REVELATION SERIES // ”Beast-mode”: What is Marking You? (Rev 13:11-18)

Thank you. Well, happy Father's Day. I

wasn't aware we were uh gonna if you're

if you're not triggered by Father's Day,

maybe you're triggered by the fires. Um

I don't know. That was weird. The

chemical fire. I didn't check the news.

Is that what's going on? It's a chemical

fire, right? Yeah. Um so, um first, Holy

Spirit, just bless every single one in

our community. I know this is a major

thing for lungs and breath and

everything else. May uh may this Sabbath

day being supernatural wholeness to

every single one of us. Um and I don't

know what's going on with that and how

widespread it is, but that doesn't sound

good. Chemical fire. So, we do bless

that and bless your work um in Jesus

name. Well, um you guys still showed up

instead of fleeing to Orange County. So,

good job. Good work. We I want to I want

to get in the I have a as usual, it's a

holiday, so I have a weird message. Uh

it's entitled beast mode. I thought that

was uh appropriate, you know, very

masculine uh title. Uh and I'm going to

connect that to the World Cup because I

feel compelled to do that every single

week. Uh but before I before I do that,

we are heading to France um tonight

because uh we like to torment ourselves

and do as much as possible um on a

Sunday and then redeye and to get there

as soon as possible. But we are also

having a heat wave in France and this is

why we go in June so that there's no

heat waves. But sometimes it just

doesn't matter. you know, the enemy

tries to come in because he knows this

team is bringing the fire of God. Uh so

in all seriousness, um do pray for us.

We have a team of I think 13. Many have

already gone. Otherwise, I'd have them

get up today and just acknowledge them

and bless them, but pray over them in

spirit. And uh we're going to be both

having a retreat, which we always do.

But it's it's kind of we're moving more

and more to kind of like half retreat

and half mission. We have um numerous

days of this trip that's going to be

purely ministering to the local church

there in the city of Khan, not K. Khan,

which is on the north side by the

Normandy beaches. Think D-Day 1944, that

kind of thing. Not film festival, Brad

Pitt and that sort of thing. So,

completely different kinds of France if

uh you wondering. And that also means

that people love Americans and uh that's

a big difference. If you've ever been to

Paris where they do not love Americans,

they do in Normandy. So, another good

reason to join us next year. Uh and and

uh the the couple Gerard and Chrissy who

lead the church um they have been going

through all kinds of crazy this past

year. Uh Chrissy was diagnosed with

cancer. She is now in remission. But how

many of you have been through cancer?

You have to like say um you know in

remission which is good news. And then

like you have to live out the reality of

that and that's like the hardest part.

There's like a there's like a whole

world I'm learning here in middle age of

life. It's like younger days, people

would tell me things and I'd be like,

"Great." And now I'm kind of going like,

"Great.

This is the realities of life." We just

had a amazing time on the phone with

them this week, but they're in this the

reality of now they have to get back to

normal, whatever that's supposed to look

like. When you've just dealt with

cancer, your body's exhausted, you've

gone through chemo, and now all the

needs of the people that have been put

off for however many months are now like

on your shoulders. And so we're just

really going trusting that the timing is

just unbelievably perfect to just

release the words of life and love over

them, their family, them as a couple,

and then and their church that is

growing and making an impact and is

actually becoming a really significant

congregation in a town of France. It's

it's very post-Christian and posturch.

And it's uh it's been just beautiful to

walk with them now for years and years

and years. They've become some of our

closest friends. And on the final

Sunday, we're actually going to have a

bit of a little moment ceremony of

becoming like sister churches. Um, which

is going to be really beautiful. So,

we'll send you picture and video of

that. It'll be beautiful. So, do pray

for us as we as we go and head head

there. Now, for my World Cup jokes, um,

I I got to go to uh, well, beast mode.

If you're unfamiliar, this is kind of a

cultural phrase that um, I like to use

or I've heard it used in many different,

you know, ways, shapes, and sizes. Think

think people like Kobe, LeBron, Jordan

in basketball. Um, in soccer, Ronaldo,

Messi, all of a sudden you might go

like, "Oh, the game was so tight and

then so and so just went beast mode and

took over, right?" Yeah. In baseball, I

don't know because I don't care. But

they

I'm just kidding. I actually went to a

Dodgers game thanks to Brandon Saitito

on um on uh Monday night and uh I got to

see the great uh Shi Otani. And I think

my favorite part about him is that that

man is so good at baseball that his

walkout song is Michael Bubé.

Like you got to be pretty elite athlete

to make that scary.

