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Alright. Matt, are we good to start? Alright. Okay guys, find your seats, grab your handles. Welcome to the afternoon service. Let's turn to hymn number 259, 259. Let's begin by singing Jesus Saves. Two, five, nine. Jesus saves and you can stay seated. Two, five, nine. Let's do some favourites after this one. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the titans all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Bear the news to every land, climb the seas and cross the waves. Onward to our Lord's command, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Waft it on the rolling tide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Tell to sinners far and wide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing ye islands of the sea, echo back ye ocean caves. Earth shall keep her jubilee, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing above the battle strife, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. By his death and endless life, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing it softly through the gloom, when the heart for mercy craves. Sing in triumph for the tomb, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. On the last, give the winds a mighty voice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Let the nations now rejoice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Shout salvation full and free, highest hills and deepest caves. This our song of victory, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. All right, great singing. Let's go to a word of prayer. Yes, Lord, I thank you so much for salvation. Lord, I thank you so much that Jesus Christ saves, that his death, his very resurrection was all that was needed, Lord, to give us everlasting life. Lord, I thank you for making salvation so easy, simply our faith and trust upon the finished work of Christ, Lord, and that you've given us eternal life. God, I thank you for those that have been going soul winning all this weekend. Lord, I pray that you'd bless our efforts as we continue to get out there to proclaim your gospel, the good news of salvation, Lord, that we would see many people come to know you as Savior. Lord, I just pray you'd once again receive our worship, receive our praise, and help us to have a great service this afternoon. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, I'll just hand this stand to some people. All right guys, let's do some favorites. We'll do just one stanza. All right, actually no, that's two stanzas. Give me a favorite and choose two stanzas. Yes? Okay, hymn number 24, which is, And Can It Be? All right, have you got two that you'd like us to sing? The first two, okay. First two, And Can It Be That I Should Game? Hymn number 24. And can it be that I should gain any interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain, for me, to Him, to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? On the second, He left His father's throne above, so free is so in finite His grace, emptied Himself of all by love and bled for Adam's helpless race. Tis mercy all, immense and free, for oh, my God, it found out me. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? All right, you guys are still sounding really great. Yes, Isabelle? 242, which is, Took a Miracle? 242, Took a Miracle, which stanzas? First and the last, Took a Miracle, 242. My Father is omnipotent, and that you can't deny. A God of might and miracles, tears written in the sky. It took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to pack a world in space. But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole. It took a miracle of love and grace. The Bible tells us of His power and wisdom all way through. And every little bird and flower a testimony too. It took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to pack a world in space. But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole. It took a miracle of love and grace. I already did Sepulveda Family. Have you got another? Maybe Lily, we'll see. Yes, brother? 405, The Banner of the Cross. Yes, I do know it, yes. Just give us the music to start with. 405, The Banner of the Cross. Oh wait, which two stanzas? The first two. There's a royal banner given for display to the soldiers of the King. As an ensign fair we lift it up today, while as ransom ones we sing. Marching on, marching on, for Christ counts everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, meet the banner of the cross. Though the foe may rage and gather as the flood, let the standard be displayed. And beneath its foes as soldiers of the Lord, for the truth be not dismayed. Marching on, marching on, for Christ counts everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, meet the banner of the cross. Alright, we'll do, how many have we done? We might do two more, two more favourites and then we'll have the Bible reading. Have we got a favourite? We've done the Sepulvedas, we've done the Parkins. Has your daughter got a favourite? I don't mind. Have you got a favourite hymn? Is that you Rachel? Yes? So which number? Footprints of Jesus. Doesn't help me sister. What number? Footprints of Jesus. His number? Just forget it out. Three hundred and ten. Good job Brodie. Actually Brodie you had your hand up before didn't you? Oh okay, so we've got chosen. Footprints of Jesus, three hundred and ten. And which two stanzas? First and last. First and last, okay. Sweetly Lord have we heard thee calling, come follow me. And we see where thy footprints fall in, lead us to thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. The last? Then at last when on high he sees us our journey done. We will rest where the steps of Jesus end at his throne. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus wherever they go. Amen. Great singing. One more hymn. Christian have you got a favourite hymn? When I see the blood. When I see the blood. When I see the blood. Hymn number twenty. Hymn number twenty and which two stanzas would you like to sing? One and three, okay. Hymn number twenty, stanzas one and three, then we have our Bible reading. Hymn number twenty, stanzas one and three, then we have our Bible reading. When I see the blood. When I see the blood. I will pass, I will pass over you. Judgement is coming, all will be there. Who have rejected, who have refused. Oh sinner hasten, let Jesus in. Then God will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood. When I see the blood. When I see the blood. I will pass, I will pass over you. Amen. Great singing. I didn't actually know that hymn that well but I'm glad it came back to me. Praise God. Please take your Bibles now and turn to the book of Jude. Turn to the book of Jude and brother Rob Cladnick is going to come up for the reading. He's going to read the entire book. The book of Jude. Reading the book of Jude. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our only Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Koro. These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that he told you that there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Lord Heavenly Father, we do pray for our pastor Kevin, that you fill him with all wisdom in the Spirit as he expounds this scripture. Amen. Okay, so I haven't thought of a new series just yet, so I'm just going to pitch you through topical issues at the moment. One thing that I was thinking about this week was the spiritual realm, just thinking about the angels, and we know there are fallen angels, there's a devil, we know he's got a kingdom on this earth, he's the god of this world. And I've never really preached a sermon on angelic beings, and partly it's because I don't really have wrapped my head around it all completely. It's a doctrine that you can put together, but it's all kind of scattered throughout the Bible. When it comes to God's word, it's primarily dealing with God, dealing with man. And obviously behind the scenes in the spiritual realm, we also see the angels, the activity that takes place, which cannot be seen by our eyes. Now we have the reading there in the book of Jude, the book of Jude deals with false prophets primarily, reprobate false prophets. But that's not really what I want to be