Aliens – Friend or Foe?

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Many news outlets, YouTube podcasts, and television documentaries have recently increased their coverage and their opinion-focused programming to include information concerning extra-terrestrial beings. As usual, the world is so far behind the times. Moses, and several others have written about these beings and their visitations to earth and interactions with man since the beginning. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, we are told of powerful extra-terrestrial entities who individually and collectively communicate with, assist, oppose, comfort, and/or control people, nations, and space.

Some of these alien creatures are friendly and some aren’t. Some help mankind while others are murderous, inflict injury, spread infirmity, cause division, create conflict, promote lunacy, breed fear, illicit depravity, engender hatred, and manufacture falsehoods. Their desire is to capture and control the minds of men and women, boys and girls, and take over their lives. The Bible is filled with these accounts.

Extra-terrestrial means, “not of the earth.” The beings we are all well aware of are not from earth – not human in origin – or as many call them, alien to our planet. These include angels, both good and evil. This is nothing new and our best source of information was written several thousand years ago and confirmed by 40 different authors in 66 books over a period of 1500 years. As well, these interactions have continued since those writings for the past 2000 years. The disclosure so many are talking about now has been reported openly in the best read, most quoted and top purchased book in the history of the world for thousands of years.

By the way – the ultimate desire of these bad aliens is to trick you into trusting them so that you will believe their lies, let them control you, and then take you back with them to their home where you will live in their world so they can hold you captive and torture you forever and ever. But …

“Let not your heart be troubled! Neither let it be afraid!” (John 14:1). Just read the book for yourself …

What can be done to keep from going to hell and living in a lake of fire being tormented day and night? Let’s see what the book says.

Romans 10 NLT

9  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

11  As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

12 ¶  Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him.

13  For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”

14  But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

15  And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

16  But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “LORD, who has believed our message?”

17  So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

It’s an old message, as old as sin itself. Jesus is the good guy in this story – the devil is the bad guy. 

I believe there are angels among us, good and bad, and always have been. From the serpent in the Garden of Eden to the two men (angels) who visited Abraham and then Lot in Sodom; from Gabriel to Michael, to the heavenly host who appeared in the sky above the shepherd fields of Nazareth announcing the birth of Jesus; from the prince of the air over Persia making war during the time of Daniel to the lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets in 1 Kings 22 … 

Hebrews 13:2  Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels (extra-terrestrial beings) without realizing it!

Abraham did, Lot did, Mary did, Zacharias did, Daniel did, Peter did, Paul did, and so many others were influenced, both for good and for evil, by these creatures. You can find more information about these creatures and the ongoing war at www.ezsermons.com and search for my notes on a Wednesday night, March 25, 2026. The notes don’t cover the UFO’s or UAP’s but I did share in the teaching where these vessels or flying vehicles are clearly identified in the accounts of the Bible (Ezekiel 1&10; 2 Kings 2). They are real but for the Believer, they are nothing to worry about.

Romans 8 NLT

38  I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

39  No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God, the Creator of the universe, has given us a weapon to use against every enemy both in the heavenlies and on the earth. This weapon is the sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:17). It works against every evil power. It is the Word of God and, if you know Jesus, which is activated by speaking God’s Word in the name of Jesus.

Proverbs 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.

Whenever you are in trouble or if you sense trouble coming, do what the Bible (the Master Manual) says and - Call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved (Romans 10:13)!

Do you know Him? Let’s call upon His name together right now?

BLESSED Part 1: Delighting in God’s Word

RECAP

Intro: What it Means to be Blessed

-    God gives us blessings, produces blessings, and promises blessings.

-    We as people tend to focus on material blessings more than God does.

-    God has given us blessings, but how much stuff we have is not the best way for us to measure God’s blessing in our life.

-    The truth is that we ARE blessed— blessed with every spiritual blessing.

-    We have access to the blessing of God.

-    However, we must walk in them in order to experience His blessings the way He intended for us.

INTRODUCTION

One of the greatest inventions in my lifetime is the GPS. It is one of those things that greatly improves our way of life, but is taken for granted now. The truth is that it is an incredible blessing! We can type in almost any address in the country and within seconds, our phone can tell us exactly how to get there.