And I tell you it still was. It was like

I got chills when he walked up. There

was a moment that like he was there was

a home run and then like the pitcher had

to hear that music where the best hitter

in baseball's coming up after you just

gave up a home run. And I was like

Michael Bublé's never sounded so scary

in uh in the history of time. It was

unbelievable. I also just encourage you

ladies or or gents that don't like

sports, baseball's like I talked the

whole game. Like you don't have to you

don't have to watch what you say. You

can just keep talking. It's amazing. So,

I got to know Brandon's neighbor, Kai,

like real well. Like, I know his whole

life story. He he took me into his new

Tesla and sang me karaoke after the game

while we ate burritos from one of those

shady places around the corner from

Dodgers Stadium. It was incredible. Um,

but I say all that. I say all that. Um,

beast mode. Uh, that's just to get your

attention on beast mode. Um, but but

here's the other thing. Um, it doesn't

matter your personality. Uh, I want

every single man, but every single one

of us to understand something of the

scriptures today. Um, we don't have to

be scary or be scared of scripture in

order to have an effect in order to

receive Jesus. You don't have to see him

as scary, though he can be. Uh, to be a

man, you don't have to be scary, though

maybe sometimes you should be. And and

here's the thing about um what what I

want to kind of connect in. I I love the

fact that Otani, this baseball player,

he's he's Japanese. Um, he can he's just

so counterultural to American culture.

Like the way he like just carried his

bat and didn't like fling things and he

actually had a bad game and and and and

as I was watching him I go like he

really is Japanese. He's like so polite.

The Japanese fans at the World Cups are

bringing garbage bags to the games and

cleaning up after the games. Like that's

apparently like a thing. I think they're

showing off a little bit towards

Americans because we're so we're so not

like that. Um but I am going to read you

what one um Japanese visitor to our

nation um said. Um this was a write up

that I found profoundly ministering to

my soul.

USA

and Mexican restaurant. We had not yet

ordered anything and the food was

already arriving.

Chips, salsa, and unrequested

free. I stopped the waiter. We have not

earned these.

That was my favorite line of like

[laughter]

we have not earned these. The waiter.

Uh, they just come with the table, man.

They come with the table. This is him

writing this. The Japanese. They come

with capitalize the table. He wrote this

all up, by the way. The table. In my

land, hospitality is a debt.

Every gift creates an obligation weighed

carefully, returned in the proper season

with interest of feeling. Here the gift

arrives before you have even proven you

can pay for dinner.

This is not an appetizer. This is a

declaration. We trust you.

Eat.

I ate with the gravity the moment

deserved. And then I must report calmly.

The basket emptied and a new one

appeared.

"Did we

refill?" The waiter said, "It's

bottomless."

"Bottomless?

They have wells of salsa.

The supply lines of this nation are

beyond anything my ancestors imagined."

My friend warned me, "Don't fill up on

the chips, dude.

Too late.

I had accepted three baskets.

Honor demanded each one be finished. An

unfinished gift is an un is an insult.

He says an insult.

By the time my actual food arrived. I

was a ruined man.

I was not hungry. I was not comfortable.

I had been defeated by a courtesy.

Generosity that arrives before the

request cannot be repaid. It can only be

survived. Almost done. I know the rule

now. He says, I know the rule. I have

made my peace with the basket.

One basket. Two at the most. Who am I

deceiving? There is no number of baskets

I would refuse. The trust of a nation is

that in the salsa and I intend to honor

all of it.

Yeah, I thought that was [applause]

to this man, to Japan, to our guests, to

our visitors all across this land, we

honor you. Thank you for enjoying our

baskets. Uh,

perspective, though, is funny. I I I'm

going to say it again. I'm falling

refing in love with America and every

other nation that annoyed me. I am

falling in love with everybody all over

again, watching our nation heal through

a stupid, silly game. And if you have

not, I encourage you, I don't encourage

you uh to be on your algorithms often,

but this would be one algorithm I

encourage you to be inclined to receive.

Uh here's here's the thing. Sometimes it

takes outsiders to remind us of of the

things that we've stopped noticing. Um

there was another um Englishman I the

English are getting a little bit

overkill. They're they're now like

realizing you can get a lot of followers

if you start complimenting Americans,

right? So there's this one guy like in

the middle of nowhere suburb like not

impressive that just starts going like

look at this sunset like you guys have

the best and then it stops you know

those memes where like it stops in the

middle and you just have like some guy

going and he goes like really sunsets do

you guys have anything over there and

and so we're they're they're going a

little bit over the top. They're now

like ooing and aawing. Not like a sunset

in Yoseite like like middle America

cookie cutter suburban just like end of

the day summer sunset. I did realize

that it's so cloudy in England that I

don't think they have sunsets very

often. So maybe that was just what he

was dealing with. But the point is you

can get carried away. Let's tie that to

Revelation as I promised to do. Okay.

