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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Rev. Dr. Harold E Kidd
Luke 1: 26 - 38
ANGELS
WATCHING OVER US
"The
Angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The
Lord is with you. Mary was very troubled at his words and wondered what kind of
greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid,
Mary, you have found favor with God."
Luke
1: 28-29
We are called to preach the
whole counsel of God. There are so many themes, and subjects that we often do
not study nor hear taught or preached. The Lord has led me to preach on angels
this morning as an important part of the birth narratives of Jesus. Amen. Some
sermons you just let them preach themselves, I pray this might be one of those
sermons.
There is a spirit world
which we cannot see, but its real, my grandmother us to always tell me that
there is a veil that separates the spirit world from the natural realm, and
some are born closer to the veil. Some have the spirit to discern the presence
of good and evil in our midst. Angels do exist, we may not be able to see them
with the naked eye, but they are there, God's ministering spirits, Angels
watching over us.
There are good angels those
that did not give themselves to the rebellion in Heaven against God's throne ,
and there are bad angels, which Jesus
referred to as demons, or wicked spirits, who along with Lucifer were
cast out of heaven (Isaiah 11). In Luke 10 the disciples come to Jesus saying,
"Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name, and Jesus
responded, "I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven." And now the devil and his armies of wicked
spirits war against the
Some of you might remember a
popular series entitled Touched by An
Angel which aired some years ago. The series sought to give stories of how
angels intervened in the lives of persons as God's messengers. In the series
they took on human form. The word of God tells us, "That many have entertained angels unawares".
A scriptural reference to Abraham (Ge18:1ff), and Gideon (Judges 6:11ff) who
entertained angels without knowing it."
And in this series
Yes, angels are God's
messengers, They have several functions: some have the ministry of praising
God, telling God how good and magnificent He is, they comprise part of that
great Hallelujah Chorus, spoken of in Revelations 5. "
Then I looked and heard the
voice of many angels, numbering in the thousands upon thousands, and ten
thousand times ten thousand, they encircled the throne and the living creatures
and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor, and glory and praise!"
Isaiah tells us that in his vision of Heaven .
He saw the Seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their
face, with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they flew,
around the throne of God, And they were calling says Isaiah, one to another,
"Holy, Holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
And to think
that we get tired after one hour, when there are angels created by God whose
sole purpose is to praise God throughout eternity.
Some have the ministry of
serving believers and protecting the helpless. Amen. In Genesis 16 when Hagar,
seeks to run from her problem of harsh treatment by Sarah, Abraham's wife, it
is an angel of the Lord who comes to her with advice, "What aileth thee Hagar, Go back to your mistress, because the
Lord is with you and is going to increase your descendents."
Angels are God's messengers
of good news. God's ministering spirits.
And to those who carry the
angelic like quality of being a messenger of God, we like to call them angels.
Amen. We give that designation to some of our friends, because like the angels
of the Lord, these persons have the angelic like quality of bringing the
message of God into our lives. Like the angels of the Lord they bring hope,
they bring comfort, they bring good news. Yes, it is possible for one to be an
angel for the Lord in this life, by simply being a persons to brings the
message of good news, comfort and hope to those who are going through difficult
times.
This past Thursday, the
sister of Doris Baker;
How blessed we are this
morning as the people of God, not only are we loved by God the Father, Saved by
God the Son, and indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, but we've got angels watching
over us. Even after the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, angels yet play an
important role in God's plan of salvation history. Amen. We don't pray or
worship the angels, but thank God for them and their ministry among us.
It was an angel of the Lord
whom God dispatched from heaven, who rolled away the stone on the first Easter
Morning. His appearance was like lightening and his clothes as pure as snow.
and he said to some frightened disciples, "He is not here for He is
risen." Angels watching over us, bringing us good news that "He
Lives", when life, hope and dreams seem to have died with no possibility
of resurrection.
God sometime uses angels for
our deliverance out of harms way. Amen.
It was an angel of the Lord in response to the prayers of the church who came
to Peter's rescue in Acts 12, They had killed James, the brother of John one of
the inner three, they were going to kill Peter, he was guarded by four squads
of four soldiers each, Peter was locked in prison, Peter was sleeping between
two guards, bound with two chains, sentries standing guard at the entrance, but
God sent an angel of the Lord for Peter's deliverance, he came to Peter,
touched him on the side, woke him up, and the chains fell from his wrists.