looking at today, I just want you to look at verse number nine. Jude, verse number nine, it says, yet Michael, the archangel. And so I kind of started to think, well, you know, what can we take out of Michael the archangel? He is mentioned quite a few times. You know, when it comes to the angelic beings, there are two angels that are named in the Bible. That's Gabriel, who gave the good news about Jesus being born, and there's Michael the archangel, there's a few references to Michael the archangel. And so the title for the sermon this afternoon, brethren, is Lessons from Michael the archangel. Lessons from Michael the archangel. And I think there's a lot of great things that we can think about and learn from when we just look at the several times that Michael the archangel appears in our Bibles. So turn away from Jude, verse nine, we will come back to that later in the sermon, but if you can go to your Old Testament, go to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 10, please. Daniel chapter 10. And we're going to look at the very first time that Michael the archangel gets brought up in the Bible. So that's in the book of Daniel. Now, when we get to Daniel chapter 10, Daniel's an old man by now. He's no longer serving under the Babylonian empire, he's now serving the Persian empire. There's been a change in power, but he still stayed there as a prominent figure in that kingdom. And he comes to a time when he needs some help from the Lord. He needs some direction in God's Word. And so Daniel begins to pray. And we pick this up here in Daniel chapter 10, verse number one. It says, And he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. Now let's stop there for a moment. So when it says that he's mourning, we'll see it soon that he's actually fasting. He's having a time of prayer and fasting. And the fact that he's taken three full weeks, how many days is that? How many days is that? Well, every week has seven days, so seven times three is 21 days. Alright, so we've got a 21 day period of prayer and fasting from Daniel. It continues in verse number three. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth days of the first month, I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. Now, so he's gone 21 days, three full weeks of prayer and fasting. He's beside this river. He looks up and he sees this man. Now this man that he sees is not a human being. It's definitely the heavenly host. Someone has come to visit him. It's not Michael the Archangel just yet, but we do see that Michael the Archangel does get brought up in these events. It says there in verse number six, his body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. Now this description might sound a little bit like Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. You know, we see the flames of fire and things like that. But this is definitely not Jesus. I can guarantee you that. It's definitely not Jesus. I'll explain to you why this is not Jesus. But the point is, he's seen a heavenly host. He's seen something that is glorified as far as the standards of heaven. This is not a normal human being that he sees. Verse number seven. And I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. So he sees the man, but the other people that are with him, they don't see the man. They just feel an earthquake. Which causes them to flee. Verse number eight. Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. So it's quite interesting, when he's confronted by the glory even of an angel, he says that I've turned to corruption. It's like he kind of realizes, oh man, I'm a sinner. He realizes my body's mortal. I'm corruptible. In comparison to a being from heaven, the glory that comes from this being. And then it says here in verse number ten. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright. For unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. So what do we learn now? He's done with the fasting, he's had this vision, this man says, this angel has said to Daniel, I've been sent to speak to you. So obviously he's been sent by the Lord God. Verse number twelve. Then said he unto me, fear not Daniel. Now these are really interesting words. And I think I, I know I, I'm sure you do too, because we have physical eyes, we have a physical, tangible body, we operate in a 3D environment, 3 dimensional environment. We kind of understand the concept of a spiritual realm, but because we don't see it with our eyes, it's sort of hard to wrap our heads around it. Even though we know it's taking place in that spiritual dimension. But it's quite interesting what he says here. He says in verse number twelve, and he said unto me, fear not Daniel, look at this, fear not Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, to chasten himself was to fast, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. So he says look, from the very first day, Daniel, that you got to pray and fast, I was sent to come and deal with your questions, to deal with your understanding of the scriptures. He said hold on, but that's day number one. I mean Daniel's been fasting and praying for three weeks, right, for 21 days. So how is it that he was sent on day number one, but he only reached Daniel at the end of three weeks? Well he explains why in verse number thirteen. He goes, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. That's the 21 days, the three weeks. He goes, the prince of the kingdom of Persia stopped me, prevented me from coming to you to explain these words to you. Even though he started on day number one, it took him three weeks to finally reach Daniel because this angel has been battling, has been prevented by this prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now obviously this is not, because when you look back to verse number one, remember back in verse number one it says in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, this prince of the kingdom of Persia is not Cyrus. Cyrus is not preventing an angel from speaking to Daniel. Obviously this has to do with the spiritual realm, okay. This may very well be, and I believe it is, the devil that has been preventing this angel to come to Daniel to answer his prayers. There's been a three week delay from the time that he got sent to the time that he reached Daniel to give him these news. I'll read verse number 13 again. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but lo, Michael, that's Michael the archangel, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. So this is the very first time that we're introduced to Michael. Now Michael is here referred to as one of the chief princes. So we saw that he's the archangel. The word archangel means that he's above other angels. And so I just wanted to, as I said, the title of the sermon this afternoon is Lessons from Michael the archangel. I was just kind of considering the spiritual realm. And the very first thing that we can learn from Michael the archangel is that we need to have an awareness and understanding that there is a spiritual warfare taking place right now, but it's just not visible. To the point where you can go to God in prayer and God is ready to send you an answer and he sends an angel to send that message to you and that angel can be withheld by the forces of the devil. The kingdom of darkness, whatever that be. And again it's hard for us to wrap our minds around that. A spiritual warfare, a spiritual dimension, and yes there is. Angels, angelic beings, devils, Satan and his kingdom, these are real things. These are true beings. I mean just as true as our physical realm that we're used to is this truth that there is a spiritual realm of angels and fallen angels fighting amongst themselves. As an angel is trying to do the work of God, trying to help us in our lives, there's also forces of darkness that are trying to prevent us from knowing God's words, trying to prevent us from living a life that pleases God. And so the very first lesson point, number one brethren, is that we need to have that awareness that there is a spiritual warfare. Now keep your finger there please. Keep your finger there and turn to 2 Timothy. Keep your finger there in Daniel and turn to 2 Timothy please. Now this should remind us of the devil. I've never seen the