What GPS does:

-    Tells us when to turn

-    Warns us about upcoming traffic.

-    Reroutes us if there is an accident.

-    Informs us when we are going the wrong way.

That is a blessing!

However, regardless of how amazing GPS is, it is only a blessing if you follow it.

You can have the route pulled up, you can hear the directions, you can even agree with the directions. But if it says, “turn right,” and you keep going straight, you are not going to experience the benefit of GPS. Why? Because the benefit of GPS is found when you follow the instructions given.

Similarly, the same thing is true with the Word of God.

God has given us His Word as a blessing. His Word gives us direction for how to live. It tells us what to do in every situation of life. But it is not enough to simply have the Bible. Nor is it enough to simply hear the Bible. The blessing comes when we allow His Word to direct the way we live. Why? Because the benefit of God’s Word is found when you walk in His ways.

That is exactly what Psalm 1 shows us. Let’s turn to Psalm 1 and read it together of what His Word says.

Psalms 1 contrasts a picture of two different paths, or two different ways of living. There is the way of the world and then the way of the Lord. The one who follows the way of the world brings a curse on his life. The one who follows the way of the Lord brings blessing on his life. The words “blessed is the man” refers to the person who does two things: what they avoid and what they embrace.

The Way of the World (Cursing)

Verse 1 begins by describing the way that blessed people refuse to go. It paints a picture of a man walks in the ways of the world.

V1 — “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…”

The person who is blessed is the one who avoids this path. This is the path of the world. Jesus says wide is the road that walks this road. However, this path leads to destruction. The person who is blessed is the one who refuses this path. He understands that not every voice deserves to be in his life. No one goes down this path without first being influenced. What is influencing you?

There is a progression here in verse 1:

Walks — Worldly Influences

•   Speaks of the direction of someone’s life.

•   They are headed in the direction of the counsel of the wicked.

•   To have counsel of the wicked in your life is evident that the door has been opened to allow the influence of the wicked in their life.

•   When we allow those influences in our life, they begin changing the way we think.

•   Next thing you know, you begin thinking the same way they do.

•   Things the Bible says are wrong suddenly begin to feel they aren’t that bad. 

Stands — Worldly Practices

•   Counsel of the wicked now becomes what we practice.

•   We have now moved from walking over to the way of the wicked out of curiosity to now participating in worldly practices.

•   The counsel of the wicked have now become the way of the sinner.

•   Something that once bothered me now becomes something I practice.

•   Standing reflects a pattern of compromise.

Sits — Worldly Comfort

•   I have gone from wicked counsel, to sinful practices, now to worldly comfort.

•   Not just hearing the wrong thing, not just doing the wrong thing, now you are comfortable with it and you perspective has shifted.

•   Sitting in something is becoming comfortable with a new reality.

•   A scoffer is someone who mocks, ridicules, and rejects the things of God.

•   They refuse to accept correction and make fun of people who try to live right.

The progression here in verse 1 is:

1.     I listened to what was wrong.

2.     Then I started doing what was wrong.

3.     Eventually I stopped thinking it was wrong.

The blessed person refuses to allow the world to become the primary voice shaping their life.

The Way of the Lord (Blessing)

Then the writer continues to verse 2 to show what the blessed person embraces. He says that the blessed person refuses to go the way of the world. Why? Because his delight is in the Word of God.

V2 — “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

The blessed person…

1.     Delights in the Word of God

Delight means to enjoy, desire, and be satisfied with His Word.

There are things that we all delight in. When we delight in something, people don’t have to tell us to do it. We delight in:

•   Checking our phones

•   Watch our favorite tv show

•   Eat our favorite dessert or snack

•        Nobody has to tell us because we create time for the things we enjoy. Now that doesn’t mean that we wake up every morning fired up and ready to read Leviticus. It means you value what God has to say to you and you desire to know it.

•        When we delight in something, we enjoy it. What we enjoy, we naturally give our attention to. What we give our attention to, we want more of.

•        There is a difference between reading God’s Word and delighting God’s Word. It’s not just something that we do. It becomes something that we enjoy and look forward to.

