* As believers, we don’t have to worry about getting “a mark” that disqualifies us from eternal life. * Backstory: * Satan sets up a counterfeit kingdom - it’s the opposite of God’s, but similar in form. * Father, Son, Holy Spirit is copied as Satan, Antichrist, False Prophet. * The Son testifies about God, the Spirit testifies about the Son. * Antichrist testifies about Satan, the Prophet testifies about Antichrist. * In Revelation, the Dragon represents Satan; the Beast represents the Antichrist; the second beast represents the False Prophet. * The City of God is contrasted with Babylon, and the Pure Bride (the church) is contrasted with the Harlot. * Babylon is the world system of the beast - it includes the political, cultural, and economic systems of the world that try to control peoples’ minds (every age has a Babylon). * The Harlot is the religious system of Babylon - it’s what props up the Babylon’s evil agenda. * On this foundation, we learn of “the mark of the beast.” * Vs 14:9-10 - this isn’t about accepting new technology - the Jews knew this. * Deuteronomy 6:4-9 gives the foundation for the Israelite religion: * “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” * A Jew knew this physical act was a reminder that God’s Word should control your thoughts (forehead) and your actions (hands). * In Revelation, Christians in the 1st Century would have known what this meant - they knew it was about ALLEGIANCE and OBEDIENCE! * They could decide between Christ or AntiChrist. * ** As believers, you already have the mark of Christ. * Scrolls in ancient times were marked with a seal and bore the image or mark of the one who sent it. * Paul refers to this in 2 Corinthians 1:22: * “Christ has “set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” * And in Ephesians 1:13-14: * “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.” * God marks His people and Satan marks his. * The warning of Revelation is warning Christians not to be seduced by the world’s morals, values, or political and economic philosophies. * Revelation 17:1-5 - the religious system (harlot) had the mark of the beast. * The mark of the beast is pleading your ALLEGIANCE and OBEDIENCE to Satan rather than God. * You already have a mark - the question is, which do you have?
Revelation 14:9-10 (12/23/20)
Whose Mark Do You Have?
December 23, 2020
Jeremiah 45:3-5 (5/8/24)
May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 45:3–5
* Oftentimes, before God entrusts you with a message, He has to make you into the message! * This typically involves a “mess.” * But we can turn a mess into a message if we keep our eyes on God. * Backstory - The long letter Baruch worked so hard on was burned in the fire. * The ministry Baruch was a part of was not going well. * He was frustrated. * Deep down, there was something in Baruch that wanted a little bit of fame and fortune from his services. * Being attached to Jeremiah, a great influencer of his time, was Baruch’s path to becoming something great. * But it was not to be. * God allowed Baruch to work hard on something only to have it destroyed before his very eyes as preparation for what God was going to do with Israel. * God was going to destroy Israel as well, something He had worked hard on, and He chose Jeremiah to be the voice to warn them about it. * Baruch started to complain. * vs 2-5 - “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ 4 But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.” * God had to make Baruch the message before he would deliver the message. * EX: This happened to us back in 2010 - the retaining wall for our building collapsed, costing us over $1million to repair. * In the process of repairing, we felt God call us to speak a message of “rebuilding the wall” of faith in our culture. * God had to make us the message before we would speak it. * And He’ll do the same with you! * What you’re going through is not about you, it’s about what God can do through you to help others.
Lamentations 1:20 (5/8/25)
May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 1:20
* Anxiety has many root causes. * Trauma, ambition, self-consciousness, over-work, etc. * Another cause of anxiety is sin (often unconscious). * Conviction and anxiety often feel the same. * Jeremiah had his bout with anxiety and he found the cause: * vs 20 - “See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.” * The root cause of heartache and despair was rebellion against God. * A great place to start is to ask, “Have I rebelled against God in any way?” * It may not always be the case, but quite often our experience of brokenness is due to our lack of surrender to Him. * Psalms 88:7 - “Your wrath lies heavily on me; and you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.” * The term for “wrath” is ḥēmâ and it’s used a few times to indicate physical heat in body. * Like the heat from a fever. * The term is used to convey the concept of an inner, emotional heat that rises from within. * In various places where ḥēmâ appears it refers to God’s reaction to people who have been unfaithful to Him in some way. * God is aroused to great heat because he, as a jealous God, sees the people He loves disobey him. * According to this verse, the psalmist is feeling divine heat. * In fact, it’s a weight that is almost too much for him to bear. * God is pressing, pressing, pressing—squeezing the life out of him. * Why? * Because He wants us to need Him, to draw close to Him. * Conviction draws us close. * EX: My bout with anxiety. * God revealed some things I needed to get right.
Jeremiah 42:13-17 (5/1/24)
May 1, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 42:13–17
- Craig Groeschel has some great teaching about momentum. - Newtons law of momentum – an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. - Momentum is something we should always have in our lives in business. - If you have momentum, you should keep it unless you do something to kill it. - Four factors that kill momentum: - When things get difficult, we default to doing what’s: - Safe - Easy - Known - Comfortable - This is what many in Israel were faced with after their friends were deported to Babylon. - Nebuchadnezzar let many of them stay in the now Babylonian-controlled Israel. - But there were threats from the surrounding nations, and the people were scared. - Being in the center of danger in the middle of God’s will is the best place to be. - Jesus said “I send you out as sheep among wolves.” - Jeremiah gave them this word: - vs 9-12 - “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.” - If you’ve been following the Lord and delighting in Him, then wherever you are is your Promised Land. - It may not be pleasant but stay there. Don’t leave. - God will show you when it’s time to go. - You'll know it's time for a move when the doors open easily and you don't have to push. - Faithfulness where you are paves the way for you to be faithful where God will take you. - God outlined what would happen if they chose to go to “greener pastures.” - vs 13-17 - “But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.” - God was very clear about what would happen if they didn’t stay put. - But a false prophet arose (in chapter 43) and told the people that Jeremiah had prophesied a lie. - They liked the easier message, so they chose disobedience, and it cost them dearly. - Note - run from the prosperity preachers! - So here’s the question for you - what is your Egypt? - What is your default when things get tough? - You need to define it so you can overcome it. - EX: You know you need to lose 50lbs, so you start eating the right way and you feel momentum. - Then it gets really hard. - What habits do you default to at that point? - Write them down, then define new habits you’ll do whenever you want to default back to those. - If you go back to them, you’ll lose your momentum! - EX: I defaulted to ice cream, so I replaced it with dark chocolate. - EX: Buddy struggled with porn, so he replaced it with holding the Bible. - Don’t default to what’s safe, easy, known, or comfortable or you’ll lose momentum.