The Church of Eleven22 - Christmas from the Heavenlies - Unwrapping Christmas: Wk 2

Episode Date: December 10, 2023

This is not a silent night… this is war! We fight not for a victory, but from a victory already won by the Prince of Peace! We invite you to join us in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas season! Go to coe22.com/christmas for all of the details on Christmas Eve services and how we're celebrating this year! - The Church of Eleven22™ is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support The Church of Eleven22 and help us continue to reach people around the world, visit https://www.coe22.com/donate

Christmas together. Amen and amen. I think the service has peaked at this point. Hey, would you join me in just saying welcome and we love you to the men at Union Correctional? Amen. We love you guys. That also goes out to the fellows at Columbia Correctional and the ladies at Duval Correctional. You're not, you don't just feel like a part of the family.

You are the family. You are 1122. and we love you like crazy. And we'd like to welcome all of you that worship with us through the Pando out all over America. You are a part of 1122. And because of your generosity, last week was our big give weekend to really kick off year two of this 1010 life. And it was pretty overwhelming, man. You continue to be an incredibly generous church.

In fact, last weekend, another 391 people made first-time commitments through the ministry of the Church of 1122. which puts us over 20,000 people are trusting God with their first and best through the ministry of 1122. Amen? And because of your generosity, we have some margin around here. And so when things like the video you just saw, when that opportunity happens, we're able to move like that. And Eric Dillenbeck is a deacon here at 1122 and a friend of mine, really good friend of mine. And he works directly for our governor, for Governor DeSantis. And DeSantis put together what's called a faith division of his cabinet.

because he wants to partner with churches for the flourishing of Floridians. It's a really cool deal. And when Eric Dillenbeck was visiting our ministry at Union, they showed him the cemetery and what was going on there. And it was in need of some real repair. And he gave me a call and he said, hey, man, I know we're doing the womb to tomb thing, but have you ever thought about actually doing tombs? Because I don't know if you've ever thought about this,

but man, if you die at Union and there's nobody to claim your body, or they don't have the resources to do a funeral. It just don't, it was just in much-needed repair. And so because of your generosity, what we're doing is we're putting like legit headstones on every single one of those graves. And the reason is because we decided that we were going to get into the fight to fight for the dignity of every single image bearer of God from womb to tomb. So way to go.

Amen. If you got your Bibles, we're going to be in two different places, okay? One's going to be very familiar. very Christmassy and the other one's going to be awesome. All right. So Matthew chapter 2 and Revelation 12, those are the two places that we're going to be. And what I want to do is I want to look at these two texts like overlaid on each other. You see, with C.S. Lewis in mere Christianity, he is talking about the incarnation of Christ,

the second person of the Trinity, putting on flesh and being born in a manger. He describes it this way. Enemy occupied territory. That's what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say, landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. And when you go to church, you are really listening in to the secret wireless from our friends. That is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. It's a landed invasion. And I want to wake you up to that this week because I love

I love Christmas. I love all the things about Christmas. I love all the movies and all the stuff, man. I'm into it all. But the problem is the church can be lulled to sleep by all of these traditions that point us really towards nostalgia instead of the fact that this is a landed invasion. Matthew chapter 2 is one of the accounts of what we call the Christmas story. It's an actual event, but multiple places in the scriptures talk about this event. Versus one through six, talk about the coming of the wise men. Then you pick it up in verse 7. It says, this. And then Herod, he's the king, then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared, because as you know from your grandma's Christmas pageant, they followed the star. We're going to see later that this was probably two years ago by the time this thing happened. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring him to me that I too may come and worship. him. You see, Herod is a liar. Herod is a deceiver. And one of the things I want you to see in this sermon today is that what is at work in our world has always been at work in our world. It's the same

demons, just new names. And after listening to the king, they, the wise men, they went on their way and behold, the star they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. This is a little bit problematic for your manger scene, isn't it? It doesn't say a baby in a manger. It says a child and a place. We're going to talk a lot more about that next week. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the

house. They saw the child. Uh-oh. They're at a house with a child, not a manger with the baby. You see? So, again, when you go to your grandma's Christmas cantata, don't stand up and go, heresy when the wise men come out. This is probably about two years later.

And going into the house, they saw the child with married his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him, and then opening their treasures. By the way, this is what we do every single weekend when we gather together as a church. That we follow the star to the one, the incarnated Christ. We're into the presence of God, and we bow down, and we worship him. We treasure him more than that. anything else in our world. This is a really, really big deal. And they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We'll explain that next week. And by the way, how many wise men

were there? I know you say three, but it doesn't say three. It just says there were three gifts. It could have been three generous wise men and seven bombs that says, no, this is from us too. You don't know. So we make up all kind of stuff at Christmas. It just add it all in there. and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they, the wise men, departed to their own country by another way. Verse 13. Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,

rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. Look what Joseph does. verse 14, and he rose and took the child and his mother by night. I think Joseph is one of the unsung heroes of the Christmas event. Because what Joseph is going to do over and over and over is Joseph is going to do whatever the Lord tells Joseph to do. And these aren't minor little things.

