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Foreign.
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Welcome to Project 108 podcast. I'm Scott. I'm going to be your host today. Thanks again for joining us. If this is your first time tuning in or one of your first times tuning in, I just want to encourage you, like we always do at the beginning, that you understand that this is an interactive platform that we've created. We want to go to the next level beyond having you just listen to us by having y' all interact with us. You can do that super easy. All you have to do is text through the link that's in the description of the podcast and share anonymously something that's been on your heart. Today, my colleagues and I will do the best that we can to encourage you from a biblical perspective, to give you guidance from the scriptures, maybe even giving you a new angle to practice process some of the things that have been weighing heavy on your mind. Today's episode, we are going to continue with part three of the supernatural content that we've been talking about, maybe understanding a little bit more about the framework of some of the unseen things that take place in the reality of the Bible and around us every day. It's important that we begin to understand that. And then next week we're going to be answering some questions that have come in from listeners about some of the things that are in their heart. So you're going to want to come.
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Back for that as well.
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But for today, what I want to do is continue along with episodes five and seven where we began to just lay the framework about understanding what the Bible says about things that we can't see that have a huge impact on our life. And even God himself falls into this category because by and large, we don't.
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Visually see God today.
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We don't have Jesus walking on earth. And so it's important to understand what.
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We do as human beings to have a relationship with God.
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So seriously, this unseen backdrop to the.
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Stories of the Bible.
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I've had formal theological training, and I remember at most, like one small class on this whole subject matter that was reduced, like the majority of this discussion.
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To something called angelology.
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And even in my ordination council where I defended my doctrinal positions before six guys for about six hours long who had been ordained in this stuff themselves. This subject was barely touched on. And that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about today, because, like, if I had known some of these things 30 years ago, it would have made my Bible reading come alive in many ways.
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And even beyond that, I would have appreciated at even Deeper levels, the beauty.
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Of Jesus and what he did.
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So, yeah, with that in mind, I.
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Just like to share some things with you today that I hope are going.
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To provide an excitement to you for.
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Digging into the Scriptures, but also that will help you become even more affectionate.
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For and devoted to Jesus. In our last episode, if you haven't.
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Listened to it yet, I encourage you to do so. We began to talk about the fact that this one true God, this all powerful God of the universe, the only.
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Creator, created a complex order of beings.
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That are largely unseen in the world today. And they are very active in the.
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Affairs of the world.
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These beings are limited in their power and scope and they will never be able to triumph over their Creator on this matter.
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Scripture is very clear.
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The middle of our Bible, the book.
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That we find is called Psalms. And it makes this point.
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In chapter 110, we read these words.
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The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. This reality is confirmed in the second half of our Bibles as well when the authors quote this very verse and they apply it to Jesus. A couple of spots that happens.
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One is in the letter called First.
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Corinthians in chapter 15, it says, but each in his own order. Christ is the first fruits, and then his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet. That's that quote back to Psalm 110, the last enemy to destroy this death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. And then another book called Hebrews, chapter 10. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting for that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Again quote back to Psalm 110. In fact, Psalm 110 and the truth that it conveys is the most quoted Old Testament passage in the second half of the Bible called the New Testament, which just lends tremendous weight to the seriousness of our understanding about what's going on in this supernatural arena. God, by inspiring the many different authors of the Bible throughout the centuries, wants us to know what he's doing and know what's going on behind the scenes. So again, bear this in mind as we discuss a couple of passages that we find in the first half of our Bibles called the Old Testament. Because we're going to begin to open up a discussion about some things that really don't get talked a lot about. They're.
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They're not mentioned in sermons a lot.
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In churches, and it's hard to even find really good commentaries on these things.
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But we're going to dive into some.