Thank you. I know some of you are like

about time if you're actually going to

be a man of God. Here's

here's the thing I wanted to connect

this to. um perspective. I'm I'm getting

new perspective from these these

visitors of our country every single

week. It's been amazing during this

World Cup. I encourage you to do the

same. Just fresh life on the things that

you thought were like so so uh

revelation is meant to give us a

completely new perspective on on all of

life on on the kingdom on Jesus on all

these things. But in the midst of it,

you have to kind of decode all these

images. So there's things like dragons,

beasts, thrones, judgments, trumpets,

churches, and today we're going to get

into maybe the most like mindblowingly

weird passage of the entire book and

maybe the entire Bible. It even does the

666 mark of the beast stuff. I know some

of you now all of a sudden you're

interested.

It's going to get a little weird. But

here's the thing I want you to notice

about Revelation. It was never about

giving us a prediction of the future. It

was given to help us ultimately just see

reality clearly,

to pull back the curtain and to help us

see what's actually going on beneath the

surface of everyday life. That's what

Revelation is about. So, here we're

going to close the series of Revelation

today. Uh and then we have an amazing

series that uh that that Tiffany and

Phil are going to do on freedom. It's

going to be beautiful and I encourage

you make it a priority to be here if

you're in town. But here's the questions

that we're going to look at today. The

book of Revelation, it's all about your

allegiance. Who gets your allegiance?

Who do you belong to? Who has the final

say in your life? Who do you trust the

most? And here's where we're here's

where we need to get underneath and not

just look at it on a surface level and

compare and go like, I got that. I'm

fine. Because every single one of us, we

have issues with with with what are you

unwilling to lose? And what we're really

going to look at is whose mark are you

carrying? There is a completely

misunderstood understanding of what the

mark of the beast is. The issue will be

whose mark are you and I actually

carrying. In other words, what's marking

you ultimately? What's the mark of your

life? What's marked you? Everybody is

marked by something. Everybody.

Everybody. And the question is not about

whether you're being formed. It's what's

forming you and I. And the question

about formation isn't about like

carrying a mark. It's about whose mark

are you carrying. So, this isn't about

decoding what the mark of the beast is.

It's all about the mark that you

actually carry with your life. So, just

to summarize where we've been in

Revelation because this is the last one.

The first book, if you're just catching

up, I'll give you No, I've never seen

someone summarize Revelation this fast

because it's so weird. Revelation one,

it's all about Jesus as the risen king.

Then two and three, the churches. You

get all these letters to churches and

it's just telling them remain faithful.

And then chapters four and five, John,

the guy that wrote the whole book had a

vision while imprisoned on an island

called Patmos. He he sees the throne and

the lamb. And then 6 through 12 that

leads up to the chapter we're in today

is a conflict between God's kingdom and

the powers of darkness unfolding. And

then here in chapter 13, you're going to

see Satan rising up

two beasts. There's a counterfeit

trinity,

dragon, a beast from the sea, a beast

from the earth. And ultimately, here are

the counterfeits. A counterfeit father,

false father, counterfeit son,

counterfeit spirit, false father, son,

and holy spirit. False trinity. And the

purpose, there's going to be a first

beast and a second beast. The first

beast

uh is in the previous chapter. We're not

going to get there, but I'm going to

tell you what the whole point of the

second beast is. And the second beast is

what you're going to look at today. And

the second beast is all about getting

you to worship the first beast. Because

ultimately, at the end of the day, if

you start checking out, some of you are

going to lean in because this is like

the most interesting thing and the

weirdest thing and it's you can't wait

to go home and tell your buddies that

are all into Revelation that they've had

it all wrong and you get excited about

that and that's wonderful. Some of you

are going to check out and go, "What's

the bottom line here?" Here's the bottom

line. Everything has to do with worship.

Everything in your life has to do with

worship.

And I'm going to start reading the I'm

going to read this text here. But but

here's here's what goes on in this crazy

text. This is the text where everyone

starts like predicting like what the

mark of the beast is, what 666 means,

and all these things. And and people

have done some super crazy things with

this chapter. I want to give you a few

examples and reminders. And if this is

all new to you, um, you're going to be

able to Google some really exciting.

You've never had such a good Sunday

afternoon of Googling after you get a

little taste of what I'm about to give

you. So, here here's how Christians have

been trying to identify the mark of the

beast for the last 2,000 years. Here's a

free 2,000-year history of the mark of

the beast for you in Christian history.

Are you ready? No one's ready.

I'm going to give it to you anyway. Uh,

let's start with Martin Luther. Martin

Luther, he found the pope and he found

he he somehow he showed us how the pope

represented 666.

And then the Catholics found that Martin

Luther represented 666. It's shocking.

And then we found how Adolf Hitler

represented a 666 number. Like there

were things like the the dates and the

times and their birthdays and all these

different things. Um, believe it or not,

Ronald Reagan got dragged into it at one

point because uh, Ronald Wilson Reagan

had six letters in each name. 666.

Barcodes, mark of the beast. Credit

cards, social security numbers, mark of

the beast. Then, then we looked at

internet, vaccines, microchips.

