Revelation 19-20 - End Game

All right. So, today we're going to be

in uh door number eight. So, door number

eight. And all that means is that in

Revelation, God opens doors for us to

see into the future, to see into the

present, and to see what he is doing.

It's kind of a a peak behind the curtain

of what God is up to. And so, uh, in

door number eight, we get to see the

final battle between Jesus and the red

dragon. The final battle between Jesus

and Satan. And friends, it's kind of

anticlimactic. Got to be honest with

you. Uh, it's a blowout. It's like Super

Bowl. Um, 1986, the Bears over the Pats

46-10. I know we got some Cowboys fans

in here, right? Any

>> a couple couple Cowboys fans? Well, um,

you know, that's like Super Bowl in 1993

when the Cowboys beat the Bills 52 to

17. Uh, Redskins fans got one for you,

too. Wait one. Okay, great. I thought

there were more. That's why I looked

this up. I I was like, have they even

seen a Super Bowl? I didn't remember. Um

anyway, uh in 1988, the Redskins over

the Broncos 42-10. It was a blowout. It

wasn't much of a contest, right? This is

not like the end of Avengers Endgame

when Captain America makes that famous

call. He's like on your right. Like

that's the coolest thing. I got

goosebumps when that happened cuz I'm a

nerd. I don't care. Um like like it's

not like that. It's not this final

battle with Thanos that goes for like

two and a half hours now. It's not like

John Wayne and that cabin shootout and

True Grit. Nothing like that. It's not

like Young Guns, by the way. Shout out

to John Bonjovi for one of the greatest

soundtracks in the history of mankind.

Um, criminally underrated actor Alio

Estz in that movie as well. But nobody

goes down in a blaze of glory in this

battle. So, I'm sorry to tell you that

we're not going to get to read about

some epic battle at the end of time

between Jesus and the red dragon. And

that is because

Jesus puts the red dragon to sleep. And

he does it in the twinkling of an eye.

So even though the battle may not be

epic, the result of the battle is

actually pretty epic. When when Jesus

makes the red dragon, the Satan, the

devil, when he makes him tap out, you

got to understand that this is the end

of death. All the things that we just

sang about up here, it's the the end of

that. It's the end of death. Anybody

that's ever been through uh the grieving

process when someone you love dies, you

know how painful that is and how long

that grief lasts. Do you understand that

when Jesus puts the red dragon to sleep

that that feeling will never be felt

again because there will be no more

death? There will be no more grief.

Think about people that have battled

prolonged illness. Maybe you have a

loved one. Maybe you have battled a

prolonged illness or a disease and you

know how how how hard that suffering is.

Well, when when the red dragon taps out

to Jesus, when he throws him into the

pit, when he gets rid of our enemy, no

one ever has to suffer like that again.

Illness, disease, all those things will

be gone. No more broken relationships.

No more f food insecurity. No more

anxiety about politics. No more sin. No

more guilt. No more shame. No more

death. No more dis disease. No more

division. No more loss. No more fear. No

more violence. Hey, you know who's going

to be out of work after this battle

happens?

I'm number one on the list. It's not

just me. There are a lot of other people

going to be out of work, too. No more

presidents. All right. No. No more uh

medical professionals needed, no more

therapists. We're all out of work. Why?

Because all the stuff that we try to

help people with will be gone. All the

suffering and humanity will be taken

away. So what am I going to do in

heaven? I mean like if you want to know

about Noah, you can literally just walk

over and talk to Noah. Uh if you want to

know what the Bible says, you can

actually just go and ask the people that

wrote the Bible. You can go to Jesus and

be like, "What does this mean?" and he

will tell you. So, there's like no need

for me. So, I'm guessing maybe I'll open

like a a heavenly eBay store. I was kind

of thinking about that. Be kind of rad,

wouldn't it? Like, you know, I wonder

what the Ark of the Covenant would be

worth on uh bidding. Just saying. I got

dibs on that, too. Anyway,

so we're going to talk about the new

heaven and the new earth, but that's

going to be next week. So, you're going

to have to come back to talk more about

this. But today, we're going to kind of

talk about the endgame. We're going to

talk about all the things that lead up

to that final battle and then next week

we'll talk about the results of the

final battle. So today we're going to

talk about two things. Number one, a

wedding feast and number two, the

millennial reign of Christ. So let's

start with this wedding feast. This is

uh Revelation chapter 19 and we'll start

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

reading in verse 6.