Like pray for your neighbor. No, no, no, no. Joseph finds himself face to face with his fiance who says, hey, I got good news, bad, news. Good news, I'm with child. Bad news. It's not yours. Of which he goes, I'm firmly aware. It can't be mine. And he's a good guy, man. He's a good guy. He could appeal to the Levitical law and say, you've been sleeping around, therefore I'm going to turn you over to the chief priest and they're going to stone you to death. But he says, you know what? I'm just going to let you do you, and he's going to try to divorce her quietly out of respect for her. And yet, an angel of Lord

shows up in a dream and says, Joseph, a couple things. One, the baby's mind, so marry her, and I'm going to tell you the name of the baby. His name's going to be Jesus, which means Savior. And you know what Joseph does? He does what the Lord tells him to do. Then a couple of years later, little boy Jesus is almost two little toddler of Jesus, and an angel shows up again and says, I need you to go to Egypt because Herod is trying to kill my son that you're raising. This is not an easy trip. In fact, they barely got two nickels to rub together to get to Bethlehem for his birthday to begin with. You understand what I'm saying?

And yet, what is Joseph going to do? He's going to do whatever it is that the Lord tells him to do. Which leads me to believe, I think, a little bit of conjecture on my part, I think Joseph had a major impact on Mary. One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, John 2.5, where Jesus is a little bit of the whole Bible, John 2.5, where Jesus is, at the wedding at Cana, they run out of wine, and she comes, Mary comes to Jesus and says, hey, they're out of wine, and he's like, okay. And then she gathers the servants together, and do you remember what she tells them? She gives them, in my opinion, the greatest advice on all the planet, the best definition of what it means to be a disciple, and she says to the

servants, do whatever it is that he tells you to do. Now, a part of that is because she was married to a man for a while that did whatever it was the Lord told him to do. By the way, this is the core of the 10-10 life. You realize this? We're going to see it over and over and over in this text. But you want to live the abundant life because there's a thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But there is a good shepherd that comes that we may have life and have it abundantly. How do you live that abundant life?

Here's how. Because the Bible says, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow in my footsteps. And every single time we do whatever it is the Lord tells us to do, we are always moving towards abundant life. And every single time we say, forget you, God, I do what I want. It always leads to death and destruction. Now some people will ask me, does God still speak to people in dreams? Yes, I believe so. Yes, he could do whatever he wants.

However, you and I have something better in the dream. Do you ever have some weird dreams and try to interpret them? You want to figure out who your weird friends there are? telling me weird dreams than the weirdest interpretation is your weirdest friend, okay? Now, I don't even know how you're right or wrong on those things. We have something better than dreams. We have the revealed, inspired, written down for us in English, Word of God. And we are blessed whenever we do what he tells us to do.

And so Joseph gets his family and they rose and they take the child and the mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken. This is important. Three times in our text, you're going to see this little phrase. The activities happening that we are looking at chronologically

happen to fulfill what the Lord had already spoken in his word before. This was to fulfill what the Lord is. spoken by the prophet out of Egypt, I called my son. You see, what Joseph is going to do is whatever the Lord tells him to do, and then he is just going to trust God with the results. You see, I want you to see this through the craziness that is the original Christmas story. King Herod coming after Jesus, them on the run to Egypt, angels showing up in dreams. a part of a part of the foundation of the Christmas narrative is this,

is that God still has the whole world in his hands. Like their circumstances felt like they were out of control. And even though it wasn't written down yet, they knew, they believed, they lived out what Paul would write out one day in Romans 828 that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose. Some of you feel like your Christmas this year is out of control. And I know it feels that way to you.

because you've never been in control. That's a myth, man. But God still has the whole world in his hands, and he is in control. Verse 16, then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and he killed all the male children in Bethlehem, and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he ascertained from the wise men. You see, so what he ascertained was that the birth of Jesus was like two years ago.

Now here's something I want you to see, lenses by which you can see that the enemy's activity all throughout the scripture, from Genesis 315 all the way to the end of Revelation, is that the enemy always has been trying to stop a move of God. You see, in Genesis 315, it's what theologians call the Proto Evangalion, the first gospel. God creates Adam and Eve to be in a perfect love relationship with him, that sin enters the world because Adam and Eve both reject God and say we do things our way. And when sin enters the world, because God is just, sin must be punished. But because God is full of grace and mercy, he makes a covering for Adam and Eve. And then he says this, Genesis 315, and I will put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, this liar, this serpent.