Angels watching over us.
So there are Angels who
carry the ministry of worship and praise, angels who carry the ministry of
protecting the helpless and bringing proclamations of encouragement to the down
hearted; angels who carry the ministry of deliverance, and God also uses angels
as instruments to carry out his judgment, who patrol the earth, and who fight
the forces of evil and wickedness in this earth.
Acts 12 also informs us that
old king Herod, who had done so much dirt, couldn't escape the justice and
judgment of God. Even though it might appear that one is getting away with
crimes against humanity, they must yet give account to God. I once heard an old
preacher say, its an awful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. There
came a day, when Herod was sitting upon his throne all decked out in his royal
robes. He had forgotten all the wrong he'd done, but not God. He failed to
repent while it was day. He got up to speak, as though he were a demi-god, but an angel of the Lord was sent by God who
smote him with worms. It was the justice
and judgment of God upon Herod's life, the worms ate Herod up from the
inside. The
We may take note as well
that there are some angels, mentioned in scripture who are prominent in the
Lord's work of salvation. There is Michael that great archangel mentioned in
(Jude 9). Michael is the general of the Lord's heavenly army. Michael is God's
messenger of Law and Judgment. Since the fall of Lucifer, it is believed based
upon scripture that there is no other angel in heaven equal unto Michael.
Reference is given to Michael in Daniel 10 as a prince of heaven.
Michael also appears in
Revelations 12: 7 - 12, the word of God says, "And there was war in
heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and
his angels fought back. But he (speaking of the devil) was not strong enough,
and they lost there place in heaven."
We are told in 1
Thessalonians 4:16 that at the second coming of Christ, it will be Michael who
accompanies Jesus with a great shout, "For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the dead in
Christ shall rise first."
Gabriel is yet another primary
angel of the Lord mentioned in scripture. When we examine Gabriel in the
scriptures, he is primarily God's messenger of mercy and promise. Amen. He
appears in Daniel 8:16; Luke 1: 11 & 26. Gabriel plays the significant role
of announcing major plans in the unfolding purposes of God. Gabriel announced
the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1: 11 and he announces the birth of
Jesus. Perhaps that’s why church folk lore claims that when the last trumpet
sounds, it will be Gabriel who blows that Horn.
In our text, God sends
Gabriel to announce to Mary, that she will become the mother of our Christ.
"Greetings, you who are highly favored! Mary, the Lord is with you."
She was a young, poor peasant girl, of no stature but God, sent an emissary from
heaven, Gabriel to encourage Mary, that this child was of the Holy Spirit.
"You shall call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sin." Angels watching over us.
Angels watching over us as
God's ministering spirits.
It was an angel who came to
Joseph in a dream to put to rest his fears concerning Mary's pregnancy. It was
an angel who appeared to the shepherds keeping watch over their sheep, who
announced, "I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the
people. Today in the town of
Thank God this morning, for
the ministry of angels watching over us. Angels, helping us fight our battles,
angels, bringing words of greeting and salutations from on High, encouraging us
that "a child will be born, and a son given, and his name shall be called
wonderful, counselor, everlasting father, even the Prince of Peace."
Angels proclaiming, that His name shall be called Immanuel, God is with
us."
I shall never forget in my
first pastorate a member by the name of Herschel Hornes. Mr. Hornes was married
to a loving spouse with four strapping sons. Herschel was a man of deep faith
who had undergone surgery for colon cancer several years before I arrived at
the church.
The cancer came back and
Herschel was diagnosed as terminal. During those final months of his life I had
the experience of accompanying his wife to the hospital to pick up his
prescription and the doctor informing her the dosage of the morphine Herschel
was receiving was strong enough to knock out a horse.
During the final weeks of
his life, one evening while visiting him in the hospital Herschel conveyed to
me that he was beginning to experience an unknown presence in his room. He said
he was not frightened by the presence, but whenever the presence entered his
room, he found total peace and comfort. I recall asking him what he believed
the presence to be and he responded, "an angel of the Lord." Herschel
died shortly there after.
What a testimony to the
reality of God's divine messengers whom God sends to our aid in times of need,
to strengthen, to affirm, to do God's holy will in our behalf. Yes, angels
watching over us!
All night, all day, the angels keep a-watch-n' over
me, my Lord!
All night, all day, the angels keep a-watch-in over
me!