Apostle John talking and he says, "Then

I heard something like a voice of a vast

multitude, like the sound of cascading

waters, like the rumbling of loud

thunder saying, hallelujah, because our

Lord God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us

be glad. Let us rejoice and give him

glory because the marriage of the Lamb

has come and his bride has prepared

herself." That's us. She was given fine

linen to wear, bright and pure. for the

fine linen represents the righteous acts

of the saints. Then he said to me,

"Write, blessed are those who are

invited to the marriage feast of the

lamb." And then he says to me, "These

words of God are true." I love this

because God has always encouraged his

people around a table. So, so make all

the Baptist jokes you want about how

much we like to feast because we're just

being biblically faithful, right?

Now, yes, we do like barbecue and fried

chicken as well, but we're just trying

to be biblically faithful because the

Bible talks about feasts over and over

again. In the Old Testament, there are

so many feasts that God commands his

people to take part in. One of the most

famous, of course, is the Passover

feast. Initially, this feast was to

celebrate how God redeemed his people

and brought them out of Egyp Egyptian

slavery. But then moving forward, this

feast began to symbolize all of the the

the good things, the abundance that that

God continues to provide for his people.

And then when you move into the New

Testament, Jesus brings us a new feast,

a new meal that we are supposed to take

part in regularly. And that is of course

the Lord's supper. The Lord's supper is

the celebration of our liberation from

sin and death. It's the celebration of

what Jesus did for us on the cross. It's

a celebration of of getting together as

a a church family and taking the the

bread and the wine or in our case the

juicy juice because we're we're

Baptists. So, you know, we got the bread

and the the juice, right? And we take

these things in remembrance of what

Jesus did for us on the cross. We think

about how his body was broken for us.

That's the bread. And how his blood was

spilled for us to redeem us. That's the

juice, the wine. The this symbol is a

celebration of what Jesus did on the

cross for us to conquer our greatest

enemies, sin and death, and to put to

sleep the red dragon. Now, it's not

surprising to me then that the library

of scripture, which is what the word

Bible means, this is a library of

scripture, various books that make up

the canonized Bible that you have, that

this this story, this true story ends

with a feast. It's not surprising to me

that it that it does because we've been

talking about being encouraged around

tables throughout the whole thing. Now,

at the marriage feast of the lamb, all

of you Marthas out there, um Martha and

Mary, all you Marthas out there, all you

uh like planners, all you hosts, all you

party planners, all people that love

putting together the event, um you're

going to have nothing to do with this

one, okay? So, it might drive you kind

of crazy, but Jesus is in charge of this

feast. He is the one that is doing the

cooking. He is the one that is doing the

hosting. He is the one who is doing the

entertaining. It says that he will sing

over us at this feast. It's all about G.

He's even providing the clothing for us

like like he's got a dress code and he

gives us what we're going to wear to

this feast. And of course, it's the the

fine white linen which is the the

uniform of a priest. And since nothing

that is written in Revelation is not

echoed elsewhere in scripture, this

Revelation chapter 19 passage is an echo

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

of Ephesians chapter 5, but also the

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

great Psalm of David, Psalm 23. Psalm

Psalms 23:4

23:4, I'm going to be reading out of the

King James on this one. Says, "Yay,

though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

Why will I fear no evil? Because I'm

awesome. Because I'm scary. Because I'm

tough. Cuz cuz I'm the man. Nothing's

going to mess with me. No. Why? Why will

I fear no evil? Because my good shepherd

Jesus Christ is with me. It says, "Thy

rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Now

get this, verse five. Thou preparest a

table before me in the presence of mine

enemies. Thou anointest my head with

oil. My cup runth over. Surely goodness

and mercy shall follow me all the days

of my life as I dwell in the house of

the Lord forever. So, here we are. We're

in Revelation 19 and we're eating a meal

with our our global faith family. People

from every tribe and every nation and

every tongue, every nationality will be

represented at this this wedding feast.

And we're sitting there, we're

celebrating what Jesus has done for us,

but we're also celebrating

in the presence of our enemies.

