Friday, October 28, 2022
Monday, September 26, 2022
Our Role and God’s Role in Evangelism
posted on FEBRUARY 4, 2021 (from Theologyforyou.com)
In this article, we’re going to look at our role in evangelism versus God’s role in evangelism and how, many times, we get the two confused.
This article is part of a series on evangelism using Will Metzger’s book Tell the Truth as our guide. If you don’t have this book we’d highly encourage you to pick up a copy of your own.
We Don't Have to be Confused
A lot of times we get confused in our witness and, in our desire to share our faith with others, we feel like we have the responsibility to bring them to Christ. Believer, be comforted, that’s not your responsibility, it’s God’s.
Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel with our lips and our lives knowing that it is God who is going to work in people’s hearts to bring them to faith.
We are to see ourselves simply as planters and waterers who trust God to give the growth.
Again, this goes back to our article on the importance of the content of the gospel where we talked about “the herald.” If you haven’t seen that yet, I’d encourage you to check it out by clicking here or the description below. The idea of the herald is that we are to carry and deliver the message that has been given to us.
I’d like to share a quote with you from the little book from 9Marks called What if I’m Discouraged in My Evangelism? It says this, “Our job is to proclaim salvation not produce it. We’re called to deliver a message to people; God’s the one who delivers people from sin.”
“Our job is to proclaim salvation not produce it. We’re called to deliver a message to people; God’s the one who delivers people from sin.”ISAAC ADAMS
Consider also this analogy from Tell the Truth:
Imagine how odd it would be if a mailman was discouraged because he thought “Every time I deliver a letter and someone opens it, they don’t like what they read!” it’s not the mailman’s job to make people like the mail but to deliver it. Likewise, it’s our job to deliver the gospel to people, and God’s job to cause them to believe the gospel. We share the faith, and God grants the faith. As Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65).
So in our evangelism, we should focus on being faithful to share the gospel message that has been delivered to us and not focusing on whether or not the person we’re sharing the gospel with comes to faith. Obviously, we want those with whom we share the gospel to come to a knowledge of the truth and to enter into a right relationship with God, but we should not judge whether or not we have been successful in our evangelism by the number of converts that we have.
Without the Right Focus, we will be confused
If your focus in evangelism is to see how many people you can get to “pray a prayer”, or raise their hand or come forward in a service you’re focussing on the wrong things. I want to challenge you by asking a very simple question: can we find any of these things in the Bible? The answer is: we can’t. They’re not in the Bible. And we’re going to cover this in more detail in our next article when we talk about genuine conversion.
In the Bible, what do we see instead? Jesus and the apostles taught the scriptures and called people to repent and believe in the gospel. They communicated the message given to them and called people to respond to that message, not by praying a prayer, or by going forward in a church service or raising their hand but calling them to repent and believe.
Jesus in Mark 1:15 “repent and believe in the gospel.” Peter in Acts 3:19, “Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,” Acts 17:30 “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” The apostles followed the model of Jesus and communicated the message that was given to them as servants of that message.
Paul often considered himself a servant and a witness to God. So should we. We are to witness to others by proclaiming the truths of the Scriptures. We should proclaim God as the maker and creator of all things, including them, and He is a lawmaker and a love-giver and we have failed to follow his commands.
Now separated from God and unable to make ourselves right with Him, we need Him to bring us to himself, and He has provided a way through Christ. By faith, we are to turn from our wicked ways and believe in Christ’s payment for our sins that we may be right with God and live a life pleasing to him. Out of love, we should even plead with people to receive Christ yet, we must not evaluate the success of our evangelism in terms of whether or not someone comes to faith.
As we’ve established in this series on evangelism the primary way we should evaluate our evangelism is, as John Piper says, to “look at the book.” We look at the Bible and see the examples of evangelism in scripture. After doing that we can study the history of the Christian church and see where God has blessed the proclamation of the gospel and drawn people to himself. From one such study, Martyn Lloyd Jones shares five foundational principles to evangelism that honestly completely changed the way that I view evangelism.The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.
The only power that can do this work is the Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
The one and only medium which the Spirit works through is the Scriptures. Therefore, we reason out of the Scriptures as Paul did.
These proceeding principles give us the true motivation for evangelism–a zeal for God, and a love for others.
There’s a constant danger of heresy through a false zeal in the employment of unscriptural methods.
The Primary Purpose of Evangelism
We must not evaluate the success of our evangelism in terms of whether or not someone comes to faith.
The primary purpose of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls. We trust God’s work in people’s lives that He, through the Holy Spirit, is the one that is going to move people. The means by which God moves people is through the Scriptures. It’s not through apologetics or reasoning in a purely logical sense, but primarily we reason out of the Scriptures; we point people to what the Bible says. It is God and not us who is the evangelizer. We get to journey along with Him as he does the work of evangelism while we are just presenting the truths.
Our responsibility in evangelism is to proclaim the gospel with our lips and our lives knowing that it is God who is going to work in people’s hearts to bring them to faith.
In our next article, we’re going to look a little deeper into understanding God’s role in evangelism by looking at what genuine conversion is. What does it mean for someone to truly become a Christian?
The primary purpose of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.
Saturday, August 27, 2022
We Share Jesus As We Anticipate His Return
from Love Worth Finding Ministries
We hear the news. Stories of war, natural disasters, and disease fill our ears. We remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:6-7 as He spoke of what the world will look like just before He comes again: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” We hear of food shortages, see rising prices and read Revelation 6:6, which talks about two pounds of wheat costing a day’s wages.
