Prophecies of Hope

Lowell Hargreaves

Michael Hargreaves

Amazing Facts

3. Revelation’s Mother of All Battles

Our topic for tonight is Revelations mother of all battles a long time ago in a galaxy far far away Remember that line That was the opening line for the original Star Wars movie And what we're gonna look at tonight is, took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

We are gonna study the mother of all Star Wars, the mother of all battles, but this is not science fiction.

We're going to go back in time, deep within the heart of the universe, to where the first war took place.

We're going back a long time ago to the very center of the universe to God's throne.

The Bible says there and there was war in heaven.

We usually think of heaven as being a place of peace, a place of perfect happiness, but the Bible says here there was war in heaven.

Revelation 12, 7 through 9, if you're taking notes.

It says in Revelation 12, 7 through 9, And there was war in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not.

Neither was their place found anymore in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him remember that word serpent we'll come back to that later tonight so the war that began in heaven has been transferred to planet earth.

First of all, how did the devil, the dragon, get into heaven?

What was he and his angels doing up there anyway?

And then another question, where did the devil come from?

And if so, then isn't God at least responsible in some sense for all the evil, all the wickedness that the devil has done.

And another question, why doesn't, why didn't God destroy the devil and his followers immediately?

And why did the devil come to this earth?

Did God create the Earth sort of like a junk shop to put the devil into?

And then another question, why is there so much suffering in our world today?

If God is so good, why is our world so bad?

If God is love, why do we suffer so much?

Why does God allow innocent children to be carried away by evil men to be tormented and some of them killed?

Why does God allow babies to be born defective?

As we look around our world today, we see a world of 2 very different contrasts.

We see in our world good and we also see evil.

And we see plenty, but we also see famine.

And people wonder why do these 2 contrasts exist in the same world?

The natural world doesn't have a proper answer for this.

It's only as we take the Bible that we can find answers to our questions.

The Bible reveals to us that God is the author of love and blessing.

But on the other hand, the devil, he is the author of hatred and suffering.

And because we were born on this planet, we've been born in a battlefield, on a battlefield.

We find ourselves caught up in the controversy, the conflict between God and the devil.

Jesus wants you to be happy, wants to bless your home, bless your family, bless your marriage if you're married.

But then on the other hand, there's the devil, Satan.

He wants to destroy your marriage if you're married.

He wants to ultimately destroy you with himself in hellfire.

We find ourselves caught up in this conflict between good and evil.

Do you sense that conflict in your own life?

You can feel sometimes the force of evil working.

And the question for us tonight is who is responsible for all the wickedness all the evil in the world today.

God is not the 1 responsible for all the evil The bad things in our world are really acts of the devil.

I was 1 time flying for a speaking appointment and the airline canceled the flight because there was a storm in the city that we were flying to, big storm.

So I went to the agent, I wanted them to change my flight pattern because I had to get to my speaking appointment.

And they said, well, this is an act of God, so we can't help you.

The bad things in this world are not acts of God.

The evil in our world is actually acts of the devil.

Jeremiah 31 3 says, The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

A loving God once created a perfect world where there was no such thing as death, there was no such thing as sorrow, there was no such thing as misery or problems, there was no such thing as that in the perfect world God created.

That leaves us with this question, where did it all come from?

Well an intruder came into that perfect world, an enemy, enemy of God and an enemy of man.

All suffering either directly or indirectly is the result of sin.

So we blame him for the bad in our world.

I've had people say to me sometimes, I think God must be mad at me, because all these bad things are happening in my life.

The bad things that happen to us, they're not coming from God.

They come from our adversary, our enemy, Satan.

2. Dinosaurs Prove the Bible True

Our topic for tonight, Dinosaurs Prove the Bible True.

Some time ago, there was an article in the UK Guardian News, and it said this, Dinosaurs Meet the Ambassadors for evolution.

And it says here, dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, yet our fascination with them grows.

So amid the 200th anniversary celebrations of Charles Darwin's birth this week, dinosaurs should be hailed as ambassadors for evolution.

Are we related somewhere in the distant past to the dinosaurs?

The Bible says in Genesis 1, verse 1, the very first verse in the Bible, in the beginning God created the heavens, the heaven and the earth.

That sounds like it's a little disagreeing with evolution.

There has been a long controversy between creation and evolution.

And of course, the Bible teaches that God created us.

There are actually 3 great questions that everyone faces at some point in their lives.

First question is, where did I come from?

Evolution claims to be able to answer the first of those 3 great questions, but it offers us no help at all with the next 2.

You see, if we just evolved up from the monkeys, up from the dinosaurs, then, really, life is nothing more than a meaningless pause between 2 empty eternities.

But if, as the Bible tells us, we are created in the image of God, then there is hope for our future.

We can look beyond the present life with its difficulties to something far better in the future.