and there will come a day where a single Jewish male will come from your line, Eve, and this enemy is going to bruise his heel. He's going to attack him. And in that attack, the enemy is going to think that he won. He's going to bruise his heel. And in doing so, he's going to get his head crushed. And that for all of the rest of the Old Testament, it is prophecy and promise about the serpent crusher is coming. and you can look time and time again where the enemy comes along and tries to prevent that promise

from coming to fruition. It's why Kane killed Abel. It's why Pharaoh wipes out a generation because Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is afraid of the Hebrew people because they're reproducing too fast. And in his insecurity, he says, hey, listen, we're going to wipe out all of the males. And little does he know that what he intended for evil, God intended for good, because God uses those circumstances to raise up Moses in such a way where he lives in Pharaoh's house for a while, understands the custom and the culture, and then Moses will be the very guy that comes back to Pharaoh one day

and says, let my people go. You see, every single time the enemy wants to try and stop a move of God, he tries to take out a generation. See here what Herod is doing. You see, it's demonic. Same demons, new names. Same demons. Same demons. the new names. And children have a special place in the heart of God. I mean, children are one of the only category of people where Jesus says, I will protect you. It would be better for you. If you try to mess with one of these little ones in mine, tie a rock around your neck and take a swim in the Atlantic.

That's what he says, sort of. Same demons, new names. See, I believe God is on the move in our generation. I believe God is on the move in our generation and you can see the work of the enemy trying to take out a generation. I mean, what our world calls reproductive health care is the taking of an innocent baby's life in the mother's womb. It's called abortion.

That fatherlessness is rampant in our country. It's probably the number one problem in America. That right now, this blows my mind, you have doctors telling otherwise healthy children to chop off breast and genitals so that they can be their true self. We got smartphones catechizing and teaching our kids instead of parents raising kids and the fear and admonition of the Lord. Same demons, new names.

And I think what Christmas ought to do is instead of loll us to sleep, it ought to cause the church to wake up to the realities of what the enemy is doing in this world. Verse 17, then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet. Jeremiah, a voice was heard in Ramah weeping and loud lamentation. In Ramah one time, the same thing happened. There was an attempt to wipe out a generation of children. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted because they are no more. You see, we too, church, we should be lamenting and fighting for one more generation.

Do you know why we make children's ministry such a big deal around here? Because what if in the kingdom of God, real success isn't what you accomplish, but who you raise? And what if the thing, okay, so 1122, maybe the fastest rolling church in the history of America will be. What if the real thing that's happening here is that we raise up a generation that brings worldwide revival and the accomplishment of the Great Commission? What if that's the thing that we're called to accomplish? Verse 19, but when Herod died,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, rise and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead. Now what's Joseph going to do? Joseph's going to do whatever the Lord told him to do, because that's just what he does. And he rose and he took the child and his mother and he went to the land of Israel. Now, by the way, you can look this up. Church history tells us that King Herod died about three and a half years after the birth of Jesus. In 4 AD, he passed away. Verse 22, but when he, that Joseph, heard that Archilius was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

And he went and he lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled. Here's the third time already. That what was happening in the life of Joseph was a fulfillment of the prophecy that God had supernaturally given through the prophets hundreds and hundreds of years before. that he would be called a Nazaree. Again, God has been at work in all things for the good of those that love him according to his purpose. You know what? Even through evil tyrannical leaders,

even through corrupt governments, God was still in charge. You see, God was at work. What the enemy intended for evil, God intended for good. You see, there was a census by the Roman government that forced Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem, fulfillment of Scripture.

Herod's tyrannical rule leads Jesus to go to Egypt, fulfillment of Scripture. Herod's son is also a tyrant, and so they raised Jesus in Nazareth, fulfillment of scripture. No matter how out of control things seem in our world, whether it's our out of control government or it's your out of control 15-year-old, God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are caught according to its purpose. He's still got the whole world in his hands. and God uses what looks like it's out of control in this world to bring about the fulfillment of Scripture. Now, meanwhile, behind the scenes, it's war. Behind the scenes, it's war.

Ephesion 6, which is the preeminent text on spiritual warfare, says this. Ephesion 610, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the day. devil. That word stand means, it doesn't mean like stand up, it means like take a stand. It means fight against the schemes of the devil. The devil has schemes. The devil has plans. The devil has tricks. Methodia is the Greek word. He has methods, schemes. Verse 12 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over to this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly

places. And again, every time I bring this up, somebody's like, Pastor, you mean to tell me you believe in demons? Yes. Did you not see the Jags game last week? The refs are demonic. That was not a hole. Should have won that game. Same thing Georgia, Alabama. Demonic. We can all agree on it. College football committee full of demons. There ain't nothing but demons in that place. Can't get nothing right. All right. Now, I know how stuff's silly. It was intense. I needed to breathe for a second. because you guys been holding your breath for like 11 minutes. But we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Like your problem, this Christmas, isn't your in-laws. No, no, no, no. Your problem is that we're fighting against darkness, spiritual forces of evil. And you're like, that's my in-laws. No, no, no. They may be a tool in the hand of the enemy. I don't know.