And so, we ask: When will Jesus return and rapture His bride, the Church? We’ve been waiting for 2,000 years! The answer, as it was in the Apostle Peter’s day, is soon and very soon. Peter warned us that “scoffers” would ask, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Echoing Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 24:6 to “see that you are not troubled,” Peter further encouraged us: “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9). That “longsuffering” should point Jesus’ followers toward evangelism as we await the Rapture.
We will not know the date and time when Jesus will come for us, but Pastor Adrian Rogers likened our wait to a walk at the edge of the ocean. If the ocean’s edge is the Rapture—the doorway to forever living bodily with Jesus—our feet are in the sand, just touching the water. It is not that we have been journeying to the ocean from 2,000 miles away; we are at the surf’s edge.
“Now some people have the idea that…we’re way over here, the Second Coming of Jesus is off over there somewhere, and we’re just maybe trying to get to it,” Pastor Rogers said. “No, no, no, no, no. Friend, we’re right on the edge; we’re just walking along the seashore. We are living on the edge of eternity.”
In other words, eternity isn’t in front of us; it’s right beside us. Everything that needs to be fulfilled prior to the Rapture of the Church has been fulfilled. From the First Century through the 21st Century and now into the 22nd, we have been living in the “end times.” We look around us and observe that the days are becoming, as Pastor Rogers said, “gloriously dark.” We have the eyes of faith to understand the times and sense the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He may come at any moment.
What do we do in the end times?
How then, should we live? We live in hope because we know the promises God gave us in His Word are true. We live with our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. We live longing for and prepared for the return of Christ. We are watching for Him. While our hearts stretch toward the unimaginable above, our arms are stretched out in love to reach others beside us… before it is too late.
This is an active form of waiting as we work to bring a harvest to Jesus; we do not waste our precious time and our precious lives on lesser pursuits. We concentrate on the heart of the Gospel: Jesus died for our sins, He was raised, He is coming again. We do not fear the darkness, knowing that Jesus will always lead us in the light of His Word. Finally, we are aware that the enemy too knows the time is short, so we stand firm, with our feet planted in the truth of God’s Word. We withstand the enemy’s most clever schemes to tie us to this world so that we will point others toward the far better inheritance we will receive… in the twinkling of an eye.
Revelation fulfills the Gospel; Jesus is coming again.
What is the Gospel? In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul tells us the Gospel is, “That Christ died for our sins, He was buried, He was raised again the third day.” The unfolding of this Gospel began in Genesis and continued throughout the Old Testament with prophecy about the first coming of Jesus. The heart of the Gospel was lived out in Jesus’ lifetime with His sinless life, His vicarious death, and His triumphant resurrection. In our days, the “Last Days,” Jesus continues to live out His Gospel in believers who share His love and bring others into the family of God.
The Book of Revelation gives us a glorious window into how God’s promises will be fulfilled; it explodes with a cosmic celebration of the triumph of the Gospel; it brings full circle the story of redemption that began in the Garden of Eden.
While the Book of Revelation contains many themes, ideas, symbols, and prophecies that may be debated by theologians, the critical message of the book is something all Christians may easily understand. The Book of Revelation is about one central person, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), for one clear purpose, “to show His servants—things which must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1), with one comforting promise, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).
To obtain this blessing as a certain prophecy for each believer, we must see Jesus high and lifted up; He is the hero of all redemptive history. We must be His bondslaves because those who are not committed to Him cannot understand what He “shows His servants” as He pulls back the curtain and grants us a heavenly perspective. And we must “keep the things which are written,” being faithful to share Jesus in the face of opposition to the Gospel and refusing to compromise with the culture.
For an introduction to The Book of Revelation from Pastor Rogers, read the article: An Introduction to the Book of Revelation.
We will be with Jesus and like Jesus.
We don’t know when the Rapture will take place, but we know it will be beautiful for those who belong to Jesus. A preschool girl was playing in a Sunday school class, busy with her doll and a tea party set, when she heard the voice of her father who had come to pick her up. She abandoned the toys and ran to the door. Caught up into her daddy’s arms, she wrapped herself around his neck and exclaimed excitedly, “I knew you’d come back”!
She was too young to tell time. Her father’s appearance at that precise moment was a complete surprise. But she trusted Him. She knew he would come for her. That is how we are to live—going about our business, enjoying all God has given us, sharing the Gospel, and trusting Jesus—as we prepare for the Rapture. The Lord’s appearance will be at a surprising time, but it will be both highly relational (we will be “caught up” to Him) and transformational (we will become “like Him” in our glorified bodies).
The Apostle Paul explained to the Church at Thessalonica that this relational and transformational reality will be both for those believers who have died previously and for those who are living at the moment Jesus returns for His own.
Paul wrote the following to comfort us when we grieve the death of a Christian loved one: “But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. …We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16).
Jesus is going to shout with a voice that literally wakes the dead who belong to Him. In an instant, “we who are alive and remain,” Paul said, indicating that he expected to be among the living at the time of the Rapture, “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:17).
All of this will happen, Paul told the Church at Corinth, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
This is why believers rightly ask, “Where will you be when the trumpet sounds?”
For more about the Rapture and what it means to be “caught up,” read the article, What is the Rapture?
Christians should not fear the Great Tribulation.
The Rapture we await is not only a joyous reunion but also a rescue.
The Book of Revelation speaks of God’s wrath poured out on the entire world, and those who do not know Christ are right to be anxious. In fact, they should be downright terrified.
Following the Rapture, the Bible says the next seven years will be the worst time in our planet’s history. The Book of Daniel describes this period called the Great Tribulation: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1).
During this seven-year period, a false Christ, the Antichrist, a man who, as Pastor Rogers says, “will make Hitler look like a Boy Scout,” will gain worldwide power. The Bible prophecies a ferocious end to the Antichrist and to all those living on Earth who do not belong to Jesus. This end comes on “The Day of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 30:7 says of this horrific day, “Alas, for that day is great, so none is like it.” “None is like it.”
