https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/SevenFactsAboutGodsProvidence.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Ephesians 6:10-20<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. There are questions we have regarding how God works in the world today for which we\nhave no answers\n
A. We cannot see the spiritual realm<\/p>\n
B. We cannot measure the influence the spiritual realm has on our thoughts<\/p>\n
C. God hasn’t told us everything<\/p>\n
1. Job 5:8-15 – God does marvelous but unsearchable things <\/p>\n
2. Job 9:10-12 – Works in ways past finding out<\/p>\n
3. Romans 11:33-36 – We do not know God’s mind<\/p>\n
D. The secret things belong to God – Deuteronomy 29:29<\/p>\n
1. But some things have been revealed<\/p>\n
2. We will consider seven facts God has told us about His providence<\/p>\n
II. Seven Facts<\/p>\n
A. Angels are involved in politics<\/p>\n 1. The battle between good and evil angels in part plays out in rise and fall of\ngovernments\n 2. An angel told Daniel that he was delayed 21 days because of the prince of\nPersian – Daniel 10:12-14\n a. Notice that Daniel’s prayers were affecting what was happening in\nthe spiritual and political realms.\n
b. Prayer works beyond what we might expect – Ephesians 3:20-21<\/p>\n
c. Prayer avails much – James 5:16<\/p>\n 3. God hears the prayer of the righteous and He responds often in ways we\ncannot fathom, yet those answered prayers can make an impact in our\nworld.\n
B. Opposing forces are doing battle<\/p>\n
1. Satan is the prince of the power of the air – Ephesians 2:2<\/p>\n
a. He works or influences the wicked<\/p>\n
b. How is not stated, but that he does is seen all round us<\/p>\n
c. A roaring lion – I Peter 5:8<\/p>\n
d. He has weapons to attack from a distance – Ephesians 6:16<\/p>\n (1) i.e. Satan can attack us more effectively than we can attack\nhim\n
2. The battle in the air – Revelation 16:17-19<\/p>\n a. It is symbolic word pictures, but notice the angel poured his bowl\ninto the air and things started happening on earth.\n
C. We are involved in the battle<\/p>\n 1. We wrestle against evil, including the spiritual – Ephesians 6:10-13We are\nto resist the devil – James 4:7; I Peter 5:8-9\n
2. If we don’t, Satan could establish his throne in our town – Revelation 2:13<\/p>\n
3. Overcome by the word of testimony – Revelation 12:9-11<\/p>\n
4. Don’t give him place by controlling our anger – Ephesians 4:26-27<\/p>\n
D. Evil was given a moment of apparent victory<\/p>\n
1. When Jesus was about to be crucified, it was evil’s hour – Luke 22:53<\/p>\n
2. It was the time the ruler of the world came – John 14:30<\/p>\n 3. I doubt those involved in Jesus’ death understood they were tools in the\nhands of Satan – I Corinthians 2:7-8\n 4. Just as Peter did not see that Satan was trying to sift him as wheat – Luke\n22:31-32\n
E. God turned Satan’s moment into agonizing defeat<\/p>\n
1. Jesus’ death and resurrection caused Satan’s fall – John 12:31-33<\/p>\n
2. The battle depicted – Revelation 12:7-10<\/p>\n
F. People are under Satan’s power until we open their eyes with the Gospel<\/p>\n
1. Paul’s commission – Acts 26:16-18<\/p>\n
a. Paul was protected though neither the Jews or Gentiles realized it<\/p>\n
b. Paul’s tool to open eyes was the Gospel<\/p>\n
2. Satan tries to keep people blind to the truth – II Corinthians 4:3-4<\/p>\n
a. Despite his efforts some will be delivered – Colossians 1:13-14<\/p>\n
b. He cannot keep Christians out – Matthew 16:18<\/p>\n 3. Not only is there a battle going on in the air among spiritual forces, but\nChristians are God’s ground troops.\n a. The more people we share the gospel with, the less Satan’s\ninfluence in the world.\n b. How do we slow down evils like divorce, adultery, fornication,\nabortion, drug abuse, lying, stealing, etc? By teaching the gospel – \nII Corinthians 10:3-5\n
G. There is time to switch allegiance<\/p>\n
1. You are alive this day because God has allowed you time – II Peter 3:9<\/p>\n 2. Who knows if this isn’t the moment for you to make a difference? – Esther\n4:14\n
3. Now is the acceptable time for salvation – II Corinthians 6:2<\/p>\n
4. The winners in the battle are those with Jesus – I Corinthians 15:57-58<\/p>\n
5. Overcome by our faith – I John 5:4-5<\/p>\n
III. Which side will you fight on?<\/p>\n
A. There is no neutrality in this war<\/p>\n
B. Angels are fighting for us. The sure victory belongs to God.<\/p>\n
C. Satan will be defeated. Christians will be delivered. – II Peter 2:4-9<\/p>\n D. How long will you keep listening to the powers of darkness and remain blind to\nthe truth?\n
E. Enter the kingdom this day through baptism – John 3:3-5<\/p>\n
\n
Based on a sermon by Terry Benton<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 6:10-20 I. There are questions we have regarding how God works in the world today for which we have no answers A. We cannot see the spiritual realm B. We cannot measure the influence the spiritual realm has on our thoughts C. God hasn’t told us everything 1. Job 5:8-15 – God does…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[1502,99,187,235],"class_list":["post-63459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-angels","tag-becoming-a-christian","tag-providence","tag-satan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43537,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-providence-of-god-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":0},"title":"The Providence of God (Waters)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Waters The Good Life","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26631,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trusting-in-the-providence-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":1},"title":"Trusting in the Providence of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Alan Feaster","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29612,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-providence-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":2},"title":"The Providence of God (Thornhill)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Thomas Thornhill Anyone who studies the Bible carefully comes face to face with the providence of God. His hand is seen in events that unfold throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. If one really believes the Bible one will also believe in the providence of God. Yet, many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64020,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/esther-gods-providence\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":3},"title":"Esther: God\u2019s Providence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Hamilton","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67295,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-providence-of-god-and-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":4},"title":"The Providence of God and Miracles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 2, April-June 2024 It is a common teaching among the Pentecostals that miracles exist today. We often hear various claims among different churches about certain miracles that were performed. Sadly, even among some members of the churches of Christ, there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49478,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/four-things-god-provides\/","url_meta":{"origin":63459,"position":5},"title":"Four Things God Provides","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}