I haven't met them, okay? But listen, man, our problem is not, it ain't a White House, our problem in Congress. The problem is if you think that is the primary problem, then you will think that whoever gets to be president next is the solution. There is a savior. His name is Jesus, and he is ruling on high. See, listen, man, same demons new names.

October 7th, Hamas marches into Israel and kills 1,400 people. These are not political differences. This is a move of the devil. Suicide rates among teenagers are skyrocketing. The number of college students who have lost their ever-loving mind who are in support of a demonic terrorist organization killing innocent people. This isn't just misunderstanding. You realize that it is so much deeper. Or how about this?

In our culture right now, loneliness, anxiety, depression are at an all-time high. meanwhile we currently live in the most comfortable safe time and safe place of all the places that have ever existed in human history please explain i can explain because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood so then how do we respond to the reality that there is a thief that comes only to steal kill and destroy how do we respond to the reality that the same one that led herod to kill all the little boys to and under is trying to steal kill and destroy you and everything that's godly and meaningful to you. The way we respond is we prepare for battle. I mean, listen, man, when we call Jesus the Prince of Peace, do you think the fact that he

was born as a baby in a manger has anything to do with bringing peace? No, you want peace, you prepare for war. He had to conquer and overthrow some things that we could live in peace. The whole next bunch of verses here describe to the believer how you prepare for battle. In fact, in the spring, I'm going to do a whole series on spiritual warfare. We're going to spend a week on each one of the pieces of armor that you put on. And the offensive weapon when it comes to battling the enemy is this, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

C.S. Lewis says, when it comes to spiritual warfare and the demonic and things like that, there are two extremes. And some people see a demon everywhere. My friend Charles Martin, he laughs. he says, sometimes this wife, Christy says, Charles, you see a demon behind every bush. He goes, sometimes they're two, okay? So he's into it.

Not too much. He's awesome. So some of you, some of you're trying to, you know, cast demons out of your freezing hair and your scrambled eggs, okay? Sometimes it's just humidity, ladies. I don't know what to tell you, all right? But the other extreme is where most people here fall, where you don't think we have an enemy at all.

And I think part of the reason that God gives us the book of Revelation is to help us understand that we've got to wake up, especially at Christmas time. Because oftentimes what happens at Christmas is we get lulled into this lullaby and all the movies which I'm into and all the presents which I'm into and all the songs which I'm into

just kind of remind us of this nostalgic time in our life and we get lulled to sleep like the enemy puts a binkie in our mouth and it's like, oh, it's okay, it's just silent. Oh, shh, shh, shh, go to sleep. Now listen, I'm not anti-solite night, man. I love me some silent night. In fact, on Christmas Eve, at one of our 116 services that we're offering,

that's what it feels like to me, but it's going to be great. It's going to be cool, man. Let me tell you how we're going to end. At all of our campuses, we're going to have a candlelight service. We ain't lighting candles. This is what we're going to do right here. Some of you've been ready to the whole service. Some of your grandparents, your candles have been lit the whole time.

It's fine. Don't worry about it. The reason we ain't lighting candles, if you ever been to a church, does a real candlelight service when you leave? This place is still pretty new, man, all right? It's still kind of got that new church smell to it. And if you've left the candlelight service, it looks like a flock of seagulls has been there, not the 80s hairband, like an actual, so we ain't doing that. We're going to do this. And we're going to sing Silent Night, and I get to sit up here and watch you take pictures of everybody like doing this, okay?

It's going to be beautiful. But the problem is, man, we can get lulled to sleep and not understand that Christmas is war. In his book, the Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solstinichin, says this. A person who was not inwardly prepared for violence committed against them is always weaker than the one committing the violence. And when he was actually talking about the Russian army locking people up in the 1930s and put them in the gulag and everybody would get scooped up because they never thought they were going to be the ones that would get scooped up and they weren't ready to fight.

And when I read that, all I could think about is the modern evangelical church. I know I've used this example many, many times, but I hunt a lot. I'm going to go tomorrow, and the fact that they call it a sport, I think it's kind of comical. Because the other team doesn't even know that the game has begun, and I'm deep into the second quarter. You understand what I'm saying? This is why I win all the time. It's easy to win a fight against somebody that doesn't know that you're fighting them. And so I think a part of the reason

God gives us like peels back the curtain for Christmas in Revelation 12 is so the church would wake up to the cosmic battle that is going on for the hearts and minds of his people. Second Corinthians 2.11 says it this way, that we would not be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs or schemes. So if you flip over to Roman, I mean Revelation 12, you see it's about this point

in December where we're drinking eggnog and watching it's a wonderful life and the enemy is only trying to kill, steal, and destroy. You see, you've got to remember, our battle is not against flesh and blood. And the things that are happening in eternity are overlapping with the things that we are experiencing here on earth. And Revelation 12, listen, let me give you a couple of warnings about the book of

Revelation. First of all, it's just one revelation. It's the book of Revelation. It's a dream. It's a vision that God gives to John. The Apostle John is on the island of Patmos. They're trying to kill him, but he won't die. I think the reason he won't die is because Jesus from the cross said, I need you to take care of my mama.