“There’ve been unmitigated horrors of war, of torture, of ethnic cleansing...of earthquakes,” Pastor Rogers said. “But there’s never, never, never been a day like this.”
The Apostle John, speaking prophetically in the past tense as if having seen it already occur, says of the Day of the Lord, “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:15-17).
It will be the most cataclysmic and terrifying day in history; yet, Pastor Rogers said, those who are now believers should not fear this Day. Instead, we should be concerned, as Jesus is, about sharing the Gospel so that others are spared from that time.
“The church will be taken out at the rapture,” Pastor Rogers said, “God chastises His children, but He never pours His wrath on His children. But there's coming a time known as the Day of the Lord when God is going to pour out His wrath upon this world, and I'm going to tell you this, that even now, right now, the raging waters of God's wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy.”
For more about the believer’s rescue from the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, including Scriptural support, read the article, The Second Coming of Jesus.
The beast of Revelation is Satan’s offspring.
Believers living today will not face the Antichrist spoken of in Revelation. The Antichrist—also known as the beast, the son of perdition, the little horn, and the man of sin—will come to power following the Rapture and during the Great Tribulation. According to Revelation 12 and 13, the Beast is a malevolent dictator.
The beast rises to power during social agitation.
Revelation 13:1 references the beast “rising up out of the sea,” a symbol for society in great turmoil. Because the Church will have been taken out of the world through the Rapture by the time the Great Tribulation begins, society will be in chaos and wickedness will be greatly increased.
The beast has recognizable satanic attributes.
Revelation 13:1-2 symbolizes the beast with “seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name,” and says that “the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Revelation 12:3 symbolizes Satan in this way: “Behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.” While Bible scholars may debate the exact meaning of each symbol, Pastor Rogers says it is clear the beast is Satan’s spawn. “If there was ever a man whose father was the devil, it is the beast. Jesus, who was God in flesh, could say: ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen My Father’ (John 14:9, KJV). The beast, who will be Satan in the flesh, will be able to say: ‘He that hath seen me hath seen my father.’ The beast will be the visible expression of the invisible devil.”
The beast will be seductive and charming.
When the Bible speaks of the beastly characteristics of the Antichrist, it’s talking about his nature, not his appearance. Revelation 13:4 says that the world during the time of the Great Tribulation will worship not only Satan but also the beast, saying, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” The beast will not appear hideous, Pastor Rogers said. “No doubt he’ll be handsome, charming, clever, greatly intelligent. He’ll be a global charmer.”
The beast will be driven by sinister ambitions.
While Jesus came “to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10), the beast will have a five-point game plan:To deify Satan: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast” (Revelation 13:4).
To defy the Savior: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies… against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:5-6). Pastor Rogers said, “remember Antichrist means anti-Christ.”
To destroy the saints. “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:5-7a). The beast will want every true believer in Jesus Christ destroyed. Tribulation saints, who come to faith after the Rapture, will face torture and murder. “It will be the devil’s last fling against the people of God,” Pastor Rogers said, “and this ravenous beast will drink his fill of the blood of the martyrs.”
To dominate society. “And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:7b). The beast will have global control.
To delude sinners. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Pastor Rogers said of the beast: “He wants to keep them damned and doomed.”
The beast will have a highly effective press agent.
A minister of propaganda will present the Antichrist to the world. Revelation 13:11-12 says, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.” Pastor Rogers said, “Remember that there is an unholy trinity. The devil always mimics God. The Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What is the unholy Trinity? The dragon (Satan), the beast (the Antichrist), and the false prophet (the propagandist).”
For more about the beast and the false prophet, including the mark of the beast, read the article, Beware of the Mark of The Beast.
Look up, not around.
While we are blessed by reading the Book of Revelation and understanding Christ’s instruction to us, it may be distracting to continuously relate the symbolism in Scripture to current events and world personalities. And it is fruitless to try and set a date for the Rapture. Our job is to share the Gospel and make disciples.
“God doesn’t punch a time-clock when He goes to work. He doesn’t wear a wristwatch. God is not concerned with time,” Pastor Rogers said. “I'll tell you one thing: It's two thousand years nearer than it's ever been before. Jesus Christ is coming. I’ve stopped looking for the signs and started listening for the trumpet.”
Monday, August 22, 2022
Are Christians Meant to Feel Guilty All the Time?
I imagine there are plenty of Christians who rarely feel the sting of conscience or the pangs of regret. But I also know many, many Christians (including the one I see in the mirror) who easily feel bad for all the things they are not doing or are doing less than perfectly. In fact, I’m convinced most serious Christians live their lives with an almost constant low-level sense of guilt.
How do we feel guilty? Let me count the ways. We could pray more.
We aren’t bold enough in evangelism.
We like sports too much.
We watch movies and television too often.
Our quiet times are too short or too sporadic.
We don’t give enough.
We bought a new couch.
We don’t read to our kids enough.
Our kids eat Cheetos and french fries.
We don’t recycle enough.
We need to lost 20 pounds.
We could use our time better.
We could live some place harder or in something smaller.
What do we do with all this behind the scenes guilt? We don’t feel stop-dead-in-our-tracks kind of remorse for these things. But these shortcomings can have a cumulative effect whereby even the mature Christian can feel like he’s rather disappointing to God, maybe just barely Christian.
Here’s the tricky part: we should feel guilty sometimes, because sometimes we are guilty of sin. Moreover, complacency as Christians is a real danger, especially in America.
