HopeLives365

Mark Finley: There on that Sunday morning, the sun rose again, the clouds filled the sky again, the flowers bloomed again, the birds sang again. And the father said, "Son, thy father calls thee."

Guest (Male): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: To Hope Again, Part Two. Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: And the stone was rolled away, and the Roman soldiers fell over like dead men, and Christ came out alive, victorious over death. And because Jesus is victorious over death, your son, your daughter can be resurrected again. That husband, that wife that you buried on that grassy hillside can be resurrected again, and they can see Christ again. Jesus was victorious over Satan in his life. He was victorious over Satan in his death. Jesus beat back the forces of hell, and all the demons in the world must surrender to the living Christ.

Not long ago, we were holding an evangelistic meeting in Mwanza, Tanzania. It was satellited to 4,500 different places. 35,000 people were out to the stadium on that first Sabbath. Now, in that part of the world, there's a lot of witchcraft, there's a lot of spiritualism, and we saw God come down. We established a tent in which we had a thousand people in different shifts praying, and they prayed round the clock in the prayer tent.

The devil cannot have hold upon you unless you yield to his power. There are three levels of demonic activity in the Bible. There is temptation. All of us are faced with temptation. But if you yield to temptation repeatedly, you have demonic oppression. That is not possession. But the more we yield to temptation, the more we give Satan access to our life.

But beyond oppression, there is possession. Possession occurs when a person voluntarily yields to demonic spiritual forces. The devil cannot possess your life without your choice. Because if he could, he would possess all of our lives. So God has granted us the freedom of choice, and no committed Christian has to worry about demonic possession at all.

But there in Africa, in many of these villages, many people have given their allegiance to the witch doctors and spiritualists in those villages. There was a village many hours from Mwanza that had a very powerful witch doctor. And this witch doctor would cast a spell upon people who believed in demon possession and would control their lives.

They control their lives often through amulets or through demonic charms. And one of the most powerful witch doctors in that area cast a spell on these amulets or charms and placed them on a trail outside the village. And she wanted to show her power. And upon that charm, she placed a curse. And the curse was that anybody who stepped on the charm would have severe paralysis in their legs, and they would have severe pain in their legs.

A woman in her late 20s, early 30s, was walking down the trail and she was part of that village and had surrendered her mind to the evil spirits, and she put her feet on the demonic charms and immediately felt pain shooting up her legs. She had paralysis in the legs and terrible, terrible pain. They brought her to witch doctors in other villages to get the spell off her. They did incantations and charms through the night, and that spell rested upon her.

They brought her to Christian pastors. There was no deliverance. She met a group of Seventh-day Adventists who began to study the Bible with her. And these Adventists focused her attention upon Jesus. They read her the Bible promise, "Greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world." They talked to her about the fact that on the cross of Calvary, according to Colossians 2, Christ triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell.

She struggled with this pain. She struggled with this leg paralysis. And they said, "We have heard Pastor Finley preaching in Mwanza in the stadium. We are going to give to you the money for a bus ticket, and you get on the bus and you go to Mwanza. And they've got people that believe in prayer. They're on their knees praying. And Pastor Finley's talking about the triumph of Christ. He's focusing not on the power of evil, but on the power of good. He's focusing on the greatness of God. He's focusing on this almighty Jesus who cast Satan out of heaven, this almighty Jesus that faced all of hell's power in our behalf."

All of hell's strength in our behalf. See, we are tempted, but we're not tempted with all of Satan's power that he put on Jesus. We are tempted, but we're not tempted with all of Satan's temptations. Jesus took the full power of Satan's temptations and he was victorious. He took every one of Satan's temptations and he was victorious.

They brought this woman to us. We brought her to the prayer tent. And our prayer warriors prayed over her, not for two minutes or three, but they prayed over her, and they prayed over her, and they prayed over her. We talked to her about the mighty power of the living Christ. She said, "Pastor, the pain is leaving. Pastor, the pain is gone. Pastor, I can walk again." And we saw by the grace of Christ, this woman delivered.

We saw miracle after miracle after miracle because Jesus Christ is victorious over the powers of hell. Four great episodes in Revelation chapter 12. Revelation 12 is more than a history lesson. It introduces us to the Christ in heaven that cast the devil out and he did not prevail, and he will not prevail in your life.

It introduces us to the Christ who, on this earth, was victorious over the principalities and powers of hell and bore it all for you and me and who went to the cross and was resurrected from the dead. He triumphed over Satan in his death and he triumphed over Satan in his life.

