Angels Among Us | Pastor Chris Kouba

Oh yes, angels are an angel.

Whether you believe in them or not, the other is having a session, the angels should have been in the angels.

So we did meet an angel, and it was a it was a tricky.

I was eight years old the first time I saw an angel.

I'm gonna tell you about the time I met an angel at the first time I ever encountered an angel was in the bathroom of Second Avenue.

A two-year-old here I believe an angel.

And angels walk the earth in disguise.

They absolutely do.

I have a lot of proof for things I cannot prove.

That in fact the invisible world is visible in so many ways.

Grab your Bibles, open them up with me to Genesis chapter three.

Genesis chapter three, although we're literally going to be all over the place today.

So just giving you a heads up that you will not be there crazy long.

Happy Mother's Day, though, to all of the moms in the room.

If you are a mom, would you stand up and let us have an opportunity to honor you?

Would you please do that right now?

Absolutely.

The true heroes in every way.

I'm so fortunate to have my own mom here in the services here today.

My wife, the mother of my children, is going to be their next service.

You guys are amazing, and it is just incredible to have this opportunity to be able to celebrate you today.

You know, I said before, again, about Mother's Day, one of the top attended days, and Father's Day not so much.

And I don't know what that says, but I do know this.

Moms, you lead the way in every way, all right?

You you do, and we're just so grateful that you've decided to be with us here at United City today.

We're in a sermon series called Invisible, and we are looking at the unseen world.

We're looking at all of the things that are in the background, all of those things that maybe are mysterious, that are intriguing, that perhaps can be fearful, these things that we're not really sure what to do with and really how we respond if someone says that they have been around it or they've seen it, or what does this look like?

And so we're trying to help shed light on what the scripture says about these various topics.

Now we were strategic, and when we picked this series, we knew that we were gonna be doing it right after Easter.

Easter was very late this year, and Mother's Day was just around the corner.

So we knew that Mother's Day was gonna be in the middle of the sermon series.

And so if you think about the idea of the invisible series, a lot of the topics are kind of dark.

They're kind of heavy.

And we were trying to kind of think through what we were gonna do to be able to merge Mother's Day with this invisible series.

And at first glance, Mother's Day and demons just didn't seem like it went together, you know?

Just didn't really fit, right?

Or then we thought about, you know, we don't want to say happy Mother's Day, let's talk about hell.

You know, it just didn't quite transition really well.

So today we're gonna talk about the topic of angels, which I feel like is appropriate because whenever you think about angels, you typically think of angels being very pretty, you think of angels being very helpful, and you think of angels being very protective.

And if there's three words we can use to describe moms, I feel like those three would be good ones, right?

Pretty, helpful, and protective.

And so, therefore, that's why we're gonna tackle this particular topic today.

But again, the whole goal is to bring clarity to those areas that are confusing.

For us to be able to do, like I hope that you will do with any and every topic, whenever you have questions about stuff, particularly things that you don't know, you ask this question: What does God's word say about it?

You just saw in the video a lot of people have a lot of different opinions when it comes to the idea of angels.

Somebody said they saw one at Saxe Fifth Avenue, somebody else said they saw one at Barnes and Noble.

I'm just saying, if you're gonna see an angel, Chick-fil-A was probably the place you're gonna find it, right?

I mean, come on.

But there's all this intrigue.

Let me just be honest, angels sell.

In a marketing standpoint, angels will sell.

Not to mention that angels show up in music, angels show up in art.

What we wanna do though is look at what God's word says about this topic.

And I want to do it by approaching it with three questions who, what, and how?

Who are angels?

What do they do?

And how are angels different than you and I?

This is gonna be a very educational message.

This is not one of those where I'm gonna give you some very easy walk away points about how you can put these three things into your life and you can become an angel.

It's not gonna happen, okay?

Instead, this is one where I'm gonna encourage you to take notes.

Our idea is for you to be able to make sure that you know educationally what the Bible says about this topic.

I am gonna be reading for you today 43 different verses and 20 different passages of scripture.

And many times that's gonna be very, very quick.

So, what I'm gonna ask you to do, get your phone out and take a picture.