But yet, I don’t believe God redeemed us through the blood of his Son that we might feel like constant failures. Do Peter and John post-Pentecost seemed racked with self-loathing and introspective fear? Does Paul seem constantly concerned that he could be doing more? Amazingly enough, Paul actually says at one point “I am not aware of anything against myself” (1 Cor. 4:4). He’s quick to add, “I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” But it sure seems like Paul put his head on the pillow at night with a clean conscience. So why do so many Christian feel guilty all the time?
1. We don’t fully embrace the good news of the gospel. We forget that we have been made alive together with Christ. We have been raised with him. We have been saved through faith alone. And this is the gift of God, not a result of works (Eph. 2:4-8). We can be so scared of antinomianism, which is a legitimate danger, that we are afraid to speak too lavishly of God’s grace. But if we’ve never been charged with being antinomian, we probably haven’t presented the gospel in all it’s scandalous glory (Rom. 6:1).
2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than grace. Instead of urging our fellow believers to be who they are in Christ, we command them to do more for Christ (see Rom. 6:5-14 for the proper motivation). So we see Christlikeness as something we are royally screwing up, when we should it as something we already possess but need to grow into.
3. Most of our low-level guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not doing enough.” Look at the list above. None one of the items are necessarily sinful. They all deal with possible infractions, perceptions, and ways in which we’d like to do more. These are the hardest areas to deal with because no Christian, for example, will ever confess to praying enough. So it is always easy to feel terrible about prayer (or evangelism or giving or any number of disciplines). We must be careful that we don’t insist on a certain standard of practice when the Bible merely insists on a general principle.
Let me give another example. Every Christian must give generously and contribute to the needs of the saints (2 Cor. 9:6-11; Rom. 12:13). This we can insist on with absolute certainty. But what this generosity looks like–how much we give, how much we retain–is not bound by any formula, nor can it be exacted by compulsion (2 Cor. 9:7). So if we want people to be more generous we would do well to follow Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians and emphasize the blessings of generosity and the gospel rooted motivation for generosity as opposed to shaming those who don’t give us much.
4. When we are truly guilty of sin it is imperative we repent and receive God’s mercy. Paul had a clean conscience, not because he never sinned, but, I imagine, because he quickly went to the Lord when he knew he was wrong and rested in the “no condemnation” of the gospel (Rom. 8:1). If we confess our sins, John says, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We aren’t meant to feel borderline miserable all the time. We are meant to live in the joy of our salvation. So when we sin–and we’ll all sin (1 Kings 8:46; 1 John 1:8)–we confess it, get cleansed, and move on.
This underlines one of the great dangers with constant guilt: we learn to ignore our consciences. If we are truly sinning, we need to repent and implore the Lord to help us change. But if we aren’t sinning, if we are perhaps not as mature as we could be, or are not as disciplined as some believers, or we are making different choices that may be acceptable but not extraordinary, then we should not be made to feel guilty. Challenged, stirred, inspired, but not guilty.
As a pastor this means I don’t expect that everyone in my congregation should feel awful about everything I ever preach on. It is ok, after all, for people to actually be obedient to God’s commands. Not perfectly, not without some mixed motives, not as fully as they could be, but still faithfully, God-pleasingly obedient. Faithful preaching does not require that sincere Christians feel miserable all the time. In fact, the best preaching ought to make sincere Christians see more of Christ and experience more of his grace.
Deeper grace will produce better gratitude, which means less guilt. And that’ s a good thing all the way around.
Friday, July 15, 2022
Obedience versus Relationship
Obedience to God is all about relationship
By James Washington For The St. Louis American
I’m sure I’ve written on this before, but I thought the significance of obedience was important enough to repeat here. It occurs to me that obedience to God is, or certainly should be, an exercise in ‘want to’ as opposed to ‘have to.’
The analogy given in church is simple enough. When parents enforce rules and discipline with regard to their children, if the child is to respond out of respect and love, a relationship must exist between parent and child.
If a wholesome relationship does indeed exist, then the child’s love for the parent will result in that child wanting to comply.
If all one does is obey the rules because of the consequences and punishment associated with disobeying the rules, then the rules generally get thrown out the window when the rule-maker is no longer around.
I guess what I’m saying is that when grounded in love, people want to respond favorably according to the wishes and will of the person who is the object of that love. By our very nature we want to look good in the eyes of someone we’re trying to impress.
Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.’’ John 14:23.
Examine this use of the term “obey.” What Christ is saying is the same thing that many a mother and a father believe about their kids.
First and foremost, we all know the things that would upset mom and dad. We know this because they spent a lifetime (yours) instilling values and integrity into your character.
You might still do things they wouldn’t condone, but you certainly know the difference between the right and wrong of it because of your upbringing. That upbringing, if nurtured in the spirit of love, reveals to all of us the source and nature of the consequences and the resulting discipline.
It’s all about love. Y’all know that ‘this is going to hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt you’ thing.
Christ is merely reminding us that if you love him, then obeying his rules, his teachings, which were given to us out of the love of the Father, should come from the heart. Our desire to please should override our mere compliance to the rules.
The point is obedience to God has so much more to do with wanting to do the right thing for the right reason, than doing the right thing because it is law, punishment notwithstanding.
One is the result of relationship and the other is the result of fear of consequence.
Throughout scripture, Jesus constantly refers to the love of the Father. How many of you do what your mother would expect of you and your mother has been dead for many a year? How many of you pass those same expectations along to your kids? Why?
I submit that you do this because of the relationship you had/have with your mother. That’s why I’m convinced that the key to understanding obedience to God is establishing, or for many of us re-establishing, a relationship with the Almighty. This is achieved by studying his word, getting inside of his commandments and examining the life of Jesus Christ, who because of a love thing with his Father, carried out Hhs Father’s wishes to the letter.
