02:42 the Sonora Seventh-day Adventist Church. 02:44 And we have tried to woo him away but he is, 02:47 he is riveted fast to that church 02:50 but as far as being involved in our ministry 02:53 and being supportive of our ministry. 02:55 He is just as committed as he is ever. 02:57 He will be teaching through the Book of Romans in fact-- 02:59 Yeah, just a couple of weeks. 03:00 Yeah, in a couple of weeks, he will teaching 03:01 through the Book of Romans for the students. 03:04 Oh, great, great. Yeah. 03:05 All right, so we are talking for those just joined us, 03:08 we're taking us through seven points Territorial Forces. 03:12 That's right. 03:13 And we're talking about the great controversy 03:14 which you guys have done in a absolutely beautiful way. 03:17 I know that the Holy Sprit has, 03:19 you know, led and guided you in what you're doing here 03:21 but it's a way that right now that to me 03:23 it's beautiful to really see that we've never been alone. 03:27 Yeah. 03:28 It's never been in question that God has always had a plan. 03:33 He says, "I have plans for you" 03:34 in Jeremiah, right? Yes. 03:35 I have plans for you that you'll prosper 03:37 depending on what translation. 03:39 But that you'll do well, you will succeed, 03:41 you will make it and so I think it's wonderful 03:44 that I always tell people, 03:47 you know, Satan can rob us of everything that we have, 03:50 he can rob us of our health, he can rob us of, 03:52 you know, our finances, he can rob us of, 03:55 you know, relationships but he can't rob us of our soul. 03:58 'Cause it's not his, it's not his, 04:00 wasn't his and you guys are confirming that. Yeah. 04:02 Saying you know what, 04:04 he politicked his self into getting 04:07 this dominion that was given by God to Adam and Eve. 04:10 So bringing these folk up, 04:12 so He gave this to Adam and Eve and then they transferred, 04:16 I'm not gonna say that word again. 04:17 You got it say it, say it, say it. 04:18 Well, you know my dad, my dad is resting in the grave 04:20 I'm not gonna say it 'cause that is something 04:21 that I had got worked about saying the word like that. 04:24 It's a good word, abdication. 04:26 Yeah, I heard of that but I still feel-- 04:27 Hey, he's-he's not gonna say abdicate but just 04:29 two seconds ago he said-- That German word. 04:30 His self. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 04:32 Politicking his self. I love it, I love it. 04:35 Well, you can see why I would have got that, got that-- 04:37 Yeah, I would--my home, my home, my home was a little different. 04:40 I would have got a whipping for saying his self. 04:43 Yeah, his self. 04:44 Well, I probably learned it from home 04:46 instead of himself, his self. 04:48 But the German word that you used 04:49 I feel the same way about it, I'll say, oh, 04:51 I'm not going to say that word, I'll get into trouble. 04:52 Do you now what it was? No. 04:54 I don't even know all these English words you guys are doing 04:57 and then you want to know if I know the German word. 04:59 Do you ask me-- they asked me, 05:01 "Have you ever heard this German word?" 05:03 I probably did but I have no idea what it meant. Right. 05:06 So but I'm glad that you guys are here 05:08 and you guys are on the seat to hopefully explain. 05:09 Well, hopefully it's clear even despite the language 05:12 that we're wrapping around it. 05:13 It's the basic idea that God set it up, 05:15 number one, as dominions. 05:17 Number two, that Adam and Eve abdicated 05:19 or relinquished their dominion 05:23 turned it over to the enemy power. 05:25 The third scene in the play here 05:28 or in the movie is that a warrior is promised. 05:32 And in the process of crushing the enemy's head, 05:36 his heal would be bruised. 05:38 Now this brings us to the fourth part of the presentation 05:41 which is something that. 05:43 You know, you talk about how we're seeing 05:44 the great controversy here through 05:45 new eyes and new perspective. 05:48 This part is really fascinating and what it details 05:52 is that the way that God has organized His angelic forces. 05:58 And Satan has organized 06:00 his fallen angelic forces is territorially 06:05 and there is a ton of biblical evidence of this. 06:08 We want to look at some of that biblical evidence 06:10 and see that this is not just 06:12 a fly by the seat of the pants you know sort of. 06:14 No, there is a, there is a method to this madness. 06:17 And there is an organization to it 06:19 that's central to the biblical story 06:22 about to territory and the Bible story about territories. 06:24 So that brings us to point number four 06:26 and for those who are taking notes, 06:29 the fourth point you want to entitle organized forces. 06:33 Okay. Organized forces. 06:35 So in other words the demonic side of the great controversy 06:40 is not a rag tag group of unorganized individuals, 06:46 they are highly organized. 06:48 We have to remember, 06:49 that Satan is described in Scripture 06:51 as once being Lucifer 06:54 a brilliant beam of light and radiant with glory, 06:59 But also the Bible says that he had wisdom. 07:02 So he had a massive intellect 07:05 and he was the ruler of the unfallen angelic race. 07:11 Yeah, I love it. You said he had wisdom too. 07:14 Now sometimes we think people are smart, 07:16 but it's a lot better to have wisdom than to be smart. 07:18 It is. You know-- 07:19 The Bible says he was perfect in wisdom. Okay. 07:22 And he of course lacks wisdom now in the moral sense, 07:26 but he still is very intelligent and organized, 07:30 very deceptive and wily and subtle 07:32 and he's organized his forces. 07:34 Now let's just build this picture Deuteronomy 32, 07:39 Deuteronomy 32 if you turn there, Danny, 07:42 and viewers at home who are studying this with us. 07:47 Moses is explaining to the children of Israel. 07:50 He's recounting of what has happened 07:52 so far in their history and in the history of the world. 07:56 And it's interesting in Chapter 32:1, 07:59 He says, "Give ear, O ye heavens, 08:02 and I will speak, and hear, 08:04 O earth, the words of my mouth." 08:07 And then he proceeds to teach and to explain things. 08:10 So it's fascinating to began with that Moses 08:13 and the Lord through Moses 08:14 is calling upon the inhabitants of earth 08:19 and the inhabitants of heaven 08:21 to sit up and take notice and pay attention 08:23 to what is about to be explained. Okay. 08:26 So we need to realize 08:27 that this great controversy on planet earth 08:30 is the arena of a great controversy 08:33 that is under observation, 08:35 by the heavenly universe. Yeah. 08:37 So God actually, here actually says, 08:39 hey heavens, in heavens aren't you know, 08:43 planets heavens here refers to the inhabitants of heaven. 08:46 Revelation 12 says, 08:48 "Rejoice ye heavens and those who dwell in them." 08:51 So when the heavens are addressed in scripture 08:54 is addressing rational sentient volitional beings 08:58 that inhabit the heavens and Deuteronomy 32 is saying, 09:01 okay, heavens and earth listen up, 09:03 everybody listen to what I'm about to explain. 09:06 Okay, so then we come down to verse 8, and it says, 09:12 "When the Most High," that's God, 09:14 "divided their inheritance to the nations, 09:18 when he separated the sons of Adam, 09:20 he set boundaries of the peoples 09:23 according to the number," in this version, 09:25 according to the number of the children of Israel." 09:28 That's the New Kings James Version, okay. Okay. 09:30 Now this is a little complex, 09:31 but we got to just break this down. 09:34 In the Septuagint and a few other English translations 09:38 they rendered the children of Israel 09:40 here at the end of verse 8 differently, 09:43 because in the Hebrew language 09:46 it could be translated one of two ways. 09:49 Okay, so the way the Septuagint 09:51 which is the Greek version of the Old Testament 09:54 renders the text is, 09:56 "When the Most High divided the inheritance, 09:59 divided the nations and their inheritance, 10:02 he separated the sons of Adam," that is the human race. 10:06 "And set their boundaries 10:07 according to the number of the holy angels." 10:12 Not the sons of Adam. It's Interesting. 10:13 And the reason why they went this direction 10:16 is because as I said the original language 10:19 could be translated one of two ways 10:21 and in some English translators they couldn't make 10:23 heads or tails out of it, what is this mean? 10:26 In what's sense the territory divided 10:28 according to the angels? Yeah. 10:30 Must be the children of Israel. It must be children of Israel. 10:32 But in my Bible, your's is probably the same 10:33 is actually a marginal reading 10:35 it just says right here, that is in the Septuagint, 10:39 "the Angels of God." Okay. 10:41 The Angels of God. 10:42 So what this means then, Danny, is that when the-- 10:45 now this is very, very important 10:48 for where we're going in the story. 10:50 When the nations were divided up into their various territories 10:54 and became, you know, 10:57 various different countries and territories. 11:00 The Lord assigned angels to be protectors 11:06 and guardians over nations, 11:08 is what's happening here, all right? 11:11 The devil we find out later in Scripture, 11:14 followed suit and has his own organizational structure. 11:18 But he's didn't have it as many, does he, angels? 11:20 He doesn't have as many, there is no doubt about that. 11:22 But he definitely organized his forces in such a way 11:27 as to assign demonic forces fallen angels over the nations. 11:32 Now we referred to this earlier, 11:34 we kind of hinted at this when we talked about the fact 11:37 that God sets a protective hedge around individuals, 11:42 families, who operate by His principles. Okay. 11:46 Cities, nations and the world, okay. 11:49 There's that protective hedge idea. 11:52 Now the nation or city 11:57 is making its vote if you will, 12:00 by its moral voice, by actions. 12:04 My actions are saying to the Lord. 12:08 Lord by my actions I choose Your principles in Your kingdom. 12:12 And the Lord legally in the great controversy 12:15 has then the perfect right without violating free will 12:19 to protect me and my family and to be a part of our lives. 12:23 But if I begin, I'm gonna use a very, very, 12:26 you know, crass example here. 12:28 But if I begin secretly for example, 12:31 having an affair, okay 12:34 I violated the integrity of the marriage vow. 12:37 That immorality in my life says to the heavenly universe 12:42 and to Satan and to the Lord, 12:44 I'm operating by different principles, 12:46 I may be going to church each week, 12:47 I may be praying formal prayers and singing songs. 12:52 But my actions are saying to those 12:56 that are engaged in a great controversy. 12:59 He now is making choices that render him 13:04 a member of the kingdom of darkness. 13:06 And God does not have the legal right by virtue of the laws of-- 13:11 the rules of engagement and freewill 13:13 to just force his protection on me. 13:15 My choices are tending in a direction 13:19 that causes the devil to have leverage in my life. 13:22 That would be a good way--- 13:23 It's a great way of saying it. Yeah. 13:24 So he now has influence and leverage in my life. 13:26 So nations operate the same way. 13:30 God assigns Holy Angels, to be protective-- 13:34 United States of America. Absolutely, sure. 13:37 Every nation God wants as His territory 13:40 to be invited in by the general 13:44 trajectory of the moral choices of the nation. 13:47 Who decides how much protection we have? 13:50 God ultimately as the sovereign of the universe 13:54 is paying attention to how freewill is exercised. 13:58 And the way freewill is exercised, 14:00 the Lord honors free will by drawing close 14:04 to having access to lives 14:06 that give Him access in and He has to, 14:09 I mean one scripture says, 14:10 He has to back up so much in Revelation 3, 14:13 that He's on the outside of a door knocking to get in. 14:17 So that, that scripture 14:18 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock" 14:20 is a scripture about freewill. 