Here's all the references I'm gonna be dealing with today, okay?

All of them.

I want to make sure that you see them.

I want to make sure that you have the opportunity to go back and look at them, that you can read them.

This is not all the scriptures that are about angels.

These are just the ones that we're gonna address today in our message series.

But we don't just want you to leave here with the biblical understanding in your head about what angels are.

We instead hope that with all of this series, it ultimately leads you to a place where in your heart it makes you begin to worship the God who created and the God who oversees all of these things.

First of all, let's look and consider the idea of who are angels.

Who are angels?

Angels are mentioned over a hundred times in the Old Testament and over 160 times in the New Testament.

The word in Hebrew and the word in Greek actually means messenger, which means that angels are literally God's messengers.

Genesis chapter 3, verse 24 is the first mention of angels in the Bible.

Genesis 3:24

It says, He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he placed the cherubim.

Cherubim is a plural word for angels.

And it says, and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cherubim is like a group of angels, and it's one of the names given to describe them as they guard and protect the tree of life.

Another name we see in scripture given to angels is Seraphim.

That's found in Isaiah chapter six, verses one through three.

Here's what it says In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the Seraphim.

Here's the description.

Each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

There are a few times when we actually get the name of an angel, like Michael, who is called the archangel, the head angel, Gabriel, who was the angel who delivered the news of the coming Jesus to Mary and to Joseph and to Zachariah the prophet.

But for the most part, we don't get specific information on angels when they appear.

We know according to the scriptures that angels are created spiritual beings, which means this, they haven't always existed, they haven't always been around, but at some point along the way, they were actually created spiritual beings.

Psalm chapter 148, verse 1 through 5 says, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights, praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host, praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars, praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens.

Psalms 148:1–5

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.

We don't know exactly when angels were created, but we do know who it is that created them.

Colossians chapter 1, verse 16.

Colossians 1:16

It says, For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

The reason why this is important is because the temptation is if you were to see an angel, that you would immediately want to worship them.

In fact, we see that multiple times in the scripture.

When an angel appears, people bow down and worship, and the angels have to tell them, oh no, no, no, no, no, don't worship me.

Because anything that is created is not meant to be worshipped.

Instead, anything that is created is meant to point to the creator.

And so ultimately we know as we find and learn more about angels and how intriguing they are and how majestic they are and all the different things that we find, let it cause us not to worship them, but instead to worship the God who made them.

In addition, angels are personal beings.

What this means is that they aren't like ghosts, like a lot of times you might see in movies or television shows.

And I hate to break this to you, but you need to know it's true.

You don't become an angel when you die.

All right?

I just want to make sure to let you know that's not how this works.

But we do know that angels exhibit very personal characteristics, things like intellect.

They're smart.

Feelings, they have they they they they emote, they have emotions as well as volition, they have choice.

Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2 says, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

This means that you may have already, or you may in the future encounter angels, but you won't know it.

That's because angels have a personality.

We see many times in scriptures they actually appear in bodily form.

We see that angels have intelligence, they have curiosity, they're smart, and they're people they're creatures who can think.

Luke chapter 15, verse 10.

Luke 15:10

Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

What that means is that what we do at the end of our services, it's a part of our core value here.

We have an invitation.

We give people the opportunity not just to be inspired, but to respond by taking their next step.

And many people will come forward and they will give their lives to Jesus.

And what we know is that the angels in heaven are watching what we're doing, and when somebody responds to the gospel, a party goes on.

So what we want to do here at United City Church is we want to get in on the party.

We want to be able to celebrate with you and with the angels over what's happening, but they're curious to see are they gonna make a decision today?

Are they gonna respond today?

We see that at the announcement of the birth of Jesus, it was given to the shepherds.

We see the angels showing excitement and praise.

Luke chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.

Luke 2:13

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Can you imagine being there in that moment in that shepherd's field?

I'm leading a group to Israel at the end of or after Christmas next year.

Would love to have you consider going with us, and we will have the opportunity to look out over those shepherd's fields, and you can just visualize and picture that the angels all along in that grand opening there, speaking there to those shepherds, telling them about the fact that a baby was gonna be born who was gonna change the world.