Apparently, the beast keeps changing

with technology every 10 years. That's

how we keep finding the mark of the

beast. Um, here's here's some more

specifics. Napoleon, he was identified

as 666 by some Christians in the 1800s.

Mussolini, the World War II um Italian

gentleman was identified also as a 666

character. Gorbachev back in Russia,

birthmark on his forehead, mark of the

beast.

I thought that was a little too literal.

Uh, Kissinger, popular 1970s Antichrist

candidate. Saddam Hussein got a turn and

even our uh King Charles when he was

prince was identified by some prophecy

teachers as beast mode in some ways. So

here's the thing. The only thing every

generation has agreed upon with the mark

of the beast is that they're um that

they were the only generation to ever

figure it out. That's the only unifying

characteristic.

But again, I'm going to really simplify

it for you and maybe disappoint you to

be honest. Uh this chapter is not about

can you identify the beast. It's can the

beast identify you?

Scripture always puts it back on you and

I to take responsibility. We like to

take the responsibility off of us and

say like and turn scripture into some

like code or treasure map that we have

discovered and that we have no

responsibility for. And ultimately the

weight of scripture always comes back

not to can you identify the beast but

can it identify you. What it's asking is

for us to identify what is marking our

lives. So, let me read the scripture,

weird you all out, explain it, and then

we do something with it. Is that all

right? Okay. This is verse 11, chapter

13. John says, "This is after the first

beast. Now, he's describing the second

beast. I saw another beast rising out of

the earth. It had two horns like a lamb,

and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises

all the authority of the first beast in

its presence." Remember, all this is

imagery. We're going to explain it in a

moment. And it makes the earth and its

inhabitants worship the first beast. All

about worship. Whose mortal wound was

healed. It performs great signs, even

making fire come down from heaven in

front of people. It can perform

miracles. And by the signs that it is

allowed to work in the presence of the

beast, it deceives those who dwell on

the earth, telling them to make an image

for the beast that was wounded by the

sword and yet lived. So the miracles

carry deception.

And it was allowed to give breath to the

image of the beast, so that the image of

the beast might even speak, and might

cause those who would not worship the

image of the beast to be slain. Verse

16, also it causes all, both small and

great, both rich and poor, both free and

slave, to be marked on the right hand or

the forehead. Dun dun dun, so that no

one can buy or sell unless he has the

mark. It's fair. So we turn that into

technological interpretations.

That is the name of the beast or the

number of its name. Final verse. This

calls for wisdom. Let the one who has

understanding calculate the number of

the beast for it is the number of a man

and his number is 666.

Isn't that a weird ending? It's kind of

like that's a lot. What the flip do we

do with that, pastor?

I'm going to do it fast. So, here's how

to explain this text. What's going on?

Uh the first beast represents Rome,

the great empire of John's day. Rome

demanded loyalty and demanded worship

and ultimately your ultimate allegiance.

And then Caesar became Lord. They used

that phrase Caesar is Lord. And the

whole idea of Jesus is Lord was what

every time someone would say Jesus is

Lord, what they were not saying the

underlying connotation is Caesar's not.

That's why Jesus is Lord is always a

political statement because if Jesus is

Lord the powers of the day can't be.

Christians already had a Lord and that's

where the trouble began. He combines,

John does, all the beasts from Daniel.

This is a book if you want to go read

Daniel, it starts mentioning all these

things. And he combines all the beasts

that are mentioned in the book of

Daniel, a prophetic book into one beast.

Because every kingdom that exalts itself

against God eventually becomes beastly

like a beast. And then another beast

appears, the second beast. And the first

beast uses power. The second one doesn't

use power. It's persuasion.

It looks like a lamb. Notice it's like

it shows you it's the lamb figures, but

then it speaks. And what does it sound

like? Dragon. Looks like a lamb, sounds

like a dragon. It appears good,

harmless, reasonable, meek, spiritual,

but the voice determines its reality and

the true allegiance. Its job is very

simple. Just convince people to worship

the empire.

See, the enemy doesn't care what you

worship as long as it's not Jesus.

And that's really hard because he'll let

you worship good things.

He'll let you worship

the World Cup. He'll let you wor he'll

let you worship your children. He'll let

you worship your spouse. He'll let you

worship all the things like your

moralism. He'll let you worship your

government or your anti-government or

your favorite talking head.

He'll let you worship anything. Good

things. He'll let you worship He'll let

you He'll let you worship anything

as long as as long as it does these

things. Convince the people to worship

power

and then if they can worship the wrong

power, fine. the kingdom of man. Then

comes to Mark and then Mark is less

about technology again than allegiance.

Remember that earlier in the passage,

God is sealing his people. He puts a

seal on them and then the beast will

mark his people. And so the issue is

always ownership. Who owns you? And we

don't like that as Americans because

we're all about freedom.

And so we like to put God as like our

buddy whose partners in our American

freedom.