14:22 It's a scripture that's about the fact 14:24 that God honors the parameters that we set. 14:28 That's a great way of saying it. 14:29 The boundaries that we established God honors. 14:31 Yes, He honors those boundaries. He wants in, but He's not-- 14:33 He's a great gentlemen, he doesn't force us. 14:35 Satan will force himself and take over politicked 14:38 to get in and the Lord just knocks.That's right. 14:41 And if you open the door he comes in, 14:43 so does that mean we as a nation, 14:46 if we adopt principles, its anti-God 14:49 whatever the commandments are, we're breaking them to, 14:52 we then set the boundaries 14:54 as to how much protection we have got-- 14:56 Absolutely. Yep. 14:57 And you know, Danny, and Ty and I know 14:59 and many of our viewers maybe aware as well, 15:01 that when we speak specifically about the United States, 15:05 that Revelation 13, 15:06 I'm getting just little ahead of the story here. 15:08 But Revelation 13 says, 15:09 that this power would have horns like a lamb, 15:12 but would speak like a dragon. 15:14 So this power, this national entity 15:17 the United States of America 15:18 would enact laws and legislation 15:21 that is so incompatible with the character 15:23 and governments of God that it's satanic. Wow. 15:26 That's the direction that we're headed 15:28 but before we get there, 15:30 we're just doing that to just kind of give us a feel 15:31 for the whole of the scriptural picture here. 15:34 At this point we're just seeing how is it organized. 15:36 God arranges, He divides up the nations 15:39 and this is kind of weird verse here, 15:40 but it's there in Deuteronomy 32, 15:42 "According to the angels." Yeah. 15:45 And I like what you said there, Ty, 15:46 that Satan then followed suit. 15:48 You know, this isn't organized-- it's a war, it's a conflict. 15:50 It's not a fly by the seat of the pants, 15:52 hey just, a sprinkle here and dash here, no. 15:54 God is organized, Satan is organized. 15:56 And we know in the very context David, 15:58 that this is happening because and that's the proper 16:02 interpretation of verse 8 as angels 16:04 because when we come down to verses 16 and 17. 16:07 Yeah, this is really, check this out. 16:09 Yeah, this is incredible. 16:10 Look at verses 16 and 17 of Deuteronomy 32, Danny. 16:13 And our fellow Bible students at home, this is amazing. 16:17 So well wait a minute, wait a minute, 16:19 we got to back up to verse 9. 16:21 This is, I was going to 16 and 17, 16:23 but we didn't finished verses 8 and 9. Yeah. 16:25 So in verses 8, okay, 16:27 the boundaries of the nations are established 16:30 according to the number of the Holy Angels. 16:32 But then verse 9, it says, 16:35 "For the Lord's portion is His people, 16:38 Jacob is the place of His inheritance." 16:42 It says in verse 10, "That he that is the Lord found him," 16:45 that is Israel or Jacob. 16:46 "In a desert land and in the wasteland, 16:49 a howling wilderness and He encircled him," 16:53 that's the protective language again. 16:55 He encircled him. Where am I here? 16:58 "And He instructed him, and He kept him." 17:01 God kept Israel as the apple of His eye." 17:04 The apple of His eye, just means, 17:05 the focus of his attention and protection. 17:10 And then in verse 11. 17:12 I love this verse. Yeah. 17:13 "As an eagle stirs up its nest, 17:15 hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, 17:19 taking them up, carrying them on its wings. 17:23 So the Lord alone led them, 17:26 and there was no foreign God with them." 17:30 Okay, so you see the picture here, 17:32 so now we have this idea of national borders being set up, 17:37 angels from the Lord been assigned 17:39 to be protective guardian angels of the nations. 17:41 And then the Lord says, 17:42 but I myself will take responsibility for Israel. 17:46 Israel will be my nation that I will give 17:49 personal care and protection too. 17:51 This is Jesus before His incarnation 17:54 as the Prince of Israel taking charge of Israel. 17:57 And He says, I will protect Israel, 17:58 I will encircle Israel, I will do everything 18:02 that I can to preserve Israel. Now why? 18:05 Because in the story before 18:07 the Lord is setting up a lineage a women, 18:09 a human lineage through which the warrior can come. Okay. 18:12 So He is establishing people here. 18:14 Yeah. Okay. 18:15 Okay, to make that happen. 18:17 Now check this out, this is amazing. 18:19 Going down to verse 15? 18:20 Yeah, he's saying, I'm gonna protect Israel, 18:21 but then going down to, why don't you take verse, 18:25 you go on from there, David-- 18:26 You want me to go to 15 or 16. 18:27 Yeah. 16 and 17. 18:28 Okay, so 16 says, 18:30 "They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign God's, 18:34 with abominations they provoked Him to anger. 18:37 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, 18:41 to gods they did not know, to new gods, 18:43 new arrivals that your fathers did not fear." 18:46 Isn't that astounding, so notice something-- 18:48 Break that down, break that down. 18:49 Okay, notice something here, Danny. 18:51 In verse 16, the language is foreign gods, 18:55 provoked God to jealousy, because He chose Israel, 18:58 and He was protecting Israel as His people, all right. 19:01 But then Israel began to apostatize, 19:03 they began to rebel against God. 19:05 And they began to worship foreign gods. Wow. 19:08 That's verse 16, they're called foreign gods. 19:10 In verse 17, those foreign Gods are called demons. Wow. 19:15 So the Gods of the nations in the Old Testament, 19:19 like Dagon the God of the Philistines I believe. 19:22 And Moloch and Ishtar, these gods that have names. 19:26 Baal. Yeah. 19:27 Baal is the most commonly mentioned one. 19:30 These are not figments 19:32 of the imagination of these peoples. 19:35 These are according to scripture. 19:37 Demons, fallen angels that have set themselves up over nations 19:41 and are masquerading as deities, as gods. 19:46 So when these people are worshiping Dagon, 19:48 they are worshiping a fallen angel as gods. 19:51 Scripture says they are worshiping demons, 19:53 sacrificing to demons. Wow. 19:54 Yes. Okay. 19:56 And so do you see what's happening here. 19:58 There's the nations divided up 20:00 into various territories, national borders. 20:03 God assigns protecting Guardian Angels, Holy Angels to them. 20:08 The devil follow suit and sins in foreign gods, new arrivals, 20:13 that's very interesting language. Very interesting. 20:16 These new arrivals are demons 20:18 that are encroaching on territory. 20:20 They're coming in to the various nations 20:21 and saying, you know, and taking charge of the peoples 20:25 according to their moral choices. 20:27 That's what's happening in this context. 20:29 That is absolutely, you know, 20:31 I uphold the time in which we're living. 20:33 And I mean right now as we are looking, 20:35 you know, at our own government 20:37 and we have and that's why I'm not political 20:40 and I won't go one side or the other, 20:41 but you know, it's a very solemn thought. Totally. 20:46 To look it, right now and leadership on both sides. 20:50 You have people who, you know, are promoting platform 20:54 in same-sex marriage, abortion. 20:56 And then on the other side you have people 20:58 whose belief or head leader is not, 21:00 you know, lines up with Christian with the Bible. Yeah. 21:03 So, you know, you can do 21:04 whatever you want, I'm not judging. 21:06 Tell you what to do, I'm not voting this time. 21:08 I can't, because I believe that a vote says, 21:10 I agree, I support. I endorsed this. 21:13 I support same-sex marriage, I support abortion, 21:16 I support the heaven or god 21:18 other than the creator God of the universe 21:21 and recognize in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as a God, 21:24 that means I endorse that. 21:26 So I'm just not going to do it 21:27 because I think it's very serious 21:29 and we didn't plan this, 21:30 but you guys have woken us-- this protection. 21:32 I mean what great timing for you guys 21:35 to come in and say, you know, this is solemn for each of us. 21:39 The nation, we ultimately are deciding 21:42 how much protection that God is gonna give us, right? 21:46 I believe that's exactly right. 21:47 You know, the passage 21:48 that we mentioned there in Revelation 13, 21:50 where it says that this power that comes out of the earth 21:53 which we believe is the United States of America, 21:55 which is another study. 21:56 You can bring us back for that one, Danny. 21:58 It has horns like a lamb, 22:00 so there is a Christ like element. 22:02 Christ is referred to as the lamb 22:03 26 or 27 times in the New Testament. 22:06 But here horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. 22:08 So there is this conflict where the United States 22:12 is largely founded upon Biblical principles 22:15 of liberty and freedom and justice, 22:18 but we are seeing increasingly, rapidly, lately 22:23 that those principles of justice 22:25 and equality and liberty are being abandoned and-- 22:29 Yeah, we are very much 22:31 in the process of aligning ourselves 22:33 with forces that will make it impossible 22:35 for God to protect us as a nation. Wow. 22:38 And then it breaks it down as a nation I can still, 22:42 am I right or wrong? 22:43 God can still bless me. Absolutely. 22:45 But unless I go along with what the nation is teaching 22:49 and I can do that by my support, 22:50 by lending my support 22:52 or becoming members of certain organizations 22:55 that are anti-God so to speak-- 22:56 But we have many instances of this in scripture 22:58 and it's just slightly off topic but it's relevant. 23:00 You think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23:02 They were in the nation of Babylon, 23:05 but they could not go along 23:07 with the bowing down to the golden image 23:09 that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 23:10 So God could still bless them. 23:13 He got to put hedge like Job, he put a hedge around them, 23:16 but if they had gone along like the other-- 23:19 He put a fireproof hedge around, I mean-- 23:21 He put a hedge, it's exactly-- it was not just a hedge, 23:23 it was a force field of sorts. Yeah. 23:25 And but they would've relinquished that protection, 23:28 that very protection if they had opted to go along 23:31 with the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. 23:33 I'm not sure with words like that. 23:36 I want to just reel us back in here, 23:38 I'm gonna read this verse here. 23:39 Now this is for those who are taking notes at home. 23:41 Very same idea, Psalm 106:37-38, listen to this. 23:47 Psalm 106:36-37, it says, 23:50 "They served their idols, which became a snare to them." 23:54 Verse 37, "They even sacrificed their sons 23:57 and their daughters to demons, 23:59 And shed innocent blood, 24:00 The blood of their sons and daughters, 24:02 whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, 24:04 And the land was polluted with blood." 24:06 So this is exactly what Deuteronomy 32 says. 24:09 They were sacrificed to idols, 24:10 but these were not just as you said, Ty, 24:12 figments of their, you know, creative imagination. 24:14 They were sacrificing to demons. 24:18 And notice it says in that scripture, David, 24:19 that the land was polluted. Polluted. 24:22 By the shedding of the innocent bloods, yeah. 24:24 The territories. 24:25 But, I mean this is really deep to me, 24:27 you guys are bringing some stuff, 24:29 because the sacrificing now, 24:31 let's say that I put my allegiance to people 24:35 and government that are totally, 24:39 I'm sacrificing my children because they're gonna be taught 24:41 all of these things that I don't believe in, 24:44 that's contrary to the Bible. 24:46 So I still can sacrifice them without somebody 24:48 take and rout them doing what we think. 24:50 We sacrificed them spiritually, 24:53 when I lend my support to these people the rant, 24:57 I just call them antichrist spirits, 24:59 because when you're anti-Bible 25:00 and I can say this more comfortably, 25:02 because right now I see two sides 25:05 and I see leadership on both sides. 