This meal is taken in literal defiance

of the beasts, in literal defiance of

the demons, in literal defiance of Satan

himself. See, Revelation 19 is the

ultimate meal. It's the it's the end

meal. It's the the the wedding feast.

with Jesus. But we are commanded to have

little meals along the way, little

feasts along the way where we celebrate

the goodness of God in the presence of

our enemies. And I'm not just talking

about the Lord's supper that we do

quarterly here at Sawers Creek Baptist

Church. I'm not just talking about our

annual Thanksgiving meal where we get

together as a faith family and just eat

and celebrate. I'm not talking about

just those things. This is also like

inviting people to your house for a

cookout. inviting your church family out

to eat somewhere at a at a restaurant.

These these little meals are eaten as we

celebrate God's presence in our lives,

but they're eaten in defiance of our

enemies. Now, when we get too busy to

participate in these meals with our

friends and with our family and with our

our church, then we are missing out on

an opportunity to set in defiance of all

the things that the enemy is trying to

do to you and your family. So, our

enemies, they're not gone. The beasts at

even up until this point, the beasts are

still there. They're still actively

attacking the church. And we still have

our flesh. We still have that temptation

to sin. We're under attack. But we get

to set in the presence of Jesus. We get

to set in the presence of our our faith

family. And those same enemies, they

can't touch us when we gather together

and celebrate God.

>> That's why I encourage people to come to

church and worship. This is your your

your shield. This is the thing that gets

you through next week. This is what you

do. You come together. You celebrate.

You worship God and he puts a just this

heavenly force field around you that

that keeps you safe in the presence of

your enemies because as Eugene Peterson

puts it, the Lord presides over the meal

as our host.

The enemy is powerless to harm you when

the good shepherd is there. See, Psalm

23, it's a promise that that our good

shepherd, that Jesus himself will walk

with us and protect us as we journey

through the valley of the shadow of

death. And he will keep his rod and his

staff nearby to protect us. And it says

that goodness and mercy will be handed

out to us in abundance. And then in

Revelation 19, we come to the end of

that journey. And it's a celebration of

all the things that the good shepherd

that Jesus has done on that journey to

get us to the green pastures and the

still waters. So we have this this feast

and then that feast leads into chapter

20 where we start to look at the

millennial reign of Jesus. So I'm going

to read the first three verses there.

Chapter 20.

Then I saw an angel coming down from

heaven holding the key to the abyss and

a great chain in his hand. He seized the

dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the

devil and Satan. He bound him for a

thousand years and he threw him into the

abyss. He closed it. He put a seal on it

so that he would no longer deceive the

nations until the thousand years were

completed. And after that, he must be

released for a short time, but then he's

going to get put to sleep. Now, the red

dragon is bound for 1,000 years. I told

you it's not much of a battle. The angel

shows up. He's got a chain. Throws him

into the abyss. That's it, right? Not

not much of a a fight scene there. But

but how did we how did we get there? How

how did the enemy truly get defeated?

Well, think about it this way. In a

typical church, you will see pictures of

Jesus on the wall, and it'll probably be

one of two pictures. You will either see

sweet little baby Jesus in the manger or

you will see that blonde feather-haired

like Channing Tatum stunt double of

Jesus on the wall with his blue eyes

shining through. Like those are the two

typical pictures you'll see in

somebody's house or at a church. But let

me give you a third picture of Jesus.

This is Jesus on the white horse. This

is King Jesus. Look at this. Revelation

Revelation 19:1

19:1.

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was

a white horse. Its rider is called

faithful and true, and with justice he

judges and makes war. His eyes were like

a fiery flame, and many crowns were on

his head. He had a name written that no

one knows except himself. He wore a robe

that was dipped in blood. By the way,

this is Jesus blood. There hasn't been a

battle yet, okay? This is his own blood

on his robe. And his name is called the

word of God. The armies that were with

him in heaven followed him on white

horses. White horses are victory horses.

These are the horses you ride after the

battle has been fought and you have been

victorious. But not here because Jesus

knows he's getting ready to win. So he's

like, "Guys, go ahead and get the the

white horses out because I know we

haven't fought yet, but guess what?

We're going to win. So, we might as well

already be riding the white horses as we

go into battle. And he's wearing pure

white linen, priest robes instead of

armor. And a sharp sword came out of his

mouth so that he might strike the

nations with it. He will ru rule them

with an iron rod. He will also trample

the wine press of the fierce anger of

God the Almighty. And he has a name

written on his robe and on his thigh,

King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

That's a picture of Jesus. That is King

Jesus.