“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.’’ John 14:30-31.
To obey should be an act of love. Our goal should be to understand God’s love for us and to simply do our best to return it; acting accordingly, so to speak.
May God bless and keep you always.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
There Will Be a Day
There Will Be a Day :: By Dennis Huebshman
Published on: July 12, 2022 by Admin10 Category:General Articles
From Matthew 24:6a-8; “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”
Luke 21:11 expands on this; “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from Heaven.”
Going on to Luke 21:26-28, “people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (ESV – all emphasis mine)
Even though we see what we believe are the “beginnings” of the above signs, they represent a part of the Tribulation/Wrath 7-year period of time spoken of in Daniel and Revelation. Some may try to say we are already in that time, but as 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us, the antichrist or “lawless one” cannot appear until the force that restrains this “mystery of lawlessness” is out of the way. He represents the actual time of the Tribulation that starts right after he gets a 7-year peace treaty signed with Israel and the rest of the world.
For those who are true believers in Jesus as their Savior, what we are seeing are signs that tell us we will be leaving here soon. The prelude that is taking place could be classified as insignificant compared to what will happen after we’re gone and when Satan’s forces are fully released on this earth. That movement is presently gaining ground, and the changes taking place are troubling. It’s difficult to imagine just how much worse it can get.
It has been said that the United States, which has been a considerably strong force in the world up to now, is not mentioned in end-times prophecies. Looking at the worldwide view of this country today, events that have taken place very recently have taken our reputation down. As our strength and status get less and less in the world’s eyes, this country is being prepared to be absorbed into a “new world order” led by a “one-world government” of which there will be no real lead nation. The really sad part is, our population that will be here will be ready for this to happen and will willingly accept the change.
It is no accident that the current administration of the U.S. is in office. God put them there and is not surprised by anything that is taking place. In fact, He is allowing it to happen according to His ultimate plan. In Philippians 4:6-7, we’re told, “do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Seems simple, but the Father knows all of our concerns. We need to realize Satan’s forces are constantly at work, and anyone who is a follower of Jesus is being called a “hater.” Because we do not accept the abominations that some lifestyles are indulging in, it does not mean we hate the people. Jesus told us to love all our brothers and sisters because each one has an immortal soul, but that does not mean we have to accept their lifestyles. He will accept anyone who will repent and call on Him to save them from eternal condemnation.
For all who have received and accepted Jesus as our Savior, our eternity is set. God does not make promises that He will not keep (Titus 1:2). An event described by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, commonly called the Rapture, will take place. It is to keep all the Shepherd’s flock from going through the coming wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, and Revelation 3:10). We were told this would take place before the Tribulation, and I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to it.
In the meantime, we do not need to be just waiting and doing nothing. We need to be in prayer daily, asking the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of any loved ones who are not truly saved. It wouldn’t be too much to pray this more than once a day. Being a “prayer warrior” is special, and the effects can be amazing.
There will be those who will choose this world over all else. Jesus knew that more would accept their current lifestyle and not be prepared for eternity. He spoke of the two pathways in Matthew 7:13-14. He stated the path to eternal life is narrow, and there would be few on it. Our hope is that through our prayers, we may get some of those lost souls off the broad path that leads to eternal destruction.
The day is coming soon, and our Jesus will be calling us up to meet Him in the air. This will not be the occasion that takes place at the end of the Tribulation where they will “see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Actually, the Rapture will be over in considerably less than one second.
Jeremy Camp wrote and released a song in 2008 called “There Will Be a Day.” It is a testimony to the promise of the Lord to take us Home. It’s a day that all Jesus’ followers are waiting for, and the Father knows we are longing for it. Please consider the message.
1.) I try to hold on to this world with everything I have. But I feel the weight of what it brings and the hurt that tries to grab, The many trials that seem to never end. His word declares the truth that we will enter in this rest with wonders anew.
(ref) But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings, That there will be a place with no more suffering. There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place will be no more. We’ll see Jesus face-to-face, but until that day, we’ll hold on to You always.
2.) I know the journey seems so long; you feel like you’re walking on your own. But there has never been a step where you walked out all alone. Troubled soul, don’t lose your heart, ’cause joy and peace He brings, and the beauty that’s in store outweighs the hurt of life’s sting. (ref)
3.) I can’t wait until that day, where the very One I’ve lived for always will wipe away the sorrow that I’ve faced (wipe away the tears), to touch the scars that rescued me from a life of shame and misery; Oh, this is why, this is why I sing.
There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place will be no more. We’ll see Jesus face-to-face (x2). There will be a day He will wipe away the tears; He will wipe away the tears; He will wipe away the tears; and there will be a day.
For all who have received and accepted Jesus, we know that we will not be here much longer. As another song line stated, “All my trials, Lord, soon be over.” Once we’re Home, all this will be lost in the past.
For all who have not chosen Jesus as their Savior, please read Romans 10:9-13 for the simple steps to do so. Consider that the Son of the Living God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, has provided you with the opportunity to have eternal life with Him for the asking. He paid our passage in full with His precious blood shed on crucifixion day. He conquered sin and death on resurrection day.
The alternative is to be forever separated from Him in a place of darkness, and there will be no relief ever. He is available 24-7 to receive your call, and please know you have not sinned so greatly that He won’t forgive and accept you if you truly ask Him to be your Savior.
It’s absolutely each individual’s choice of where they will spend eternity. Please choose wisely; please choose soon. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, and that could be the day and time the Father has chosen.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Be Careful What You Consume
from the blog Breaking The Chains Biblical Recovery Ministry . . . . . . .