The Bible teaches us that a loving, caring God created mankind.

Can we find evidence that what the Bible says about our origins is correct?

The history of the Bible has been a very fascinating history all down through its time.

There have been many thousands of decrees against the Bible, but yet we still have it.

And it's the best-selling book in the world, and it was the first book that was ever printed.

And that leaves us with this question, what lies behind the Bible's obvious power?

Well, son, the answer is the Bible is the Word of God.

We want to give you tonight 5 proofs that the Bible is God's word, and I think you have them listed in your handout, those of you that got the handout.

The word Bible simply means book, or of course the Bible is made up of 66 books, and it was written by more than 40 different authors over a period of 1, 600 years, and it was written in 3 languages on 3 continents.

Very amazing, yet the Bible harmonizes perfectly.

For example, if you were to get 40 doctors to write about the best way to treat cancer, would all 40 doctors agree?

But if you have 40 different people, most of whom lived at different times of the Earth's history, you have them write about poetry and about morality and about religion and about all kinds of things and have that harmonized, you know that that is a miracle.

See any 1 man can write a book and call it a holy book.

1 man is not going to disagree with himself, but when you have 40 different people writing and that harmonizes, you know that there was some divine power behind the Word of God.

Number 2, second proof that the Bible is God's Word, The Bible itself claims to be inspired by God.

Over 3, 000 times, the Bible calls God its author.

Number 1 is from 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, where the Bible says, All scripture...

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

It was God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Second text is from 2 Peter 1, verse 21, which says...

They spake, they wrote, as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

If these claims are true, and I believe they are, then there is no higher authority in the world than the Bible.

If these claims are not true, the Bible could never have endured so many centuries of opposition and still be the world's best-selling book.

Number 3 is the evidence from archaeology.

Ancient stones have spoken confirming the truth of the word of God.

Take for example, the fascinating discovery in 1975 of Ebla in northern Syria.

And in this town that the archeologists dug up, they discovered a library of ancient clay tablets, 15 to 17, 000 clay tablets that dated all the way back to 2500 BC.

And on these tablets they read about many things and they also read about things like creation and also the universal flood.

Bible names in places like Esau, Abraham, Israel, Sinai, and Jerusalem.

And they even read about 2 sin cities, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Take, for example, the issue of the universal flood.

You can find evidence of a universal flood in many ancient cultures and civilizations.

Take, for example, the Chinese word for boat, composed of 3 parts with vessel, 8, and people.

Where do you think that there was the idea of a vessel having 8 people?

The Bible reveals there were 8 people in Noah's ark.

But what about, Father, the fossil record?

Now, of course, the geologists tell us that the dinosaurs lived about 65 million years ago, long before humans evolved.

And they say there's this long span of difference in time between the time of the dinosaurs and the time of humans.

Well, did humans and dinosaurs live at the same time?

I'm gonna show you an amazing photograph.

This was discovered in the year 2000 by archaeologist Elvis Delk.

And you can see a dinosaur footprint right on top of a human footprint.

This has been verified by a spiral CT scan.

This was not carved in by some imaginary creationist.

This was actually imprinted there in the clay, which later became petrified rock.

Here you have a high-resolution picture of that.

The dinosaur footprint right on top of a human footprint.

Apparently, humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time.

Well, first of all, it verifies the Bible.

Secondly, it verifies the universal flood story.

Apparently, the dinosaur was headed 1 way and the human was headed another way, trying to escape the floodwaters.

1. Mysteries of Bible Prophecy

Our topic for tonight is mysteries of Bible prophecy.

Mystery movies, mystery books, mystery stories, mysterious places.

And There are a number of mysterious places in the world.

There's those mystery cities high up in the mountains of the Andes.

And then there is other mysteries such as the mystery of Stonehenge in England.

There's those mysterious heads in Easter Island.

And then there are other mysteries, such as the mystery of King Tut.

We're going to study that mystery in this series, aren't we, son?

And there's a mystery right here in the Philippines, the mystery of Yamashita's gold.

The Bible is the world's most popular book, best-selling book, but probably the most misunderstood book in the world as well, and it's got many mysteries.

Most people have a Bible, and few people read the Bible, and even fewer people actually understand the Bible.

Have you ever read the Bible and you couldn't understand what you were reading, maybe in a prophetic part of the Bible?

And when you study prophecy, especially those books like Daniel and Revelation with all those mysterious symbols.

But in this Prophecies of Hope program, we're gonna unlock many of those mysteries in Bible prophecy.

In fact, We're gonna be studying from the books of Daniel and Revelation.

Revelation's got a lot of mysterious symbols in it.

There is in fact a mysterious woman sitting on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns.

And then there's a woman in Revelation chapter 12 standing on the moon clothed with the sun And there's a dragon that wants to devour her child as soon as it's born We'll study that mystery also and then there is the mystery of 3 Mysterious angels that fly in the midst of heaven with a special message for the world at end time We'll be studying that message Have you heard about the mystery of 666?