25:07 That the Bible seems to be the last thing 25:09 anybody really wants to look to. 25:11 Well, Danny, it's actually even more serious 25:15 and what you just mentioned there and you did mention, 25:17 you know, my children going to schools. 25:18 But what about the children 25:19 by the millions and tens of millions 25:21 that don't get to be born and are sacrificed 25:24 on the altar of sexual promiscuity. 25:26 Come on now. And-- 25:27 This is serious. That is. 25:29 I mean, you know, these are numbers we just through out, 25:31 millions and hundreds of thousands. 25:33 But these are children that are being sacrificed 25:35 in the name of in many cases, not all, 25:39 but in many cases the vast majority of cases, 25:41 sexual promiscuity and my desire to do it whatever I want 25:44 and, you know, damn the consequences. 25:46 That is the decisions that we are making as a nation. 25:49 Yeah, as a nation, that's true. 25:50 I mean, that's-- 25:52 Let's add additional scripture to wrap our minds 25:57 around this idea of organized forces. 26:00 Okay, I'll just call our attention 26:03 to some that come to mind, 26:04 but our fellow Bible students 26:07 will find this throughout scripture this idea, okay. 26:10 But Daniel 10 is incredible, 26:14 in connection with Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 106. 26:17 And the reason why is because, 26:19 Daniel has received a vision, he doesn't know what it means. 26:22 And so he begins to pray that the Lord will intervene 26:26 and give him a revelation of what this vision means. 26:28 It's fascinating because it says, 26:31 that he prays for three full weeks. 26:35 And so finally when his prayer is answered, 26:39 the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel. 26:42 And he says, Daniel, I want you know something. 26:45 Number one, you're greatly beloved of the Lord. 26:48 God loves you very much. 26:49 So you were praying for three full weeks 26:52 and feeling like you weren't getting 26:53 an answer to your prayer. 26:55 It's not because of a lack of love for you on the Lord's part. 26:58 God loves you and the moment you began to pray. 27:01 From the day you began praying Daniel, 27:04 for an answer to your prayer, 27:05 I was sent to answer your prayer. 27:07 So picture this, Danny. 27:08 The moment Daniel prays, God says to Gabriel, 27:12 Gabriel, I love Daniel, greatly beloved. 27:16 Go answer his prayer. 27:17 So Gabriel is dispatched from the heavenly angelic armies. 27:23 He comes to Daniel and three weeks have passed. 27:27 And the first thing he tells Daniel is God loves you 27:29 and the moment you prayed, I came to answer, 27:30 but he explains why it was that it took three weeks. 27:35 He says the reason it took three weeks 27:37 to get the answer to your prayer Daniel, 27:39 is because he says-- What verse are you in, Ty? 27:41 This is verse, I just was referring, 27:44 greatly beloved verse 11, 27:46 "And then from the day that you set your heart to understand." 27:50 That's verse 12, "I was sent 27:52 to answer your prayer, and now I've come." 27:54 This is interesting. 27:55 In the verse 12, Gabriel says, 27:57 "I have come because of your words." 28:00 That's powerful. Beautiful. 28:02 Human being speak, God listens, 28:04 I have come because of your words. Okay. 28:06 Okay, then verse 13, but there is a qualification, 28:10 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days." 28:17 Okay, so he says, this is incredible. 28:20 He says, Daniel, 28:22 I was sent to answer your prayer immediately, 28:23 I would have been here three weeks ago, 28:25 but the Prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me. 28:29 I couldn't get through to answer your prayer until-- 28:32 Look at this. "And behold Michael, 28:36 one of the chief princes, came to me," 28:40 verse 13, and I-- 28:42 well, where am I? "Came to help me." 28:43 "Came to help me, and now, I'd been left alone, 28:49 I'd been left alone with the kings of Persia." 28:52 So who are these forces? 28:54 Okay, first of all, this is a battle, 28:56 that's not happening on the human realm, 28:58 obviously, because, Gabriel is saying, 29:00 I have been in a battle with the Prince of Persia. 29:04 Who is the Prince of Persia? 29:06 Well, the Prince of Persia is a fallen angel, 29:11 a demon, who is presiding over Persia 29:14 that it's basically saying, 29:15 Daniel is a captive in this land, 29:18 and you can't have access to him. 29:19 You have no right-- you have no right to come 29:20 and answer his prayer, he is in our territory. 29:22 Yeah, he is in our territory. 29:23 You can't come and answer his prayer. 29:24 And Gabriel, yeah resists and remonstrates and says, 29:29 no according to the rules of the great controversy, 29:32 this is a dispute, 29:33 this is a legal dispute in a great controversy. 29:35 According to the rules of the great controversy, 29:37 Daniel was exercising his freewill my praying. 29:40 Okay, he maybe in your territory, 29:42 but he's God's man, 29:44 that's what he's saying basically. Okay. 29:45 Very similar to the conflict with Job. 29:47 Yeah, so here I come let me through. 29:50 No, you are not gonna answer 29:51 and you are not getting near Daniel 29:53 and then Michael shows up. Okay. 29:56 Michael shows up and adds his argumentation, 30:00 his strength as it were to that of Gabriel 30:03 and then Gabriel says in, now verse 14, 30:05 "Now I have come to make you understand." 30:07 I finally got through to you 30:10 when Michael added his strength to mine, 30:13 now I'm here to answer your prayer. 30:14 The three weeks of delay was due to a spiritual conflict 30:17 between spiritual forces behind this Territorial Forces. 30:21 And Michael, we should say, you know, we know 30:22 that Gabriel is an angel who excels in strength, 30:24 Michael's not just any ordinary angel, 30:26 scripture shows us Michael five times I think. 30:30 And every time whether it's in Daniel 12 30:32 or Daniel 10 or Revelation 12 or Jude, 30:36 every time, he's the archangel, He's the one over the angels. 30:40 He shows up and he's like, hey step aside, step aside. 30:43 That's right, that's right. 30:44 He is the one in the Book of Jude. 30:46 Oh, I love this. Yeah. 30:47 Can I quote this, can I quote this? 30:48 Please do it, please do it. 30:49 It says, "Yet Michael the Archangel, 30:51 when contending with the devil about the body of Moses, 30:53 did not bring against him railing accusation, 30:55 but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Yeah. 30:57 So you have this conflict here, 30:58 where Michael comes to resurrect Moses a territory, 31:03 a person who is a territory. 31:04 And Satan himself stands and says you have no right. 31:08 And Michael says, he didn't get into an argument with him 31:11 and he just said, the Lord rebuke thee 31:13 and he resurrected him. Yeah. 31:14 So this is yet another window and insight into the fact 31:17 that there is an actual conflict 31:20 and organized demonic behind the scenes 31:23 conflict is taking place at national borders, 31:26 at the borders of homes, 31:29 at the borders of people's hearts. 31:31 I mean this is taking place. Yeah. 31:32 And it's very fascinating. 31:34 People say, well, who is Michael? 31:36 We believe that scripture teaches 31:38 he is the pre-incarnate Christ 31:40 which in no way indicates that he is a created being. 31:42 We believe that he's the son of God, 31:44 that he is divine, but Michael is definitely Jesus. 31:48 And we know, because of Jude, 31:50 that he is Jesus and not just an ordinary angel 31:53 because he has resurrection power. Okay. 31:56 Angels can't raise the dead, God can. 31:59 So Michael is the pre-incarnate Christ. 32:02 We just want to reiterate again, 32:03 that does not mean in any way shape or form 32:06 that we believe that Jesus was created or that He had no. 32:11 No. It's exactly what you said. 32:12 The Michael is a name, it's actually the warrior name. 32:15 Every time Michael shows up, 32:16 every time it's in a warrior context. 32:19 It's in a combat context, 32:21 it's one of the names of the pre-incarnate Christ, 32:25 it's the one who comes in moments of intense battle. 32:29 We see in Daniel 10. 32:31 Let me ask you guys a question, we are on four right? 32:35 We are finishing four. Five, six, seven. 32:36 Well, okay. What I want to do. 32:39 This is the one of the most important studies 32:40 we could ever have. 32:42 If we need to we'll let master control 32:44 and everybody know we are gonna take an extra 30 minutes. 32:46 Because I don't want you rush through it, 32:47 but you know, what you got to give us, 32:49 can we do three more in 24 minutes? 32:51 I think we can, because--- 32:53 We can? Yeah. 32:54 The organized forces, we will try. 32:56 The organized forces one required--- 32:59 All right, I just want to give a notice if we do it, 33:01 we are gonna be changing network program. 33:03 Can you do that? Absolutely, we want to. 33:06 Who can say no right now? 33:07 They may get on me later, they may get all over me later. 33:10 But right now we happen to be sitting in the chair so, 33:12 but if we need to we'll prepare them for. 33:15 So maybe be on standby about, 33:17 we will see because this is too important to rush over. 33:20 I love what you guys are doing. 33:21 This is a clearer stuff I've ever heard this. 33:23 And I had some of these questions in my own mind. 33:25 Yes. And thank you for helping me. 33:28 It's awesome--- Praise God, it is awesome. 33:29 When we really see what scripture says, 33:31 it's profoundly impacting 33:35 that there is an organized angelic-satanic conflict 33:40 that is taking place, over territories, 33:42 over countries, over homes, 33:44 over families, over people and there are-- 33:46 I love the language you use there Ty. 33:48 There are rules of engagement. 33:50 You can't, God just can't come in and willy-nilly 33:52 and just do whatever he wants. 33:54 He is operating on principles that honor liberty, 33:58 that honor freedom, that honor choice. Yeah. 34:00 And Satan is also seeking to capitalize. 34:03 I mean it's a fascinating, 34:05 what we were doing tonight is we're pulling the veil back. 34:08 We see what's taking place on the stage, right? 34:11 And work tonight looking behind the scenes 34:13 and saying, well, what's really going on. 34:15 God simply says, I'm truth 34:16 and then Satan is trying to steal all that, 34:19 get people to think he's giving truth and doing all this. 34:22 And God hasn't change from the beginning. That's right. 34:24 He is same today, yesterday, forever. 34:26 He is there, He has our best interest in His mind, 34:29 He wants us to be with Him for eternity. Amen. 34:32 Satan is out, the Bible says, 34:34 to steal, kill and to destroy, 34:35 though sometimes our prayers we, 34:37 I myself and I'm sure those others we wonder, 34:40 where are you Lord, I'm praying for this 34:42 and maybe we are struggling 34:43 with what Daniel did some-- That's right. 34:45 The end result, greater is he that is in us, 34:47 than he that is in the world. 34:48 So God hadn't forgotten about us, 34:50 but He's there, He kept him safe, 34:52 He took care of him at the right time delivered him. 34:55 Now, Ty, can I ask you a question? 34:56 Did you feel like we're good now to go to our fifth scene? 35:00 I think we are, there are so my scriptures 35:02 on the organized forces part. 35:04 We don't have to turn to all of them, 35:05 but we can just mention that the word legion 35:08 for example in the New Testament. 35:09 Oh, yeah, great point. That's good one. 35:10 Yeah, okay. 35:11 Where Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 35:14 For the note takers this is Luke 8. 35:16 Oh, in the Garden of Gethsemane-- 35:17 Yeah, Garden of Gethsemane is-- Okay, go ahead. 35:19 Is what Matthew 26, where Jesus is praying 35:23 and Peter defends him by force, takes out of his sword 35:27 and cuts off the high priest's servant's ear. 35:29 And Jesus said something interesting, 35:31 that plays into the storyline. 35:33 He says, "Put your sword away. 35:35 Don't you know that if I wanted to, 35:36 I could call to My Father 35:37 and He would forth with send 12 legions of angels." 