And we like to think that God sings the

national anthem as loud as we do.

Have you seen Scotland sing their

national anthem?

Better than us.

I want to say ours is the best. I still

think we have the best national anthem,

but they sing it better. They do. Also,

if you think that grown men can't

worship fathers,

you need to know like you you just have

a fixation problem. You just find what

you're fixated on and what you love and

you will sing songs to it.

I I've often heard it's like, well, you

know, men don't engage in church because

they don't like to sing, you know. And

I'm like, bull. Men love to sing.

Love to sing,

especially when they're drunk.

>> [laughter]

>> firsthand info intel

because I'm the I'm the sober one

wishing that they could sing on tune.

And uh no, but the I had a couple

moments this week watching grown men

sing these songs. [snorts] And you know

what's shifting is national anthems are

before the matches of the World Cup. I'm

sorry I have to make this another

analogy and tie this back to Revelation,

but it's going to work. I hope in Jesus

name. The the thing that's shifting is

after the matches.

The people want to sing to the players.

America has never had very good soccer

songs if we're being honest. Like

they've been terrible. They go something

like USA. Like it's like we have never

come up with another song. And I'm the

first one to start chanting USA. But the

reality is we have like no songs and uh

they're weak. You know what we started

singing at the end of the uh US soccer

games? Country Roads by John Denver.

There there were 60,000 Seattle fans

that were singing Country Roads, Take Me

Home, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, Take

Me Home.

It was wild.

It's a great song. It was uniting a

nation. Like, can you get any different

than the folks in Seattle? I think we

all know what's in Seattle. And the

folks in West Virginia, we definitely

know what's in West Virginia

and we're singing songs after a soccer

game. Uh England after their matches,

the players were like crying as they

were singing like Oasis songs. Did

anyone go to Oasis when they were here

at the Rose Bowl over the summer? Yeah.

One.

They were expensive tickets, so I guess.

Okay. Um

they

but uh they were they're singing Oasis

and the the the players are like crying

just because they're there there there's

a moment where they're trying to worship

something and they're trying to be

unified around something. And do you

realize how little we have and how

healing it is to be in an environment of

of of other communal people all towards

a fixed aim that's unifying you towards

something good. Most people get that

almost never. That's why they talk about

the few games or the few concerts they

went to that were like lifechanging.

It's because they don't get what you and

I get to sing to in a community every

single week.

And do you ever miss church a couple

weeks and you just realize like I can

get the word often, but I can't get what

happens during worship.

It's like I need to be in the space with

other people worshiping something bigger

than ourselves.

And these people I'm not bashing like

singing soccer songs. I'm I'm saying

that it's pointing us to something of

the cry of the human spirit and the need

not just for connection but to worship

something that's bigger than ourselves.

And that's what all these nations are

going after in a small way. And so

here's here's what's hard. The issue is

always with worship, but the issue is

always going to be ownership. your

identity, your belonging. And in John's

world, here's here's the thing. Life

always became easier if you just sang

songs to Caesar alone.

If you worship Caesar,

it was a lot harder if you didn't. And

the mark then meant I belong to this

kingdom.

So, it's it's then you get the 666

stuff. And here's what's happening. This

is like reference to Nero. Uh John isn't

merely warning about this guy Nero.

horrible, horrible man. He's warning

about every future Nero, every future

beast, every power, every ideology,

every kingdom that demands what belongs

to God. So, the issue underneath is

worship. It's all about worship. And

whenever the Bible talks about worship,

it's eventually going to lead us to the

subject of idols. And my favorite

definition of an idol, um, it's not

something you bow down to. We'd like to

think of it like that. Um, and though

it's like I'm I'm all for Christians

like walking past a little Buddha and

casting a Christian spell on it. I'm all

for that. If you do that, like great.

Like, but but an idol is this. I'm going

to define I'm going to define an idol uh

through my my favorite my my favorite

New York City pastor Tim Keller says,

"An idol is anything." I think I have a

slide. Anything more important to you

than God,

anything that absorbs your heart and

imagination more than God.

Anything you seek to give you what only

God can give you, that's an idol.

And so Rome wasn't asking Christians to

stop believing in Jesus. It was asking

them to put something above him. That's

what idolatry does. That's what worship

does. And so it it it was that that's

how the beast always works. You don't

have to figure out if the beast is is

Martin Luther, Ronald Reagan, Oprah, and

now Elon or whatever you think the beast

is. The beast is always the thing that's

saying reject God and just make

something else the ultimate thing. It

doesn't even have to say reject God.

It's just like keep God,

run after the thing, worship the thing,

sing to the thing that has your heart.

So that can be your political tribe. It

can be your success, your career, your

family, your security, your approval,

your money, the human heart at its core.