That's in the book of Revelation the beast that has the mark You can read that in Revelation 13, verses 1 and 18.

So to sort of whet your appetite tonight, let's read that.

John says, And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy." That sounds kind of mysterious, but we're going to look at that mystery later.

Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

That is 666, and we're going to look at that in 1 of our future topics so you can understand that revelation is a mysterious book And because it's a mysterious book some people are afraid of the book.

That's right Some people say you cannot understand revelation that it's a closed book.

Well, let's see what the book itself says.

The Bible says, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.

And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

Well, revelation, that means to open, to reveal, like you would open up a door.

If I were to tell you I'm gonna reveal to you how old I am, you would think maybe I would tell you what my birthday is, how many years I've lived.

Well, Father, will you make that revelation tonight?

No, I don't think I'm going to reveal that.

But this is a revelation, and it's a revelation of who?

In Revelation, you find Jesus Christ revealed, but on the other hand you have the Antichrist exposed.

Do you think, my friends, that the devil wants Jesus revealed and Antichrist exposed?

This book is a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And since it's a revelation of Jesus Christ, we don't have to be afraid of studying this book.

You don't have to be afraid of the last book of the Bible, the apocalyptic book of Revelation.

There's actually a blessing pronounced upon those who study this book.

Revelation 1, verse 3, mark that in your notes.

Blessed is He that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand." There's a blessing to those who read, a blessing to those who hear, But there's a special blessing to those who keep.

But is there another book in the Bible, son, that's also full of symbols?

Daniel and Revelation are 2 great prophetic books of the Bible filled with mysterious symbols Take for example our 4 beasts that was on the flyer These are mysterious beasts the lion with eagles wings the leopard with 4 heads and 4 wings.

We'll study these beasts in a future topic.

But you find them described here in the book of Daniel.

And then you find this mysterious metallic man made of different metals and this rock that comes and smashes the image down.

But before we go there, Father, we want to ask this question.

How shall we interpret or understand the symbols of prophecy.

Son, there are 2 principles to correctly understand prophecy, and we're going to invite our guests here to mark down these 2 principles.

Number 1, we must allow the Bible to be its own interpreter, and a text for that is 2 Peter 1, verse 20, which says no prophecy of the Scripture is to be of a private interpretation.

In other words, it's not up to me or to you or some church to interpret prophecy.

We have to let the Bible interpret its own prophecies.

And then the second principle, we must compare Scripture with Scripture to understand Scripture.

And a text for that is Isaiah 28, verses 9 and 10, which says, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.

It's sort of like putting a puzzle together.

When you get all the pieces connected, Then you have a clear picture of what the puzzle's showing.

When you get all the pieces put together, you have a clear picture of the truth from God's word.

Those are the 2 principles we're gonna use as we study Bible prophecy and the Prophecies of Hope program.

So, with that background, let's launch into Prophecies of Hope.

We're gonna start tonight in the book of Daniel.

We're gonna look at a prophecy that lays the foundation for many of the other prophecies in the Bible.

This prophecy we find in Daniel chapter 2, an ancient king's dream.

It describes over 14 different empires, takes us back over a span of 2, 500 years and provides us with 1 of the greatest evidences that God knows the future.

ASI Scandinavia 2014: Sharing Christ His Way

Sebastian Matula

ASI Scandinavia

How to Know and Share the Three Angels’ Messages

I'm doing my theological studies at the moment.

I'm doing my last year at Newbold College, and I'm having a wonderful time I only have 1 semester left The only giant I need to face right now is my bachelor thesis and then we'll see what will happen.

So I'm so happy to be here with you and guys, we are going to study the 3 angels messages and how to know and basically share it and we are going to study a lot.

We are going to go through Scripture and after 40-45 minutes we are going to take a break and you know so people can stand up and stretch their arms and then we are coming back with part number 2.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

3. Revelation’s Mother of All Battles

45m

2. Dinosaurs Prove the Bible True

37m

1. Mysteries of Bible Prophecy

40m

How to Know and Share the Three Angels’ Messages

1h 33m

How to Make Appeals and Gain Decisions for Christ- Part 2

1h 13m

How to Use Science-Based Creation to Win Confidence- Part 2

1h 24m

How to Win Confidence With a Compassionate Heart

1h 16m

How to Engage People In Our Modern Age With Our Unique Message

1h

How to Find a Life Partner Who Will Increase Your Usefulness In Service

1h 21m

How to Move From a Fan to a Disciple of Jesus by Using Spiritual Gifts

1h 23m

How to Share Ellen White: End Time Dynamite

58m

How to Make Appeals and Gain Decisions for Christ- Part 1

1h 22m

Sound Doctrine