And so when you get to take care of the son of God's mama, he'll keep you around for a minute. And they're boiling him, and he just won't boil. I don't know what's up. And so he gets this revelation from Jesus. First three chapters, pretty straightforward. Jesus is giving him a word to seven of the churches in that area. And then in chapter four, he's caught up into the heavens, and he begins to see signs.

So it's just a revelation. It's not revelations. Kind of like my grandma used to say, I'm going to Walmarts, like it was plural. My murky should just go to one. They all got the same stuff, okay? It's just a revelation. And in order to understand it, first of all, it's a revelation, it's a dream. And the key question to ask is not what's next, but what did John say?

next. And so by the time you get to Revelation 12, the seventh trumpet has been blasted. And a part of what happens at the seventh trumpet blast is Christ's kingdom is established on earth. You know what we know that as? We know that as Christmas. This is when the king of kings has come to land, to rule and reign here. It's a landed invasion. This is why Jesus constantly says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So when you turn the page, or Revelation 12, it says this. And a great sign appeared in heaven. Again, this is a sign.

A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. And she was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. Who is this? If you say, Mary, you're right. You're right. But it's at least a sign porting to Mary, but it's also pointing more. more than Mary. It's also Israel, according to Genesis 379.

If you've been around by all of a sudden, remember Joseph Cote of many colors, Joseph, he has this dream and he goes to his dad and he's like, Mama, Dad, I just had the crazy dream. Sun, Moon, and the stars are bowing down to me. And you get the interpretation of the drink. Joseph's dad says, you've got to be kidding me if you think me and your mama and your 11 brothers are going to bow down to you. So not only is this Mary, this is also the nation of Israel.

And according to Isaiah 66, 7 to 9, this is also the church. Now, how can it be Mary and Israel and the church? Because they all have the same point and purpose. What is Mary doing at Christmas? Mary is carrying and bringing the Messiah to the world. What is the nation of Israel doing? The nation of Israel is where the Messiah would carry and bring, or where this nation, Israel would bring the Messiah to the world.

What does the church do? When the people of God gather together, there's the presence of God, and what we do is bring the Spirit of Christ and the message of the gospel to the world. this is what's happening. This is Christmas. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns

and on his head seven diadems. So the color red means death. In every first century reader would see this as the nation Rome. Because he's got seven heads and ten horns. And there were seven kings of Rome in ten different kingdoms. And his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

So this is just more than Rome. This is Satan himself. And his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to earth. This is speaking of Satan's rebellion against God. You can read about it in Luke 1018. If you read about it in Ezekiel chapter 28, there's this description of Satan as the choir leader of heaven. And that he's either clothed in gems or he's made of v.

gyms. And his appendages are like instruments, and he was the great choir leader of the host of heaven. And his job was to stand between the host of heaven and the Lord of Lords, the king of God himself, who was the source of light, and his light would refract through Lucifer, and then everybody would give glory to God. And then at some point, in eternity past, the enemy got tired of being looked through and wanted to be looked too. And he leads a rebellious. in heaven and he's so deceitful. He's such a good liar. He's such a good deceiver. Think about this. He convinced a third of the angels to go with him. And he tried to sit on a seat that was not his. And he was cast down. And his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. You see, from the beginning, the enemy has been trying to thwart the plans of God. Which, by the way, when you get home, you've got to update your manger scene. You've got to take the wise men, get them out of there, put you a red dragon. Be biblically accurate. You can take your wise men and you can put them wet like in the kitchen two years away. You'll be there soon, okay? But I want you to see here the overlap of eternity in the very first Christmas.

And she gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Who is this? This is Jesus. He's the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. He will rule over all things and who else has been caught up to the throne of God. But Jesus, and that's where he is right now. And pay attention to this.

Jesus' current condition is not little baby meek and mild. He's not. He came as the suffering servant. That part of his reality is over, and now he sits at the right hand of God the Father ruling and reigning, and there will be a day when he returns. But it ain't going to be like Christmas. It's going to be Armageddon. The trumpet's going to blast.

The heaven's going to rip open, and he's showing up, not to pat you on the head and say it's going to be okay. It ain't going to be okay. The Bible says he's got fire in his eyes and a... sword coming out of his mouth and tattoos on his quads and save the emails. The Bible says he comes back written on his leg, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What do you think that is? A creola washable?

You think it's going to rub off? Is that what you think? You think I get to heaven and go, hey man, where's the Lord of Lords? You know what, it rubbed off? No. He's coming back to judge the quick and the dead. You see, it's a landed invasion. She gave birth to a male child, one who's the rule.

All the nations were the rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled to the wilderness. Now, if you look at Matthew 2 in light of Revelation 12, we know that that's Egypt, where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. You know how long that is through the man? It's three and a half years. So that's going on in the heavenlies. Meanwhile, the wise men are showing up, bowing down, laying their treasures before

little two-year-old Jesus. Joseph gets a dream saying, Herod's trying to kill y'all. You got to go. Where are we going to go? How about Egypt? How in the world could we afford to go to Egypt? We could barely get to Bethlehem.

