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Warrenton SDA Church

Mark Finley

Jesus An Unsurpassed Leader

Father, we have come to a period in our service where we're going to open the Word of God.

We pray that as we do that, that you would speak to us, that your Spirit would bring deep conviction to us.

We pray that we would be more conscious of the awareness that we live on the knife edge of eternity.

And that the signs of the times indicate that this is a special era in Earth's history, and that soon Jesus will come in Christ's name.

1 of the greatest needs in America today is moral leadership.

America is facing a serious leadership crisis.

While there's gridlock in Washington and political parties battle to retain their turf, millions long for some type of moral leadership.

They are tired of the wrangling and debates.

They're looking for solutions to the problems of war, the problems of injustice, the problems of social inequity, the problems of fragmented families, global warming, the refugee crisis in Europe, economic woes, and a multitude of other problems.

Thinking people say, is there any moral leader that has the ability to lead society out of the toboggan slide that it's on.

Where can the world find moral leadership to deliver us from our problems, to lift us from the pit into which we are rapidly sinking?

Millions of people are asking this question, is there some world leader on the horizon that has the international respect to influence world leaders, bring nations together, and change the course of history?

Now, another question is, have recent events in America indicated that millions of people actually believe that there is a world leader that does exist, 1 that stands above other leaders, 1 that can bring nations together.

The last 2 weeks have been incredibly amazing in American history and really the history of the world.

Pope Francis visited America and millions of people not only in this country but around the world were glued to their TV screens.

He was given red carpet treatment in Washington, D.C.

A welcome unlike the welcome of even for the President of China that occurred the very next week.

When the President of China visited America, His arrival was almost insignificant in comparison to the arrival of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis, of course, met with President Obama.

Then he addressed a joint session of Congress, First time in history that a pope did that, traveled to the United Nations, made a major speech there, traveled to Philadelphia, and spoke on the nature of American families and the situation among families around the world.

During the time that he was here, he addressed inequality among peoples.

It was quite remarkable to see the millions of people attracted to the message of the Pope of Rome, featured of course on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News, MS, all of those letters featured again and again.

You could hardly turn on the television screen.

Now, I was interested in the news reports and gleaned just a few.

Here's what 1 international reporter stated about the Pope's visit.

Although Pope Francis left the United States for Rome, this was written on the day he left, on Sunday, the significance of the papal outing will resonate for a long time.

With the soul lifting statements he made in the course of the visit to Cuba and subsequently to the United States, this sentence really struck me.

The 266th Pope has undeniably emerged as a moral force that the world urgently needs.

So here's a recognition by the international press that at a time of chaos and confusion in the world, at a time of fragmentation, at a time when many world leaders are at 1 another's throats.

There is a moral leader that has arisen, that has attracted the attention of the world.

I was interested in a short article in the Catholic News Service, who were really evaluating what Pope Francis said.

And the Catholic News Service issued this statement, Pope Francis, several speeches, especially in front of a joint session of Congress, The United Nations General Assembly and Independence Hall in Philadelphia spelled nothing short of a treaties on human politics.

It was rather interesting to me that the leader of the largest religious Christian organization in the world, 1.3 billion people, has bridged the gap into politics.

Now that is quite significant, but the most significant article that I read was in the Huffington Post and published in Washington, D.C., September 28 to 30.

Now this article is significant and I want you to listen to it.

It says he hasn't announced his candidacy.

Indeed, the job he seeks doesn't really exist.

But shrewdly, methodically, and with a showman's flair, the Argentinian Jesuit priest named Pope Francis showed Thursday that he's running to become the president of the planet.

Now I want to go on because there's something significant here.

He did so in a congressional ceremony of secular civic pump in a massive legislative building, that's the US Congress, that after all harks back to ancient Rome.

So what we're seeing is the revival of the ancient Roman Empire.

Now the next paragraph to me is really significant in this news release.

As devout as he is and as focused on the faith and practice of the Catholic Church, Francis is also campaigning to lead public, secular, political discourse worldwide.

He is arguing, the news media says, that the 2 realms of faith and politics are 1.

So what we see taking place is the leader of the largest Christian body in the world making a persuasive philosophical argument that you cannot separate religion and politics, that faith and politics are indeed 1.

I was quite astonished when I saw the cover of Time magazine.

The cover of Time has a picture of the Pope and it says, Pope Francis and the new Roman Empire.

Now those who are familiar with church history are understandably concerned about the Pope's meteoric rise to prominence.

The article, Pope Francis and the New Roman Empire.

In the days of Constantine, the Roman Empire was falling apart.

Pagan influences were coming down from the north, the barbarian tribes like the Alameni, the Anglo-Saxons, the Suevi, the Heruli, were taking over Europe.

Constantine recognized that he had to do something if he was gonna save the empire.

The fragmentation in the empire was Great.

The challenges that were faced to stability in governments were enormous.

And Constantine, a political leader, united at the time with the Pope of Rome in an attempt to Christianize Europe.

Now When that happened, 2 things occurred.

First, there was a compromise of biblical values.

That's when, of course, image worship came into the church in the fourth century.

That's when Sunday worship gained prominence and many pagan practices came into the church.

But there was a second thing that happened in that amalgamation of the Roman Empire, and that is the minorities were persecuted.

And that's why we had what was known as the Dark or Middle ages, church and state united.

If history tells us anything, it tells us this.

Every time church and state unites, these 2 things occur.

There is a compromise of biblical values and there is a persecution of the minorities.

So those that study history are quite nervous when you look at terms, the revival of the Roman Empire.

But there's another reason why Bible students are somewhat nervous about the events of the last few weeks, and they should be.

And that is not only do they know history, but they know prophecy.

And there are 2 prophecies in Revelation that should give us pause to think.

Revelation chapter 13 talks about a time when the religious political powers will unite.

And for all Christians everywhere, and specifically Seventh-day Adventists, this prophecy should give us pause.

It talks about a rise of church and state power in Revelation chapter 13.

And looking there at verse 3, it says in the last part, in all the world wondered after the beast.

The Bible talks about the union of church and state.

It talks about the world being amazed at a power that would rise.

And that this power would come on the scene of this world's history as a moral force that would change the world.

The Bible then describes the compromise and persecution that would take place.

There is another prophecy that should give us pause in Revelation the 17th chapter.

In Revelation chapter 17, verse 13 and 14, should give Bible students something seriously to think about when we see the events of the last 2 weeks.

Revelation chapter 17 and we are looking there at Revelation chapter 17 and we are looking at verse 12 and 13.

And the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings that have received no kingdom yet.

But they receive authority or power for 1 hour as kings with the beast.

These have 1 mind and they give their power and authority to the beast.

So here are 2 predictions in Revelation where the political powers of the world and the religious powers of the world under the auspices of world unity, under the auspices of solving the problems of the world, under the auspices of solving the injustice, the war, the climate change, under the auspices of bringing families together, that the world leaders will look for somebody that's beyond politics, somebody that stands above nationalism, some moral leader that they can look for.

I wonder, are these prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes?

Now, Revelation predicts not 1 leader will emerge but 2.

And it's the second leader that I want to spend most of the time focusing on in our message.

Revelation predicts and it talks about what is the dragon and the lamb.

It talks about the rise of the anti-Christ power, but it also talks about the supremacy of a leader that is unsurpassed Jesus Christ.

And I want to focus this morning on why Jesus is the only leader that can solve the problems of this world.

The Bible's last book presents the only leader that can deliver us from the world's dilemma.

He is the only leader who is wise and all powerful.

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Jesus An Unsurpassed Leader

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