And here here's here's the thing that

Christians do

that I think is so profound and we often

when we culturalize things we get a

little soft but here's the here's the

mark of of a Christian not doing doom

and gloom but it starts with instead of

saying like everyone just at their core

just has a good heart

and if we're honest a Christian doesn't

do that

to quote color again this is what a

Christian says the Christian says

at at our core

the heart is an idol factory.

We start with reality. We start with the

heaviness of our problem as humanity.

But the gospel starts first not with

that heaviness but with God himself. His

intention for you, his love for you. For

God so loved the world. In the

beginning, God chose us. He created

something and he said it was good. God's

intention is how the story begins. The

reality is in we live with a world and

we live with hearts that are factories

for idols. And the hope of the world is

that that can be redeemed and our hearts

can be transformed.

And it happens when we worship something

that's worth worshiping that transform

us from the inside out.

Every generation has Nero.

beasts, chips, microchips, presidents,

antichrists.

Every generation will manufacture idols,

cultural, social, and and the point is

never Rome. It's never Nero. It's never

666. And how many letters are in your

name?

It's what's marking you, shaping you,

and what kingdom do you belong to?

That's always the issue.

Every age has something that's asking

who and what belong to God and who and

what belong to the world. Now, we're

going to start making this personal.

That's kind of like out there. I feel

like a lot of us can sit there and

receive that and say amen to it, myself

included. Um, final couple things.

Here's where we start applying this. And

here's where I hope you can become as

uncomfortable as I was when I looked

myself in the mirror. It's too late to

leave. So, here, let's go. Here's where

I want to go.

Most of us imagine evil as something

obvious.

Think of your favorite movie. Villains,

monsters, dragons, dictators.

One of the greatest lessons history

shares with us is that the evils that we

are so aware of when we look back in

history, rarely do they spread through

monsters.

that you think, "Oh, his Hitler was such

a monster."

Well, have you studied him as a boy?

Have you studied the Nazis? Have you

have you studied how they really became

what they were? And the scary part is

that they're just ordinary people. Evil

spreads through ordinary people.

There's this woman, Hannah Arent, who

famously called this the she called this

whole thing that I'm talking about right

now called the benality of evil. And the

frightening thing wasn't that the Nazis

were monsters. The frightening thing was

that they were normal. How normal they

were was the frightening thing. They

were teachers and neighbors and fathers

and business owners.

I've shared this story before, but when

I was like late teen, 1920, my my father

and I took a little trip down through

Europe after I finished my year in the

NBA, the Norwegian Basketball

Association.

And uh we we we went through France and

Spain. Then we got to Germany. Actually,

yeah, that might have been another trip.

Either way, the first time I was with my

dad, lost in Germany looking for

directions. We found a farmer. My dad

spoke German. I'm like, who the heck are

you, Hitler?

And

this is where like I joke that I'm

Norwegian because of my father, but the

reality is I'm very American. I can't

speak another language

other than American.

I heard this week that we're so proud of

our country that we're we're talking

about changing our language from English

to just American like the Gulf of

America. Isn't that just so American?

Like to even talk about we're doing so

good. We've won two games in the World

Cup. Let's change the English language

to American.

But what else can we take? Yeah. No,

things are in our favor. Everyone likes

us. Yeah,

I'm off track. This wasn't in my notes.

This is where I get in trouble. I'm just

pausing here to remember what the heck I

was talking about, if I'm being hon.

>> Germany. We're in Germany with dad. So,

so I find out my dad might be a Nazi as

he's talking, he the reality is is those

of you that know multiple languages from

from early on can learn languages very

quickly. So, he just remembered his high

school German. Um, in fact, my

grandfather died fighting Nazis. So, uh,

no, he didn't die, but his brother did.

And anyway, that's a long story. Here's

the thing. Um,

I met these old men, these former Nazis

and childrens of Nazis, wonderful

people. They make delicious wine and

food, live in these storybook homes, and

they raise children and love their kids

and their animals and all these things.

Uh something happens when you go there

and experience the people and realize

like oh I kind of thought I mean I knew

you'd look normal but I thought you'd

feel a little evily you know when you

you know interact with them and and I

remember just as like a young man just

going like

[sighs] I think I even asked my dad like

dad if I grew up here would I have been

a Nazi like that's hard to wrap your

mind around and um here's the reality

like fathers

would you have been a Nazi if you grew

up in Germany? Would I have been a Nazi?

The answer is I wouldn't have been. I

would have been Bonhaofer. But you

definitely

definitely would have been Nazis.

If you don't know Bonhaofer, watch the

movie. He was a guy that gave his life a

pastor. Um I hope that's who I would be.

The point is we don't know. Ordinary

people slowly compromised. And I just

want us as we close this revelation

series and we look at ourselves in the

mirror here on Father's Day, every

single one of us. Where is the

compromise in your life and mine? How am

I, as an ordinary person, compromising?

Historian Timothy Snder writing about

the horrors of Stalin's famine in the

Ukraine, again, World War II, he said

this. He says, you know, the good people

died first.