35:42 Now the word legion is a very specific kind of language. 35:47 It's a specific kind of word. 35:49 It refers to a particular regiment of the Roman army, 35:54 that consisted of something like 2,000 footmen, foot soldiers 36:00 and 600 or 700 horse soldiers and that's a legion. 36:06 And so He is using military language, 36:09 organizational language to say, 36:10 hey, if I wanted to there are organized forces 36:14 in the heavens that are at my disposal Peter, 36:17 so I don't need your defense 36:19 with your little plastic sword there. 36:21 You can put that thing away, I know what I'm doing here. 36:25 So the passage that I was mentioning there, Ty, 36:26 is Luke 8. Yes. 36:28 Which is were, you'll remember the story 36:30 were Jesus is sailed across to the area of the Gadarenes, 36:34 and these demoniacs come rushing toward Him. 36:36 Remember this is the story where they are casted into the pigs. 36:39 And a dialogue begins between Satan 36:43 and the demon possessed man, 36:45 and Jesus asks a question, who are you? 36:49 Who are you? This is Luke 8. 36:51 And the demon responds and says, 36:55 we, I am or we are legion. 36:58 Right, we are many and we are organized. Yeah. 37:02 And this was their territory. 37:03 This area of the Gadarenes, what happened is 37:06 that Jesus has come into their territory. 37:08 And they come down and they protest Jesus. 37:10 We know who you are, you are the Son of God. 37:11 Then flying over the cliff became their territory 37:14 and drifting down there-- 37:16 Good riddance to him. Yeah, yeah. 37:18 But it is an interesting fact 37:19 that they wanted to remain in the territory. 37:21 I believe that's why they said, 37:22 permit us to go into the pigs, allow us to go into the pigs. 37:25 Because this area, they believeed that 37:27 because of the peoples of those-- of that land, 37:32 they said, we have a right to be here, this is our. 37:34 So they are protesting Jesus right to just come. 37:37 Hey, we know who you are, Son of the Most High God. 37:39 Have you come to torment us 37:41 or to torture us before the time, 37:42 it shows they had a total misunderstanding of who God was. 37:44 God didn't come to torture, but to be tortured. Right. 37:48 But the point here is that, 37:49 Jesus there in Gethsemane says, 37:51 "I could call My Father, he'd send legions." 37:54 And here when Satan's, when Jesus' confronts 37:56 and says who, who are you? 37:58 Oh, we're legion? 37:59 We're many, we're organized. 38:01 And it's fascinating to notice, 38:03 what happens in the story there, David. 38:05 That Jesus takes back a little piece of territory. 38:09 That's right. 38:11 He takes back a inch of mind, 38:13 a human heart, a human will. 38:16 This man was in bondage 38:17 and Jesus rescued him, liberated him. 38:20 The demons had to accept his body and his mind. 38:24 And this man was now a liberated individual, 38:27 so this tells us that ultimately 38:29 the territory that God is interested in, 38:31 is not the terra firma under our feet, 38:34 but this 3 pound hunk of flesh between our ears, 38:37 our minds, our hearts. 38:39 It's fascinating that in scripture this is something. 38:43 That in Revelation, God just straight up says, 38:46 I want your forehead. 38:49 I want to put my name in your forehead. 38:51 I want your frontal lobe, I want your thinking process, 38:54 your feeling process, 38:55 your volitional freewill process. 38:57 I want this territory, your mind, your heart. 39:00 That's ultimately what He's aiming for. 39:03 Ty, have you ever, I love that. 39:04 Have you ever thought of this in light of the story? 39:05 I hadn't, but there in Luke 8, 39:08 you'll recall that the people 39:10 that lived in that area of the Gadarenes. 39:12 They came to Jesus and requested Him to leave. Yes. 39:15 They came and they say, 39:16 get out of here, we don't you anymore. 39:18 But now this is a very interesting thought. 39:21 The man who was formerly demon possessed 39:23 who is now healed says, can I go with you? 39:26 Is this awesome? Yeah, yeah. 39:28 Can I go with you, it was Jesus 39:30 essentially says no, hey I need you here. 39:32 We need to establish the beachhead 39:34 here in this territory. 39:35 I need you here, because if he leaves, 39:38 then that territory can go right back-- 39:40 Wow, that's incredible. Have never thought it. 39:42 Oh, I never thought of that. 39:43 Yeah, that is. It's good. 39:44 So he established. A beachhead. 39:46 A beachhead in that territory. Right there. 39:49 Stay here, we need your influence, 39:51 powerful, powerful. Beautiful. 39:53 So this is how the great controversy ensues, Danny. 39:56 It unfolds, it happens like this. 39:59 We are not aware of that, now we know in this context. 40:02 I'll just say this in passing, although it's not our subject. 40:05 Now we know why prayer is powerful and why it matters. 40:09 Because prayer is basically an act of war. 40:13 Oh, I like that. Prayer is act of war. 40:16 It is an exercise of my freewill 40:21 to leverage divine power in a situation. 40:25 That might be a two hander as I say. 40:27 Yeah, I like that. Two hander. 40:28 I like that. Yeah, absolutely. 40:30 So shall we go to the next part of the story? 40:32 Yeah, I think we are good. 40:33 All right, we got 16 minutes, 40:34 are you sure you don't want me to put another 30 on that clock? 40:37 You can pay attention to it and see if you think we need it. 40:40 All right, here we go. 40:41 I think we gonna need it, 40:42 because Luke 11 itself is five parts- 40:46 I'm willing to-- I think we should do it. 40:48 For master control, those of you watching here 40:51 we gonna, we probably, in fact we are, 40:53 I think, we can just say we are gonna to 10:30 tonight 40:56 because I don't want to rush you guys at all. 40:57 This is great stuff, and then we want to make 41:00 the DVDs available to these folk also that are at home so. 41:03 Okay, we've covered numbers one through four. 41:06 Scene one, Dominion. 41:08 Scene two, Abdication. 41:11 Scene three, A Warrior Promised. 41:13 Scene four, we've covered now which is Organized Forces. 41:17 We've seen that the forces of good and evil 41:20 are organized for battle in the great controversy 41:23 on both sides of the great war, 41:26 the great controversy between good and evil. 41:28 Scene five in this unfolding narrative 41:31 is we've just called it the Unarmed Warrior. Okay. 41:36 So the warrior that was foretold originally in Genesis 3:15, 41:43 at this part of the story 41:44 we are entering into the New Testament 41:46 and the fulfillment of the promise and the prophecy 41:50 that the warrior would come. 41:51 And now he's landed on earthly soil, 41:55 He's here, He's been as it were, 41:57 you know, He's parachuted into in enemy territory 42:03 through the incarnation, 42:04 He's come into the world through the womb of Mary. 42:07 And as He comes into the world, 42:09 we've wrapped this language 42:11 around the Savior Jesus Christ, Unarmed Warrior, 42:15 we like the word unarmed, 42:17 because we want to emphasize 42:18 that He wins the great controversy 42:23 by principles that are completely opposite to 42:28 and contrary to the principles that Satan operates by. 42:31 Satan operates by deception and force primarily. 42:35 Jesus operates by love and truth. 42:39 Those are the principles that He exerts in the great controversy. 42:44 So He's the unarmed warrior. 42:47 Now let's just unpack with scripture. 42:50 Well, when you were saying that, 42:51 yeah, let's go to the scripture text here. 42:52 But just let's remind our viewers that and ourselves, 42:55 let's remind ourselves that soon after Jesus was born, 42:59 when the wise men come from the east, 43:00 it says that Herod and all of Israel 43:02 was troubled to hear that some were saying, 43:04 "Oh, where is the Messiah? 43:05 We've seen His star in the east." 43:07 And we know how this story goes. 43:09 Herod basically says to the wise men, 43:11 hey you go, you find Him, 43:12 and then you come and tell me about Him. 43:14 Well, and angel says to them, hey don't go back 43:16 because he's not interested in worshiping, 43:18 he's interested in something else. 43:19 So they go another way, so what does Herod do? 43:22 He begins, you are talking about control 43:24 and force and deception is what you said, I think. 43:27 So what does he trying to do? 43:28 Satan really believes, hey I'm gonna win this war. 43:31 That challenge that was elicited back in Genesis 3. 43:35 He says, oh, man I'll win this thing right now. 43:37 I'll just go slaughter all of these children. 43:40 I mean that's what we are dealing with here, 43:42 a density that suggests a mental density on behalf of Satan 43:46 that you can win this kind of a war 43:48 by just with a knife, with a sword, with the gun. 43:52 Yeah. Right? 43:53 So he's gonna try to kill that's the world the war zone, 43:57 the theater of operations into which Jesus is born. 44:01 Children are being slaughtered in order to kill Him 44:04 because Satan believes this would be to win the war. 44:06 Yeah, yeah. It's fascinating, isn't it? 44:08 It is, it is, it's absolutely, it's life changing. 44:10 Okay. So, Luke 11, David and I love this scripture. 44:16 Danny, you're gonna, you're gonna love this too. 44:18 This is an amazing scripture in which Jesus 44:22 basically lays claim to the warrior status. 44:28 And says, "I'm here to execute a victory, 44:32 I'm here to win the war." So, it's very fascinating. 44:37 Follow the language here in Chapter 11 44:39 of Luke verses 21, 22. 44:41 Jesus is speaking and He says, 44:43 "When a strong man, fully armed, 44:46 guards his own palace, his goods are in peace." 44:50 Very simple, right? Yes. 44:52 Strong man, he has a territory 44:53 and he's guarding his territory, 44:56 he's guarding his palace, everything is fine. 44:58 But then verse 22, "But when a stronger 45:01 than he comes upon him and overcomes him, 45:06 he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, 45:10 and divides his spoils." What is Jesus saying? 45:14 You've got two individuals here. 45:16 You've got the strong man and the stronger than he. 45:20 One is strong and he's guarding 45:22 the territory that he has, that he possesses. 45:25 But then somebody stronger comes along 45:28 and conquers and takes the territory back. 45:30 The devil is the strong man. Wow. 45:34 And the stronger than he is Jesus, 45:37 none other than Jesus Himself. 45:39 He's basically saying, "I have come to this world 45:42 to overcome the kingdom of darkness 45:44 by the implementation of principles of a higher order 45:49 that will win the great controversy." 45:51 Now in the immediate context, Ty, 45:53 of the story and I was gonna read it very quickly, 45:56 beginning in verse 14 45:57 which leads up to what you've just read. 45:58 Luke 11:14, it says, "And He was casting out demons-- 46:02 and He was casting out demons, and it was mute. 46:04 So it was, when the demon had gone out, 46:06 that the mute spoke, and the multitudes marveled. 46:07 But some of them said, 'He casts out demons 46:09 by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.' 46:11 Others, testing him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. 46:15 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, 46:16 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, 46:18 and a house divided against a house falls. 46:21 If Satan also is divided against himself, 46:23 how will his kingdom stand? 46:25 Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 46:27 If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 46:29 by whom do your sons cast them out? 46:30 Therefore they will be your judges. 46:32 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, 46:35 surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.'" 46:36 And then the two verses that you read. 46:38 So this idea of a strong man who's guarding his territory, 46:42 who's guarding his house 46:43 who is then overcome by a stronger 46:46 is in the immediate context 46:47 of Jesus removing territorial forces. Okay. 46:51 He's just cast a demon, a mute demon out of a person. 