Sunday we began our first message in the “It’s a Wonderful Life” series with the question, “Do Angels Have Wings”. Below are my notes followed by a personal application:

1. Ministry of Angels Towards God

A)Worship Him (Rev 4:6-8)

B)Serving Him (Psalm 103:20)

C) Ruling

-Over evil men

-Over Nature (Rev 7:2)

-Over powers of darkness (Eph 4:12)

2. Ministry of Angels Towards Jesus

A)Birth – Predicted (Matt 1:20-21), Announced (Luke 2:8-12)

B) Life – Protected (Matt 2:13) and Provided (Matt 4:11)

C) Resurrection (Matt 28:1-2)

D) Ascension (Acts 1:9-11)

E) Return (Jude 14)

*Note – Notice where they were not? They were not present at His death. (Matt 26:23-24)

3. Ministry of Angels to Believers (Heb 1:14)

A) Watching – (1 Cor 4:9)

B) Guiding – (Acts 8:26)

C) Providing – (Genesis 21:17-19)

D) Protecting – (Daniel 3:24-25) (Daniel 6:21-24) (Acts 5:17-19) (Acts 27:23-25)

E) Carrying us home – (Luke 16:19-21)

Our Response?

1. Recognize that Angels still exist

2. Find comfort in their existence and all they do

3. Never worship or pray to Angels

4. Follow their example to worship and serve God (Rev 22:8-9)

Personal Application:

One of the favorite things my mom used to tell us growing up was that “God still sends his angels”. I often wonder if that is true. I do believe that there are unseen forces at work that battle both for and against us. There is no question in my mind that spiritual warfare is real and true. If you doubt that, think about a time when you were on a spiritual “high”. How long was it before you were under attack? How long did it take for something that is your weakness or your failure to quickly come to mind? For me personally, it is a daily struggle. I’m thankful that I have come to recognize it as such. It’s similar to what the author Frank Peretti described so well in his book “This Present Darkness“.

I also wonder sometimes if we will see a replay of our life when we get to Heaven. Like a DVR version of what COULD have happened vs. what actually DID happen. Those times when Angels fought for us, protected us, guided us and carried us. Several years ago, I was retrieving a voice mail on my cell phone and literally drove through a red light at one of the most dangerous intersections in Columbus, Ohio. It wasn’t until I noticed another car nearly smash into to rear of my car that I realized what I had done. I’m lucky I wasn’t killed. It was at that moment that the words my mom used to say came ringing back to me “God still send his angels”. I wonder if we won’t see many of those clips when we get to Heaven.

Lastly, I am reminded that angels may not always appear as we think they should (halo, wings, white robe). I loved that about the movie “Michael” with John Travolta (see clip below). God still sends his angels. One day we will know and see just how many and how often they protected us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARI7H5_VhYc]

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