devil. Have you ever seen the devil brethren? I've never seen him. I've never seen an angel. In fact, you know what, I've never seen Jesus. But you know what, I have trusted in my Christ. I have seen him. I say this, even though I've never set my eyes on Jesus, I was in there 2000 years ago and he came to this earth and died on the cross. But you know what, I believe that he did that for me. I'm sure you all understand, those of you that are saved, you understand that you have seen Christ in faith. Christ is real to you as much as the person sitting next to you in the church building. Christ is as real as anybody else that you've seen on this earth. And you've put your faith and trust on his death, burial, resurrection. You've received salvation. You know there's a spiritual realm. You know that this physical body will one day be buried in the grave, but your spirit, your soul will continue to live on. There is a spiritual realm. And we need to be reminded, as you'll turn into 2 Timothy, I'll quickly read to you from 1 Peter 5.8 which reads, be sober, be vigilant. That means vigilant. Be watchful. Be aware, right? It says because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. God warns us of this spiritual realm. We need to be aware of it because there's a devil as a roaring lion seeking to hurt you, destroy your ministry, destroy your relationships with the brethren, destroy your love for God and his word. You know the devil's out there. You know if there was literally a lion, a roaring lion in the car park, walking about, how would we react to that? I tell you what, those doors won't be open. I tell you what, we'll be counting all the kids, making sure they're all safe here. We'll be ringing whoever we need to ring, the lion catcher, to come and get that lion. And you know that's kind of funny, but the reality is that's exactly what's going on in the spiritual realm. That Satan is literally walking about seeking whom he may devour. He's looking for a Christian who is weak, who he can attack. He's looking for opportunities to cause conflicts between brethren. Satan is doing these things. He wants to hurt our church. He wants to hurt your family. He wants to hurt your spiritual life. And so I think the very first lesson I can take out of that is just that reminder that there is more than a physical realm. There is a spiritual realm which is real. It is real and there are forces of darkness seeking to hurt each one of us. Which is why we also have Ephesians 6 verse 11 which says, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. You know what, if there literally was a lion out there, I would not feel comfortable right now in my jacket and my tie to take on that lion. But if I had a full suit of armor with a sword and a shield, I'd be a lot more bold to take on that lion. Wouldn't you feel that way? You know if you had a shotgun in your hand, you'd be a lot more prepared to take that lion on, right? Well this is the same thing. When it comes to the spiritual realm, we need to remember that we need to put on the whole armor of God. And again, this is a spiritual armor. It's as effective in the spiritual realm as much as an armor that would protect you in the physical realm does. It's going to protect you from the devil. It says in verse number 12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. You need to put on your spiritual armor. And look, this is not a sermon on the armor of God. I can do that. I think I've preached on that already, actually. No, think about it as a series. But you need to remember that you need to put on that helmet of salvation, right? You need to have your feet prepared with the gospel. And you need to make sure that you've got the sword of the Spirit. That you're grounded in biblical doctrine. You need to take on the spiritual warfare that takes place. And you need to protect yourself and go on the offense with God's word. Alright? But what I want to also look at is where you've turned in 2 Timothy 2, verse number 3. And I really want you to meditate on this, okay? And I'm sure I've already preached on this already. And I'm making this sort of one of my key passages to preach on a regular basis. Especially after we've gone through COVID and all these things. And we understand the wickedness of this world. And sometimes I've seen the desire amongst brethren to protest. To stand and to demand your freedoms. But I want to bring your thought back to here in 2 Timothy 2, verse number 3, which says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So we stop there for a moment. We are good soldiers for Jesus Christ. Whether you like it or not, you've been enlisted in the army. Now if you're in the army, you better put on the armor. You better get ready to fight. But then Christians are like, but what are we fighting exactly? Do we go to the abortion clinic and we start protesting against the abortion clinic? Is that what we're commanded to do? You know what? If it's in your heart to protest the abortion clinic, go for it. But that's not what it means to be a good soldier for Jesus Christ. I mean there are a lot of things that we could potentially be protesting against. We could be protesting against a wicked government or whatever, but that's not what it means to endure as a good soldier for Jesus Christ. And I want to look at verse number 4 following it. Because a lot of people know verse number 3. But they kind of forget verse number 4, which kind of surprises me. Because verse number 4 explains what it means to be a soldier for Christ. Because it says in verse number 4, Look at this. You know, going and protesting that abortion clinic. Hey, you want to do it? Go for it. I'm not against that. I think it's great. But I want you to understand that is an affair of this life. That is not the spiritual warfare that God has enlisted us to fight. Because Christians are going to get caught up in this world, even for well-meaning things. Protesting things that seemingly sound good and you think you're standing for Christ and for the freedoms that God has given us. But that's not what it means to be a good soldier. Don't get caught up, entangled with the affairs of this life. We have a spiritual fight. And I'm not going to read the rest of the verses following that. But it's talking about how we go through afflictions and difficulties. And even though we go through those difficulties, we should continue serving the Lord. Continue standing strong. Continue fighting the good fight. Standing on His Word. Preaching the Gospel. Seeing souls saved. That's the spiritual fight that we're fighting, brethren. When we go there and we see souls saved, we're pulling them out of darkness and we're bringing them into the light of Jesus Christ. That is the fight. That's what matters. If you're ever finding yourself getting entangled in a fight, I want you to pause and think is this just a temporary battle, a temple battle? Or is this something that matters for eternity? And then you'll know whether you're actually fighting a warfare that is the one that the Lord wants you to fight. God wants you to be fighting battles that matter for eternity. So the point number one, brethren, is that the letters from Michael the Archangel, number one, the awareness, brings back that awareness of a spiritual warfare. That there are literally angels battling right now, but we don't see it. We don't see it. There are literally angels potentially being sent by God to answer your prayer and they're being hindered. And you're like, why isn't God answering my prayer? Well, there might be very well a spiritual battle taking place. And this angel in particular that went to Daniel, he needed Michael the Archangel to help him out. He wasn't strong enough to fight against the prince of the kingdom of Persia. He needed Michael to step in and help him out, Michael the Archangel. So that brings us to our second point. The second point that I have for you and a lesson from Michael the Archangel is that not all angels have the same power and authority. Not all angels have the same power and authority. If Michael has been referred to as the archangel and as a prince, you can see obviously when you think of a prince, you think of a hierarchy, you think of authority, you think of servants under that leadership. And that's exactly what Michael is. You've got this regular angel trying to reach Daniel, but he needed help from a greater power and that was Michael the Archangel. And so if you can also turn now to, what can I get to turn to? Turn to 2 Kings, please. Turn to 2 Kings, chapter number 6. 