Jesus Fellowship: They worshipped the dragon. 12/22/15

Day 355

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Rev.13

Revelation 13

The animal from the sea

13 1-3 Then, as I stood on the sand of the sea-shore, there rose out of the sea before my eyes an animal with seven heads and ten horns. There were diadems upon its horns and blasphemous names upon its heads. The animal which I saw had the appearance of a leopard, though it had the feet of a bear and a mouth like the mouth of a lion. Then the dragon gave it his own power and throne and great authority. One of its heads appeared to have been wounded to death but the mortal wound had healed.

4 The whole earth followed the animal with wonder, and they worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the animal. Then they worshipped the animal, too, saying, “Who is like the animal? Who could make war against it?”

5 It was allowed to speak monstrous blasphemies and to exert its authority for forty-two months.

6-8 So it poured out blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling place and those who live in Heaven. Moreover, it was permitted to make war upon the saints and to conquer them; the authority given to it extended over every tribe and people and language and nation. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it—all those whose names have not been written in the book of life which belongs to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Parenthetical: a word to the reader

9-10 Let the listener hear this: If any man is destined for captivity he will go into captivity. If any man kills with the sword he must himself be killed with the sword. Amid all this stands the endurance and faith of the saints.

The animal from the earth

11-12 Then I saw another animal rising out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb but it spoke in the voice of a dragon. It uses the full authority of the first animal in its presence. It compels the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first animal—the one with the mortal wound which had healed.

13-15 It performs great signs: before men’s eyes it makes fire fall down from heaven to earth. It deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs which it is allowed to perform in the presence of the animal, and it tells them to make a statue in honour of the animal which received the sword-thrust and yet survived. Further, it was allowed to give the breath of life to the statue of the animal so that the statue could speak and condemn to death all those who do not worship its statue.

16-18 Then it compels all, small and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads. The purpose of this is that no one should be able to buy or sell unless he bears the mark of the name of the animal or the number of its name. Understanding is needed here: let every thinking man calculate the number of the animal. It is the number of a man, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

December 20th

"For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Romans 8:15 (ASV)
There are two sister verses in the New Testament that show us the two spirits. In Romans 8:15 we see "a spirit of sonship," and in Galatians 4:6 we see "the Spirit of His Son." To understand these two spirits, we need to carefully consider both verses. Romans 8:15 says, "For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." And Galatians 4:6 says, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father!" When we compare these two verses we have to ask, who is doing the crying? In the Galatians verse the Son is crying, but in the Romans verse we are doing the crying. The reason for the apparent contradiction is simply that the two spirits are mingled into one. From one angle it is the Son crying; from another angle it is our crying. These are not two separate cryings. It is only one crying due to the mingling and oneness of the two spirits. The Son's crying is mingled with our crying, and His crying does not happen apart from our crying.
When we ask how the church becomes the reality of Christ, the answer is the mingled spirit! Christ lives in us and moves through us as we give Him the track of our spirit. For example, our praying is His praying (Rom. 8:26- 27, 34), our preaching is His preaching (2 Cor. 5:20), our witnessing is His witnessing (Matt. 10:19- 20), our love is His love (1 John 4:12), our experiences are His experiences (2 Cor. 4:10- 11). Christ is all and in all! This is the church. It is Christ

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Georgie, Linnette, Wes, and Zoe.