46:54 And it proves that Jesus' miracles 46:58 were of such a character and such a magnitude 47:00 that they required a supernatural explanation. Wow. 47:03 They couldn't say "Oh, well, that was just a party trick." 47:06 No, they recognized there's something supernatural here. 47:10 So they attributed to the dark powers. 47:12 They say, "Oh, you did this by the Beelzebub 47:14 which is literally the lord of flies. 47:17 You did this by the lord of the flies by Beelzebub." 47:19 And then Jesus says, "Think about what you're saying." 47:21 If a kingdom is fighting against itself, 47:23 how would that kingdom remain solid? Right. 47:26 If a house is divided, how would it remain standing? 47:29 I'm casting out demons not by Beelzebub 47:31 but if it's the finger of God then the kingdom-- 47:37 if I cast out demons by the finger of God 47:38 then the kingdom of heaven is coming right up next to you. 47:41 And then He says, let me tell you a story. 47:43 If a guy, a strongman is guarding his house 47:47 and all is well and he's at peace. 47:48 And somebody else comes and displaces him, right, 47:52 a stronger than he displaces him. 47:54 That's what's taking place. 47:55 This was Jesus' own metaphor, this was Jesus' own MO, 48:01 modus operandi for what He was doing. 48:03 This is how, this was Jesus' self-awareness. 48:06 He sees Himself as place by place, city by city, 48:10 village by village, person by person 48:13 taking back reclaiming territories 48:17 that Satan had legitimately claimed. All right. 48:19 Let me just say one more word here. 48:21 Check this out. 48:23 Satan knew that this is what Jesus was coming to do, 48:25 I'm just gonna rewind the tape here very briefly. 48:27 Remember when we went back to Luke 4, 48:29 he showed Him all the kingdoms of the earth 48:31 and he said, "All these I will give you 48:32 if you will just bow down and worship me." 48:34 Satan knows that Jesus has come to take the territory. 48:38 He knows that this is going to be a territorial conflict. 48:41 So what he tries to do is get him 48:43 to fulfill a legitimate desire 48:45 namely to be the king of the earth 48:47 which He is legitimately by an illegitimate means. Wow. 48:51 And he says, "Hey, this is gonna be tough, 48:54 you're gonna have to go to the cross. 48:55 It's gonna be difficult. Let's just make this easy. 48:58 You bow down and worship me and I'll just give it to you." 49:00 He's trying to get Jesus to operate by his principles. 49:02 By his principles. Okay. 49:03 So Jesus here-- It worked with Adam and Eve. 49:08 Exactly. Right. 49:09 It's not working with the second Adam. Yeah. 49:11 Not with Jesus. Yeah. 49:13 So what Jesus is doing here, 49:14 Jesus owned self-image of what He's doing. 49:17 If you were to go to Jesus-- 49:18 if we could go back 2000 years in time 49:20 and say, "Jesus, what are you doing?" 49:21 He'll say, "I'm taking back territory." 49:23 I'm reclaiming hearts, I'm reclaiming villages, 49:26 I'm reclaiming-- this is why 49:27 He would come to some villages the Bible says 49:28 and He could perform no work there. Why? 49:30 Because the territorial forces were so strong in that area 49:33 and the disbelief and unbelief of the people were so strong. 49:36 Jesus couldn't-- even Jesus couldn't breach. 49:39 But He would come to other places 49:40 and whole villages would be healed. 49:43 Jesus here is carrying on a warfare of a session. 49:48 He's grabbing new territories, new places, 49:50 new people for the kingdom of God. 49:53 And that's why it's so great is to me 49:55 I'm sitting here listening to you. 49:57 The plan of salvation is death, burial, and resurrection 50:00 because now he says all authority he has given me 50:02 and the very next word, "Go ye therefore, teach all nations." 50:06 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, 50:08 for my God shall supply all of your needs for we know that 50:12 all things work together for good to them that love God.' 50:14 They just keep going on and on because of what He did-- 50:17 That's right. What He did. 50:18 Now I always tell people that I've read the back of the book 50:22 and it says, 'We win'. 50:23 That's right. That's good. 50:24 So I love it when we're seeing 50:26 what you're bringing in is the picture 50:28 but you're bringing in a way 50:30 that the way this Bible is written, 50:32 threaded this truth from Genesis to Revelation, 50:35 there's no coincidence. 50:37 It wasn't just a bunch of people writing stories 50:39 and then we pick and choose what we want. 50:41 No, it's a theme. 50:42 You're showing a foundation of theme 50:43 that were set from the beginning of the foundation of the world 50:46 that God loves us so much to redeem us 50:49 that He says, you know what, 50:51 I got you back, I'm gonna do this whole thing 50:54 but He cannot compromise you. 50:56 You've got to look to me. 50:57 You've got to allow Me to bless you. 50:59 Yes. To put that hedge about you. 51:01 Your decision is that you said a city, a nation, 51:03 you know, whatever country but individually 51:07 you're telling us now that God is dealing looks at us. 51:10 Our territory is an individual also, 51:12 territory that so there is entities within entities 51:16 but the end result is our own self. 51:19 That's right. Amen, amen. 51:20 Now at this time we want to go to John 12? 51:22 Yes, absolutely. We've got to go there. 51:24 John 12 is where Jesus declares 51:29 the victory that is coming at the cross. 51:32 But He also indicates how the victory is won. 51:35 And this is tha plot to it 51:36 that Satan could have never anticipated. 51:39 Good, good stuff. You're there, David? 51:40 I'm there, I'm ready. I'm not there, go for it. 51:43 So John 12:31, which we've already alluded to. 51:48 "Now is the judgment of this world, 51:51 now the ruler of this world would be cast out." 51:55 So Jesus says something determinative, 51:58 something pivotal is happening now. 51:59 He uses that word twice. 52:00 Now is the judgment of this world, 52:02 the principles by which-- 52:03 you said the prince of the power of the earth, 52:04 the Zeitgeist. Yeah. 52:06 The principles by which 52:07 this world has been operating is being judged. 52:10 And the ruler of those principles 52:13 is about to be cast out. 52:14 Well, how, how will that happen? 52:15 Will it be with force? Will it be with might? 52:16 Will it be with strength? 52:18 Verse 32, "And I, if I am lifted from the earth, 52:23 I will not force, not drive but draw all peoples to Myself." 52:30 Isn't that something? That is beautiful. 52:31 Jesus is wining the great controversy 52:35 by a completely unexpected maneuver. 52:39 That unexpected maneuver is the cross. 52:41 The devil is expecting force with force. That's right. 52:47 Manipulation against manipulation. 52:49 He has developed in his own imagination, 52:53 his dark and twisted imagination, 52:56 a horrible picture of God in which he believes 52:58 that God operates by the self-centered principles 53:01 that he himself operates by. 53:03 But Jesus comes into the world and it's fascinating 53:07 when He comes into the world, He says right here very clearly, 53:10 "The Prince of this world is gonna be casted out, 53:12 He's gonna be overcome by the cross." 53:14 What is the cross? 53:15 The cross is this beautiful, undeniable demonstration 53:22 of love for others, even enemies. 53:25 Love for all others above Himself. 53:28 Jesus proves that God loves every member of the human race, 53:33 more than His own existence, more than His own life. 53:35 And so Jesus says "When people look at the cross, 53:39 they are going to encounter a love 53:42 that will draw their hearts back to Me. 53:44 I won't have to force or manipulate 53:46 or deceive them, I simply love them. 53:49 And by loving them, by giving my own life, 53:51 I'm going to win the great controversy." 53:53 Simultaneously two things are happening at the cross. 53:56 Satan is conquered and human hearts, 53:59 territories are won back 54:01 to the kingdom of God through the cross. 54:04 That's where the victory is won. 54:05 Now the Apostle Paul, 54:07 the Apostle Paul understands this. 54:09 You fast-forward to Colossians 2. 54:11 Yeah, Colossians 2:15, isn't it great, David? 54:13 Oh, it's just amazing. 54:14 Here Paul understands that 54:16 what happened at the cross was a great controversy. 54:18 So just to repeat, so our viewers get it 54:20 because we're moving quickly here. 54:21 Colossians 2, we're gonna look at verse 15. 54:23 Verse 15, the Apostle Paul says of Jesus at the cross 54:28 that having 'disarmed' There's a military term. 54:32 "Disarmed principalities and powers, He, that is Jesus, 54:37 made a public spectacle of them, 54:40 triumphing over them in it." The context is the cross. 54:45 In the cross. Yeah, in the cross. 54:46 The cross was the means 54:48 by which Jesus disarmed the devil. 54:51 So you have to ask yourself the question. 54:53 What kind of armaments did He have? 54:56 What kind of weaponry was He bearing 54:58 against the kingdom of God? 54:59 It wasn't grenades and bombs and swords. 55:02 I mean that plays into the great controversy on the human level- 55:05 It was written in red. But what is it? 55:07 What is it? It was written in red. 55:09 Yes. So, what is the armament? 55:13 You remember Luke 11, take away His--what is it? 55:17 His armor in which he trust. His armor in which he trusted. 55:20 What's the armor that Satan is trusting in? 55:22 What are the weapons he's been using? 55:25 Deception regarding the character of God. 55:27 Yeah. And coercion and force. 55:30 Jesus comes along and by the cross 55:32 He completely overturns these principles 55:36 and proves that truth and love are more powerful 55:40 than deception and force. Absolutely. 55:43 And that's how He wins the great controversy 55:44 and it's fascinating, He says, 55:45 He makes a public spectacle 55:47 of the kingdom of darkness at the cross. 55:49 And love hang on to cross, 55:50 I mean because God is love and so love hung on to cross. 55:54 Rusty Goodman, a friend of mine he is resting in Jesus 55:56 now wrote a song called written in red. 55:58 And the whole thing is this that is basically, you say, 56:01 well, what did Satan bring to table to deceive, 56:03 you know, all these terrible things, 56:05 God just brought love, brought Himself. 56:07 That's right. You got it. 56:08 He won the great controversy by that means. Yeah. 56:11 And it was totally unanticipated 56:12 that's the thing that I love about it, 56:14 is that Satan believed that 56:16 this would be a force for force, mano e mano melee. 56:20 But what it ends up being is he gets flanked, 56:23 that's really what happens, he gets out flanked. 56:25 Victory comes at the very moment 56:27 that he thinks he's achieving victory 56:29 mainly by killing Jesus in a terrible, 56:32 hideous, ignominious, satanic way he-- 56:37 and I love the way that Ellen White says that 56:38 she says that He--it's my paraphrase what she says. 56:42 But he boar his chest only to receive the stroke of death. 56:47 You know, sort of stuck, he really believed that he is-- 56:50 I've done it only to re-- 56:52 I've lost it I've lost it. 56:54 Yeah. I've lost it. 56:56 Think about what was happening at the cross. 56:58 You have groups of people, the mob, 57:01 who are saying something to Jesus as He hangs on the cross, 57:04 it's very fascinating what they're saying to Him. 57:06 If you are the Son of God, save Yourself. 57:09 Come down. Come done off the cross. 57:10 If you are the Son of God, saves Yourself. 57:11 If you're the Son of God, save Yourself. 57:13 Here's the irony of it, Danny. 57:15 He was the Son of God, therefore He wouldn't save Himself. Okay. 57:21 Jesus would not yield to the impulse 57:24 to live for self at the expense of others. 57:28 He chose to give His life for His enemies 57:32 and thereby demonstrated that He was in fact the Son of God 57:35 and operating by principles that are completely contrary 57:39 to the principles of self preservation. 