2 Kings, chapter 6, please. My apologies, my laptop's died on me. Okay, 2 Kings, chapter 6, verse number 15. This is, again, one of my other favourite stories. And it has to do with the king of Syria wanting to fetch the prophet Elisha. Okay, because the prophet Elisha was basically preaching against him and he didn't like it. He didn't like what Elisha was preaching. And so you've got Elisha and Elisha has his servants and this king of Syria sends his armies to go and bring Elisha to him. And we get to verse number 15. It says that when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and hosts can pass the city, both with horses and chariots, and his servants said unto him, alas my master, how shall we do? I mean, I feel for this servant, right? He steps outside and he sees this great army, this great Syrian army, you know, come in to just get him, his master at least. He goes, what do we do, master? What do we do, Elisha? Yeah, I can understand if your eyes are upon just what you can see and touch. And then look at verse number 16 and he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Like, those words are just amazing. They'd be more with us. What are you talking about? Elisha, what are you talking about? I mean, you've got the Syrian army surrounding us and it's just you and me, Elisha. It's you and me, Elisha, versus the rest of us. What are you talking about? And when you, brethren, when you are afraid, when it seems like everything is against you, you know, it seems like you're going from one challenge to another challenge. You've got several enemies. You feel like it's just us. No, brethren, there's actually more on our side than there is against us, okay? It's just that we forget the spiritual realm. You know, we see what we have and sometimes, you know, we may have a small attendance and we go, is that all we have? But actually, we have a great power behind us, the power of God, his angels, his army, to lead us on, to push us on, to do great works for him. Look at verse 17. So you've got two armies, a physical army from Syria and then you've got another army of soldiers and horses, but they're on fire. This is the forces from heaven. Elisha, you know, I don't believe Elisha saw them. Elisha just had faith that they were there. You know, as a man of faith, as a prophet of God, but the servant, he was just focused on the physical. And we need to remind ourselves of that, you know, that there is this spiritual realm, there are these authorities, you know, some are against us, but there's many more that are for us. And even if there are more that are against us, the one that's for us is coming by the power of God. I mean, we've got God's power on our side. We have the Holy Spirit that indwells each believer. Don't forget, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. We also have his power within us, given to us by God, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. But yeah, I just want to show you that, you know, that there are horses. There are, I mean, not just angels, but there are horses, flaming horses. In this spiritual realm that we kind of, I guess, we forget about. And I like to think, I like to think that there's been, and I believe this is true, I don't think I'm just some lunatic here. I'm sure that the spiritual realm, that we've had angels protect us at certain times, I have no doubt that there have been times that the devil and his forces of darkness have tried to hurt us and attack us. And we're just going about our business and we have no idea what's just taking place. We have no idea that we're on the verge of being attacked by the devil. We're just going home, minding our own business, and there steps in, you know, some angels, some flaming horse or something like that to protect us from an evil attack. I have no idea, no doubt that this is taking place in my life, that this is taking place in your life. No doubt, okay? And I guess we'll know all about that when we go to heaven and be with the Lord and ask him those kinds of questions, okay? But that's just a reminder, it gives me a lot of strength. It gives me a lot of confidence. You know, at some times going door to the door can be a little bit scary, right? It's just us, you don't know who's on the other side of the door. You know, could they attack us? Could there be some wild dogs? You know, again, I kind of think of certain dogs that I'm kind of surprised, they look so ferocious, and I've had to step back and they've not attacked me. You know, they very well could have been a flaming horse in the way. I don't know, okay? But so far so good, God has protected me a lot, you know, serving God and doing his business. And I think, again, just a reminder that there is this spiritual realm, I think it's something great. Now I'm going to quickly read to you from Matthew 26 verse 53. This is of course when Jesus was being arrested. And, you know, Peter took out the sword and he cut off the ear of one of the servants. And Jesus Christ says these words in Matthew 26, 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? I mean, Jesus Christ knows all about this spiritual realm, okay? If Jesus needed protection from being arrested, he says I could just ask the Father, he'll send twelve legions. A legion is roughly three to six thousand troops, okay? So let's say it's six thousand times twelve. I don't know, let's keep the math easy. Five thousand times twelve, what is that? Sixty thousand, okay? Sixty thousand, you know, potential troops that Christ could have called in the spiritual realm and he would have been more than protected. You know, more than safe from the hands of those that sought to arrest him. But, you know, we're talking about different levels of authority, weren't we? That Michael the Archangel has a higher authority. We also see that Christ, of course, is above the angels. And if the Lord wanted to send him twelve legions, you know, he'd receive it. Christ, of course, is above the angels. And again, when you think of legions, you think of those three to six thousand, obviously there's some authority structures around that to have those legions, to have command, to have instruction, and so we definitely see that God's army is well disciplined, you know, there's a chain of command, and, you know, it's just like it would be in a regular military might. Alright, can you please go back to Daniel? Go back to Daniel chapter ten. Daniel chapter ten, verse number twenty. Drop down to verse number twenty. Daniel chapter ten, verse number twenty. Alright, so now this angel, you know, I won't go into the whole thing right now, but the angel now tells Daniel, look, I've got to go, okay, and we see this in Daniel chapter ten, verse twenty. It says here, then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee, and now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia. He goes, alright Daniel, look, I've got to go, and when I go, I'm back to fighting the Prince of Persia. Okay, but notice this, he goes, and when I am gone forth, lo, the Prince of Grecia shall come. So this angel's in this constant battle, he goes, I'm going to go fight the Prince of Persia, but then after that it's going to be the Prince of Grecia, of Greece, okay. Now if you remember, you know, the chain of, look at man, the different powers that be, you know, you've got the Babylonian empire, then it was the Medo-Persian empire that took over Babylon, okay, then it was the Grecian empire that took over them. One thing that we learn is that there's a prince, there's a power, of course a wicker power, that is often at the head of these large kingdoms, okay, and they just switch, you know, it's like the devil can have his home in Babylon, but once the new power takes place, you know, he makes his home in the Medo-Persian empire, and then when the Grecian empire takes place, he takes his home there. You know, and so we see sort of this, not just obviously, I'm