Now, at this point, King Jesus has given

people all the time in the world to get

saved. He has kept his offer of

salvation on the table for every single

human to accept his grace and his love

and his mercy. But at this point, the

cup of God's wrath has been completely

full. And it is now time for Jesus to

come as a judge.

Grace and mercy have given way to a

sword of judgment. And the battle is

over in an instant. if you keep reading.

And now there there's some division over

this passage. And I I'll be honest with

you, there's there's multiple ways that

good Christian, faithful Christians have

interpreted the millennial reign of

Jesus throughout all of human history.

And I'm just going to tell you, feel

free to land in whatever camp the Holy

Spirit takes you to because there is no

clear consensus as to when the enemy was

actually bound and thrown into the

abyss. So wherever you land, that is

perfectly fine. I go back and forth on

what I think as well. But that said,

everyone in the Christian church, if

they are being faithful to scripture,

they believe this to be true. They

believe that Jesus wins. They believe

that we get to join him in that victory.

They believe that the dragon loses, that

the dragon is bound, and the dragon is

ultimately killed and defeated. And then

we believe that creator God makes all

things new, a new heaven and a new

earth. So that's universally accepted.

Whether or not you believe the

millennial reigns already started or

it's in the future, those things have

already been accepted. And so there is a

very practical and relevant application

of this passage to the way that you live

your life. So let's talk about this

thing called the kingdom power. The

kingdom power. We're going to be looking

at Mark chapter 1 for this. So in the

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Lord's prayer, we are taught to pray,

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on

earth as it is in heaven." And when

Jesus taught us to pray that prayer, he

didn't say that this was some future

hope for us. No, he says in the moments

that you need it the most, you can pray

that God's will will be done on earth

the same way that he it is in heaven. In

other words, you can ask the kingdom

power of God to come to earth to help

you in your witness, to help you in your

ministry, to help you in your life. So

then Jesus shows off this kingdom power.

He he talks about he he performs

miracles. He heals people. He brings

people back from the dead. He casts out

demons. He controls the the storms, the

wind, and the waves. So, in Mark chapter

Mark 1 · chapter mention

1, you have this uh man named John the

Baptist, and he's preparing the way for

Jesus. And so, he's out there, and he's

preaching, and he's talking about how

the kingdom power is coming. And then

when Jesus is born and gets near John,

John starts to preach how the kingdom of

power is at hand. And then they arrest

John and they put him in prison. But

Jesus comes behind him. And Jesus starts

preaching. And Jesus says, "The kingdom

power is here. The kingdom of God has

come to earth. So Jesus has taken his

throne, but he has not yet returned to

take his people home. So we live in this

thing called the the the right now, but

the not yet. So there's going to be a

little bit of tension in our lives. Yes,

Jesus is on his throne. And yes, we have

kingdom power, but it doesn't always

work. Sometimes we fail at what we're

called to do. The disciples had the same

problem. They'd run into demons. They

couldn't cast out. They'd go back to

Jesus. They're like, "Why can't we cast

this one out?" And he's like, "Well,

this one you have to fast and pray this

way." And so, there's going to be

limitations from from time to time in

what we are able to do. But that doesn't

change the fact that the kingdom power

is ours. Our enemy is bound. So, in Mark

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, Jesus is is casting out

demons. And it's not like The Exorcist

movie. There's not this thing where they

have to go back and forth for 20 minutes

and try to figure out how to get the the

demon out of the girl. That's not at all

how the Bible talks about um demon

possession. Like when Jesus rolls up, he

asks the demon what his name is. It

tells him his name and then he cast out

the demon. There's no back and forth.

There's no fight. So in Mark chapter 1,

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Jesus comes up and he he starts to cast

out a demon. And in verse 23,

we read that just then a man with an

unclean spirit was in the synagogue and

he cried out, "What do you have to do

with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you

come to destroy us? I know who you are,

the Holy One of God." See, the demons

know what's up. They know the end of the

story, too. They They're like, "We know

we're going to lose. When Jesus shows

up, it's over. He He's going to destroy

us." They they know exactly what Jesus

is there to do, and they're like, "We

knew this day was coming." is it

actually here? And Jesus is like, "Not

quite yet. Um, but but I'm going to cast

you out, but it's not quite yet till I

go to the cross and then defeat the

grave." And then in Mark chapter 1 and

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 2, the Pharisees get really

disoriented by this teaching of Jesus

because these guys had all the power.

