(Wow. It’s taken me over a month to get this tape posted. Sorry about that. The first couple minutes were left off but it starts at a good spot.)
This is the first lesson in the series, The Believer’s Authority.
Why did Jesus come? What was his purpose? Why did God have to send Jesus? What’s the story of Christianity? The story of Christianity is the story of the struggle for the dominion over the world and mankind. On the one had we have Satan whom the Bible calls, "The prince of this world." and "The God of this World." On the other we have Jesus who came preaching about another kingdom and who said about his mission:
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
We can see this war for the kingdom of the world played out in the following passage from the book of Revelation. But before we get there you need to understand a couple of things: First, everything in the Book of Revelation does not take place in the future, somethings had already happened at the time the book was written, somethings were contemporaneous with the book and somethings had yet to happen. Second, the Bible uses the word Heaven in four different ways, heaven the place where God lives, the heaven where the stars are what we call the universe or the galaxy, the heavens above us what we call the atmosphere, and finally as a circumlocution for God.
The following passage briefly depicts the story of the war for the kingdom and speaks of something which had already happened at the time of the writing of the book of revelation, but at the same time depicts the ongoing warfare between Satan and the followers of Christ for the kingdom.
Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
The Story of Christianity. This is the Sunday, April 16th, Easter Sunday service. It last about 35 minutes.
Audio MP3: Large (Good for burning a CD) Small (Good just for listening.)