Those who refused to steal or prostitute

themselves died. Those who gave food to

others died. Those who refused to eat

corpses died. Those who refused to kill

their fellow man died. Parents who

resisted cannibalism died before their

children did. The good people died

first. So if you just sit with that for

a moment, not too long because we want

to aim on a high note because it is a

father's day and supposed to be happy.

Uh so just sit for a moment, but sit for

a moment. The good people died first.

Why? Why the good people die first?

Because faithfulness is costly.

And so often we don't have we don't have

the same costs.

But no one gets away with anything ever

because the compromises of the of our

lives in the comforts that we live in

slowly creep away until we look back on

our lives and realize how compromise

costs us. No one gets away with anything

ever.

It's the ultimate justice and the

ultimate reality of how free will

is this holy thing.

Faithfulness is costly. In moments of

pressure, doing the right thing always

carries a price. And it's exactly what

this chapter and this whole book is

really about. The mark of the beast is

not about a tattoo anywhere on your

body. It's not about a barcode, a chip.

It's about allegiance. What will you

compromise when following Jesus is

really expensive? Really expensive. What

are you going to compromise? What do you

compromise when obedience is actually

going to cost you something?

What will you compromise when everyone

says just go along with it just this

once just do what is practical just do

what's necessary that's how the beast

works one decision at a time now to

close I have a little clip by a guy

named Simon Ponby who's a British

Anglican uh vicor priest bishop

theologian something like that and and I

just want to kind of shift it a little

bit to just him remembering what his

father was like you do have this right

what his father was like and what he

carries with the memory of his father is

simply the pages that his dad was formed

through his ordinary life in the word.

So take a look.

>> People ask me who's the most like Jesus

you've ever met? I say my dad. It's just

a beautiful man, a holy man. He grew up

in the non-Christian home.

And uh when he was about 20, he went to

watch a movie called The Robe, which is

um is sort of tangentially related to

the story of Christ. It's to do with the

the robe that they cast lots for and the

story made up around that. But anyway,

my dad knows that he went in, he wasn't

a Christian, and he came out a

Christian. And somehow

in the story of the ro somehow Jesus was

presented to him and he fell for Jesus.

He was always reading the Bible. And so

uh he'd be up first thing in the

morning. I'd be coming home late from a

party. He'd be up reading the Bible. And

in the evening he um would watch the

9:00 news which we used to have then and

then he go up and read his Bible. Just

an enduring memory is of going to my

bedroom and walking past his and seeing

him on his knees with his Bible open on

the bed. He was a man of the word

because he was a man of the Lord. He

wanted the Lord and he met the Lord in

the Lord's word, the revelation of God

and the record of that revelation here

in his book. And it was a book of

encounter. And I got one of his Bibles.

I asked him for this because it fell

apart. So he went and got another one.

But this was the book I remember him

using when I was growing up in the 70s

and in the 80s. It was once a lot

thinner, but between every page there's

a blank page. And between every page,

it's it's just full of

>> I suppose love letters and love notes

and love tokens between him and the Lord

and just a record of his relationship

with God here in the book. As I have

said, you know, he's the most holy man I

ever met, the best man, the kindest man,

the purest man. I'm so privileged to

have him as my dad. But I know that it's

because of a lifetime lived in the book,

not not in order to get rules, but in

order to establish intimacy with the

Lord, that he's become like over a

lifetime. Just a life lived in this book

has just made him like the Lord.

Oh, that messes me up in all the right

ways. Uh, the team needs to start to

come up because otherwise I'm going to

start rambling. I have one more story to

tell you as we as we close. But I want

you just to sit with that. All these

things about beasts, dragons,

images, numbers.

One thing that I would encourage you as

human beings, let alone fathers and men,

is,

you know, I wrestle. I hope my kids have

seen me do that.

But sometimes I haven't made myself

available. I've done that, you know,

quiet place, secret space, and

like I I go, that's the most valuable

possession that man has. And that's the

greatest accomplishment his father ever

had was the investment in that book. And

I'm jealous, you know, with our

technological things. I've got like

actually amazing years of of notes and

journals. And at one point I made the

decision that my kids were going to I

you know, I would never keep everything

in a Bible. Like that felt too like look

at the thickness of that thing, right?

Imagine him carrying that to church.

It's beautiful, but I'm too lazy.

And I go, Oh, my kids are never going to

have a book like that. I'm actually

right now just deciding whether I'm

going to scrap all my electronics and go

back to a real Bible because I'm like,

can you imagine a better gift than that?

But also, can you just imagine like

every time his dad scrolls through and

flips through in a season of hardness,

it's like these tattered pages become

the testimony of power of where God has

showed up in his life.

Some of you have that and you just need

to remember the history God's made and

the history you've made with him. Some

of you have never had that.

And it can start tomorrow.

Simply just get a Bible. Spend time in

it.