57:42 It is that way He says, 57:43 if I be lifted up from this earth, 57:45 will draw all man to me. 57:47 It sounds like to me in our own individual life, 57:49 if we live by His principles, then people see Jesus in us. 57:54 That's what's drawing, we don't want Him to see us. 57:57 But if I--no matter what's going around me in this world 58:00 if I--my pledge is to God, my loyalty is to God, 58:03 my heart is to God then they will actually see, 58:06 they will be drawn to the Jesus in me. 58:08 That's right. Amen. 58:09 Yeah, that--I mean that's an amazing thing. 58:11 I've said it many times before. 58:13 God doesn't need us, I tell people in churches. 58:15 Why did He said, "Go ye into all the world." 58:17 He doesn't need us. 58:18 Do you think He needs us to save anybody? 58:20 The Lord doesn't need us, we don't save anybody. 58:23 So why does He tell us to go into all the world, 58:25 since we are not really a factor. 58:27 And I say, you know, my little heart say, Danny, 58:30 who I say I'm thinking about it 58:31 is we need it for our own salvation. 58:35 Otherwise, go ye into all the world 58:37 because I get to experience what it's like 58:40 and I submit and commit 58:41 and watch you be a channel of blessing. 58:43 And you see God flowing in you and through you 58:46 and it keeps me from just 58:47 worrying about me, myself and I over here. 58:50 And we're getting that selfishness, 58:51 as you talk about Satan is. 58:52 So now as I begin to allow God to live in me 58:56 that love flows through me and people see it 58:58 and you say, "Wow, what a blessing." 59:00 So I think God tells us, you go out and do this. 59:03 Really, it's for our salvation as much as anybody else's 59:06 'cause He could do it on His own. 59:08 We have instances in scriptures where He did it through fish, 59:11 He did it through a rooster, He did it through a donkey. 59:13 He said, the rocks could cry out. Yeah. 59:16 And they are by the way. Radio was-- 59:20 Yeah. I love that. 59:21 Radio, it comes from what? What's--you know what? 59:24 Silicon. That's right. 59:26 Rocks are involved in transmission process. 59:29 So through rocks, right? Yeah. 59:31 Came radio, comes television 59:33 and on top of every mountain there's antenna. Yes. 59:36 So today rocks and mountains are crying out to proclaim the name. 59:38 So we said here of Jesus. Yeah. 59:40 And the rocks are crying out. Yeah. 59:42 And so were the donkeys. Yeah. 59:45 Watch it, you don't have to tell everything that's true. 59:48 Hey, I just remembered a statement 59:50 that in Desire of Ages where Ellen White wraps a language 59:55 around what's happening at the cross 59:56 that I think is just very clear and beautiful language. 01:00:01 She describes that victory in this way 01:00:02 and I can't remember the page maybe one of you know the page. 01:00:05 But in Desire of Ages, it says 01:00:07 that what happened at the cross is this. 01:00:09 That love and selfishness stood face to face. 01:00:14 Wow. And love gained the victory. 01:00:17 Okay. Isn't that something? 01:00:18 Yeah, I love it. I love that one. 01:00:19 Love gained the victory at the cross. 01:00:22 That's what we see taking place. Praise the Lord, wow. 01:00:23 You know, Danny, you are-- 01:00:24 I'm a bit of a basketball fan, you're bit of basketball fan. 01:00:27 You know there's always debates. This is an illustration. 01:00:29 Tell me what you think of this. 01:00:31 There's always debates about who was the greatest team. 01:00:34 You know, was it the 76 Celtics or the-- 01:00:36 you know, '80 Bulls or whatever, whatever the team. 01:00:39 And there are the people that spend a lot of time, 01:00:41 too much time thinking about these things 01:00:43 and they'll say well, no, if the '76 Celtics had played, 01:00:46 you know, 2000 Lakers and. But we don't know. 01:00:49 Had the dream team of, you know, 01:00:50 of the '90 played the dream team now. 01:00:53 Which dream team would have won? 01:00:54 But here's a fascinating thing that I love about the cross 01:00:57 and the great controversy is that 01:00:59 unlike these basketball teams 01:01:01 where we don't really know because we can't-- 01:01:03 because of time and space we can't get those teams to play 01:01:07 the greatest act oflove and grace and mercy 01:01:11 and magnanimity took place here, 01:01:13 at this place, in this time at the cross. 01:01:15 And the greatest act of selfishness, 01:01:18 cruelty and satanic hideousness took place 01:01:22 in the same place at the same time. 01:01:24 So we don't have to say well, what was-- 01:01:26 was this better and this was worse 01:01:28 or was this worse and this was better. 01:01:29 Both of those things were right there at the same time. 01:01:33 Yeah. I love that. Absolutely. 01:01:36 So we can cast our vote, we can make our decision. 01:01:38 That's right. It's all there. We can cast our vote. 01:01:41 Okay. That's right. 01:01:42 On Jesus. I'm voting for Jesus. 01:01:44 Now there is something I want to say here 01:01:45 that might be a little deep but I think it just-- 01:01:48 I want to throw it out there especially for Bible students 01:01:51 that are tracking right with us because this is a little heavy. 01:01:55 In the Book of Revelation, Revelation 12, 01:01:58 couple together with other passages 01:01:59 that we've talked about it's clear 01:02:01 that Satan had limited access to heavenly territories. 01:02:08 Those heavenly territories that he had access to. 01:02:10 We've already seen in Job where he comes 01:02:11 and he says, hey, I'm here in this-- 01:02:13 we know it wasn't they. 01:02:14 We know that they couldn't have been on earth 01:02:15 because God says, where did you come from? 01:02:16 It couldn't have been earth, 01:02:17 it must have been some other place. Okay. 01:02:19 So when we get to Revelation 12 01:02:21 this fascinating thing happens at the cross, 01:02:24 at the cross in fact I'll just read it. 01:02:26 At the cross in Revelation 12 and it says verse 8, 01:02:32 "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, 01:02:35 called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, 01:02:38 he was cast to the earth, 01:02:39 and his angels were cast out with him." 01:02:41 Three times, cast out, cast out, cast out. 01:02:44 That's what Jesus just said. 01:02:45 Now is the judgment of this world, 01:02:47 the principles upon which this world operates. 01:02:49 Now the ruler of this world will be cast out but in what context? 01:02:52 When I am lifted up. 01:02:55 "When I'm lifted up from the earth, 01:02:56 I will draw all men unto me." 01:02:57 Now look at verse 10 of Revelation 12. 01:02:59 "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 01:03:01 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, 01:03:04 and the power of His Christ have come, 01:03:07 for the accuser of our brethren, 01:03:09 who accused them before our God day and night, 01:03:10 has been cast down." 01:03:12 Well, let's ask the question. 01:03:13 When was it that salvation came? 01:03:15 When was it that the strength of God, 01:03:17 a unique and wonderful new kind of strength came? 01:03:20 And when was it that the power of His Christ 01:03:22 was fully demonstrated? 01:03:23 At the cross. At the cross. 01:03:25 So in the context of the cross, 01:03:27 Satan is cast out, cast out, cast out. 01:03:29 Now watch this. Verse 11, "And they--" 01:03:31 that's us and all believers throughout time. 01:03:34 "Overcame him--" Satan, "By the blood of the Lamb." 01:03:37 Amen. That's written in red. That's your friend's song. 01:03:40 "They overcame by the blood of the Lamb 01:03:41 and by the word of their testimony, 01:03:42 they did not love their lives to the death." 01:03:44 And look at verse 12, "Therefore--" 01:03:46 on the basis of the cross and this casting out 01:03:49 and this goes back, Ty, 01:03:51 how we begin this whole study. 01:03:52 Listen heavens and earth, "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, 01:03:57 and you who dwell in them!" 01:03:59 Hey, it's happy, it's good, something great has happened. 01:04:01 Why? Well, because Satan been cast out, cast out, cast out. 01:04:05 That limited access that he had is now been totally taken away. 01:04:09 Wow. At the cross. 01:04:10 At the cross. At the cross. 01:04:11 But where does He spend all of his time now? 01:04:13 "Wow to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea 01:04:17 For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath." 01:04:20 Why is this wrath so great? Why is this wrath so intense? 01:04:23 Because he knows that he has a short time. 01:04:25 Post cross. Post cross. 01:04:27 So what's happened here is that Satan's territory, 01:04:31 think of it as quarantine. 01:04:33 He's been increasingly quarantined. 01:04:35 In the garden, he was allowed 01:04:36 only at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 01:04:38 But then when Adam and Eve abdicated 01:04:40 his territory began to expand 01:04:42 and he began to make the rounds in heaven. 01:04:44 He had access to some heavenly places. 01:04:47 But then he is quarantined away from there 01:04:51 and then he is quarantined still further. 01:04:52 And when the final quarantine comes, two quarantines. 01:04:56 In Revelation 20, all the people are gone. 01:05:00 He's by himself on a planet. 01:05:02 He's--he's locked away by himself 01:05:05 and then eventually he will be quarantined 01:05:07 even away from life itself. 01:05:09 He will lose, his territory expanded 01:05:13 and then he's losing it, he's losing it, 01:05:15 he's losing it, he's losing it. 01:05:16 But he's not losing it by the size of God's biceps 01:05:19 but by the decisions, 01:05:20 the free decisions of individuals 01:05:22 to align themselves with love and truth 01:05:25 rather than control and deception. 01:05:26 Amen. Amen. 01:05:28 I'm preaching now. Give me a pulpit. 01:05:29 You are. You are. 01:05:30 Give me a pulpit. You are. 01:05:31 Okay. So we are up through act 5. 01:05:34 We're through scene five, we got two to go. 01:05:36 We got 21 minutes left. Oh, yeah we'll do it. 01:05:38 We can do this two. All right. 01:05:40 So now we come to number six. Number six. 01:05:44 Is we're going to just again, 01:05:46 we're just wrapping language around this. 01:05:48 And so we are calling it 01:05:49 the church militant /triumphant. Okay. 01:05:53 The church militant, it has-- 01:05:55 the church has a militant phase where it is taking territory, 01:05:59 it's expanding the kingdom of God. Yes. 01:06:01 Then it has a final triumphant phase. 01:06:04 Now what we're-- the scriptures 01:06:06 we read now at this stage in the storyline 01:06:11 make absolute sense with the context behind us. 01:06:14 Now think of one of those scriptures 01:06:15 that you were quoting earlier tonight, 01:06:17 Danny, that perfectly, 01:06:18 Matthew 28. Yeah. 01:06:20 Matthew 28:19 or 18-20. Yes. 01:06:24 Where Jesus says all authority 01:06:28 has been given to me in heaven and earth. 01:06:30 "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 01:06:32 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 01:06:33 Son and Holy Spirit 01:06:34 and lo, I am with you always to the end of the age." 01:06:36 Jesus very clearly says here 01:06:39 that all authority has now been taken back. 01:06:43 Okay. By him. 01:06:45 He possess all authority now. 01:06:47 And this is replete through the New Testament. 01:06:50 You have the Apostle Paul 01:06:51 for example in Philippians 2 saying, 01:06:53 "Let this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. 01:06:57 Who, being in very nature God, 01:06:59 did not consider equality with God 01:07:01 something to be held on to. 01:07:03 But made himself of no reputation, 01:07:05 took the form of a servant." 01:07:07 And you have these descending steps 01:07:09 of self sacrificing love. 01:07:11 And He died even the death of the cross 01:07:13 and then it says-- Therefore. 01:07:16 Therefore, he was highly exalted above all 01:07:21 so that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow 01:07:24 and every tongue confess. 01:07:25 So you have very clearly scripture is saying again. 01:07:28 The authority that was taken by the enemy 01:07:32 has now been reclaimed by the Savior. 01:07:35 All authority has been given to me 01:07:37 and now I'm delegating. 