Just a moment ago, I heard the opportunity.

Josh just stopped and he he backed off, and the church was just singing, Who Else is worthy?

Who else is worthy?

There is no one, no one like you, Jesus.

Such a beautiful sound.

Can you imagine what it's gonna sound like with angels joining us doing that?

Like it's just amazing to consider and to think about.

We're gonna look into this more next week, but angels also have volition and will.

While they were made to praise and worship the one who created them, there are some that have chosen to rebel and they've rejected God.

Jude 6 says, And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

It's kind of weird to think about, but there's a battle going on of angelic beings, good angelic beings, and demonic angelic beings all around us without us ever seeing it and without us ever realizing it.

In addition, angels show that they're powerful.

We see in the book of Daniel that Daniel was thrown into the pit of lions to be killed, but it says that angels stepped in and stopped the mouths of the lions.

Luke chapter 24, it describes how Jesus was buried and he was put in a tomb, and they rolled a very heavy stone in front of that tomb in order to secure it.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

But it says an angel came along and moved that tomb like it was nothing.

What does this show us?

They're incredibly powerful beings.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 7 and 8 says, And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.

2 Thessalonians 1:7

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Angels are powerful, they have a lot of uh of influence and ability to do things, but they are not omniscient.

They don't know everything, nor are they omnipresent.

They can't be everywhere.

Matthew chapter 24, verse 36 says, But concerning that day and hour no one knows.

Matthew 24:36

Not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

What this shows is that angels are powerful, but they're limited.

Most of the times when we see pictures of angels, we think of something like this: this picture of kind of the precious moments, guardian angel, baby in the clouds, kind of a feel, kind of a deal, right?

I mean, precious moments made an entire industry of selling little angel figurines, right?

But I decided that I would go to the ultimate source of authority and to be able to find out what angels really look like, chat GPT, and I put it in, and this is what they came up with as to what angels look like.

Now the reality is we don't really know exactly what angels are gonna look like, but it's probably a lot more like this than it is the first picture.

Because the angels are often described as warriors carrying out divine judgment on evil.

Psalm chapter 35, verse 5 and 6.

Psalms 35:5

Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away.

Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

I don't know about you, but if I had a little baby up in the cloud pursuing me, I'm not gonna be that worried about it, okay?

But instead, it gives this idea that there is a fear that it strikes.

Understandably and willingly so, because it is carrying out the mission which God has given them to do.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he rebuked Peter for striking the soldier with the sword, and he responded in Matthew 26, verse 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father?

Matthew 26:53

And he will at once send more than twelve legions of angels.

The word legions in the Greek, we don't know exactly what that number represents, but we do know this, it's a multitude.

We do not know in scripture how many angels exist, but we do know this.

God has at his disposal whenever he desires and whenever he needs it to display a show of power by sending a ton of angels whenever and wherever he wants.

These angels are mysterious, they're intriguing.

We know this.

There's a lot of them.

Second thing I want us to investigate, though, not just who are angels, but really the primary thing you're probably concerned about and what you want to hear the most about, what do angels do?

What do angels do?

One of the most popular and common mention of angels is about one of their roles that we probably like the most.

I want to give you a couple of different roles that angels perform.

First one is angels protect.

They protect.

One of the most comforting ideas is that each of us are given a guardian angel that is assigned to us, and the angel's job is to protect us.

We know that angels do serve the role of protecting according to Psalm chapter 91, verses 9 through 11, because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge.

Psalms 91:9–11

No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come to near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Based on this verse, many have said that it means that we all have a guardian angel.

Matthew chapter 18, verse 10 is another verse that helps us.

Matthew 18:10

It says, See that you do not despise one of these little ones.

For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven.

I hate to tell you this, the reality is this though, we do not know for sure whether you have a specific guardian angel that's assigned to you or that's assigned to your kids or assigned to your family.

But make no mistake about it.

Even if you don't have a personal guardian angel, there are angels all around you protecting you from things that you may not even realize.

