Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. And on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.
[00:00:37] She gave birth to a male child, one who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Revelation chapter hey, Brian Phillips here. Welcome back to the Gracehops podcast. So there's a character missing from our nativity scenes. I want to bring that to the gracehops culture today. It's the dragon we always have heard of the woman, the child, Mary, Joseph, Herod, the manger, the inn, all these the wise men, the angels, everything going on in this nativity scene. But where's the dragon, man? We've got to add the dragon to our nativity scenes from revelation, chapter twelve. The woman, the child, and the dragon. The dragon comes. He stands before her as she's giving birth to her child so that he may devour it. Satan absolutely wants to destroy the things of God, wants to destroy the people of God and man. After God, he's coming after you. There's a spiritual attack on you every single day. And I want you to be alert, be sober minded and alert. Be ready for the enemy, for he prowls around like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. Jesus taught us that the enemy comes to steal, to kill, to destroy. But Jesus came to give us life.
[00:01:53] And that life isn't just so we can kick back and be comfortable and just rest in the promises of God, that life is the Holy spirit in us, that we can actually take back territory. We are supposed to go into this broken world.
[00:02:05] Sorry, you might see my thumb on the recording. That's hilarious. I don't know.
[00:02:10] Sorry, that got me messed up. But there is funny. It happens to me at all times because I talk with my hands, so Zoom always thinks I'm raising my hand. Or I guess they think I'm giving you thumbs up. I don't know, whatever, it's hilarious. But the enemy is coming to steal, kill and destroy. And we want to be men who are ready. We're going to be men who are on guard.
[00:02:32] We need to be the type of men filled with the spirit of God, to stand against the dragon in the earth, to actually take the power of resurrection. And everywhere our foot goes is where the enemy no longer has turf. We live in a demon infested world that Jesus is redeeming through the power of his salvation and through the power of his people, his sons and his daughters. We're supposed to be partnering the great commission, making disciples, passionate men. After is. I don't know. I don't want to pick on church, but church culture can be really boring, especially for men.
[00:03:05] So, man, I hope you're connecting to grace ops, not against your church. I actually started a church 17 years ago, so I'm a frontliner. I love the church, but the church at large has really messed up a lot of things.
[00:03:17] Men, we need you in the battle. We need you in the battle of prayer. We need you in the battle of intimacy with God. That's the problem with the church today, is we lack intimacy with the father. We lack intimacy, we lack power, we lack authority, we lack voice. We don't lack knowledge. I mean, we know the right things. Most of us know the right things. It's just doing the right things, fall in love with the right things. Think about this dragon. I want you to think about this dragon, right here's Christ, this baby coming into the earth, the incarnation. I mean, this powerful, pivotal moment in all of history is happening. And here's this dragon to kill, and here's this dragon to try to take and slaughter this child. And you got Mary, who, we'll just walk through it here real quick. She's described interestingly, it's Mary, but it's also a representation of Israel. Israel has been longing for God's salvation. And there's this great sign. She's clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and with her head. And that connects back to a dream Joseph had in the twelve stars. It's representing Israel, this one, the twelve tribes of Israel. And she's pregnant. She's crying out in birth pains, agony of giving birth. And then another sign appears. Behold, this dragon shows up and he's there to devour. Now this dragon is red because he's bloodthirsty. He has seven heads, ten horns and diadems. And that just shows you that he has authority in this world. He's strong, he's big.
[00:04:45] That's kind of what it means. It's pretty simple stuff, pretty straightforward. He's a dragon and he has authority. Just like when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. And three times Jesus said, it is written, I rebuke you, Satan. It's written, I will not do these things. It is written. It is written. It is written. And I hope by now that you've engaged into the 212 goal. This is kind of like the very center of our culture here. We're asking every man in Gracehop's culture to take the 212 goal. So go onto our app. As soon as it opens up, click call to action and read what we put there. It's one sentence. It's like, read two chapters of the Bible a day and pray for twelve minutes a day. And yeah, if you want to get as crazy and ridiculous setting a timer for twelve minutes, do it, because it'll change your life. Time with God is where you get power.
[00:05:34] Humility entering into his presence, walking in the knowledge of who he is, experiencing him, and allowing his power to come alive in us. So we're not just giving lip service and talking a good talk, but we're actually walking in the power of God, walking in the things that God calls us to walk in.