•        Delighting in God’s Word is about valuing its wisdom and its potential in your life.

•        Psalm 119:72 — “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.”

•        This is what it looks like to delight in the Word of God. The writer is saying that “What God has to say to me is incredibly valuable.”

•        The more you value God’s Word, the more you desire it.

2.     Meditates on the Word of God

v2 — “On his law he meditates day and night.”

It is possible to read the Bible and then walk away forgetting what you just read. Ask Jesus or His brother about it, they can tell you all about it. Meditating on God’s Word is what keeps us from doing this very thing.

Meditation of God’s Word is different than meditation in the world. Meditation in the world is emptying our minds. Meditation in a godly sense is filling our minds with God’s truth.

Meditate (Hagah) = Thinking on, dwelling on, mulling over truth.

To meditate means to murmur. It means to speak to oneself about the truth and mull it over. It is what we choose to think about. Meditation is thinking about God’s Word, dwelling on it, speaking it to yourself and so that you will be successful in doing what it says.

Whatever you think about the most, consumes you the most. Whatever consumes you the most, will control your life.

3.     Obeys the Word of God

Luke 11:28 — “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

There is a major difference between knowing what God says and doing what God says. We can read the Bible, hear sermons, memorize scriptures, know all the right answers, and still choose to do the opposite in our life. Knowing what God says is not enough. Even the devil knows what God’s Word says.

Jesus doesn’t say “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God,” but those who “hear and do” what it says. The key that unlocks the blessing of God on our life is obeying His Word. When we walk in God’s ways as He designed it, we will be blessed in all of our doing. This is why obedience is such an important theme in the Bible, because it unlocks the blessing of God on our life.

John 13:17 — “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Revelation 1:3 — “ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

God desires for us to walk in His ways because of the blessing that comes with it.

WHAT IS THE BLESSING

This is the blessing that is promised on our life when we walk in His ways:

V3 — “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

•   Stable — “He is like a tree planted…”

-    The person who is rooted in God's Word has something holding him steady.

-    Life may shake him, but he will not have to be uprooted by everything that happens around him.

•   Sustained — “…by streams of water…”

-    Even as life tries to suck the love, peace, joy, patience, it is unsuccessful.

-    Why? Because his source is not found in what’s around or within himself

-    Instead, you have a continual supply of God’s Spirit that is sustaining you.

•   Fruitful — “…that yields its fruit in its season…”

-    Spiritual fruit is produced in your life

-    Even as you walk through seasons that make no sense, you are growing the fruit necessary for that season.

-    It means that you are always growing.

•   Enduring — “…and its leaf does not wither…”

-    Regardless of the season you are in, you develop roots that remain strong as you are sustained by the flow of steady streams of living water.

-    Even when the circumstances around it are troubling, its leaf does not wither because it is planted by streams of water.

-    No matter what you are walking through, you will make it through because God is with you. You are rooted and built up in Him.

•   Prosperous — “In all that he does, he prospers.”

-    Prosper = Succeed going the direction that God called you to go.

-    You succeed in walking in God’s ways and walking in His wisdom.

-    The blessing is you succeed in following God’s path.

-    That is the closest thing to heaven that you and I will experience here on earth.

-    One day when we are in heaven, there will be no more sin, no more deception, no more hurt and pain, no more temptation. We will be made new. We will perfectly walk in the plan God intended for us.

-    Until that day, living out God’s Word is the closest thing to experiencing heaven on this side of it.

TAKEAWAYS:

I.      Refuse to listen to the voice of the world

II.    Value the Word of God

III.   Fill your mind with His truth

IV.  Do what it says

When we do this, we unlock the blessing of God that He intended for our life. We will be walking in His ways; the closest thing to heaven on this side of earth.

The Set Time

Gtcotr/ss080926

Psalms 102:13  You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come.

God has a clock and a calendar without which, everything in your world would descend into chaos. The Universe runs on a strict schedule from orbits to decelerations in the rotational speeds of the earth and the moon.