talking about Michael the Archangel, but we see the powers of darkness, how they like to make their abode in the power of the world, the current power that exists, okay, and of course Satan is known as the god of this world, so that makes sense, that his power base would be where, you know, the greatest kingdom on the earth would be at that time. But look at verse number 21, Daniel 10, verse number 21, it says, But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth, and there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince. So we have Michael the Archangel mentioned again. Once again he's saying, look, I actually need Michael's help to be able to teach you this truth, okay, otherwise I'm going to be locked in these battles and I won't have time to teach you these things, okay. Once again he refers to Michael your prince. Alright, this brings us to our third point of the sermon this afternoon. So we had, remember, Daniel praying, his prayer was being hindered by the spiritual warfare that was taking place, and then God calls in the big guns, Michael the Archangel, to make sure this angel could get to Daniel with the message. So the third point that I have for you brethren is, prayer with fasting summons great power. Prayer with fasting summons great power. Do you ever wonder why sometimes we have a time of prayer and fasting? Okay, why don't we just pray? And just, you know, God knows what's in our hearts, obviously God wants us to fulfil His will, He wants us to walk in His ways, surely God will just always, when we go and bow our heads, surely, you know, it's all going to just happen. No, there's actually times that we're commanded and instructed, okay, to not just pray but to fast. Daniel was fasting, not eating, not drinking, for three weeks. It took that long for Michael the Archangel to go, alright, Daniel's serious about this, he needs some help here, you know, God says, you know, we need to send in the big guns, alright Michael the Archangel, you go in there and help this angel out, okay, because it's taken a while for this to reach Daniel, okay. So, can you turn to Matthew chapter 17 please, turn to Matthew chapter 17. And Brevin, what I'm saying, I guess, to you this afternoon is that if you have a great need, you really need God to step in and do something great in your life, or you feel like, it just seems like my prayers are not being answered, you know, I've been asking this for some time, let me encourage you to mix some fasting in your prayers, you know, go a period, you know, even a day, a solid day, without food, okay. You know, humble yourself, you know, don't give this flesh what it desires and you'll be calling for God to give you a greater power in your answered prayers. Now we have this story take place here in Matthew 17 verse number 14, Matthew 17 verse number 14, it says, And when they were come to the multitude, they came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. So this man has a son, he says he's a lunatic, he tries to drown himself, he tries to throw himself in the fire, right, and then he says this in verse number 16, And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Now don't forget that God had given his disciples, you know, the power to not just preach the gospel but to do some levels of miracles, you know, to heal the sick and to cast out devils, things like this. But the disciples could not help this son. So look at verse number 17, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you, bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. So to us this should make a lot of, I mean this makes sense, that Jesus Christ is able to call that devil out of that child and heal him completely. Of course, you know, you say of course he can, that's Jesus. You know, maybe that's just something Jesus was able to do, and you know this wasn't something the disciples were really capable of doing, right. But look what it says there in verse number 19, Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? Verse number 20, And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Look at verse number 21, Howbeit. In other words, even if you did have the faith, he goes, Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. Isn't that interesting? He goes, This kind, this kind of devil, the one that was causing this boy to be a lunatic, can only be cast out with prayer and fasting. Okay, prayer was not sufficient. The fasting had to take place. So we also learned something else. Not only are there some angels more powerful than others, but also from the devil's perspective, in the forces of darkness, there are some fallen angels, some devils, that are more powerful than others. And those angels, that fallen angels that are more powerful, they're affected by your prayer and fasting mixed together with faith in Jesus. And then God will send those big guns to help clear, you know, whatever's preventing you from achieving what God wants you to achieve in life. You know, it's something we need to consider in our lives, you know. Prayer and fasting, you know, yes we all pray, but fasting is something I guess we don't do on a regular basis. But if you need that extra strength from God, you know, that just seems like something is not happening, you need an answer and you need God to step in and do something great, let me encourage you to get that fasting in. It might be there's an angel that's been hindered by some devil and God needs to send in Michael the Archangel to clear the pathway or something like that, to get the message sent to you, to get that prayer answered unto you. Alright. And the other thing that I think about when it comes to fasting, you know, obviously if you're going without food and water, you're weakening this flesh, aren't you? And sometimes we do that, you know, we have a church prayer and fast time, you know, let's say one night or something like that, or a day, 24 hour period. But again, Daniel went for three weeks. You'd think that once you're done fasting for three weeks, you'd be pretty weak, right? You'd have lost quite a bit of weight and you'd be weak. And again, you say, how does being weak cause this greater power to come from God and to help clear the pathway in this spiritual realm? And I'm reminded immediately when I think of that question, I'll just read it to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 that says, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. You know, the weaker we are, the greater we can be attaining the strength of God, the stronger we can be, the less we depend on our own efforts and the more we depend on God, the greater our strength will be. That passage continues, Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. Okay? So fasting weakens the flesh. And the weaker you are, the more you need the strength of God to get you through. And so you actually become stronger when you're using and utilising God's strength through your life. So that's the next lesson brethren. Can you please turn to the book of Jude? Turn to Jude. Okay Jude, toward the end of your Bibles. Jude and verse number 9. Let's have a look at the fourth lesson that we have from Michael the Archangel. Jude verse number 9 please. It says, Yet Michael the Archangel, Jude verse 9, Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, once again there's this sort of spiritual warfare that Michael sometimes has with the devil. When contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. So, back in the time when Moses passed away, the devil wanted the body of Moses. For what purpose? I don't really know. Okay? But you have Michael the Archangel actually fighting against the devil here. It says, Does not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. What's the next thing that we can learn from Michael the Archangel? Well, point number 4, brethren, is refrain from railing accusations. Refrain from railing accusations. This is quite interesting. You know, I mean, the fact that Michael is fighting with the devil about the body of Moses, alright, and even then Michael the Archangel is careful to say a railing accusation against the devil. Okay? So, when we think about what a railing accusation is, sometimes it's, you know, the Bible doesn't have a lot on this topic