June 4, 2020 | BtCBRM | Make A Comment | Red Flags and Warning Signs
The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps. (Proverbs 14:15)
Every Spring we have problems with ants and once our peonies bloom, they become more of a problem. A few days ago I noticed several very small ants in our kitchen behind our faucet, scouting for food. I went to the cabinet and pulled out an ant bait. I laid it on the area behind the faucet and dripped some onto that counter and continued with my work. Periodically I’d come back and see that they were checking it out and eating some of it. By the next morning, I saw a few ants laying around the area like they were in a coma while the others must have gone back to the nest. I left both the ant bait and the ants alone and continued on with my day. At night I poured a little more out as there were now more ants coming around it and then I went to bed. By yesterday morning there was an army of little ants all over the poison. I even watched some walk around the ones that were now dead and laying there. As I watched the ants eat the poison, and knowing that I had a few plates sitting right beside the sink that had some crumbs of good food left on them, I thought “they are distracted from finding the good food and are eating the bait without even realizing they are being poisoned”. If the ants would have scouted a bit further, they would have found the proper nourishment that could have kept them alive, but they ate the sweet poison instead. The ants were drawn to the bait because it appealed to them through their senses. It’s sweet and easier to consume and bring back to the nest and share it with the other ants. This bait is very effective and the ants will leave a trail of the bait for other ants in the colony to follow to the new food supply. In the meantime, the main poisonous ingredient is messing with their digestive system and slowly killing them. Due to its delayed effect, it gives the ants enough time to bring the poison back to their home, their colony, and share it with the other ants. Even when some of the ants die, their bodies will still emit the poison, further causing the living ants to be poisoned and eventually die. Instead of the ant having control over my house, the bait I used allowed me to have control over the ant colony without even going outside to look for it. I simply had to use something that appealed to their senses and they did the rest by sharing it with the other ants. At this point, I probably sound like an evil person, but I’m not. I just don’t want ants overtaking my house.
The ant really is a remarkable creature. They are hard workers, planning and preparing for the future. They store or invest what they have gathered through the summer to supply them for the winter (lean months). They work together to accomplish the mission. However, the one flaw they seemed to have (which I’m sure there are others) is that they couldn’t detect the poison in the ant bait. The liquid looked good, smelled good and tasted good to them, therefore appealing to what they like through their senses, but it was poisonous. Because they thought it was good food, they shared it with other ants in their colony, therefore poisoning the rest of the ants. They simply could not detect the difference between good food and poisonous food that was being given to them and by not knowing the difference, it cost them their lives and the lives inside their colony.
If this can happen to ants, how much more can it happen to us? Are you able to detect when you are being “fed” something good or something poisonous both spiritually and in your day to day life? Can you tell the difference? Can you tell if you are being baited by a person, a situation or the enemy? Proverbs 14:15 states:
The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.
Proverbs 22:3 states:
The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
The word, simple, means one who is naïve or lacks wisdom. A prudent person is one who is wise, careful and cautious. We are called to be wise, careful and discerning. Where do we find wisdom and discernment? From God!
James 1:5-6:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
When we ask God for wisdom and discernment, this will eliminate the chance of following our thoughts and flesh or a direction others wish for us to go into that could harm us or those around us. We must be careful not to consume anything that may be false which can lead us in a wrong direction and possibly take others with us. This can happen through false teachings, media, gossip, opinions, etc. We must investigate what we are being fed and compare it to the Word of God. Is it godly? Is it considered gossip? Does it promote good change or destruction? Is it safe or dangerous? It’s imperative that we bring what we hear or see before the Lord and seek His wisdom and discernment on it when we are unsure. We must seek Him for guidance and truth.
Psalm 32:8:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
We must realize that the enemy will take every opportunity to draw us away from God and jeopardize our walk with Him. In 1 Peter 5:8 we are warned of this and to be alert for it:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
He will try to entice us, or bait us, through our senses by what we see and/or hear. He knows how to manipulate through utilizing our environment because he knows what buttons to push in us that will cause us to react. In other words, he knows how to get to our flesh. He can do this utilizing our surroundings, our weaknesses, people, and what we like or dislike. He can utilize other people or situations to tempt us away from doing what is right which can eventually cause us to justify our incorrect thoughts or actions.
We must walk with two feet in the spirit, not one foot in the spirit and one foot in the world. By doing the latter, it will be difficult for us to know truth from lie because we are ingesting worldly views, causing us to be double minded, which will slowly kill us.
Galatians 5:24-26:
And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Take a moment to think about what you are feeding upon and consuming. Is it Godly or is it worldly? How is it affecting you? Does it cause you anger and misery or joy and peace? Will it produce a good outcome or harm to yourself or others? Does it fall in line with the Word of God or the world?
Whatever your concerns are, take it to the Lord and ask for His wisdom, guidance and truth on the matter. Then be patient and wait for His answer. You won’t be disappointed.
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Hymn Prayer
From noon of joy to night of doubt our feelings come and go;
our best estate is toss'd about in ceaseless ebb and flow.
No mood of feeling, form of thought, is constant for a day,
but Thou, O God, Thou changest not; the same Thou are always.
I grasp They strength, make it my own, my heart with peace is bless'd;
I lose my hold, and then comes down darkness and cold unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw from my frail grasp of Thee:
in this alone rejoice with awe, They mighty grasp of me.
Thy purpose of eternal good let me but surely know;
on this I'll lean, let changing mood and feeling come and go;
glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, not sad when clouds o'er cast,
since Thou within Thy sure control of Love dost hold me fast.