For example, the earth spins at about 1000 mph at the equator so that it rotates the approximate 24,901 miles circumference in about 24 hours. The moon, on the other hand, is only about 6800 miles in circumference and spins at about 10 mph making one revolution every 27.3 earth days. These are predictably connected so that we never see the back side of the moon.

The Divine plan is consistent and trustworthy and since God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), and since He is committed to telling us things before they come to pass (Isaiah 42:9), we can wholeheartedly trust both His Word and His Spirit. King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes (3) that God has a set time for every purpose under heaven. 

Acts 14:17 tells us that God did not leave Himself without a witness. Many of the witnesses spoken of in the Bible are blessings that testify to the goodness of God. Do you remember the prodigal son, spoken of by Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15? Jesus said that after this young man had lost all of his money, his reputation, his comfort, his peace, his fellowship his dignity, and his pride, he came to his senses. And when he came to his senses, he did not first recall his sin. Rather he first realized how good his father was. “Even the servants in my father’s house …”

Jesus painted a picture of a Father who never stopped being a father. Even though the son stopped acting like a son, the father was faithfully waiting. The son said, my father treats his servants better than the world is treating me – I think I’ll go home and serve him … He is good. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. God is good and His divine plan is consistent and trustworthy. God is predictable, just ask Jonah. God’s plan is to bless you and make you a blessing.

We read about it in prophecy. When the Children of God were experiencing a truly difficult time for their nation (605BC) and their enemies seemed unconquerable, God set for them a time. God told them beforehand when and how He was going to bless them and deliver them and prosper them and re-establish them, and what they needed to do in the meantime.

You see, at this point in history God wasn’t happy with them … but He loved them. God’s love is always greater than His disappointment.

This brings us to a principle of life which says: If you want to feel different about someone, you’ve got to start thinking differently about them. And love wants to … it just has to start somewhere.

Jeremiah 29 NKJV

11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

So what have we discussed today?

1.   God is consistent, predictable, and trustworthy.

2.   God has a set time to bless you and remind you that He is good.

3.   What you can do right now is seek Him with all your heart.

When will you find the blessing of God? When you seek Him and search for Him with all your heart. The safest we will ever be is in our Father’s house. Someone has been a father to you … you know you can depend on his goodness. God is good … all the time!

And recently I heard the Lord say to me – “Abundance is coming. What will you do with it?”

BLESSED Intro: What it Means to Be Blessed

  INTRODUCTION

There is something that every person has in common: we all want to be blessed. Every person here desires to be blessed. We want our family to be blessed, finances, health, career, relationships, our future, etc. We pray and ask the Lord:

•   Bless my family.

•   Bless my business.

•   Bless this opportunity.

•   Bless my future.

Our hope is that God will bless us. That is a good desire! In fact, I believe that God wants to bless us. James 1:17 says that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights.” However, we have to ask ourselves the question: what does it mean to be blessed? Do we actually understand what being blessed actually means?

MISCONCEPTIONS

The fact is that the world has misconceptions when it comes what it means to be blessed; and even what it looks like. We imagine that if I get the promotion, I’m blessed. If the money is good, I’m blessed. If my family is healthy, I’m blessed. In other words, if everything works out the way I hoped it would, then I am blessed. You see, “blessed” has quietly become another way of saying, “My life is going the way I want it to go.” However, the truth is that those things cannot be our definition of be what it means to be blessed. Here are some misconceptions that are commonly believed about being blessed:

•   Wealth = Favor

-    Many believe that if you have money, a big house, or a new car then it means that you are more blessed than others.

-    If I don’t have a lot of money then it means that I am not blessed like they are.

•   Absence of Hardship

-    If you are truly blessed, bad things will pass you by and life will be smooth.

-    The belief is that when God blesses you, He goes before you to ensure you will have no problems for your life.

•   Blessings are Earned by Good Behavior

-    If I pray enough, act right, and do all the right things, then you can guarantee blessings in your life.

-    This is more of a transactional thought that becomes more like a reward system that is based merit alone.

What does it mean to be blessed?

In scripture, you continually find this phrase:

•   “Bless is the man…"

•   “Blessed is the one…”

•   “Blessed are those…”

Virtually the Bible never describes what a person possesses materially. Instead, it describes the condition of a person’s life before God.

