Month: July 2017
Courage in the Lonely Hour
It is in the midst of loneliness that we learn to rely exclusively on God. DEUTERONOMY 31:6-8 6 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” 7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an …
1 Rapture,Resurrection Promise&Program
The Rapture of the church was a mystery (mystērion) in that it had not been known in the Old Testament but now was revealed. The dead in Christ will first be raised, and then the living will be translated instantaneously to our glorified resurrected bodies. The trumpet, as in the Old Testament, signaled the appearance of God (Exodus 19:16). It is the last blast for the church because this appearance shall never end (1 Corinthians 13:12). Like the dead (I Corinthians 15: 42–43), the living will exchange the natural bodies which are corrupt since the Fall in exchange for the …
“Why go I mourning?” Psalm 42:9
Psalm 42 42 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude …
Contentment Through Pain
If God has given His Son to die for us, let us beware of doubting His kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life. Let us never suppose that He can give us anything that is not really for our good. Let us remember the words of Paul, “He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all—how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” (Rom. 8:32.) Let us see in every sorrow and trouble of our earthly pilgrimage, the hand of Him who gave Christ to die for …
THE PROMISE OF THE RAPTURE
We must remember that: The more literally we take the Bible, the more fundamental our theology becomes. The less literally we take the Bible, the more liberal our theology becomes. If we go the liberal route God’s message to us is lost. THE PROMISE OF THE RAPTURE Jesus Himself promised that this even would occur. John 14:2-3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go …
Strangers and Pilgrims
Reflections These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:13) THE promise of the Father is Jesus Christ — who dwells in the believer through the Spirit. All of God’s other promises, indeed, all that God has for man, is found in the Person of His Son. And Christ is IN US. If Christ is in us, we are complete in Him. (Col. 2:9) The Christian life is then not a matter …
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.” Matthew 12:20
What is weaker than the bruised reed or the smoking flax? A reed that groweth in the fen or marsh, let but the wild duck light upon it, and it snaps; let but the foot of man brush against it, and it is bruised and broken; every wind that flits across the river moves it to and fro. You can conceive of nothing more frail or brittle, or whose existence is more in jeopardy, than a bruised reed. Then look at the smoking flax–what is it? It has a spark within it, it is true, but it is almost smothered; …
Our Faithful Father
In times of helplessness, why does faith falter for some people but grows stronger for others? 2 Timothy 2:11-13 11 Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him: 12 if we endure, we shall also reign with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us: 13 if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself. All of us experience times when our circumstances seem unbearable, prayers appear to go unanswered, and the Lord feels distant. When that happens, we may wonder if He is the same …
God Is Not Shaken
“Nothing is more strengthening to faith, stabilizing to the mind, and tranquilizing to the heart of a Christian, than for him to be enabled to discern his Father’s hand guiding, shaping, and controlling everything which enters his life; and not only so, but that He is also governing this world, and all people and events in it. God is not shaken by the situation which now confronts our view, nor does the pride, arrogance, and blasphemy of His enemies occasion Him any uneasiness. To the contrary “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in …
Genesis Message 30 The Table of Nations – Japheth
The writer of Genesis begins with this statement of Noah and his three sons. He further clarifies that those sons had their offspring after the Flood. Seventy nations would come from this family and all of humanity after them. This is the sequence of the son’s birth order. They will not be presented in this chapter in that order. The order will be reversed so that Japheth the youngest will be first and Shem the oldest will be last. Ham the middle child will remain in that position of his line as it is unfolded. Shem is presented last because …
The End of All Things Part Two…by Pete Garcia
Our adversary, Satan, has used a number of different tactics to try and thwart the spread of the Gospel as his primary modus operandi. First, he influenced the Jews and the Romans to kill the Christ, not knowing that he was doing exactly what God knew he would do, and planned for, for the redemption of not just the Jews, but all mankind. Secondly, Satan attempted to crush the fledgling church through intense periods of persecution, but that only caused it to grow even faster. Then, because persecution failed, he attempted to (and has been most successful in) the corrupting …
Elementary Faith
Reflections But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb 11:6) This is a description of the faith at it’s root: A person must believe that God exists, that is, can and will reveal Himself. A person must also believe that if we seek God we will find Him – the person must believe that God is a, “responder to them that seek Him out.” You will notice that the focus is upon the faithfulness of …