Cry out to the Lord. Write your

thoughts, your questions, your

heartaches,

your disappointments, your victories,

the testimonies when you need them, the

stories that transformed you, where he

met you. Let the pages just receive your

tears.

Let the things you hate receive the

markups.

Just keep the pages there.

It's like I I used to teach Bible

classes and interpreting scripture. And

the number one thing I tell people is

every single page of this book

isn't about the characters in the story.

It's not about Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.

Every page is answering the question,

what is this father like?

What is God the father like? And how

does that the answer [music] to that

question in every page completely change

the trajectory of you and I's life?

Some of us today just need a fresh

start. Start with that book. It's his

voice

and it's true.

I want to close with this story. Another

World War II story.

There is this Dr. Boris Kornfeld.

He became a follower of Jesus while he

was imprisoned in the Soviet goulage.

And as kingdoms do and empires do, it

required his allegiance and his

conformity and his compromise and his

participation and all these things. And

he refused.

He shared Christ because Christ had

transformed him. He got one patient.

He got one chance because after that

chance, remember the good die first and

he was brutally, brutally murdered after

just one patient.

But he got to care for one sick prisoner

and spoke to him about Jesus. The next

day he was murdered.

But there was that one conversation, one

act of faithfulness. That prisoner's

name was Alexander Sultaniten. [music]

If you don't know who that is, he wrote

the Goulage Archipelago in 1973. And

that book has become one of the most

influential books of the 20th century,

influencing millions upon millions of

people.

In the book, it exposed the emptiness of

the Soviet totalitarianism. And then it

illustrated vividly how the Christian

faith sustained prisoners through the

darkest reaches of human evil.

Millions would learn the truth and be

impacted.

And Boris never saw [music] any of it.

Any of it. And the question is,

what's marked your life? He already

settled on his allegiance. He didn't

decide in the gouge to follow Jesus.

He'd already decided the crisis that he

had put in front of him and he stepped

into never dictated what he had already

been formed [music] by. What forms you

will lead you into a crisis and it'll

sustain you.

So, one of them, two men, one of them

followed Christ for decades after and

became one of the most influential in

history. But I just gave you two

examples.

One man that'll be remembered forever in

a book. One man who will never be

remembered except by his son who still

has his book.

Don't aim for the influence. Just aim

for the faithfulness.

What What's marking you today?

And if you want to just join me in this

closing prayer, I know I've gone a

little long. I just want to bless us,

pray for us, and send us out on this

Father's Day. And the question as you

rise to your feet, maybe you close your

eyes, get in a posture just to respond

to the Lord a few minutes as this team

plays, and you can leave when you're

ready, is simply again asking the same

question I've asked several times. Who

has your allegiance?

What's marked you?

One day pressure is going to come in

your life, probably more intense than

it's come thus far. It's not going to be

Rome. It's not going to be a prison

camp, but it's going to be some kind of

pressure.

In that moment, you're going to decide

who you belong to, who you've belonged

to all along. And it's going to reveal

it's going to reveal who you belong to.

Holy Spirit, would you come?

Remind us who's we are.

Remind us what you've done.

Remind us what we're capable of

apart from you.

and then fill us and overwhelm us with

the unbelievable goodness

of your gospel.

That the lamb was slain for us

and that we're invited

to worship you, to follow you, and to

make you Lord, and give you our full

allegiance above any other. Where where

our loves drift, where our passions

drift, where our eyes wander, thank you

that in a moment doesn't dictate who we

[music] are. It's the daily following

you where we keep getting back up,

allowing you to anchor us and sustain us

and [music] guide us. Would you

encourage this body today? Would you

encourage every father? Would you

comfort those that are grieving the loss

of a father or an absent father or not

their father, whatever the details are

in our lives this morning? Would you

take us back to a story that's bigger

than our own? [music] And would you

convict us that we have access to an

eternal kingdom

that allows us to face whatever today

brings [music]

with confidence and without fear of it

being all taken because we serve an

unshakable kingdom.

We love you

Jesus name.

Amen. As we respond in worship, I want

just want to give you three things today

to go out and practice. Number one,

daily surrender. Start with the word.

Begin each morning. My belle, my

allegiance, Lord Jesus, is yours. Start

with a simple prayer of just [music]

reminding yourself that Jesus is your

Lord. Second, take a look at your

worship. Just examine it. Ask, "What am

I trusting? What am I fearing? What am I

pursuing if I'm honest? Where's my heart

drifting? What am I protecting more than

Jesus himself?"

Look at your worship. And then third,

simply practice the act of costly

[music] obedience.

What's one area this week that's going

to cost you something

to just say yes to him again and remind

yourself that he gave everything. So why

are you holding anything back from him?

Holy Spirit, go with us today

in Jesus name. Amen. I'm going to invite

our our team, our prayer team is going

to come up to the left and right. They

would be more than honored to