John Campbell Shairp, 1871
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Grateful Praise
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies,
God of all, to You we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
God of all, to You we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind's delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight,
God of all, to You we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love, sister, brother, parent, child,
friends on earth and friends above; for all gentle thoughts and mild,
God of all, to You we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
Folliot S. Pierpoint, 1867
Monday, May 30, 2022
The Rise of One World Religion
Amir Tsarfati speaks about how things are being set up for a smooth transition to One World Government and One World Religion. It's already in play and some of these facts will astound you! Good listen
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Monday, May 16, 2022
Friday, May 13, 2022
Can We Hasten The Second Coming Of Christ?
But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 1 Peter 4:7
G. Campbell Morgan, that great expositor of Bible prophecy and the Word of God, wrote, “I never lay my head on the pillow without thinking that perhaps before I awake, the final morning may have dawned. I never begin my work without thinking that He may interrupt it to begin His own. And every night before we go to sleep, we ought to say, ‘He may come tonight.’ Every day when we get out our tools and go to work, ‘This may be the last day’s work I'll do.’”
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent—it could occur at any time. Peter would not have told the early Christians (v. 7) to watch, had the coming of Jesus Christ not been something that could occur at any moment. From the very founding of the Church, Christians have been told to look for and long for the coming our Lord.
But is there anything we can do to hasten it? Could Jesus’ return happen more quickly because of anything we might do? Listen to Peter again:
Therefore…what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 2 Peter 3:11-12. (emphasis mine)
Is it possible? Can we hasten His return? For the answer to that, I studied what Greek scholar Dr. Marvin R. Vincent and others said about this passage. He and a number of Greek scholars agree that these words of Peter state that by our actions the Church can hasten the Day of the Lord:
I'm inclined to adopt the transitive meaning [the transitive meaning of this verb] “hastening on,” that is, “causing the day of the Lord to come more quickly by helping to fulfill those conditions without which it cannot come…
We are causing the day to come more quickly today when we fulfill the conditions without which the day of the Lord will not come.
Dr. Vincent goes on to explain,
…that day being no date inexorably fixed, but one the arrival of which it is free to the church to hasten on by faith and prayer. See Matt 24:14: The gospel shall be preached in the whole world, “and then shall the end come.” Compare the words of Peter in Acts 3:19, “Repent and be converted…that so there may come seasons of refreshing.”
That makes a lot of sense. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ isn’t a time chiseled in stone that can never, ever be changed. Peter says we’re to be looking for—and hastening—the coming of the day of God. Through our prayers we can cause Jesus Christ to come more quickly than He would have come.
“Thy Kingdom Come”
We have been taught that God’s Kingdom is going to come. But how did Jesus teach us to pray in Matthew 6:10? “Thy Kingdom come.” We’re told to pray for the coming Kingdom.
We know that one day there will be peace in Jerusalem. But there will never be peace in Jerusalem until Jesus, the Prince of Peace, rules upon the throne of David. There won't be peace in the world until there is peace in Jerusalem. When is that going to be? When He comes.
So what does the Bible tell us to do? Psalm 122:6 says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” And when you’re praying for the peace of Jerusalem, you’re really praying for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so Peter says, “Watch and pray.”
Do you remember what the aged apostle John prayed on the Isle of Patmos? God gave him a revelation of all the glories and wonders that would take place when Jesus Christ comes as King of kings and Lord of lords. Then John closes Revelation with these words, the last prayer in the Bible: “Even so, come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
Are you praying that prayer? You ought to be.
- We’re to be learning of His coming; we are to be sober minded.
- We are to be looking for His coming; we’re to watch.
- We’re to be longing for His coming.
- We’re to be praying, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And “Let there be peace in Jerusalem, that there might be peace on earth. Even so come Lord Jesus.”
I long for the Lord Jesus Christ to come. I was talking about the work of the ministry with another pastor, and I said, “Bob, just think about it. Jesus Christ is really coming, and we’re going to see Him.” Then my eyes filled with tears and so did his.
You see, we got happy thinking about the fact that this is not some fairy tale. Friend, I'm talking to you about reality. As surely as God made little green apples, at any moment, Jesus Christ is going to come.
If we as the children of God love Him, we long for Him to come. I have Him in my heart—but I long to see Him. To walk with Him and talk with Him, “whom, having not seen, we love” (1 Peter 1:8). Peter continues in that verse to say, “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
One day we’re going to see Him—not as He was, but as He is, in all of His majesty, all of His power, all of His glory.
“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Friday, April 15, 2022
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Teaching and Preaching Prophecy
Pastor Tom Hughes of the 412 Church in San Jacinto, California, wrote an article titled, "Five Reasons Pastors Don't Teach Bible Prophecy." Below are the five reasons from his article.
They don't understand prophecy
They fear offending members of the church
They sense it will scare people
They fear people will stop giving
They fear looking like fringe groups who take things to an extreme
Even though written several years ago, the list remains relevant today. Fear stands out as the key motive behind the silence. Pastors also say they do not understand prophecy, but do they take the time to learn or turn to those who do understand it?
Someone might ask: "Why does that matter? Does it really make a difference if preachers keep quiet on future things as long as they proclaim the Gospel with biblical clarity?
It not only matters a great deal, but it's risky to ignore a topic that the Bible emphasizes over and over again. The neglect of biblical prophecy in the pulpit results in:
1. BELIEVERS RELYING UPON SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET FOR END TIMES THEOLOGY
When pastors remain silent on biblical prophecy, believers look for information on biblical prophecy on social media and the Internet. There they find a wide array of teachings and opinions, some biblical, but most are false and misleading.
Some believers possess the needed scriptural discernment to sort through the mess of various teachings. But as the lack of biblical knowledge reaches epidemic proportions among those claiming to be Christians, most churchgoers lack the necessary discernment and fall prey to the misinformation available at their fingertips.