You remember that time that you had that accident and the paramedic showed up on the scene, and the police officer that came upon the accident?

He said, How are you still alive?

We don't know if it's coincidence or if an angel intervened.

Remember that time whenever that party got busted up and people got into a whole lot of trouble, and a lot of lives were ruined as a result of the decisions and the choices that they were making at that party, and you know you would have absolutely been in that party, but you just happened to get scheduled for work that night, or you just happened to go and decide that you were sick and didn't want to go, and so therefore you stayed back and you missed out on all of those things that took place?

Is it a coincidence?

Maybe or perhaps it was an angel that interceded and intervened and stopped you from making a choice that could potentially ruin your life.

We don't know, but what we do know is this angels are always working around us to protect us.

Second Kings chapter 6, beginning in verse 15, it tells the story of the prophet Elijah and his servant who were about to get captured by the Syrian army.

2 Kings 6 · chapter mention

It's I love this story.

Listen to what it says.

It says, When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city.

And the servant said, Alas, my master, what shall we do?

He said, Do not be afraid.

For those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Then Elijah prayed and said, Oh Lord, please open his eyes so that he may see.

So the Lord opened his eyes of the young man, and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah.

What an image.

This is God's angels surrounding the man of God in that moment.

We just sang about it.

You fight the battle, you are greater, you outnumber the enemies.

From our limited perspective, we may look at the situation and it feels overwhelming and it feels like there's nothing that we can do.

But according to God's word, there is a legion of angel armies that are all around us just waiting.

And if we were to pray and God was to be gracious, and we'd open up our eyes, we'd put our heads up and our chest out, and we'd walk with confidence, knowing this that He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world.

Folks, what I want you to know is this we don't know how it always happens, we don't always know it.

But we can know that God's ministering spirits call.

Angels are protecting us.

It's like a thing angels do, not only do they protect us, number two, they proclaim.

They proclaim.

Multiple times angels come on the scene to proclaim that Jesus would be born as a baby and that we should be expectant of that arrival.

We see in the book of Revelation that angels will be used by God to declare events that will take place at the end of time.

We know that angels at times were even used to reveal God's word to people.

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1 and 2.

Hebrews 2:1

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution.

I've heard of multiple reports and stories of people, primarily in Muslim country and in Muslim places, who in their dreams have seen images of angels or visions that have led them to have faith in Jesus Christ.

We can't explain it, nor do we fully understand it.

But what we do know is this is that angels give testimony about God.

They speak and confirm and know the word of God.

So let's just ask this question.

What am I supposed to do with the fact that my mom says she's got an angel that she talks to?

Or what am I supposed to do if my child comes up and says that they've seen an angel?

What do we do with the person that says, hey, at 2 57 a.m., I met my angel?

Do we immediately discard them?

Do we immediately dismiss them?

I would tell you, no, I don't think we do that with any of those types of things.

But what we do is we always take the things we don't know and we line them up with the things that we do know, and that's ultimately God's word.

And so therefore, we know a true angel would never speak anything that is contrary or in addition to what God's word says.

Instead, it's a messenger designed to give what God is wanting to say.

So, therefore, in light of that, we've got to ask the question.

Anytime we have a supernatural experience or anything like that, does this line up with scripture?

I am in no way saying it doesn't happen, but I am trying to say this.

We must be cautious and see how it aligns with what God's word already says.

Let me just speak as boldly and as clearly as I can.

This is why we fully and completely reject the appearance of an angel to Joseph Smith in 1823 regarding the location of the golden tablets that later became known as the Book of Mormon.

It is a cult and a deception from the enemy.

And we believe that because we know it is against, it says things contrary to what God's word has already said.

We have neighbors that are all around us who are the nicest people in the world that are Mormon, but please understand this we are not the same.

We instead reject that because ultimately any word that comes from any source outside of God's word is to be completely and utterly rejected.

In addition, we know that the Muslim faith has very big on angels, and it says that angels are there to evaluate your good deeds and your bad deeds, and they will be the ones that determine whether you'll be able to go into paradise.

