The Rage of Satan on Earth (Revelation 12.13-17) Part 2

Eschatology, Revelation, Satan

D. Scott Meadows

Dear friends, we began expounding Revelation 12.13-17 this morning, and because of a long introduction and great care taken in identifying the woman of verse 13, we must resume this afternoon only at verse 14. We will take things at a much quicker pace now, and, God willing, conclude this chapter today.

Please remember how I pointed out that these verses show a pattern of reciprocation, back and forth, like players in a game of chess, between the Devil and God, although God is not explicitly mentioned. Here is the outline I have prepared for you:
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The Rage of Satan on Earth (Revelation 12.13-17) Part 1

Eschatology, Revelation, Satan

D. Scott Meadows

Would you like to see things in the world as God sees them, beholding not just physical realities but spiritual? With our sermon text and the Holy Spirit’s blessing, you can. We come in our consecutive exposition of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, to the twelfth chapter, verses 13-17.

13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

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God’s Design and Plan for Husbands in the Light of Redemption (2)

Family

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

Well, I would like you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. I would like to read verses 22-33 of Ephesians 5.

“Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being Himself the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Even so, ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loves his own wife loves himself; for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, because we are members of His body. ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is great; but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. Nevertheless, do you also severally love each one his own wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she fear her husband.”
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God’s Design and Plan for Husbands in the Light of Redemption (1)

Family

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

Let’s pray and ask God to be with us as we study His Word.

Our gracious God in Heaven, we thank You that You see all things and You know our innermost thoughts. We pray, O God, that You would come and use Your Holy Word to search us, to try us, and to show us the realities of our own sins and need of Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that You would use Your Word for the good of everyone in this auditorium, from the youngest to the oldest. May no one sit and think, “This does not apply to me.” Take Your Word, our sovereign God, and apply it graciously and powerfully to each one of our hearts and souls. May Jesus Christ receive all praise, glory, and honor. In His name we pray, amen.

When a tsunami sweeps across a country, devastation is the consequence, and probably everyone here remembers seeing the pictures of that tsunami that swept into Japan just over three years ago. The destruction was unbelievable. However, with the passing of time, reconstruction takes place, as it has there in Japan, and order and beauty is restored little by little. The fall of man into sin, Adam’s disobedience to God’s clear, simple command, was a spiritual and practical tsunami. Death and depravity descended upon all of the natural descendants of Adam, because of Adam’s sin: his disobedience. It was a spiritual tsunami, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ, anyone who believes in Christ and turns away from his or her sins have their tsunami-devastated life reconstructed by the grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and holiness replaces sin and depravity by degrees. Until one day we shall be forever with the Lord, and we shall have sin no more.
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Challenges We Face in Our Culture II

Culture

Alan-Dunn-ContributorAlan Dunn

We’re going to continue in our examination of culture and what we believe to be our biblical responsibility, as shepherds, to make analysis of the cultural landscape, the social climate, and the societal climate in which our people live and work. So, with that topic once again before us, in this hour, let’s bow and ask the Lord to give us instruction.
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The Spirit in Public Worship

Worship

spurgeonCharles H. Spurgeon

“For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” —Paul to the Philippians.

The worship of God in private and in public, as it is prescribed in the Scriptures, requires our active attention always to the two grand divisions into which the service has been divided: the visible or tangible instruments to be used, and the effective power which is to be appealed to in the use of these instruments. In considering the worship of God and the surest means of benefit from it, it is necessary to recognize the outward ordinances as the only authorized method of our approaching him, and the only means by which we may expect his favor in benefits to ourselves. This dictates due care to have the ordinances as exactly conformed to the requirements of the law as it is possible to secure them. It is also indispensable to apprehend clearly, and then to act practically, on this knowledge of the correlated Scripture doctrine of the only agent and efficacious power by which the divinely-appointed ordinances can be made effectual. There can be no acceptable worship except in the use of those ordinances and actions in employing them which God himself has appointed. No man, or organized body of men, has a right to invent any action for the worship of God, and to challenge his blessings on the use of it. He would lay himself open to the cutting question, “Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts” therewith?
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The Desperate Need for Men and Women of Biblical Convictions

Church

pastor-jeff-smithJeff Smith

Let’s ask God to bless the ministry of His Word.

Our gracious God, we thank you for the privilege of the Lord’s Day Sabbath. We thank you that we can come together and hear Your Word; but Lord, all of the preparation and even the delivery will be nothing, unless You, by Your Holy Spirit, come with Your Word and bring it home in power to all of our hearts, from the youngest to the oldest, whether converted or unconverted. We ask, even now, that You would graciously give Your Holy Spirit to all of us; that we would truly commune with You; that we would benefit from Your Word; that we would be changed by Your grace and power in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.

Well, the day was April 18th, 1521. Gathered in the large imperial palace in Worms, Germany, were over 200 officials, including the Holy Roman Emperor Charles Ⅴ, dukes, princes, barons, ambassadors, archbishops, and representatives of the pope from Rome. Martin Luther, a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, was summoned before this council there in Worms, Germany, in order to repudiate his biblical teachings and writings. Luther understood that he would be condemned as a heretic if he did not repudiate his teachings, and that he would probably be burned alive at the stake if he did not recant, recall all of his teachings.
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The Challenges We Face in Our Culture I

Culture

Alan-Dunn-ContributorAlan Dunn

We’re going to look, first of all, at the biblical justification for considering our culture. Is this what the Bible requires of us, as pastors? Are we responsible to analyze the culture roundabout us?

One brother has said, “It’s more important that we know our people than we know our culture,” and there’s some truth to that, but we need to know that our people live in the midst of a culture and how that culture affects them and how it affects us, as well. So, we’re going to look at how culture is constructed, what are some of the foundational issues that are common to cultures, how they are structured in certain ways that are common to all cultures, and how those issues relate, especially to the kingdom of God. We’re going to look at the culture and the issue of the two kingdoms: the kingdom of man, and the kingdom of God. God willing, next time we’ll consider these things further, and looking, specifically, at one recent development in Western culture that poses a particular threat to the Gospel and to the work of the church in our generation. So, with that menu in front of us, let’s come together and ask for the Lord’s help as we would pray as we begin.
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Eternal Blessedness
An Exposition of Revelation 14.13

Comfort

Pastor-D-Scott-MeadowsD. Scott Meadows

Today I desperately need a word of comfort and encouragement. How about you? Together we are mourning the death last week of Gail D., our beloved sister in the Lord, who was a member of this local church while she lived. May the Holy Spirit apply our sermon text like a balm to the soul and may He strengthen us to keep believing and living as Christians. Please consider the words of Revelation 14.13,

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

The main point of this verse can be stated very simply:

Real Christians enjoy eternal blessedness after they die.
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An Exposition of Revelation 14.13 →

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Persecution Part 2

Church

Alan-Dunn-ContributorAlan Dunn

There’s a storyline that you will often find used in books and movies, and the storyline goes something like this: there’s a modern person who somehow discovers that they’re caught up in a great battle, a battle that has been going on for a long time, and, lo and behold, they become a character in this battle, this story, that the whole movie or the whole book gets caught up in. For example, if you’re aware of the old movies Indiana Jones where Harrison Ford goes to look for treasure and he begins to discover that there are evil people, that they’re from the history past, and he now is caught up in all of this great story. Well, we learned that we’re part of a very ancient, ancient war, a battle that has begun since the very dawn of time.
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