01:07:38 I'm giving that authority to my followers 01:07:40 to go out and to take territory 01:07:42 on behalf of the kingdom of God. Isn't great. 01:07:44 Mark Trammell wrote a song. He sings here on 3ABN. 01:07:47 "He is Lord, He is Lord. 01:07:52 He has risen from the grave and He is Lord." Yes. 01:07:58 "Every knee shall bow." Yes. 01:08:01 "Every tongue confess 01:08:04 that Jesus Christ is Lord." Yes. 01:08:09 Beautiful, thank you. That's beautiful. 01:08:11 You got a great voice, Danny. You do. 01:08:12 You should record some CDs. I should. 01:08:14 I may think about it someday. 01:08:16 Okay. What about Luke 10? 01:08:18 We were in chapter 11 where Jesus basically said that 01:08:22 there's a strong man 01:08:23 and then there's a stronger than he. 01:08:27 And Jesus is the stronger man 01:08:29 that basically conquers the enemy. 01:08:31 But back in chapter 10 01:08:32 in the immediate context of all that 01:08:34 is the story of the 70 01:08:36 who are sent out as witnesses for the kingdom of God. 01:08:40 In verse 17, he says 01:08:42 "Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, 01:08:45 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.' 01:08:49 And He said to them." 01:08:50 Verse 18, "I saw Satan fall like a lightning from heaven" Yes. 01:08:57 "And behold, I give you the authority 01:08:59 to trample on serpents and scorpions, 01:09:02 and over all the power of the enemy, 01:09:03 and nothing by any means will hurt you." 01:09:07 So here Jesus is using the language of Satan falling, 01:09:11 his kingdom crumbling. 01:09:14 Satan is falling as the witnesses of the gospel 01:09:19 go out and proclaim the truth. 01:09:22 As they go out and they live the principles of the kingdom. 01:09:25 Satan--Jesus says, when you are out ministering, 01:09:28 when you are out ministering, 01:09:29 when you were preaching, when you were teaching, 01:09:31 when you were healing, 01:09:32 when you were touching people, 01:09:34 when you were sharing with them 01:09:35 my forgiveness, my grace, my love. 01:09:37 When all of that ministry was happening, 01:09:39 I saw Satan like lightening fall from heaven 01:09:42 in the wake of your ministry. 01:09:43 His--I love what you say there, his kingdom is crumbling. 01:09:46 Now look at verse 20. 01:09:47 I love verse 20, Ty, because it gives us 01:09:49 a window into the heart of God. 01:09:51 Jesus has just said, "Hey you have power 01:09:53 over serpents and scorpions 01:09:54 and nothing will hurt you over all the power of the enemy." 01:09:56 Verse 20, "Nevertheless do not rejoice about this." 01:10:00 'Cause that's the thing they were really happy about. 01:10:01 Right. They were little inflated in there. 01:10:03 They were inflated, 01:10:04 "That the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice 01:10:06 because your names are written in heaven." 01:10:07 What a window into the heart of God. 01:10:09 What Jesus is essentially saying here is, 01:10:11 don't rejoice that they're out. Right. 01:10:14 Rejoice that you are in. Yeah. 01:10:16 See what the Bible says that 01:10:17 we need to study to show ourselves approved 01:10:19 because so often just like you bringing up this point 01:10:22 where Jesus said, I think about they spoke 01:10:24 rather than to look at the big picture 01:10:26 that say well, we're gonna pick up these rattlesnakes 01:10:28 'cause He said, no harm will come now to us. Yeah. 01:10:31 Of course many of them get bitten 01:10:32 and then they say well, the guy didn't have faith, you know. 01:10:35 But I mean we missed the whole point 01:10:37 and thank you for bringing that up. 01:10:38 This is not Jesus says, that's not the point. 01:10:40 That's not the point. No. 01:10:42 The point is not that they're out, 01:10:43 it's that you're in. Yeah. 01:10:44 You can just think of the heart of God breaking here, 01:10:46 Jesus is the creator. 01:10:47 The Bible says without Him was nothing made that was made. 01:10:50 That means that Jesus would have known 01:10:51 those angels by name, that's John, 01:10:52 that's Mark, that's--I don't know. 01:10:54 Those obviously aren't angel names 01:10:55 but Jesus would have-- 01:10:58 when He saw His disciples gaining territory 01:11:01 and the kingdom of Satan crumbling. 01:11:03 This is a period of great sadness one, joy 01:11:06 that the disciples have taken hold of ministry. 01:11:08 But sadness that this is all taking place 01:11:11 in the context of a civil war 01:11:12 against God's own love and government. 01:11:14 Jesus says please, please, please, 01:11:16 don't rejoice about that. 01:11:17 Jesus actually had fellowship with those fallen angels. 01:11:19 Of course He did, He knew them, 01:11:20 He named them, He spent time with them. Yeah. 01:11:23 So He's saddened by it while the disciples in there-- 01:11:26 They think this is great. Yeah. 01:11:27 They are immature but they are growing in their faith 01:11:29 and Jesus is sending them out. 01:11:31 He said I want you to go 01:11:33 and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom 01:11:35 and Satan's kingdom crumbles 01:11:39 in direct proportion to your effective ministry 01:11:43 on behalf of the kingdom of God. 01:11:44 Beautiful. Yeah, that's great. 01:11:46 That's why He said to Peter, when they are converted, 01:11:49 go strengthen your brethren. Strengthen you brethren. 01:11:50 Because we saw what He had done earlier, you know. 01:11:53 And the Lord finally says 01:11:54 when you get what I'm saying here, 01:11:55 when you really tracking with me and you finally get it, 01:11:58 you will understand it's not that sword 01:12:00 that you carry but it's my spirit. Beautiful. 01:12:02 Now go and teach to all nations. 01:12:06 Now what about the Book of Acts in this regard, David? 01:12:08 Did--I didn't even think of this scripture early. 01:12:10 Go ahead with that. 01:12:11 Acts 1 where He says okay, I've given you authority 01:12:14 and He says, now I want you to what here in Jerusalem. 01:12:17 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. 01:12:19 The outermost parts of the earth. 01:12:20 Outermost parts of the earth. 01:12:21 That's territorial language. That's territorial. 01:12:22 He's saying basically begin right here 01:12:24 with whatever I've given you. 01:12:26 Proclaim the gospel in Jerusalem 01:12:27 but then gradually reach out 01:12:29 the tentacles of truth from there 01:12:31 and just take in the whole globe. 01:12:33 The church continues the victory 01:12:36 and mission that Jesus had established. 01:12:38 Let's go back to what Danny said there. 01:12:40 Greater things you will do, well in what sense. 01:12:42 Well, Jesus was one man 01:12:44 limited as you said by His humanity. 01:12:46 But now He has disciples who themselves have disciples, 01:12:48 who themselves have disciples, who themselves have disciples. 01:12:51 And so the ministry of the announcement 01:12:54 of the life death resurrection of Jesus 01:12:56 and the triumph of truth and love 01:12:58 over coercion and force goes out in a way 01:13:02 and with a breadth and just a new miracle power 01:13:06 that Jesus Himself, even His God 01:13:08 could not never have done, just by Himself. 01:13:10 'Cause if He's here, He can't be here 01:13:12 and if He's here, He can't be here. 01:13:13 And of course this happens by a spirit. 01:13:15 He sends His spirit into us 01:13:17 and I saw this just a moment ago 01:13:18 and I see it there now. You are in 2 Corinthians 10. 01:13:21 Are you there? This pass-- 01:13:22 I'm going there right in it. 01:13:23 This is--you wanted to do 2 Corinthians 10, Danny. Okay. 01:13:26 This is a powerful scripture that David 01:13:28 and I've been rejoicing about recently. 01:13:31 You know, I don't know if you know this 01:13:33 but we do the Sabbath school lesson, commentary. 01:13:38 And we took this scripture up, 01:13:40 but you know the Sabbath school quarterly. Yeah. 01:13:41 So we do a commentary on the lessons study ahead of time. 01:13:45 So people can get it and listen to it. 01:13:47 And they can study the lesson ahead of time with us, 01:13:52 sharing with them the insights that we gain from the lesson. 01:13:55 And this is one of the scriptures 01:13:57 that we dealt with. 01:13:59 We were just-- we were just like-- 01:14:00 Yeah, we were floating. That's great. 01:14:01 Yeah, that was a good stuff, good stuff. 01:14:03 Okay. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. 01:14:10 "For though we walk in the flesh, 01:14:12 we do not war according to the flesh. 01:14:14 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal 01:14:17 but mighty in God for the pulling down 01:14:20 of strongholds, casting down arguments 01:14:24 and every high thing that exalts itself 01:14:27 against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought 01:14:31 into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 01:14:34 Wow. That's heavy, isn't it? 01:14:36 It is heavy, that's deep. 01:14:37 This scripture is describing I guess one way we could say, 01:14:41 this scripture is describing the nature of our warfare. Yeah. 01:14:45 But what kind of warfare is this? 01:14:47 Are we called to take up bombs and guns and knives 01:14:50 and to defend the kingdom of God 01:14:53 with that kind of warfare, no. 01:14:55 And there are people in the name of God, they are doing that. 01:14:57 They believe, they believe that's the point. 01:14:59 But that's not what Paul says here. Right. 01:15:01 It's not what Jesus said either. Go ahead. 01:15:03 Yeah, the nature of our warfare-- 01:15:05 They call Him terrorist nowadays. The terrorist, yeah. 01:15:07 Well, now what Jesus said I will just throw this in there, 01:15:09 when He was standing before Pilate. 01:15:10 Pilate said, are you a king? 01:15:11 If you are a king, then what are you standing before me here? 01:15:13 He said, I, just my kingdom is not of this world 01:15:15 where else my servants would fight. Okay. 01:15:17 So now we're there. 01:15:18 We are not fighting, we don't fight the way you fight. Okay. 01:15:21 Yeah, we fight but not the way you fight. 01:15:23 And that's Paul's point here, 01:15:24 "For though we walk in the flesh, 01:15:26 we do not war according to the flesh." 01:15:27 We would say that this way. 01:15:28 We don't fight like the worldly kingdom fights. 01:15:31 It's a different battle that's going on. 01:15:32 There's a reason for it. 01:15:33 If we-- when you fight in the physical, 01:15:36 there's an end to life. 01:15:38 When you're fighting this spiritual battle 01:15:40 that God fought is one for eternity. Yes. 01:15:44 And when you fight physically, 01:15:46 you think you're winning but you're losing. 01:15:48 Because by the exertion of force and taking life, 01:15:53 you're actually demonstrating principles of selfishness 01:15:57 and you are giving-- you are arousing 01:16:00 the response of the territory violence. 01:16:03 And that's why some people refer to violence 01:16:05 in the name of God or violence of any sort that 01:16:08 you are expected to get a good result 01:16:09 out of as the myth of redemptive violence. 01:16:13 It's a myth, it's not true that violence redeems. 01:16:16 You don't solve any conflicts between human beings 01:16:20 by throwing punches and grenades 01:16:22 and pushing buttons to set off bombs. 01:16:24 That just produces the same kind of response 01:16:27 so you perpetuate the battle. So-- 01:16:30 So, Ty, if that's not our warfare. 01:16:32 What does Paul say our warfare is here? 01:16:34 Was very fascinating because he says 01:16:36 that our warfare is one that involves 01:16:39 pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments. 01:16:44 What a strange thing to say. Arguments. 01:16:46 What's an argument? 01:16:47 And argument is the articulation of an idea 01:16:52 in order to illicit agreement. 01:16:55 An argument is the articulation of an idea with verbiage, 01:16:59 with words to articulate an idea 01:17:02 in order to win somebody's thinking. 01:17:05 Not to force them, not to manipulate them. 01:17:07 But to say hey, hey, do you see this? 01:17:10 Point A, point B. 01:17:11 Let me explain something to you 01:17:13 that's an-- it's not argumentation 01:17:15 in the sense of being of an argumentative spirit. 