Couldn't even get a room. How are we going to afford a three-year stay in Egypt? Huh. I've got an idea. God orchestrates this thing in such a way where two years before he puts a star so these guys that study stars, the wise men, show up with gifts and treasures that fund their trip for three and a half. years. And by the way, do you guys remember how long Herod lived after the birth of Jesus?

History tells us, ancient history tells us he was alive for about three and a half years. You see, again, we call Jesus the Prince of Peace, but you want peace, you prepare for war. And here's what happens at his birth. I want you to see the schemes. In the next few verses, you're going to see three of the primary schemes that the enemy uses against us, particularly at Christmastime. Verse seven. Now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

There's a cosmic battle going on in the heavenlies, just like Paul describes in Ephesians for the souls of the children of God. It's a really big view. Verse 8, but he was defeated. It's already over. That the battle has been won. He was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. So simultaneously what's happening in the heavenlies in eternity is playing itself out in chronology.

And when Jesus pushes up on his nail-pierced feet and says, it is finished, it means a lot. It means a lot. But one of the things that it means is the red dragon's going to lose. In fact, when you get to the next chapter of 13, you find out that the red dragon has a mortal head wound. And it's just a matter of time before he goes down. Do you watch UFC? You should. It's godly.

You should read the book of Revelation. and watch UFC and look for the tie-ins. And you see when somebody comes with that overhand right and just cracks a dude in the head and he gets the wobbles, you know it's over. This is what the Bible is saying. The enemy has been cracked in the head and is but a matter of time

because the victory has been accomplished. Listen, which means that this Christmas, we get to fight from victory, not for victory. And the great dragon was thrown down. You know what the Greek word for thrown down is? Bounced. I just love that so much. The Bible says, and the great dragon was bounced.

I just love it. That ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan? And then, it's going to tell you who the devil, who Satan is. The deceiver of the whole world. Underline that. If you take notes, write that down. This is one of his schemes. He's a deceiver of the whole world.

And he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. You could read about that in Isaiah 14, Isabel 28. and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. When did that happen? That happened in a manger in Bethlehem when the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

For the accuser of our brothers has been bounced. He accuses them day and night before our God. A second scheme that we see here is that he is an accuser. accuser of the brethren. Underline the word accuser. Verse 11. And they, talking about believers. And they have conquered him.

How? By the blood of the lamb, that's the gospel. And by the word of the testimony, how can anybody know the gospel if you don't share the gospel? For they love not their lives even unto death. Underline that. That's a positive comment on how they overcame the third scheme that he uses at Christmas all the time.

Therefore, rejoice, oh, heavens and you will dwell in them, but woe do you, oh earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short. Seems like things getting worse right now. Does to me. Do you know why? Because he knows his time is short. I'll tell it to you this way. How many of you are finished with your Christmas shopping? Please raise your hand, huh? About right? One. Second row. Congratulations. The rest of us, when you're you realize your time is short, uh-oh, it's Christmas Eve. I don't think I've done a thing yet. So what do you do? You go to Walmart and you do the flight of the bumblebee thing, right? You scramble

around like a crazy person, just doing whatever you can do because your time is short. This is what the enemy's doing. He's got a mortal head wound. It is finished. He knows that his time is short and getting shorter. Listen, I don't know when the Lord is returning, but I know we're a week closer this week than we were last week. And his time is short, and so he's scrambling around, but he's like a dog on a chain. He only does what the Lord will allow him to. And when the dragon saw that he had been bounced to earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Again, according to Matthew 2, this is Herod trying to kill all the two-year-old boys, and so they flee to Egypt.

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness. to the place where she was to be nourished. Here's how you told time in Greek, for a time and times and half a time. That's three and a half years, 1,260 days. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman,

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. This is a picture of what Christ is talking about. in the Garden of Githemite when he says, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me, not my will, but your will be done. Because of the enemy's work in this world, every single time we go the enemy's way instead of God's way,

and we sin, we store up for ourselves, wrath, just wrath against our sinfulness. And the enemy cannot wait until that wrath is poured out. But when Jesus Christ goes to the cross and he says, it is finished, imagine like a tidal wave of wrath coming at you, but before it gets to you, there's Jesus Christ on the cross, so the way Revelation describes it,

the earth opens up and none of the wrath, none of the flood makes it to you, because on the cross, Jesus takes the cup of the wrath of God, drinks it down to the very last drop, and then slams it and says, it is finished. That's what's happening here. And then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring.

You know who that is? That's us. And on those who keep the commanding of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus and he stood on the sand of the sea. So how's the red dragon Satan making war on you and me this Christmas? Well, the Lord gave us insight that we would not be outwitted by the schemes of the enemy. One, he's a deceiver. That's verse 9.