They were controlling their communities.

They were getting rich off of their

religious activities. And Jesus comes

and turns all that stuff upside down.

So, they get really upset with him.

They're not liking what he's teaching.

And so they start a rumor that Jesus is

casting out demons in the power of a

demon. So in Mark chapter 3, Jesus

Mark 3 · chapter mention

speaks these words in verse 23.

So he summoned them and he spoke to the

Pharisees in parables. He says, "How can

Satan drive out Satan?" Like duh. How

can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom

is divided against itself, that kingdom

cannot stand. If a house is divided

against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan opposes himself and is

divided, he cannot stand, but is

finished. But no one can enter a strong

man's house, get this, and plunder his

possessions unless he first ties up the

strong man. Sound familiar? Revelation

Revelation 19:20

19:20. He ties up the strong man, then

then he can plunder the house. So the

disciples themselves would have been

powerless in the face of a great enemy

like the red dragon. But they weren't

powerless because the kingdom power of

God was already there with them in the

form of Jesus. So Jesus is like, I'm not

casting out demons in the power of a

demon because that makes absolutely no

sense. Why would Satan attack himself?

Why would the devil ever let that

happen? He says, "I'm casting out demons

because I have the power to bind the

strong man. And by the way, this guy's

soul belongs to me. So demon, get out of

him because I'm taking back his soul."

Isn't it encouraging to know that your

soul is something that Jesus deems worth

fighting for?

>> Isn't it encouraging to know that Jesus

believes that your soul is such a

treasure that he'd be willing to go to

the cross and die for you so that he

could purchase your soul back from your

enemy?

Amen. It is. See, this next part, it's

going to sound a little bit like I'm a

premillennial, okay? But I'm not. I'm

really undecided. I don't There's a lot

of stuff to go through here, and I'm

just kind of undecided with that. But I

will say this, the last time that you

see the dragon is in Revelation 13. And

remember, everything in Revelation, it's

not on a timeline. It doesn't happen

linearly. These things happen in

different epics and periods. And so in

Revelation 13, we see the red dragon and

he has just failed to devour baby Jesus

on Christmas morning. He has failed in

his mission to destroy Jesus at his

birth. And so he goes to the abyss. He

goes to the shore and he calls up two

beasts to help him in his mission to try

to destroy the church that Jesus was

establishing. And that is the last time

that we see the red dragon. We see the

beasts from time to time. They keep

popping up throughout human history. But

we never see the red dragon again.

But we do

see his influence.

We we do we see the earth beast

controlling culture and governments. We

see the the water beast controlling uh

false prophets and false religions. But

there's really no sign of the dragon

aside from that lasting influence. So,

so perhaps when Jesus rose from the dead

after his death on the cross, perhaps

that's when the millennial reign of

Christ actually started. Perhaps that's

when Jesus took the dragon and threw him

into the abyss. And maybe the dragon has

been running things on this earth like a

mafia boss in prison, giving orders to

his lieutenants from his prison cell.

Who knows? I don't. Okay, I don't. I'm

admitting that. But if we keep the main

thing, the main thing, which is our goal

throughout Revelation, if we keep the

main thing, the main thing, as

Alistister Beg says, then Jesus victory

on the cross gave us the ability to

plunder what used to belong to the

strong man. So I don't know how it all

works, but I do know this. Jesus death

on the cross. Jesus resurrection from

the dead gives us the kingdom power that

we need to plunder what used to belong

to the strong man. And how do I know

that? Because I've read what Jesus has

to say to his church.

>> And he says that we have kingdom power

to take back what used to belong to the

devil. What is some of the stuff we get

to take back? Well, number one, we get

to take back people's souls. Now again,

it's not me that that wins anybody to

Jesus. I just introduce introduce them

to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.

They do all the saving work. It's not

it's not about me. It's or my

presentation. It's simply about my

availability. I tell people about Jesus.

Jesus saved their souls. Now, do you

understand like right now, Christianity

is spreading at an incredible rate. In

fact, Pew Research just said that the

21st century will be less secular than

the 20th century. Why? Because

Christianity is spreading. Kingdom power

is working. Christians are sharing their

faith all over the globe. And people are

becoming followers of Christ. In fact,

there are more disengaged people than

disinterested people now according to

the same research. There's a big

difference there. Disinterested people,

they don't want to hear what you have to

say. disengaged people. They're ready

and willing to listen. They want to know

what Jesus has to say, but no one is

engaging them. That's why we see in all

these other countries, we starting to

see Christianity flourish and spread.