Ultimately, we know that is a false gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ says that none of us are worthy, none of us deserve to be able to go into heaven with him, but God sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for our sins.

We're going to learn about this more next week, but Satan is the father of lies, and demons carry out his bidding.

Galatians chapter 1, verse 6 through 9.

Galatians 1:6–9

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.

So we know angels proclaim God's truth.

Not additional truth or false truth.

They are messengers from God to give him worship, to give him praise, and to speak his truth.

Finally, angels provide.

They provide.

One of the greatest gifts that we can know about angels is how they watch us, how they help guide us, how they help minister to us.

Hebrews 1 14 says, And are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

How encouraging is that today?

To know that if you're a believer in Jesus, that angels are ministering to you.

During the time of the early church, when Peter was boldly and passionately declaring the gospel it records in Acts 12, verse 7 through 11, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

Acts 12:7–11

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly.

And the chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, Dress yourself and put on your sandals, and he did so.

And he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.

And he went out and followed him.

He did not know what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.

It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.

When Peter came to himself, he said, Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

We don't know when or how this happens, but what we do know is this God provides for his people.

And many times he does that through angels that we don't even know about.

It may be that person that you can't explain, but that person who is just there, encouraging you, helping you, walking with you.

Again, I hate to tell you this, but I think it's so important that you hear it.

We need to be careful that we don't think that person that's helping us is a relative or a family member.

Scripture gives no indication whatsoever that your loved one somehow is watching and ministering to you as though he is your angel.

That's just not true.

But what we do know is this is that God's word says that there are angels specifically given for us that helps and it leads us to receive it, embrace it, and let it cause us to worship.

In closing, I want to show you the how.

How are angels and humans different?

As exciting and intriguing angels are, they have one thing that they're impressed and interested in about us.

1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10 through 12 reads like this concerning this salvation.

1 Peter 1:10–12

The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully.

Inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you.

And the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

Look at this last line.

Things into which angels long to look.

When we study angels, we should value their role in the invisible world and how they carry out God's commands.

But as great and as powerful as they are, they know nothing of what it means to be redeemed, to be brought back, to have Jesus die for them and to call them into a loving, personal relationship.

Today, the greatest thing that you can do is to receive what the angels long to look at, and that is salvation in Jesus Christ.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes along with me?

If you're watching online, would you please do the same?

Let me ask: do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

Super simple, you can if you give your life to Him.

Turning to Jesus.

I believe you rose from the dead, and right now I receive you into my life.

To be my Lord, to be my Savior.

You save me, to change me, to forgive me of all of my sins.

It's in the name of Jesus I pray.

Amen.

Just pray that prayer with me.

It says that there's a party going on.

We want to end on it.

I'm gonna ask you to do in just a moment.

We're gonna have team members that are gonna be at the bottom of these risers here up there in the balcony.

We're gonna have the rest of them that's gonna be on the front.

If you're here today and you just prayed to regive your life to Jesus, would you do us the favor of coming forward and letting us know?

We want to talk with you, we want to answer questions that you have, we want to get some information from you.

We want to celebrate this important decision with you today.

Others of you need to come and to join United City Church.

God is calling you to make this your church home, your place that you identify with, that you don't just attend, that you belong.

You come and what you lead the way today.

By your coming, you're gonna encourage others to do the very same thing.

Others of you need to be baptized like these that we saw today.

What an incredible picture and testimony of the fact that Jesus changes people's lives.

Maybe he's changed yours.

You need to take that next step.

Believers' baptism.

Maybe you have questions about it.

You're interested, but you're not really sure exactly what it means or what it looks like.

Come forward and we'd love to have the opportunity to talk with you about your baptism.

Others of you need prayer today.

Maybe you've got a need.

Maybe you've got some heavy things that you're walking through.

Maybe you've got some pressing things, a decision that you need to make.

Whatever is going on in your heart and in your life, give us the opportunity and the privilege to be able to pray with, to be able to pray for you today.

Father in heaven, I come before you and I pray that you would move in these moments we have left together.

Lead people to make life-changing decisions for you.

We thank you in advance for what you will do in these moments.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espignol at 1 o'clock.