He's a deceiver. He lies. He's a liar. Everything God creates, the enemy tries to corrupt. Everything. And he's really good at it, and especially at Christmas. And remember, it's the sword of the spirit that we attack the enemy with. And any time, this is what the enemy is doing right now in churches all over the place.

Entire denominations are apostate right now. You know why? Because they stand in authority over the Word of God and be like, what do you think you know about sex and sexuality and gender? Who do you think you are? You don't have tender. He's a deceiver. He's a deceiver. And any time, any time you reject the word of God and say, I do what I want.

Listen, this isn't about right and wrong. Right and wrong will never be enough. It is about life and death. And life is when we obey the voice of the good shepherd and do what he says, especially when we don't believe it or agree with it or we don't get what we want. But every single time we reject it and go our own way, it leads to death and destruction. Here's a lie. Here's a lie we'll be told at Christmas.

Money and stuff will satisfy. this is why you'll be so frustrated with your children at 9 a.m. Listen, let me prophesy for you. All you charismatic, I got a word of prophecy. They're going to be bored at 9 o'clock. And you're going to think there's something wrong with them. Something's wrong with you that you thought the crap you bought them was going to fully and finally satisfied. You don't remember last year?

Right. And then we act like we don't act the same way. When we thought that new half bath was just going to do it for us. and now it's not enough, now we need a kitchen. And it's all the same stuff, man. Here's a big one, especially at Christmas, when the enemy tries to deceive you that forgiveness in your situation is impossible.

I know forgiveness is available for everybody else, but you can't forgive her. You thought you forgave her. Then you saw her at Christmas, and you still hate her. See, here's the deceit, man. The enemy wants you to think forgiveness is a feeling, and it's not. Forgiveness is the decision to cancel somebody's debt

because your debt has been canceled at the cross period, regardless of what your feelings are. And here's how the enemy is trying to deceive, because he wants you to think, well, if you can't be reconciled to him, how the heck can you sinner be reconciled to a holy God? The cross didn't count for you. See the deceit?

Here's another deceitful move of the enemy at Christmas that your happiness is based on everybody else's behavior. Now, the truth of the Word of God is that we are to be content in any and all situations and that we have learned the secret of being content. It's not a secret. It's Jesus. But what we do, what we get deceived with is we take the keys to our happiness

and we hand them out to everybody on our Christmas list and if they don't act right, we can't be right. He's a deceiver. He's a liar. Let me ask you, where in your life are you believing the lie? The second scheme that he talked about, the list is long. It's in verse 10. He is an accuser of the brethren. Day and night, he accuses.

By the way, if you read through most of your... emails, most of your text, and most of your replies on social media. Are most of them accusations that somebody's not doing it, right? If so, you're on a team. It ain't team Jesus. But what the enemy wants to do to you is to accuse you. And the primary lie is he wants you to believe that your past defines you and that your past determines your future. He wants you to believe that your past defines you, that you are your abuse. that you are your abortion, that you are your affair, that you are your bankruptcy, that you are your failure, that you are your sin, that you are your broken promises.

And yet the Bible, that's called condemnation. That means unfit for use. And yet the Bible says, therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So are you going to believe the accusations of the enemy, or are you going to believe the truth of the Word of God that you were bought, that you were paid for, that you were clean, you were redeemed, you were holy, you were blameless, that you are more than a conqueror, that there's nothing, nothing, nothing that could separate you from the love of God. That's who you are.

And not only that, he wants to accuse you that your past determines your future. God couldn't use somebody like you. Have you read the Bible? All he uses is that's jacked up people. Part of the reason he called me to this is that you get a weekly example in front of you. I don't know why he's laughing. It hurt my feeling. All right.

Anyway, he's a deceiver. He's accuser. And then the last one. In verse 11. It says, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Now, with sin came death. But the real problem with death is not being dead. I mean, if you're a believer in Jesus,

theologically speaking, we don't really have a problem with death, right? Because in 100 years, it's all fine. We're in heaven, no problem. We're not afraid of being dead. We're afraid of getting dead. It's that getting dead part that we're not looking forward to. What the enemy begins to do is he begins to use fear as a scheme to shut down the church.

And fear is a liar. Do you know why fear is a liar? Because fear will cause you to put all of your hope and all of your trust and all of your faith in your temporary circumstances instead of taking your hope and your faith and your trust and putting them in the sovereign king of the circumstances. Do not fear is the most commanded thing in the scriptures.

Now there's a difference between fear and scared. Scared is a feeling. God has given us this feeling called scared to keep us alive. So you don't like try to feed the bear honey. You go, oh, no, I should run. Fight, fight or freeze. Freeze doesn't work good, okay? No problem.

But when you have these feelings of scared and by faith, you take steps of obedience in the direction of the good shepherd, that's called courage. And the church needs a lot more courage these days. But fear, Paul tells Timothy, God did not give you a spirit of fear. So fear is not a feeling, Fear is not a personality type.