Blessed (Makarios) = Fortunate; Privileged; Favored

It is a happiness that comes from receiving favor from God. In the New Testament, the word itself carries the meaning of being blessed by God.

Blessed = To live under the goodness and favor of God.

God Gives Blessings

-    There are things that we have in our life because God has given it to us

-    They are a blessing because God has placed in our life

-    This is what God puts around me.

God Produces Blessings

-    As we walk according to His ways, God produces fruit in our life.

-    This is fruit that allows us to be happy regardless of the circumstances surrounding us.

-    This is what God develops within me.

God Promises Blessings

-    There are blessings that we have that may not be fully realized until eternity.

-    This is what God has prepared ahead for me.

Material vs Eternal Blessings

While it is true that God has given us material blessings (what He places around us), the New Testament tends to focus more on spiritual and eternal blessings than anything. These are the blessings that God produces in us and that He promises us in eternity.

Matthew 6:19-20 — “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

1 Peter 1:3-4 — “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into… an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.”

While God does want to bless us in order to meet our material needs today, we should not measure His blessings primarily by earthly possessions.

That is a important distinction. Someone with very little materially can be incredibly rich spiritually. And a person with tremendous wealth materially can actually be very poor spiritually.

THREE WAYS WE EXPERIENCE GOD’S BLESSING

I think God’s blessings can be broken up in this way:

-    Having blessings

-    Being blessed

-    Walking in His blessings

1.     Having Blessings

•   There are things in our life that are a blessing.

•   Our home, car, job, food, clothing, family, health, a/c, life, etc.

•   These things are a blessing because they have been given to us by God.

•   There are many things we have that many other people do not.

•   Much of this is circumstantial blessing (because we live in America).

•   However, having blessings is not the same thing as being blessed.

•   James 1:17

•   God gives us good things, but good things are not the definition of a blessed life.

2.     Being Blessed

•   That is who you are.

•   You are blessed because you are a child of God.

•   Because you are a born again believer, you have been blessed by God!

•   You are blessed because you possess every spiritual blessing.
Ephesians 1:3 — “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

•   Through Christ, you and I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

•   Because you possess every spiritual blessing, you have “access” to every one of them as well.

3.     Walking in His Blessings

•   Although we have access to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, those blessings do not become a reality just because we want them to.

•   In the same way that Norah has access to cookies that are in the pantry or to the fruit in the fridge, she is not going to enjoy them unless she goes to the pantry/fridge and gets them out. She can ask me for permission all day long, but unless she goes to grab them from the pantry, she won’t be eating any cookies today!

•   Similarly, we too have to walk in the blessings that God has given us.

•   They were made available to us through the sacrificial death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for them, so that we can walk in them.

•   However, many times we expect to have peace without going to the pantry to pull it off the shelf in order to experience that peace given to us.

•   We expect for God to do His part and our part.

•   Sometimes we are asking God to do what He has already done, while ignoring what He has asked us to do.

•   Jesus has already paid for them and God the Father has already made them available on the shelf. All we have to do is walk in them.

Over the next five weeks, we are not going to talk about five ways to be blessed.  The fact is that if you are in Christ, you are already blessed! Instead, we are going to explore ways the Word of God teaches us to walk in His blessings.

BLESSED Sermon Series Topics

1.     Delight in God’s Word

2.     Walk in Wisdom

3.     Fear the Lord

4.     Live Generously

5.     Remain Faithful Under Trial

TAKEAWAYS

I.      Realize that you are already blessed in Christ.

•   You do not need to try and convince God to bless you.

•   If you belong to Jesus, Ephesians 1:3 says that He has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

II.     Recognize the blessings you do have.

•   It is okay for us to ask God for material blessings.

•   However, don’t become so focused on what you are asking God for that you overlook what He has already given you.

•   Make a list of the good things God has placed in your life and thank Him for them.

III.   Remember to walk in the blessings God has provided for you.

•   God has already done His part.

•   Don’t ask God to do your part as well.

•   His Word shows us how to live in the good things He has made available to us.

•   We just have to be obedient and walk in them.