A couple questions for preachers: Do you really desire for social media and the Internet to be the primary source of information regarding prophecy for those in your church? Would it not be better for you to provide the sound biblical guidance regarding our hope that they so desperately need during these perilous times?
2. THE FLOURISHING OF FALSE TEACHING
Many pastors fear causing division in their congregation and thus remain silent on matters related to the Rapture. However, they fail to realize that it's their refusal to preach on what the Bible says on this matter that has led to the very diversity of opinions in their churches. The potential for disunity is there even if they remain quiet.
Last year, I met with a pastor who said that if he preached what I believe, half of his congregation would walk out the door. It occurred to me later that if he taught what he really believes, the other half would quickly depart. We started attending his church after seeing that it's statement of faith said it was premillennial. The pastor, however, was most definitely not premillennial!
Pastors who ignore biblical prophecy allow false teachings to flourish or as in the case of the one I just mentioned, the church remains in the dark about what he really believes.
3. BELIEVERS LOOKING TO THIS LIFE FOR THEIR IMMEDIATE HOPE
Another consequence of silence in the pulpits regarding future things is that believers look for hope in things other than Jesus' imminent appearing.
A popular theology today, often referred to as "dominion theology," teaches that the church will prevail against the evils of this word and usher in a millennial reign of its own before Jesus returns to the earth. Many Christians falsely believe the church itself is their hope for the future.
Additionally, even pastors who do not adhere to "dominion theology" also make the church the object of hope for those that hear them preach. Those who allegorize the book of Revelation often, in my experience, change its message to exalt the church rather than Jesus.
Still others give the impression that things will return to normal. "The world has seen difficult times at other times in history," they say, "and the current crises are no different."
All these things point believers to this life as their hope rather than Jesus' appearing.
4. REDUCED MOTIVATION FOR GODLY LIVING
The Lord intended our hope in the Rapture to be a motivation for godly living. John wrote these words in 1 John 3:2-3:
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Our hope in Jesus' imminent return has a purifying impact on our lives. Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, said the following in a recent interview"
"I don't know why more people don't want to talk about eschatology or end-times events because Bible prophecy is not given to scare us but to prepare us," he said. "And not only that, but I think it motivates us."
Laurie continued, "Talking about these things can be very motivating for Christians to keep us on our toes spiritually.
"Knowing Jesus could come back at any moment," he said, can "be a motivator to live a godly life."
Silence in the pulpits regarding our "blessed hope" leaves those in the seats assuming they have their whole lives ahead of them although Scripture tells us this may not be the case. For many, this negates the urgency to walk closely with the Lord.
5. BELIEVERS THAT ARE UNPREPARED FOR THE DANGERS THAT LIE AHEAD FOR THIS WORLD
The scarcity of preaching on biblical prophecy leaves believers unprepared and unaware of the dark and threatening storm clouds gathering on our horizon.
The Bible promises that Jesus may come at any time, but we may experience tough times before that happens.
The war in Ukraine has led to a humanitarian crisis not seen since WWII and will very likely lead to critical food shortages throughout the world by the end of 2022. We live in perilous times, and they are about to get much worse.
The current silence in the pulpits not only shifts the hope of the saints to this life, but leaves them ill-prepared to deal with ever-present threats of nuclear war and famine. If their focus is solely on their future in this life, these things will cause anxiety
Today more than ever before, believers need the assurances of Scripture regarding their joyful and glorious future. Pastors who refuse to teach about Jesus' imminent appearing from the pulpit deny their people critically needed assurance as the threats of war and famine increase with each passing day.
6. BELIEVERS NOT WATCHING FOR THE LORD'S APPEARING AS JESUS INSTRUCTED US TO DO
Referring to His return, Jesus said this in Matthew 24:44, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." In the same discourse, He later said, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (25:13)
Jesus' instruction led to a church that eagerly anticipated His return. In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul wrote this:
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.
The Greek word for "await" in verse 20 denotes to an "intense anticipation" or an "excited expectation" of a future event.[iii] In this text, Paul portrays believers as eagerly longing Jesus' appearing with great anticipation; they expected it to happen at any moment.
When we watch for Jesus' appearing, we copy the eager expectancy of the early church to meet Jesus in the air.
7. BELIEVERS NOT RECOGNIZING THE CONVERGENCE OF PROPHETIC SIGNS
My head is spinning from all that's happening in our world from a prophecy perspective. A few years ago, I believed that many signs of the approaching Tribulation were converging as never before, but today this reality has grown beyond what I could have imagined back then.
As the shadow of the approaching Tribulation grows darker by the day, those aware of this convergence of prophetic signs recognize that Jesus' appearing to take us home must be ever so close.
I never thought I would hear a president of the United States talk openly about the need for the New World Order, which during the Tribulation will morph into the kingdom of the antichrist. But yesterday, it happened as President Biden started talking about his commitment to it! I have long assumed this, but it's another matter to hear him talk about it as something that is going to happen.
The Rapture may happen soon, and I pray that it does. But if not, we will see our world rapidly deteriorate as critical food shortages develop and as the coming New World Order continues to suppress the rights of people throughout the world.
Pastors, why not start preaching about biblical prophecy now rather than wait until people in your church demand that you teach on this subject, or the threatening conditions around you leave you with no choice but to talk about the details of our joyous and imminent hope?
In Tom Hughes' article titled, "Five Reasons Pastors Don't Teach Bible Prophecy," he said this, "Let Jesus also be the example in what we teach and preach. He taught a great deal about His Second Coming and the signs surrounding it. We should, too."
A realistic look at our world is indeed scary and grows more
ominous with each passing day, but as we view current events through the lens
of Scripture and what it promises us about our future, the Lord gives us
strength and peace to face the joyous future that lies ahead for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)