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Things and get into this. But again, bear in mind that all of this is important that we understand. So let's go to Genesis 6. Then we'll go to the first book of the Bible. We began to talk about this last time by reminder. The first four verses of chapter six say this when man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any that they chose. Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, and his days will be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The time frame of this account in history is sometime prior to the flood story that many churchy people call Noah in the ark. That story is found in the rest of Genesis chapter six on through Genesis chapter eight. It would seem then that whatever these events are being described here in the first few verses would have been part of the reason why God caused this flood. In fact, chapter six, verse five gives us a little bit more of insight on this. It says, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, interestingly, our New Testament authors in several places are also refer back to this passage when they're talking about what's going on here. For example, Peter writes in one of his letters, for Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit in which he had proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey. When God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And in the second letter, Peter writes, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. And even Jesus himself refers back to this time period, I mean it has such weight in the theology of the Bible. Luke summarizes Jesus's words in his gospel. He says, just as it was in the day of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day of Noah that he entered his ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. So then it's easy for us to conclude with all these references that this rebellion had a catastrophic impact in our world. And when we piece together other biblical clues, we can start to understand the why of these divine beings and what they did and why they came to earth and to corrupt humanity. For example, when we understand. All right, think of along these lines, when we understand God's desire to create humanity as an invitation to be part of his family, to image him. You can refer back to episodes one and seven of the podcast to hear more about that and in a sense, reign with him on earth. We know that Satan, the original rebel, hated this idea and he sought to derail mankind from God's plan. He wanted to be worshiped and he hated the idea that God created humanity in his own image. So much so, in fact, that he was wanted to be able to reciprocate that love back to him in pure, pure worship. I mean, that's why we have free will. His motive was to capture that worship from God. Satan's motive was in his heart. He was jealous. Remember what it said about him in Isaiah? It said, I will ascend to the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most High. So what we read in Genesis 6 then, is another attempt to do that, another attempt to gain that worship that we can freely give to God. The evil supernatural beings that are rebelling against God came to earth. They had sexual relations with women, and those unions produced progeny that the Bible calls Nephilim. It was the enemy's attempt to make man in his own image in that effect, to produce a new type of human that would worship him. And because of that, God pronounced the the flood judgment on them and destroyed them. And there's more. The results of these unions didn't just produce giant offspring, but they also taught mankind new, even more insidious ways to do evil. The Genesis rebellion also brought about apostasy on a new level of human destruction that was not previously realized. This is what 6, 5 is referring to when it said the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Something happened there. Somehow because of that event and that rebellion, humanity became even more rebellious and became even more evil in the things that they did. This rebellious event sets the background for helping us understand other parts of the Bible. For example, there are parts of the Bible where God commands the leader of the Jewish people to conquer other nations in a certain geographical location. I mean, in all honesty, this is a very difficult the Bible to understand. Parts of the explanation, however, lie in the fact that those military campaigns by a guy named Joshua and some of the leaders of Israel are designed by God to eliminate the Nephilim and their descendants which are referred to in the Bible as Anakin. The book of Joshua puts us puts it this way when we're talking about some of these military campaigns. In chapter 11 it says Joshua came at the end of at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah. And from all the hill country of Israel, Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza and Gath and Ashdod did some remain. So again, there is tactical things that are happening in the Old Testament where God is commanding Joshua as he leads his chosen people Israel into a new geographical area that that area needs to be cleansed from the descendants of this Genesis 6 rebellion that were still in the land. Interestingly enough though we read from these verses that the Israelites actually failed to erad all the giants specifically from the city of Gath that was mentioned in Joshua. We know that this was the the home also of the famous giant that many people know as Goliath. In First Samuel, another Old Testament book, it says this about David. There came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits in span. This is the story of when David feats defeats Goliath. It's one of these descendants from this Genesis 6 rebellion. David was the only one who ultimately defeats. Then the remaining ancestral results from the unions of Genesis chapter six. There's more details on this in a book called First Chronicles in the Old Testament in chapter 20. If you want to go there and read more about more about it, you can do that. But here's something cool to consider too. And maybe you've never thought of this. The story of David killing Goliath that we find in 1st Samuel 17 also shows us how Jesus defeats Satan and this rebellion. David as A type of Jesus. We'll do a future episode on what types are he defeats Goliath. And that is described. Goliath is described with armor that is symbolically linked with the serpent in the garden of Ed, his bronze armor. The Hebrew word naoshet is connected with the word for serpent, the Hebrew word nashash. His threats were also a challenge to God, just like Satan's. So what's going on here is like God is assuring us and encouraging us that even the rebellions of Satan that took place in the garden, even the supernatural rebellions that took place in Genesis chapter 6, he will still prevail, he will still rescuer over the impact of those two events. And we can trust in him to do that. That's what's being telegraphed actually in the story of David and Goliath. It's just not a, an application that, yeah, God helps us defeat our largest enemies in life. There's so much more to that story than that. In first Samuel 17, 6, then David says to the men who stood by him, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine? Again, Philistine cities were the one that were inhabited by the descendants of these giants. And take away this reproach from Israel. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? He saw this as a spiritual battle as well. It wasn't just this big guy threatening little guys. He understood the implications of God's name was being shamed, just as Satan wanted to shame the name of God through the Genesis 6 rebellion. Like I said earlier, we understand so much of the Bible in deeper ways when we read through it with the understanding of what the original context means. And that context understood the supernatural component of the Bible. And we can certainly dig deeper into this account. But for today, I just want again for us to do a high level summary to get us thinking along these lines and that a couple of these passages in the Bible will be used to really be foundational for us to understand what's going on today. This leads me to another event in Genesis that impacted the world in which we live. But to help us understand that, I'm going to ask you to come with me first to the fifth book of the Bible that's called Deuteronomy, and join me in chapter 32, specifically verses 8 and 9. Interestingly enough, we read here. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the people according to the numbers of the sons of God, but the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is his allotted heritage. Deuteronomy 32, 8, 9 is describing the events of Genesis chapter 11 that we know as the Tower of Babel. This is the geographical site, the Tower of Babel, that rises to infamy throughout the scriptures. It's the foundational location to the future city of Babylon, which is the headquarters for the enemies of God, the birthplace of several ancient cults and idolatry. Even today, the name Babylon is synonymous with worldly pleasures and rejection of divine authority. They were the nation that God would use, in fact, to capture his own nation of Israel, when they pursued their pagan gods and rejected him. Jeremiah was a prophet that spoke during this time in the Old Testament, right before what we call the Babylonian captivity, before King Nebuchadnezzar comes in and he. He takes Israel captive right before that event happens. Jeremiah says this in his book, in chapter two, he says, how can I say I'm not unclean? I have not gone after the bales. The bales were these lesser deities coming out of Babylon area. Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. So in other words, I'm getting ahead of myself a little here. But what he's doing is he's talking about the fact that God is in the future after the Tower of Babel, going to use a nation that arises there to actually capture his own people because of their own rebellion. But let's go back to Genesis 11 then, to see how this Deuteronomy 32 worldview kind of fits into this. Back in chapter 11 of Genesis, again, we have a divine assembly scene unfolding here. God is interacting with the lesser creative beings who have not rebelled yet, and they're looking down on the scene of the Tower of Babel. This is what it says. God says, come, let us go down there and confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel. Because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. The third rebellion that took place after the original rebellion in Eden and the Watcher rebellion of Genesis chapter six. The third major rebellion of the Tower of Babel resulted in God's surrendering the nations to the authority of lesser created beings that ultimately failed to govern those nations well and brought judgment upon themselves. We read about this in Psalm 82 it says, I said, you are God's sons of the Most High. All of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all of the nations. This surrender of the nations became the basis for much of the ancient idolatry that's recorded in the Bible. It sets the backdrop for the spiritual warfare and war campaigns between Israel and her neighbors. It was the setting for the plagues against Egypt, Egypt, which were actually a direct attack on her deities. And it even helps us understand the importance of the Great commission that was given to us in Matthew 28 of the New Testament, where we find that imperative to go and make disciples of all of the nation. So again, let me just pause and tap the brakes here at this spot. The reason we're talking about all of this subject matter in the podcast today is because it still has day to day application for us here in the 21st century. Our next episode, we're going to explore that even more that we come back to the supernatural content after we do some question and answers. But let me just remind you of what this means for us today. We don't have to live as if we exist in a random, unplanned existence. The story of what God is doing and how he's doing it is found on every page of the Bible. Maybe you've asked yourself before something along the lines of, you know, like, what's the point of life? Or is there deeper meanings to my existence? I just want to assure you that the answer is yes. There's a great plan that flows from the loving heart of your creator. A plan born out of his love for you and he intentionality in creating you. He takes great measures every day to invite you to explore that and to understand more of Him. We face very stressful and complex situations in life today. There are huge demands on our time, our resources, and seemingly endless attacks on our mental health. According to the CDC database, for example, one person dies every 11 minutes from suicides in the United States alone, and countless more survive the attempts. I mean, we need answers, y'. All. The enemy of our souls hates us and seeks our destruction on organized levels. But there's hope. The hope comes from understanding that our rescuer and knowing the victory that he offers. So if you're struggling today and you're at a level where you need somebody to listen to you, please contact me and we'll set it up. Be encouraged. There is a God who loves you and who died for you, and he invites you to discover more about who he is. Again, the whole nature of this podcast isn't just to inform you, but it's to challenge you to apply what the Bible says about what's going on in your lives today. If you never thought about that before and you don't know where to begin to process some of that, please connect with us. I would love to hear from you. You can do that anonymously, and this is going to be a safe place for you to be able to do that. But for today, thank you so much for joining us. God bless and take good care.