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"Genesis" Tagged Sermons (Page 2)

The Final Judgments

The judgments of God on this entire earth are wrapped up in 7 seals, followed by 7 trumpets and finally followed by 7 bowls. If you carefully read those passages you can find out that the 7th seal contains the 7 trumpets and the 7th trumpet contains the 7 bowls. This simply means that there is a very specific sequence to these judgments. First the seals; then the trumpets and finally the bowls. The seals are being broken by THE LAMB. The seven seals are opened by the Lord Himself, the 7 trumpets are blown by angelic beings, and the seven bowls are being poured upon the earth by seven angelic beings as well. In other words, the Lord uses His angelic beings to execute judgments upon this earth. We will find out later why this is so important.
Four very important purposes that will be fulfilled during the final judgments upon this earth.
1. The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 11:15; John 16:7-11)
2. The nations and its rulers will find out who truly OWNS THE NATIONS AND TO WHOM THIS EARTH REALLY BELONGS. (Revelation 11:18a; Psalm 2)
3. All the dead people will be judged. That is all the spiritually dead people, those who have rejected the offer of salvation. (Revelation 11:18b; Daniel 7:9-10)
4. All the Servants, Prophets and Saints and those who fear God’s name will receive their promised rewards. (Revelation 11:18c; Revelation 22:12)
God’s judgments will always reveal the human heart; FULL OF REBELLION AGAINST THE CREATOR HIMSELF. This all started in the Garden of Eden long ago when our parents believed the lie that they could through knowledge of good and evil become God themselves. That was Satan’s promise to them. The human being has been in rebellion against God ever since. God’s very own and special creation claimed Godhood. When God Himself eventually brings that rebellion to judgment, every human being will find out that rebellion has its price.
These bowl judgments will crush man’s rebellion and remove the rebellious from this earth. The final completion of this purpose will be accomplished when Jesus Christ returns with His armies to this earth.
Who is the recipient of this first bowl judgment? All those who had received the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. We can find out from another text found in this book that a very small fraction of the world population will actually resist the beast and will refuse to take his mark.
Good news, the only ones who do not have to worry about this judgment are the ones who found refuge in the lord Jesus Christ. They have refused to take the mark of the beast and have refused to worship him.
Jesus has taken the judgments for their rebellion against God upon himself, came to this earth, lived on this earth a perfect, sinless life, was falsely accused, rejected, condemned and eventually crucified in our place. And the proof of his work on our behalf came 3 days after his crucifixion. 3 days after his burial, he rose again, because death could not hold him, there was no legal claim against him and those who trust in him. Hallelujah.

WRESTLING with God

The life of Jacob covers HALF OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS. His birth is recorded in chapter 25 and his death is recorded in chapter 49. What we find between those two chapters are quite amazing stories about this man and the struggles he faced, because they are all pointing towards the struggles our forefathers faced and reveal the struggles or strongholds which we face today. Certainly, studying this man’s life will give us plenty of insight how NOT TO DO CERTAIN THINGS, and HOW TO DO CERTAIN THINGS IN LIFE.
God reveals Himself to Jacob and reaffirms the covenant He made with Abraham, Jacobs grandfather, promising Jacob that his offspring will be many and that the Promised Land will one day belong to his descendants. In this dream, Jacob sees something like a ladder or a stairway leading up to heaven. The Hebrew word translated “ladder” is SULLAM which simply means a connection between God and man.
What an encouragement to all of us who have been justified through faith in the work of God Himself through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, who has become our ladder to heaven. Even after we became children of God, running from trouble, trying to ignore our strongholds, God comes along with a great encouragement, reminding us of the promises made long ago to our forefathers, reminding us that His promises and His covenant with us cannot be negated.
Jacob found out how the universal law of sowing and reaping is working its way through his life. He did not know that he had a stronghold of lying and deceiving, until he had to be on the receiving end of it. You see, our very own strongholds are not admitted as such until we are on the receiving end of it. Until someone else does the same thing to us and all of a sudden we can feel the pain, the hurt, the disappointment.
Jacob was still dealing and wheeling. Anxious for his life, he came up with the idea to bribe his brother with gifts of a caravan of goodies. He hoped he can pacify his brother. Once everything he could do was done, finally Jacob was physically exhausted and alone in the wilderness. He feared for his life. He was convinced that he would face death after the messengers he sent out came back to Jacob saying: We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. At this moment Jacob realized that he is powerless to control his fate. With his father-in-law behind him and Esau before him, he was now too spent to struggle any longer. In the process, Jacob the deceiver received a new name, ISRAEL. But that is not all. The most important part of this struggle comes at the end. It was when God wrestled with Jacob that Jacob’s stronghold was taken down and demolished. And it was after his stronghold was demolished that GOD BLESSED HIM.
“… Jacob’s divine encounter at the Jabbok River was a magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God.” Frederick Buechner