01:17:18 It's basically saying-- 01:17:19 Ideas. Ideas. Explain. 01:17:22 It's explanatory power is what it is. 01:17:25 So you explain the truth, you preach the cross. 01:17:30 The cross is an argument. Amen. 01:17:33 In favor of the character of God. 01:17:34 Hallelujah. Sure. 01:17:35 And so you preach the cross and strongholds come down. 01:17:39 Where do the strongholds come down? 01:17:41 They come-- they come down in the arena, 01:17:44 it says in verse 5 of people's thoughts. 01:17:49 Another version calls that their imagination. Yeah. 01:17:52 Bringing every thought into captivity 01:17:54 to the obedience of Christ. 01:17:55 It's the thoughts that we're seeking to win. 01:17:58 We're not trying to win 01:18:00 people's physical territory. Right. 01:18:02 We don't want their land under their feet. 01:18:05 We want their hearts for the kingdom of God. 01:18:08 So that's how the great controversy 01:18:10 is fought by the members of God's church. 01:18:13 It's a militant triumphant church 01:18:15 that is going out and claiming hearts, 01:18:17 you know, to make this very practical. 01:18:19 When you sit down and do the simple act 01:18:22 of giving somebody a Bible study. 01:18:24 You're advancing the kingdom of God 01:18:27 and you're expanding the territory of the kingdom 01:18:30 into their thinking. 01:18:31 They begin to believe the gospel what happens. 01:18:33 Well, they begin to share 01:18:35 with the members of their household. Yes. 01:18:37 Their husband, their wife, their children, 01:18:39 their aunties and uncles and nanas and papas. 01:18:41 And that whole house now is a territory captive 01:18:45 to the obedience of Christ, right? Yeah. 01:18:47 And they begin to share in their community. Yes. 01:18:50 You see what's happening-- 01:18:51 Back to the demoniac of the Gaterines. 01:18:53 Can I go with you? No, you stay here. 01:18:54 Exactly. I need you here. 01:18:56 Now we're gonna go to our-- 01:18:57 Eight minutes, we got eight minutes. 01:18:58 We're gonna go to our final act here 01:18:59 but let me just read this and I'll just read it quickly. 01:19:01 Romans 16:20. 01:19:02 Look at what Paul does here 01:19:03 where he takes that promise of the warrior. 01:19:07 In Genesis 3:16. 01:19:08 In Genesis 3 and he applies it to the church. 01:19:10 Listen to this, Romans 16:20. 01:19:12 "And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly." 01:19:19 This is awesome. 01:19:20 Paul here is appropriating the promise back in Genesis 01:19:24 and he's saying that crushing that took place 01:19:26 that victory that Jesus won on the cross. 01:19:28 He's winning in your life as you believe the gospel, 01:19:31 as you accept it and as you getting back to your point, 01:19:33 Danny, as you share with others. 01:19:35 You know, you were saying that God has raised us up 01:19:37 to preach not primarily for others, 01:19:39 certainly that's an element but even just for ourselves. 01:19:42 In doing that we are crushing 01:19:44 the head of Satan under our feet. 01:19:45 Not with power, not with biceps, 01:19:46 not with-- well, it's a power 01:19:48 but not with physical or carnal power. 01:19:50 It's with spiritual power. 01:19:52 So I'm just gonna review, Ty, here. 01:19:54 We've gone through, let's see if I can remember them all. 01:19:56 We've gone through dominion, 01:19:57 then abdication, then declaration of war, 01:20:02 the promise of a warrior to come. That's right. 01:20:04 Then organized forces, number four. 01:20:07 Then five was the-- remind me. 01:20:11 Number five is the unarmed warrior comes-- He comes. 01:20:14 He comes, Jesus comes 01:20:15 and He wins the victory at the cross. 01:20:16 Sixth is the church carrying forward the victory 01:20:19 that Christ gained. That's right, church militant. 01:20:21 So what's-- what's the end of the story? 01:20:24 The end of the story is number seven. That we win. 01:20:28 And that--and you can use that language, 01:20:30 you can use that language. 01:20:31 The language that we wrapped around it 01:20:33 is the first dominion restored. Okay. Yes. 01:20:37 You see, how we're looping back now to Genesis, right. 01:20:40 Genesis 1, God created Adam and Eve. That's right. 01:20:43 He gave them dominion. 01:20:44 So it's restored. Yeah. 01:20:45 That dominion was lost. It was transferred to the enemy. 01:20:49 The great controversy unfolds through history. 01:20:52 Jesus gains the victory at the cross. Amen. 01:20:55 He then empowers and delegates authority 01:20:58 to His followers to expand the kingdom 01:21:02 throughout the world. 01:21:03 In an organized way-- In an organized way. 01:21:06 And then the end result, the end goal is 01:21:10 that the former Dominion 01:21:11 the first Dominion is completely restored. 01:21:14 And you find this throughout scripture 01:21:16 in all kinds of language. 01:21:18 A scripture that immediately will just be familiar to people, 01:21:22 but we never think of it in this context 01:21:23 and now it make sense. 01:21:25 Jesus said, I'm gonna tell you something here, 01:21:28 "The meek shall inherit the earth." 01:21:31 Wow. That's right. 01:21:32 It's theirs, they are getting it back. Okay. 01:21:35 The earth is going to become-- Not the powerful, 01:21:37 not the controlling, not the coercive. 01:21:39 Right. But the meek. 01:21:40 The meek inherit the earth. Isn't that powerful? 01:21:43 It is, it's beautiful, it's absolutely beautiful. 01:21:47 Now, okay now the language first Dominion, 01:21:51 we want to give people the scriptures, 01:21:52 so they know where we derived this language from. 01:21:53 Its Micah 4, it's an Old Testament prophecy, 01:21:57 in Micah 4 and this beautiful, 01:22:01 this beautiful prophecy unfolds 01:22:03 that basically says in short form. 01:22:05 We only have five minutes, but this prophecy basically says 01:22:09 that God is working toward an end 01:22:11 in verses 3 and 4 of Micah 4. 01:22:14 Where people will not raise 01:22:16 swords of violence against one another any longer. 01:22:21 They'll beat their swords into plowshares. 01:22:22 Plowshares, yeah. 01:22:24 Into implements of agriculture. Okay. 01:22:27 Okay, so they can feed the hungry-- 01:22:29 Spears into pruning hooks. Yeah, that's right. 01:22:31 That's the old spiritual. Ain't gonna study war no more. 01:22:34 Yeah, exactly. Yes, okay. 01:22:35 So there is-- 01:22:36 Have you made any CD's? 01:22:38 Oh, no, I don't have quite the voice that you have. 01:22:41 No, I didn't mean that. No it's great. 01:22:43 You're lifting it up for the Lord. Amen. 01:22:44 So it's a great voice. Amen, that's right. Amen. 01:22:46 So then you have this idea, 01:22:48 Danny that God is working through history 01:22:52 to bring an end to war and violence 01:22:56 as a means of interaction for human beings. 01:22:59 And as this prophecy comes to conclusion in verse 8. 01:23:03 This is just so powerful, "And you, O tower of the flock, 01:23:06 The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, 01:23:09 To you it shall come," what will come? 01:23:12 "Even the first dominion shall come, 01:23:16 The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem." 01:23:20 Now, King James Version is the first dominion. 01:23:24 New King James is even better here, 01:23:26 the former dominion. 01:23:28 Because that's saying, look back, 01:23:30 what is it used to have. 01:23:32 What was the former dominion? Eden. 01:23:35 A garden, a place where you need pruning hooks 01:23:39 and plough spears, not spears. Yeah. 01:23:42 It starts in a garden and it ends in a garden. 01:23:45 Ends in a garden, okay. Yeah. 01:23:46 So then we of course fast-forward 01:23:49 to where this picture is filled out with great detail, 01:23:51 Revelation 21 and 22. Yes. 01:23:56 Where God says, "I'm going to behold, 01:23:59 I make all things new." Wow. 01:24:01 Yes. That's great. 01:24:02 Everything is restored. 01:24:03 Planet earth becomes the home of the redeemed forever 01:24:08 the city of God, New Jerusalem is brought to this world. 01:24:12 God says and I, Myself will be there with you as your God 01:24:16 and you'll be My people. I'll be on my kingdom. 01:24:18 My throne will be established on planet earth 01:24:21 and forever and ever into eternity future. 01:24:24 This becomes His territory. 01:24:25 Yes, this little world ravaged by sin 01:24:30 taken captive by an enemy Lord, 01:24:33 completely restored. 01:24:35 This place where Jesus was crucified becomes His home 01:24:40 and the home of the Father and the Holy Spirit 01:24:42 and all the Holy Angels for eternity future. 01:24:44 This planet in rebellion becomes the most highly honored 01:24:48 of all the planets in the universe. 01:24:51 And God himself will reside here 01:24:53 and it's on that beautiful note that the story ends 01:24:56 and at that point it's only begun. 01:24:59 Eternity stretches out before us. 01:25:01 "The Love of God is greater far than 01:25:02 tongue or pen could ever tell, it goes beyond the highest star, 01:25:06 and reaches to the lowest hill." 01:25:08 Second verse, "If we with ink the ocean fill 01:25:11 and all the sky of parchment made. 01:25:13 And every man on earth 01:25:16 or every stalk on earth was a quill 01:25:18 and every man a scribe by trade. 01:25:20 To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry. 01:25:24 Isn't that amazing the love of God. 01:25:25 So incredible. Praise God. 01:25:27 Thank you so much for this. 01:25:29 What we want to do is, is I wanna, 01:25:30 we are gonna come back we have time for prayer 01:25:32 but, maybe you can just put up your address 01:25:34 because we are not going to put up 01:25:35 the regular 45 seconds. 01:25:36 But you have an email or website? 01:25:40 Lightbearers.org. Okay. 01:25:41 And we could put the phone number up 01:25:43 541-988-3333. 541-988-3333. 01:25:50 There is just a couple of things, 01:25:52 they can get the DVD from 3ABN. Yes. 01:25:54 We've made that available. 01:25:55 Write to 3ABN for the Zambia DVD. 01:25:57 Okay, all right. 01:25:58 They call or write to us 01:26:01 or call us for the publication called "Territories" 01:26:04 that explains all of these concepts 01:26:06 in greater detail. Good. 01:26:07 And it's a beautiful magazine. Thank you so much. 01:26:10 So for us our hope is at the cross, 01:26:12 through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 01:26:14 All we have to do is submit and commit our lives. 01:26:16 Nothing we've done are so bad 01:26:17 that God won't forgive us, right? 01:26:19 And if we stay within His will, 01:26:22 that protective hedge would be around us. 01:26:24 And Satan can rob us of some things 01:26:26 but he can't keep us from eternity, right? 01:26:28 Amen. Amen. 01:26:29 So it's our hope and prayer today. 01:26:30 I'm gonna ask Brother David, 01:26:31 we'll just go out praying tonight, all right. Okay. 01:26:33 We got some time, so take your time, 01:26:34 we want to pray for these folk at home. 01:26:37 Father in heaven, tonight we've walked through scripture 01:26:39 and we have seen there is a great conflict, 01:26:41 a great battle that is being waged over territories. 01:26:45 Not just physical geographical national territories, 01:26:48 but especially the territories of human hearts. 01:26:52 Father earlier Ty, 01:26:53 and I think Danny as well alluded 01:26:55 to that scripture in Revelation 3, 01:26:57 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." 01:26:59 And, Father, if any of our viewers tonight feel that 01:27:02 Jesus is on the outside, 01:27:03 that God is on the outside knocking to come in, 01:27:05 I pray that they tonight would open that door 01:27:09 and that He would come in to their territory. 01:27:11 Father, please expand our borders. 01:27:14 Bless 3ABN, bless even our country, 01:27:18 we're worried about our country. 01:27:20 Help us to see that we are part of a large conflict 01:27:25 and authentic actual conflict that is taking place. 01:27:28 May we play our role faithfully trusting totally 01:27:31 to the righteousness of Christ. 01:27:34 In His name we pray, amen. 01:27:35 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17