TITLE: There is something different about you.

2. TITLE: There is something different about you. • TOPIC: The Nature of Angels • TEXT: Psalm 148 • THEME: Angels are spirit beings uniquely created by God.

4. If you can catch your enemy unaware and by surprise you have a tactical advantage over him

6. What are angels like and why should we care?

7. I. Why should we care what angels are like? • To understand the nature of God’s kingdom.

8. I. Why should we care what angels are like? • To understand the nature of God’s kingdom. • To understand both friend and foe in spiritual warfare.

9. I. Why should we care what angels are like? • To understand the nature of God’s kingdom. • To understand both friend and foe in spiritual warfare. • To correct the many distortions regarding angels.

10. Kenneth Boa “Sense and Nonsense about Angels and Demons” “So much of what has been written regarding angels is nonsense...There are people who report talking to angels for hours on end, yet the “message” these angels brings sounds suspiciously similar to the pop psychology of the day.

11. Kenneth Boa “Sense and Nonsense about Angels and Demons” Books promise their readers contact with angels on a regular basis, bringing power, healing, prosperity, forgiveness, comfort revelation, spiritual transformation, and daily guidance usually associated with horoscopes…Books about demons likewise also contain generous amounts of drivel…at the other end of the spectrum, some people are skeptical about the existence of angels or demons”

12. I. Why should we care what angels are like? • To understand the nature of God’s kingdom. • To understand both friend and foe in spiritual warfare. • To correct the many distortions regarding angels. • Keep the issue in balance.

13. C.S. Lewis “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils (and the angels). One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them”

16. What are angels like and why should we care?

17. II. How can we know what angels are like? • Revelation: Our best source.

18. Matthew 5:18 • “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (KJV).

19. Theologian Lewis Sperry Shafer • The Bible “reflects God’s view of the universe rather than man’s; therefore in the Scriptures the angels, concerning whom of himself could know nothing, are introduced with perfect freedom.”

20. II. How can we know what angels are like? • Revelation: Our best source. • Experience:

21. Billy Graham, “Angels.” On Grandmothers Death “The room seemed filled with a heavenly light. She sat up in bed and almost laughingly said, “I see Jesus. He has his arms outstretched toward me. I see Ben (her husband who had died some years earlier) and I see the angels.” The she slumped over, absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

22. II. How can we know what angels are like? • Revelation: Our best source. • Experience: Third Response:“How can we know what angels are like?

23. “Ask Your Angels.” • “tune into another channel on a higher frequency, the voice of your angel!...once you tune into your angels you may find yourself receiving other channels as well- voices of guides, extraterrestrials and nature spirits.” (Daniel, Wyllie and Ramer, pg. 173).

24. II. How can we know what angels are like? • Revelation: Our best source. • Experience: • Problem- we are not always able to discern between good angels and bad angels.

25. I Kings 13:18 “18 The old prophet answered, ‘I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.)”

26. Galatians 1:8-9 “8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

27. II Corinthians 11:13-15 “13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

28. David Jeremiah, Angels “A stronger belief in angels is no guarantee of greater understanding of God’s truth. The devil can ensnare us as much through “angelism” as he can through materialism or sexual list or power hunger.”

29. Boa and Bowman • “The first approach is to take an uncritical acceptance toward any information on angels that comes our way, • The second easy approach us to have unmeasured skepticism and reject anything about angels.”

30. David Jeremiah “I don’t have a fixation on angels, but I am more convinced than ever that they are far more involved in our world than most people realize. I believe they do intervene here both visibly and invisibly.” Pg. 24

31. C.F. Dickson, Angels Elect and Evil • “Though angelology is not a cardinal doctrine, its acceptance opens the mind to a better understanding of the Bible, God’s plan for the ages, the Christian life and ministry, as well as world conditions and the course of world affairs.” pg. 17.

33. What are angels like and why should we care?

34. III. What are angels like? A. They are created beings.

35. Psalm 148 1 Praise the LORD    Praise the LORD from the heavens;    praise him in the heights above. 2 Praise him, all his angels;    praise him, all his heavenly hosts… 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,    for at his command they were created,

36. Colossians 1:16 “16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

37. Nehemiah 9:6 • “6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.”

38. While the time of their creation is not specified we can deduce from scripture that it was before the creation of the earth and of man.

39. Job 38:4-7 • 4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?    Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!    Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set,    or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together    and all the angelsshouted for joy?

40. They were created as a group and none will be added and they cannot reproduce.

41. Matt 22:28-30 “28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”  29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

42. B. They are asexual spirit beings. They are not sexual beings.

43. A. They are asexual spirit beings. They are not sexual beings. • They can inhabit bodies.

44. A. They are asexual spirit beings. They are not sexual beings. • They can inhabit bodies. • They can manifest themselves in the physical realm.

45. Genesis 18-21 (angels who met Abraham then went into Sodom and Gomorrah

46. Matthew 1:20 • Mt.1:20 (angel appears to Joseph in a dream at Mary’s conception

47. John 20:12 two angels appear to the women at the tomb after Jesus resurrection.

48. Hebrews 13:2 (admonition to care for strangers- could be angels unaware).

49. B. They are asexual spirit beings. They are not sexual beings. • They can inhabit bodies. • They can manifest themselves in the physical realm. • The word spirit in both the Hebrew and Greek can be translated wind or breath. It is often used to contrast spirit from flesh (physical).

50. C. They are Powerful Beings