[00:05:56] There's a dragon coming after you right now to devour the hope of heaven inside of you, to devour the Christ child who lives within you through the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a dragon. Still wanting to devour your belief in him, still wanting to devour your faithfulness to him, still wanting to put barricades up and keep you addicted to the things of the flesh. There's a war, guys. We live in the midst of a war. This isn't some cute thing where it's like, oh, yeah, I want to give lip service to God. That's the problem with our country, quite frankly. It's the problem with me, right? I know this stuff because I live in this stuff. It's like, I don't want to give God lip service. The reason my life got so radically changed 30 some years ago when I gave my life to Christ was because I tasted his power. I tasted his liberty, I tasted his freedom.
[00:06:45] I didn't understand all of it, but I tasted it.
[00:06:48] And I knew in that moment that the yes I was giving to salvation was a yes that would last 100 years. I'm like, I'm in. I'm in. I don't know what I'm into all the way, but I touched the live wire of the power of his love and the power of his kindness and his forgiveness, and it radically changed my heart.
[00:07:08] And ever since then, 30 years now, I've just been practicing growing, maturing, learning, falling, rising again. All these cycles, right? Victory, defeat, mountaintops and valleys, all this stuff facing the dragon a million times.
[00:07:24] But the dragon doesn't move in my power.
[00:07:26] I have no power to move the dragon. Only Christ does.
[00:07:30] And I love that at his mean about the dragon. His tail sweeps down. A third of the stars of know, a third of the angels came with Satan when he got cast out. Satan got cast out of heaven because of his own pride. He told the father, I'm going to be like you. I want everybody to worship me and not you. And God was like, yeah, I don't think that's going to cut it. So God's holy, Satan's a created being. He's not God.
[00:07:56] So now we're dealing with a demon infested earth, a demon infested world filled with dragons, pain, destruction. Everywhere we look, it's, it's pretty gloomy out there today. In this culture that we live in, yes, we have power. Yes, there's promises of God. Yes. But you got to engage those promises. You got to partner with them. You got to bring them in the earth. You got to be faithful. Even if people hate you, people turn their backs on you. Whatever happens to you, whatever comes your way, you got to stand your ground and be faithful in your assignment and walk in humility. Walk in the power of God.
[00:08:38] That's hard work.
[00:08:43] So the Son is born, it says, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. And verse five says she gave birth to a male child, one who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. I just love that it summarizes so much stuff right there. So he's going to be sovereign and rule of nations. That's the incarnation, is that the coming king is here to save, heal, and deliver, and he's birthing his kingdom in the earth.
[00:09:19] In a more detailed expression, in the incarnation so powerful, Jesus is saving, he is restoring, he is redeeming the world back to the Garden of Eden. Only for those who receive it. Though salvation is a gift, it's just not given. It's a gift. And like any gift at this time of year, you got to anticipate it, you got to unwrap it, and you got to bring it into your life and apply it, put it to work. Right? Enjoy the gift, and that's what we got to do. This gift of salvation isn't just there and automatic. It's got to be applied to your life and to your heart.
[00:10:01] So the son's going to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God. He lived his life, he died, he was raised again, he got caught up to God. And what happens to every good soldier when the war is won? They go home. And that's what it says. He got caught up to God, to his throne. So just know today, men, we want you to take the 212 goal. We want you to make that a standard in your life. Two chapters a day, twelve minutes of prayer. Come on, get engaged. Click call to action in our app sign up, let us know that you're serious so we can contact you and keep you informed and keep you inspired in a greater measure.
[00:10:41] So go conquer some turf today. Go defeat some dragons. Go stand in the righteousness of God and allow his power to shine through you. Don't be one who just knows God through lip service. Do the hard work, learn intimacy with Christ.
[00:10:57] It's so powerful.
[00:11:00] We're here for you. We're praying for know I think about this. How does it apply? How am I doing in the areas of my personal devotion to Christ?
[00:11:11] Because that's where all my problems are is when I lack time with God, I'm my problems increase because I'm the problem. And when I increase my time with God, my problems decrease because I learned how to die to myself.
[00:11:24] How are you doing at loving your family men? How you doing at loving your wives?
[00:11:29] How are you doing at blessing and serving others?
[00:11:32] Hey, we're here for you and let's go defeat some dragons together. And until next time, live upright. Bye.