We look now at the third episode. Revelation chapter 12, verse 6, episode number three. The New Testament church goes out in the power of the living Christ. And the gospel goes to the Mediterranean world and according to Paul in Colossians 1:23, it goes to the ends of the earth. Satan brings compromise into the church. We have the long period of Dark Ages, but notice Revelation chapter 12, verse 6.

The woman, who's the woman everybody? The church. Fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. You know that, you've studied it in prophecy, but I want you to see something in the text. That great period of Middle Ages, Dark Ages, 538 to 1798.

But what did God do for the woman? What does the text say? What did God do for the woman? He prepared for her a place. Now, Revelation chapter 12, it gets better than this. Look at Revelation chapter 12, verse 14. "But the woman," verse 14, who's the woman everybody? The church. "Was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time, times and a half a time from the presence of the serpent."

Two expressions that are critical: The church would go through the period of Dark Ages where church and state united. But God would not be caught off guard. He would prepare a place for his church. Not only would he prepare a place, but she would be nourished. In the wilderness of your life, God has prepared a place for you.

When you're 48 years old and your kids are out of the home and you discover your husband has had an affair and you come to camp meeting alone in the wilderness of your life, the victorious Christ has prepared a place for you. And he's going to hold you close and nourish your heart.

When you buy your retirement home in a spot in Michigan in the warmth of the winter and your husband dies of a heart attack, or when you leave your friends behind in Michigan and you try a warmer climate and you go to a new community and you have no friends and your husband dies of a heart attack, you're in the wilderness of your life because you've never lived without him before. God's prepared a place for you. He nourishes you there. He nurtures you there.

You see, whatever happens in our life, God is not unprepared for it. When the diagnosis is that you have just a few months to live, and this is your wilderness, this is your time of trouble, and you hang on by faith, God's prepared a place for you. God has prepared a place for you.

Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence his life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Come with me to Inner Mongolia. Come with me to a house meeting. Eight or ten gather. They quietly read the word of God together. And their hearts are touched. They know it's against the law. And the leader of that small group knows that if she's discovered, she can be put in prison. But there's a hunger in the soul.

The next week, 15 people come. The next week, 25 people come, and they have to move all of the furniture out of that room. And they sit on the floor, but pretty soon too many people are coming and it draws the attention of the authorities. And the authorities break into the Bible study. And they interrogate this little five-foot-two Chinese woman that's leading it.

And as they interrogate her, they say, "If you meet in your home again, you will go to prison." She says, "I won't meet in my home again." But then she goes to other homes and continues the Bible study. But pretty soon she's arrested. And her sentence in prison for conducting a Bible study is one year. One year in prison.

It's a woman's prison. And she begins to sing in her prison cell the songs of heaven. She begins to sing in her prison cell about Jesus. These are hardened women. They are thieves, they are prostitutes, they are women of the street. But there's a need in their heart. There's a longing in their heart. And in the wilderness of this little five-foot-two woman's life, she sees that God has prepared a place for her in that prison.

She sees that God is nourishing her soul. She begins to share the gospel. And she shares about Christ. She shares about his soon return. And as the weeks and months go by, there are now 60 to 80 prisoners, almost half that prison, are worshipping on Sabbath. And the prison superintendent comes to her.

And he says, "We have made a great mistake in putting you in prison. Before you were in prison, you had to find your own converts. But we have given you a whole prison full. So we have decided to commute your sentence. Six months is up. You can go home."

She looked up at them, and this really happened. I'm not telling a preacher story. Somebody got it, the rest of you your wife will explain it to you. This really has happened. So they say to her, "You can go home now. It's six months." She said, "No, that's against the law to send me home after six months because my sentence is a year and my work here is not yet finished."

There in that prison, in her wilderness, she was nourished. See, Jesus is not caught off guard. In the battle between good and evil in heaven, Christ won and Satan lost. In the battle for Jesus, Jesus triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell. Christ won, Satan lost. And in the Middle Ages, all the forces of hell that tried to destroy Christ's people and Christ's church did not prevail. He prepared a place for them. They were nourished. The word of God grew and flourished.

And Revelation chapter 12 focuses now on end-time. The whole purpose of Revelation chapter 12 is to encourage God's people that Jesus has never lost a battle with Satan yet. There are some Adventists that are so focused on the time of trouble that they're filled with fear and anxiety. I say to you tonight, our focus is not on the mark of the beast, it's on the Lamb of God.