But right here in the Bible belt, it's

getting a little bit rusty. Why? Because

we're not engaging the culture as much

as we used to. So, friends, we have to

engage. We have to go into the the

schools. We have to go to our ball

games. We have to go to our places of

employment, even our own homes, and talk

about the good news of Jesus because

people want to hear. Hey, we get to take

back broken relationships.

We get to take back broken

relationships. Why? Because now we can

seek forgiveness for our own sin. If you

confess your sin, he's faithful and just

to forgive you of your sin and cleanse

you of all unrighteousness. So you can

confess your own sin but you can also go

to your brother and sister in Christ or

you can go to your family member or you

can go to your friend and say look I I

messed up. You can seek their

forgiveness as well. Forgiveness is

available in a vertical way and also a

horizontal way. Why? Because Jesus is

king and he's given us the kingdom power

to reconcile broken relationships. We

get to take those things back. We get to

take back our worship. We get to sing

and preach and pray and celebrate

baptisms because Jesus is worthy.

For before Jesus came to earth, before

he died on the cross and rose from the

dead, the the people of God were

constantly being attacked and they they

were worried. They were wondering. Now

they they worshiped but their worship

would wayne because their enemies would

seem overwhelming and they would turn

from Jesus or they would turn from God.

And so it was a much difficult much more

difficult way of life back then than it

is for us today on this side of the

cross. Because on this side of the cross

we get to look at Jesus victory and we

get to say he wins in the end. So

therefore he is worthy of my praise.

We get to take back justice and other

things that matter to God.

We get to fight for the thing that our

King of Kings cares about. We are

citizens of the kingdom of God,

empowered by the kingdom of God. And so

whatever matters to Jesus should matter

to us. And now we have the ability to

fight for those things in the way that

we vote, in the way that we act, in the

way that we live as citizens in our

local governments. We get to to fight

for justice and unity and peace. all the

things that Jesus cares about.

And we get to finally take back the

truth. We get to take back the truth.

You don't have to believe what the enemy

says about you anymore. You don't have

to come into an agreement with the

dragon anymore because you know exactly

what Jesus says about you. You know

exactly what he did for you. You know

exactly how he has empowered you. You

know what it's like to be a kingdom and

the the a citizen in the kingdom of God.

And so when the enemy comes and whispers

in your ear that you are less than, that

you are not worthy, that you can't serve

on this in this ministry or whatever,

you don't have to listen to those things

anymore because you now have the ability

to take back the truth. And it's all

been written down for you.

>> Let me give you a little bit of bottom

line here. We could go on and on about

those things that we get to take back

from the strong man. But the bottom line

is this. Jesus says to Peter in Matthew

Matthew 16:18

chapter 16 verse 18.

He says, "I will build my church and the

gates of hell will not prevail against

it." Now, some people read this and they

think that we're trying to break out of

hell, kick the gates down and get to

heaven. That's not the intent of Jesus

teaching here. He says the gates of hell

will not prepare prep prevail against

it. Well, what what that means is that

the devil has placed people behind a

gate

and now because of the kingdom power

that we have, we are able to kick in

those gates. Gates were meant to keep

people out. To keep us out, to keep us

out of the schools, to keep us out of

the neighborhoods, to keep us out of the

townships, to keep us out of the

government, to keep us out of the

cities, to keep us out of your house.

Those gates were designed to hold you

back from all the good things that Jesus

has for you. But as the church of Jesus

Christ, we now have the ability to kick

in those gates and to go into those

contexts with the good news about what

Jesus has done for us. We get to help

people be freed from their sin to allow

them to be to to have those chains

broken so they can have life.

So question, how are you going to use

your kingdom power this week even?

How are you going to use the kingdom

power that Jesus has given you? Because

we know now that the strong man can't

stop us. either he's already bound in

Hades or maybe he'll be bound in the

future. But we know according to Jesus

teaching, the strong man cannot stop us

from doing what Jesus called us to do.

So with that in mind, what gates are you

going to kick down this week?

>> What people are you going to go engage?

How you going to get the gospel into the

places it needs to