I don't care what your eneagram number is. Fear is a spirit that does not come from God because fear paralyzes and faith produces action. Imagine the kind of freedom that these people had for they love not their lives even under death. And oftentimes we are so gripped by what we think people might think about us if we say something true. Did you see the video?

When my man Joseph, not Jesus's stepdad, but our brother at Union, the 1122 are at Union Correctional, says he's just found out that he's got an inoperable terminal tumor on his pancreas. And he says if the Lord wants to keep me around here, cool, I'll work for him. If he wants to take me home, cool. Isn't it weird? He seems more free than you and me? Why?

Because I'm telling you, fear is a liar and is a primary tactic of the issue. enemy to shut you down. Imagine if you had the freedom that Paul has to live as Christ, to die as gain. So how do we fight back? How do you fight back with the sword of the spirit? Jesus has this incredible invitation in John 15. He says, abide in me and I'll abide in you. What an invitation from the sovereign king of the universe.

It's a relational term. Abide means if you'll just come here. If you'll just get close to me, Jesus promises he'll be. get close to you. And I think he's looking at his disciples and they're like, well, how are going to get close to you? You just told us you were leaving. He goes, here's how you get close to me. You abide in my word and I will abide in you. The reason you abide in his word is so that you won't be outwitted by the schemes of the enemy and that the word of God will be the loudest voice in your life. Why? Because it's war. It's war. And here's what he's trying to do. He's trying to do. He's trying

to accuse you. He's trying to deceive you. And he's trying to cripple you with fear, especially around death. Well, it's very interesting that the Bible says in John, chapter 14, verse 6. Jesus says, I am the way the truth in the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. This just, this hit me Thursday night after the sermon when we were doing the podcast. Three of the primary schemes of the enemy is that he's an accuser.

your past defines you. Your past determines your future. And Jesus goes, no, it doesn't. Because I am the way. That means if Jesus says that he's the way, that means he's not done with you. That if you follow in the footsteps of Jesus, he's still got purpose for you and a promise for you,

and nothing the enemy can do can take that away. Because your way is not stopped because of your past. So if the enemy wants you to believe. But Jesus says, listen, man, you don't get to be defined by your scars. get to be defined by mine because I am the way. And if he is a deceiver, a liar, Jesus says, well, I got good news, because I am the truth. I am the truth.

You want to find freedom, you find it in me. And the enemy wants to lay this fear of death, and Jesus goes, that's fine, because I am life. You hear this? Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That he is the remedy for the accusations of the enemy. And then he says, and no one gets. to the Father except by me.

Because he's the way, the truth, and the life. And no one gets to the Father except by Jesus. And that's why he came. You want to know what God thinks about you for his own glory? Read Revelation 12. He was willing to go to war against sin and hell and death for you, to ransom you and adopt you into his family because he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one gets to the Father except through Him. My question is, do you know that? Do you know that? Do you know him as the way to be in a right relationship with God? Do you know him as the truth? Do you know him as life? Have you ever come to the Father by way of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Because that's why he came.

Not to just stay a baby in a manger, but to live a perfect life to go to the cross to push him on his nail-piers' feet and say it is finished and then three days later be resurrected from the grave and be at the right hand of God, the Father, interceding for you right now, just waiting until he gets word to come and take home his family. Are you a part of that family? You can be right now. You can by just believing.

Believing that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, and if you believe you received the right to become a child of God. I want to give you that opportunity right now this Christmas. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes? And if you would say, that's me. That's me.

I have been believing the lies of the enemy of the world. And right now, for the very first time, I believe that when Jesus Christ came and died on the cross, he went to war to save my soul. And I believe when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And if you believe that right now, you confess him as Lord. You just say, Jesus is my Lord.

and you will receive the right to become a child of God. If that's you, I would like for you to lift up your hand as high as you can. If today, for the very first time you were put in your faith in Jesus Christ, lift your hand and say, Father, Father, Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, thank you that you would go to war for the souls of your children. Lord, I pray that you would wake us up. You would wake up the church in this season.

God, that we would enjoy all the things, all the parties and presents, and all that kind of things, we would not be distracted or deceived by them. God, we pray against the accusation of the enemy. And Lord, we pray that we would know that you have not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and of a sound mind. And this Christmas, Lord, that we would be prepared for war, knowing that in that kind of preparation that we could know the prince of peace. And we would do whatever it is that he tells us to do.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, do you please stand as we respond? We're going to sing. We're going to sing true things to God about God, and it is war. Every single time we worship, we're telling Satan who tried to take over the throne of worship that it ain't you. That Jesus is the one true God that is worthy of our worship. So we're going to sing, and we're going to bring our tides in our offerings, our first and our best,

just like the wise men treasured Jesus with their treasures. That's what we're going to do. And we're going to pray. Because when we get adopted into the family of God, we get an all-excess pass to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. And we can cast our cares upon him because he cares for us. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.