in of itself, sort of this idea, but the idea of a railing accusation is number 1, false accusations. Okay? But it's not just false accusations. Obviously, if you're falsely accusing somebody, you know, you're saying they've done X, Y, and Z, you know, they've wronged me, and let's say it's not true, you are railing against that person. In fact, there was one time I had to kick a man out of this church for his railing accusations against Pastor Stevenson. Okay? He calls up Pastor Stevenson, accuses him to be a false prophet, right? Because he didn't agree with something that he preached, and I had to kick the man out. It's a railing accusation to call, you know, a man of God a false prophet. That's quite serious business. You know, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 says that a railer should not be allowed to fellowship with the brethren, to be kicked out of church. Okay? But it's not just that. You know, I mean, let's say, well, if I just speak the truth then, right? I mean, maybe, you know, then it's all good, right? If I just speak the truth, well, let's consider that for a moment. Obviously, we're all sinners. Let me just, let's just say I had a list of all your sins right now that you've committed through this week, the past week. Alright? And I'll use Brother Callum, for example. And I'll be like, alright, church, I'll get behind the pulpit. Alright, brother, look, guys, I'm just going to lay down the truth here. Alright? These aren't false accusations. It's all legitimate. On Monday, Brother Callum, I won't name anything, right? I won't name anything, right? He did X, Y, and Z. And on Tuesday, he did this. And on Wednesday, he done that. And on Wednesday, he did that. You say, but hold on, Pastor, you're right. No, no, it's all true. And it is true. Okay? But do you see how I'm also railing against him? Because the idea of a railing is also to be disrespectful or insult him. Okay? Disrespectful or insult him. And so we have to be careful. You know, yes, we stand for the truth. But you need to consider, you know, is it ever right to accuse somebody and to call out the truth? Of course there is. And the best guideline for that is the Bible. You know, if you see men of God rebuking certain people in the Bible, hey, you're free to rebuke those people as well. Okay? Just follow the instruction, follow the steps that you see in the Bible. But even then, when it comes to the devil, you might be feeling, you know what? Let's just get against that devil there and say things against him. You know, even Michael the Archangel was careful with what he said. Instead he goes, the Lord rebuked thee. See, sometimes, let's say I have a disagreement with Brother Jason. We don't get along. We have a conflict. All right? And I just, man, I need to get this off my chest. I need to go and tell Brother Rob about this, you know? I need to go and tell Brother Michael about this and, you know, I need everyone to know just how bad Brother Jason has been toward me. And I start telling people and it's kind of like, it's not that bad. You know, it's like, there's a little disagreement there, but then when you start telling people, it's like, it's actually, you know, people aren't going to see how bad that is. So I start to exaggerate. Yeah, but also, don't you know that, you know, five years ago, he also, Brother Jason also did this to me. And, you know, two years ago, there was that other guy that came to our church. You know, he doesn't come to our church anymore. Probably Brother Jason's fault. You see how, yeah, Brother Callum's fault, whatever. We like to break up Brother Callum. But you can see how, you know, we say it's true. Well, I'm railing against him. You know, the Bible says that if I have a conflict with a brother, if I have an issue with a brother, I'm to go to him alone. Okay? Because sometimes, yeah, sometimes you talk to other people, you realise, actually, my issue's not even that important because I got offended and emotional. It's such a big deal for me. So he starts to add things, add little things, add little things. We have to be careful about that. You know, if there's ever a time where you think, you know, I've got something to say, but it's going to cause this person's name to be dragged through the mud, you'd better pause and consider Michael the Archangel. He was careful, even with what he said about the devil. All right? And, you know, sometimes there are Christians that do wrong. They commit sin. And you know what they say? The devil made me do it. Nah. The devil can tempt you. He's a tempter. He can do that. He can come from your wicked heart and, you know, you giving into that sin, that's your issue. Don't blame the devil. You're not that important. I mean, the devil's got pretty big business, you know, in the governments of this world. I don't think he's hanging around your house that often. Okay? But hey, there's a roaring lion still. You know, there are still dangers out there. Be aware of that. But you know, when you say the devil made me do it, that's actually a radiant accusation because the devil didn't make you do it. You did it. And the other thing is, you know, one of the most important things that I always want, I want to leave this church. You know, let's say, you know, a hundred years from now we're all in heaven, whatever. You know, 200 years from now. And you're like, hey, what was one of the key things that Pastor Kevin often preached? I want this to be one of the things that you take away. And he says, you know what, if there's a, you know, when there's a difficulty and a trial and you just can't handle it, just leave it to God. Just leave it in God's hands. And again, I see this with Michael the Archangel. Instead of bringing a railing accusation, instead of saying something that could potentially come across incorrectly, okay, he says, no, the Lord rebuked thee. He says, you know what, the Lord's gonna deal with you, devil. The Lord's gonna deal with that. You know what, brethren, sometimes it's okay to let things go and just say, God, you deal with it. Lord, I'm leaving it in your hands because I can't deal with it on my own. You know, I want that to be one of the main things that you take away from me, anyway, because it's been one of the best things in my life. You know, not the stress and the worries that you might have when you're dealing with difficulties or issues that it might be too hard for you to understand or you don't have the full picture and you want to be careful about what you say because what you might say might end up being a railing accusation. You know what, sometimes just leave it in God's hands. Let him deal with it. All right, so point number four, brethren, was refrain from railing accusations. All right. Now, I've got my final point, which is probably my longest point, but I'm going to try to be very fast on this. Can you please turn with me to First Thessalonians chapter four. Turn to First Thessalonians chapter four, please. Because Michael, the archangel, makes many appearances or is mentioned multiple times when it comes to the end time events. When it comes to the events of the rapture and that tribulation period to come, Michael the archangel makes a few appearances. But turn to first Thessalonians chapter four. Verse number 15, we're looking at the most famous passage on the rapture. All right, when Christ would come and take his saints to the clouds. Now, I want you to notice what it says here. In First Thessalonians chapter four, verse number 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Now, that term, asleep, is important, okay. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse number 15, that term, asleep, is important, okay. First of all, that term, asleep, means believers that have passed away, okay. But they're not truly dead in that sense. Their body's just asleep in the sense that Christ at the rapture will give them a new resurrected body. Christ will come back with them. They're going to receive a new body that comes from those graves and they go to the clouds. But that term, asleep, I want you to keep that in your mind, okay. We're talking about the rapture here, the most famous passage of the rapture. It says, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. So who's the archangel? Michael the archangel, right? And with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Do you notice that Michael the archangel is there during that time of that rapture period, okay. What does it say again? It says, with the voice of the archangel, okay. So at the rapture, we're going to hear Michael the archangel's voice, alright. So I just want to show you that because it's the most famous passage on the rapture, alright. Michael the archangel's mentioned, people that are asleep, that have gone with Christ are mentioned. Of course they're going to be raptured first before those that remain on this earth. Now please go with me to Matthew 24. Please go with me, actually sorry, go with me to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel in your Old Testament. Go to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12 please in verse number 1. Daniel chapter 12 verse number 1. Now we're dealing with end time events here in Daniel chapter 12 verse number 1. It says, and at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every day to everyone that shall be found written in the book. Who are the people of Daniel that are found written in the book? Well we definitely know in the end times God has the lamb's book of life where every saint's name is written in that book. If your name is not found written in that book those people are going to be cast into the lake of fire, okay. But I want to show you that Michael shall stand up, meaning he's going to get active, he's going to get involved in these end time events, alright. So the great prince, so you see, he's the archangel, he's got this authority which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. So a time of trouble that it's never been this bad before, okay. What does that ring a bell to you? It should remind you of the great tribulation to come, okay. Now I'll quickly read to you, you can turn if you're fast enough. In fact turn there, please turn there, Matthew 24. Because I don't want you to just take my word for this, I want you to look at it in the scriptures yourselves, okay. Matthew 24 verse 21. Matthew 24 verse 21. Because this period that we read there in Daniel 12, Jesus Christ speaks about it in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24 verse 21. Matthew 24 verse 21, these are the words of Christ, it says, For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor, nor ever shall be. So Christ is talking about a time of trouble and tribulation that has never been as bad before as it is now in this time of great tribulation. It's the same time period that we read there in Daniel 12. It's going to be the worst time that there's ever been, ever since there's been a nation, alright. Now are you sure we're talking about the same period? Well, you're there in Matthew 24, just backtrack a few verses, Therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. So yeah, of course, when Christ is speaking about the end times, he says, hey, you should have read this in the book of Daniel. This is what he's talking about. He's talking about this time period at the midst of the tribulation. There's a time period coming which is a seven year period, and in the midst of that period there's a time period coming when the Antichrist elevates himself above God, okay. Now again, who do we see constantly battling with the devil in the Bible? It's Michael the Archangel, alright. Now, look at verse number 22, Matthew 24, verse number 22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened, okay. So this time of tribulation, this time of tribulation, is a time when God's elects are being persecuted, okay. Where if he continued that no flesh should be saved, but God's gonna cut that time short for the elect's sake, okay. I hope you're following, okay. I got a few things to put together. I hope you didn't turn away from Daniel 12, maybe you did. Okay, I'm sorry, go back to Daniel 12. It is a bit of a Bible study this afternoon. Please go back to Daniel 12 and verse number two. We saw in Daniel 12, verse one, Michael should stand up during this period, but look at Daniel 12, verse number two. Let's continue there. Daniel 12, verse number two. And many of them that sleep, hmm, that sounds like 1 Thessalonians 4. Those that are asleep, alright. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Okay, it's not talking about you wake up in bed, okay. The dust of the earth is talking about there's a burial, there's a grave, okay. And those that sleep will awake. Some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. It's talking about new resurrected bodies. They're gonna shine, they're gonna be glorious. Hey, the more people you turn to righteousness, the more people you see saved, the greater your brightness will be, okay. Verse number four. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. So you can see this is about the time of the end. This is about the end times. Daniel chapter 12. And notice what we see again. Michael the Archangel, and bodies rising from the dead. The rapture, the resurrection of believers. So I'm trying to show you it's all one and the same, okay. Now, in Daniel 12, go back to verse number one. Daniel 12, verse number one. Remember this. And at that time shall Michael stand up. Now the question is, well, what time? And at that time, Michael shall stand. Obviously, Daniel 12 is continuing the thoughts from Daniel chapter 11. So let's go back to Daniel chapter 11 Let's just go back one chapter. Daniel chapter 11, please. And look at verse number 36. Daniel chapter 11, verse number 36. It says, and the king, and, you know, spoiler, this is the antichrist, this is the beast, okay. And the king shall do according to his will and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women nor regard any god for he shall magnify himself above all. And if you know about the end times periods at that middle point of that seven year period the antichrist will exalt himself. He would, you know, refer to himself as a god that's above the gods, okay. He thinks he's a god. He thinks he's deity. The man in all to be worship, you know, to worship him and to take his mark. So you can see when you get to Daniel 12 and at that time, we're talking about the time of the antichrist having been risen, you know, in that midpoint and what Christ referred to as the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24. I just want to show you that it's all one and the same. It's one great puzzle, these pieces going together. Okay, so you can see that there's a few thoughts that I want to show you here. All right, let's consider what are we referring to here. Go to one more passage. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 please and verse number 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 1 says, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. What is that gathering unto the Lord when he returns? That's the rapture, amen. Verse number 2, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you. Brethren, when you hear these words in the Bible, you stop and pay attention. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day, what day? The day of Christ that gathered unto him. For that day shall not come, except that come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed. The son of perdition. Who is this man of sin? Verse number 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. You see, our 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is speaking about the same event that we read there in Daniel chapter 11. This antichrist who exalts himself above God thinks that he is the God Almighty. So what do we learn? What's point number 5? Seems like we've just gone on this tangent on the end times. The 5th lesson of Michael the Archangel is that it confirms, looking at his life, looking at his actions, it confirms a post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture. It confirms it. Because when does this take place? Again, look at verse number 3, verse number 3, Let no man deceive you by any means. For the day the rapture shall not come except it come a falling way first, and that man of sin be revealed. When is the man of sin revealed? When does he exalt himself? At the midpoint of that final 7 year period to come. And then you've got Michael the Archangel stand up and he's going to take some action on that time. Let's have a look at what those actions are. Please go to Revelation chapter 12. Go to Revelation chapter 12, please. Revelation chapter 12 and verse number 1. Revelation chapter 12 and verse number 1. We'll end on this one, brethren. It says, And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. So this is a vision, this is not a literal woman, but this is a vision of this woman. Verse number 3, And there appeared another wonder in heaven, a dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail, that's a dragon's tail, drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Once again, we're seeing a picture of this spiritual realm. That when this child was to be born, within the spiritual realm, there was a desire to kill this child. Who is this child? Verse number 5, And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. Hey, who's got a throne in heaven? Our Lord God does. This child that was born, of course, is Jesus Christ. We know that he's coming back to rule with a rod of iron. Yeah, that's what took place. You know, within the spiritual realm, when Jesus was born, it really upset the devil. He drew a third of the stars from heaven trying to destroy this child. And we see that come through King Herod who had all the children that were two years and under being killed. But, you know, there was a spiritual warfare. There was spiritual action taking place during that time. Let's keep going there. Verse number 6, And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Now, that thousand two hundred and threescore days, works out to be three and a half years. Three and a half years is the midpoint of that final seven year period. Okay? So what takes place during that midpoint? Verse number 7, And there was war in heaven. Look at this. Michael, Hey, there's Michael the Archangel. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon is Satan. And the dragon fought and his angels. See that? Dragon's got his own angels as well. Verse number 8, And prevailed not. Sorry. And prevailed not. Neither was there place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil. And Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, and he was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So what takes place in the midpoint? Once we get three and a half years into that final seven year period, there's a great war in heaven. Overcomes the devil with his angels against the devil's angels and they're forever cast out of heaven. They can no longer enter into that place ever again. So they fall to the earth. Don't forget we're still in the three and a half year period. Jesus Christ says this is the abomination of desolation. The Bible tells us this is when the antichrist rises and calls himself to be God. Okay? This is what begins that great tribulation when no flesh will be saved unless those days shall be shortened. And then as we continue there in verse number, drop down to verse number 17. It says, and the dragon was wroth with a woman and went to make war against the remnant of her seed. Who's the remnant of her seed? Which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Remnant, if you're saved, you have the testimony of Jesus Christ. These are the people of God that Satan is now attacking. You notice that it begins after that three and a half year period which Jesus Christ calls that great tribulation. And then what do we know? You know, immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun and moon be darkened and the stars shall fall from heaven, right? And then what we read about in Matthew 24 is the coming of Jesus Christ, the rapture, Christ in the clouds, okay? With, again, the voice of the archangel being caught up, being resurrected. Those that have been asleep in Jesus will rise from the dead. We'll get up first in the clouds and then we'll follow afterwards. That's a very long-winded way, just to show you, when you look at Michael the archangel, a further confirmation of what we believe as this church, a post-tribulation, pre-wrath rapture, before God pulls out his wrath upon this earth, after the Antichrist has tried to destroy the saints of God on this earth, then Christ will come and rapture his believers into the clouds. And of course, at the end of that seven year period, Christ will return with the believers to reign for a thousand years. And at the end of those thousand years, God creates a new heaven and a new earth for all eternity we're going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, brethren, I hope that's been kind of something to learn there. But just in summary, brethren, the seven points. Lessons from Michael the archangel. Let me just give you those five points once again. Number one, it gives us that awareness of a spiritual warfare. Please don't forget, there's more than just this physical realm, okay? The devil is a roaring lion. Point number two, that not all angels have the same power and authority. Okay, there's a structure, there's a chain of command within even the spiritual realm. Point number three, brethren, is prayer we fast in summons greater power. Point number four, brethren, is refrain from railing accusations. And point number five is the post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture is confirmed. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for your word, Lord, thank you, that you've given us these snippets, Lord, of the spiritual realm, and that we understand that there's this angel, Lord, this archangel Michael, who is accomplishing great works for you, Lord, that is also being used to battle the Satan, Lord, from time to time. And Lord, I just pray that we would, Lord, that we'd be students of the Bible, that we would carefully pay attention, Lord, when you reveal certain things to us, Lord. We don't show us too much about the spiritual realm, but where we do, Lord, I just pray we would pay attention and understand that there is a spiritual realm Lord, that you've got your angels, Lord, protecting us, guiding us, answering our prayers, Lord, and that you use them as your messengers. And Lord, I just pray that we would also remember, Lord, to be like Michael the archangel. Lord, even when we have an enemy that is against us, that we would be careful not to bring forth railing accusations, Lord, but when things are too difficult, Lord, that we would just say the Lord rebuke thee and leave it in your hands. And Lord, most of all, we're looking forward to the time when Christ returns. Lord, we're looking forward to the clouds, to be safe from this wicked world and to be with Christ with a new resurrected body, to be able to stand with Him in glory. And Lord, as we saw in the other passage, Lord, the more that we turn people to righteousness, the greater the glory will be, the greater the resurrection will be, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that we will do the best we can, Lord, to see many people come to know you as Saviour. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, thank you, brethren. Please take your hymnals. Please take your hymnals. About the coming of Christ. Let's see. Anyone have an opinion? I think Jesus is coming again. Is that what it's called? Hymn number 84. Jesus is coming again. Hymn number 84. Hymn number 84. Coming again. Coming again. Coming again. Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening or maybe soon. Coming again. Coming again. Oh, what a wonderful day. What a wonderful day it will be. Jesus is coming again. Forest and flower exclaimed. Mountain and meadow the same. Olive and heaven proclaim. Jesus is coming again. Coming again. Coming again. Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening and maybe soon. Coming again. Coming again. Oh, what a wonderful day it will be. Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again. Standing before him at last. Trial and trouble will pass. Crabs at his feet will pass. Jesus is coming again. Coming again. Coming again. Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening and maybe soon. Coming again. Coming again. Oh, what a wonderful day it will be. Jesus is coming again. Coming again.