The Objective of TRUE Warfare

The objective of that warfare was very clear. Get rid of the promised Messiah, the one who would break the chains of bondage in the lives of people; the one who came to set the captives free. There is another spiritual warfare going on that is not primarily focused on spiritual beings, but ON OUR MIND. The Apostle Paul was exposing an entirely different warfare that was raging especially in the church at Corinth.
People crept into the church at Corinth that were false teachers, accusing Paul of living according to the flesh. They said that when personally present among them, he would not have the courage to confront them, but once gone away, he then would write them a strong rebuke in form of a letter. They said that such a person is a coward. They accused this man of God to be motivated by evil self-interest, interested in money and power.
TWO IMPORTANT POINTS IN SATAN’S DOCTRINE WERE ANNOUNCED BY HIM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN WHEN HE FIRST APPROACHED THE WOMEN.
First, there was a bold denial of a statement God Himself made
Second, there was Satan’s assurance that if she would act independent from God, they would be as gods.
How can we take down such fortresses? Remember, the Objective of true warfare is to make people change the way they think. And such can only be done BY USING THE WEAPON, THE SPIRITUAL WEAPON GOD HAS GIVEN US.
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, THE WORD OF GOD. IT’S ONLY THE TRUTH THAT WILL SET US FREE FROM OUR OWN PRISON, FROM OUR OWN FORTRESSES. They either become our prisons and eventually our tombs, or they need to be demolished by the Truth, the word of the living God.

Who Is Worthy To Open The Book?

Adam did not loose ownership of the Earth, for it was never his to loose. He did however lose access to the Garden, and he lost THE DOMINION ENTRUSTED TO HIM. Adam’s sin of disobedience not only severed man’s fellowship with God, it was a surrendering of Earth dominion as well. The first problem severed fellowship with God but it can be restored by personally accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Luke 4:6-7 says: Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, all authority (dominion) I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
Who handed that dominion over to the devil? Adam. Jesus did not dispute this saying. My question is this: Since Satan still has dominion over this earth today, when people claim to have such dominion today, WHO GAVE THEM THIS DOMINION? The one who has it, which is Satan.
Jesus is the kinsman redeemer in that He came as a man (God became flesh) lived as man (John 1:14) and dies as a man (Romans 5:15. He was fully man and fully God. The only one worthy to open the title deed.

Ears To Hear

The seven churches were chosen for their particular traits which apply to all of Christendom. Which means that these seven churches were not only literal, but also representative. The things I am teaching you from the book of Revelation will make no sense at all unless you are born again. If you are in church all your life, but have never surrendered your life wholly to the Lord, all you will hear is WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR, but you are not able to HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES, because you have no spiritual ears. No wonder so many people have really no clue what this book is all about and what glorious news it reveals to those who have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Stay On The Main Road

People think that Genesis is simply an ancient history book. Living by God’s promises means living by faith in the one who made the promises and believing the promises He made to us. From God’s viewpoint, this trial was a character forming event. When circumstances are negative, we are more concerned about the promises of God than the GLORY OF GOD. Abram and Sarah did not break any laws, but they did deviate from God’s Word and through it were unable to have peace and joy in their family. Our God is never caught by surprise when we forsake the Main Road. He is eventually showing up to bring us back where we belong, unto the Main Road.