Our focus is not necessarily on end events to the exclusion of the living Christ. Now, I need to clarify this because somebody's going to take one sentence, they're going to splash it on the internet and say, "Pastor Finley doesn't believe we ought to study end events." That is the furthest from the truth. Did I clarify that enough? Was I plain enough?

It's important to know the events that are coming in the history of our world. But you can know all about the events and prove them on some prophetic time chart and not have your heart broken over the living Christ and be lost because intellectualism and a knowledge of the events is not going to get you through. Christ is going to get you through.

So the Bible says, Revelation chapter 12, verse 17, "The dragon," who's the dragon everybody? Satan. "Was enraged," what's enraged mean? Angry. "With whom? With the woman." Who's the woman? The church. Are we going to face a battle at the end? Yes. Is it important to know what's coming? Certainly.

But is it more important to know who is coming? Is it important to know about the beast? Definitely. But is it more important to know the Lamb of God? Most certainly. Is it important to know about a union of church and state? It is. But is it more important to know about the union of my heart with Christ?

Is it important to know about priests and the change of the law? It is. Is it more important to know about Jesus Christ as my high priest who's never lost a battle with Satan? Now notice, and the dragon was angry with the woman. He goes to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

God will still have a group of people who keep his commandments. Revelation 14, verse 12. How do they keep his commandments? Revelation 14:12 says this, "Here is the patience, the endurance of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Notice it doesn't say they have faith in Jesus.

It's important to have faith in Jesus, but it's more important to have the faith of Jesus. What is the faith of Jesus? The faith of Jesus comes when the living Christ enters my life and I have the quality of faith that he had to face Satan with absolute trust in the Father.

The faith of Jesus is the quality of faith that Jesus Christ had as he hung on the cross and with everything around him being dark, trusted the Father. The faith of Jesus is the absolute trust in God and it's knowing Christ so he totally changes your life.

Now notice, God's going to have a group of people who have the faith of Jesus, the quality of that faith, and that faith is so dynamic, it's so powerful that it leads them to keep the commandments of God and it leads them to trust God and obey God completely.

Revelation chapter 17, verse 14. "These will make war with the Lamb." We're entering into the final conflict. "These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those that are with him," those that are what? With him. Those that stand on their own? No.

Those that grit their teeth and say, "I'm going to be obedient if it kills me"? Those that are what? Where are they? With him. What are they? They're called, they are chosen, they are faithful. We are called to know Christ, we are chosen to witness for Christ, and we are to be faithful in the call and the choosing.

The last days of earth's history will usher in the greatest temptations in the history of this world and the greatest time of trouble. But anchored in Christ, trusting him, knowing him as a friend, we will go through and witness to the glory of his name.

I love that old hymn: What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? What a friend we have in who? Jesus.

The history of that song is amazing. Song was written by Joseph M. Scriven. Joseph Scriven was a young man brought up in Ireland and of Irish and then English descent. He was engaged to be married. They had secured the preacher, named the preacher that was marrying them, the date for the marriage was coming.

They had the hall, they sent out the invitations, and the day of his marriage, his wife-to-be decided to take a swim just before the marriage, and she drowned. It so devastated Joseph Scriven that he decided to leave Ireland. He moved to Canada. He there lived in a little country town in Canada.

He was in his early 20s at the time and he said, "I can never love again. The love of my life is gone." Ten years went by. He was now in his early 30s and he met Eliza. He fell in love 10 years after the death of his fiancee in Ireland. They planned to be married. A few weeks before, she developed tuberculosis and died.

He said, "Nothing in this life is worth living for." He took a vow of poverty between him and God, decided that he'd spend his life helping the poor and disadvantaged. He'd go out and cut wood and bring it to the poor. Lived on a pittance. He got a telegram that his mother was dying.

He had no money to go back to Ireland. One day he sat down and he said, "I have to communicate with Mom before her death." He took a blank piece of paper and he said, "Lord, help me write something to Mom." And the words came to his mind, "Mom, what a friend we have in Jesus. Our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer."

Joseph Scriven could hang on because he knew Christ. He knew that his best friend was Jesus. He knew that Christ had vanquished the powers of hell. He knew that one day sin and suffering would be over. He knew the Christ that cast Satan out of heaven, the Christ that was victorious in his life, the Christ that was victorious through the Middle Ages. That Christ was his best friend.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final prayer from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: Do you believe he lives? Do you believe you can face the future because he lives? Let's pray. Father in heaven, one day the resurrected Christ, one day the living Christ will stream down the corridors of the sky. One day the earth will shake. One day lightning will flash. One day Christ will come with ten thousand times ten thousand angels. And because he lives.