1 Corinthians 15:2

Title:  By this gospel

If we would regard the gospel as the means to salvation by faith, in the same manner it has to carry us all the way to the resurrection, help us grow in the knowledge of the truth, strengthen us in the trials of our faith, encourage us in our commitment to serve God and obey his commands.

By no means is the gospel message an initial truth that would not permeate every facet of the Christian life.  We are saved by it, and by it we are shepherded to the very gate of the Kingdom.

Colossians 1:16

Title:  For the Lord Jesus

The beginning of all things is the purpose of the end of all things.

Many minds might be skeptical of the Purpose-Giver for all that live and were created, but the challenge doesn’t necessarily end there; we, including those who doubt, still have to submit to His total control.

Unless the nations consciously live for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who was born in the flesh in the Lord Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, the end of humanity would be as horrible as its unbelief.

Possessing no purpose that will carve its path to the end which should lead to a new beginning, mankind, regretfully, has no hope in this life and in the world to come.

1 Peter 1:18

Title:  Empty way of life

Despite the learning and the technological wonders that overwhelm the conduct of modern living, upon closer examination of man’s behavior, his is an aimless course of life wanting in direction.

If there is no conscious freedom from slavery to sin and lawlessness through the death of the Lord Jesus, life will have nothing to offer and it will lead to nowhere but to an eternal separation from God.

The senses crave for instant gratification, but every soul yearns for direction that would lead to forgiveness.

Only God can give life meaning and objective, and only through the Lord Jesus, the Christ.

Habakkuk 2:11

Title:  The stone shall cry out

Unjust gain cannot be laundered into legitimacy by converting it into commendable enterprise or even as an offering to the Lord because the very foundation of properties purchased with plunder will cry out against those who have grown rich through extortion, dishonest transactions, bribery, tampered weights and measures, etc.

The echo of fraudulent acts will reverberate in God’s hearing until judgment is served in the heavenly hall of justice.

Jeremiah 3:9

Title:  Stone and wood

If a man desires to commit spiritual adultery, that is, to worship pagan deities, he cannot do so using anything God has created, such as stone and wood, in fact anything else in creation, because everything belongs to the Lord and can only be utilized for the Creator's pleasure and glory.

Idolatrous men should create something out of nothing with which to worship their false gods, and we know this to be an impossibility since the power to create is in the domain of God, and he has stopped creating, as well observed by the First Law of Thermodynamics.

We can now conclude that idolatry is the worship of nothing with nothing.

Psalm 23:2

Title:  Green pastures

For the Christian who harkens to the voice of the Good Shepherd and follows in his footsteps, even up the knoll of sacrifice, every condition in life is a green pasture, because it is the presence of the Lord Jesus among his sheep that makes the meadow lush with the satisfaction of his comforting guidance and his trustworthy promise of eternal life, with the attendance only of goodness and love throughout the years, to those who would seek righteousness as welcome guests in his holy and royal dwelling, as in the days of old the temple of the Lord.

John 6:44; John 14:6

Title:  No one can come to me

Salvation is uniquely the work of God alone, and in no way to be attributed to any human strength or agency.

The Father seeks those whom he would save, with lovingkindness draws them to the Lord Jesus who, in turn, is the only way to the Father.  This beautiful pattern clearly exhibits the sovereignty of God, his justice, and his love which is offered as a gift in the redemptive work of his Son.

God is in absolute control over the history of salvation, for if not no one would be saved because on one seeks after God, so while we were still powerless, the Lord Jesus died for the ungodly.

Matthew 6:19

Title:  Moth and rust

It is not difficult to see that the garbage dump contains everything man lives and works for on this planet.  Everything money can buy ends up in a stinking landfill.

The Lord Jesus commanding us to stop storing up material things if we have already started accumulating goods that we can actually do without.  What we have to be so sure of is that we desire to own things because they are essential in order for us to serve God by spreading the gospel and edifying the church, never to flaunt our wealth or to enjoy the pleasures of life to the fullest and as long as they would last.

Life is not for our pleasure.  Life is meant for the service of God.  And that is where true joy and life can be found.

1 Thessalonians 1:10

Title:  Wait for His Son

A congregation that has grown to be a model of faith, love, and hope would be preoccupied with the expectation of the return of the Lord Jesus and would be concerned with the eternal questions of life rather than with trivial matters that have no spiritual merit.

For their sincere interest in the future of believers who die before the Lord Jesus returns, and for the part they will have in that great day, an encouraging response was relayed to them and would enlighten the church through all generations.

Our questions are windows to our spiritual maturity, and the Father God would leave no detail unrehearsed to his children who are earnestly waiting for the day of the Lord and speed its coming.

Philippians 1:27

Title:  Whatever happens

In life or in death, the Christian should behave himself in a way suitable for someone who has been granted the honor of suffering for the Lord Jesus in defending the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) in partnership with other believers.

This is not an easy proposition considering the magnitude of the task and the urgency of the times, but those who would be companions with the apostles in their perils and privation in defending and establishing the gospel will be able to rejoice even in the face of great endurance and many forms of danger and opposition outside the church and even from those who call themselves Christians but are of the synagogue of Satan.

Philippians 1:10

Title:  The day of Christ

The history of man will culminate on the day of the Lord, and creation itself will be liberated from its bondage of decay on that day; for this reason the Christian perspective must lead him from Calvary to the Mount of Olives where the Lord Jesus will set his feet at the end of the age and gather onto himself his people from the four corners of the earth.

The earth, in its present state, is no place for Christian purpose, which is to live a pure and blameless life.  We are not here on this insignificant speck of dust in God's universe to simply cherish our freedom in pursuit of happiness.  On the contrary, the believer is expected to carry his cross to the hill of sacrifice, and along the narrow path live a holy life for the pleasure and praise and honor of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 1:4

Title:  In all our troubles

Our Father God, the God who comes alongside us when we are under great distress, as we call upon him in prayer, addresses all our troubles, even individual afflictions that may seem to drown us in total despair, and by his great mercy encourages us through his Son, the Lord Jesus, whose suffering was so intense that creation itself convulsed in confusion over the tortured and shameful death of the Savior who gave up his life for those who hated him.

None of our sufferings is more agonizing than what the Lord Jesus had to endure before and on the cross, and yet the Father is concerned with our troubles, for nothing is too big for the Lord.

Isaiah 17:1

THE DESTRUCTION OF DAMASCUS, SYRIA, BEFORE OR IN MARCH 2014

Isa. 16:14; Isa. 20:3; Isa. 37:30; Isa. 21:16

Never in its history has Damascus, the capital city of Syria and the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world, ever been totally destroyed as to be rendered uninhabitable. But with the turn of events, commencing with the Arab Spring revolts in March of 2011, the prophetic utterances of Isaiah have taken a clearer perspective and urgency.

Isaiah alludes to the term of a slave’s servitude of three (3) years when writing about the exile of Egypt and Cush, and the subjugation of Moab. Sandwiched between these accounts is the prophecy against Aram (Syria), so the possibility is not inconclusive that Damascus would become a heap of ruins by March of 2014. Consequently, it may also trigger World War III.

Jeremiah 9:24

Title:  Understands and knows me

To say that “God is Love” is to be short of the truth. 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Bible, is the God of Love, Judgment, and Righteousness.  That is the reason why when the Holy Spirit came, he convicted the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). 

How convenient it is to imagine a god who will forgive and understand all our sins because he is infinitely loving, ignoring the fact that steadfast love is at the same time just and righteous, in which there is no darkness at all.  We cannot begin to understand and know God unless we grasp that the Lord, in his immeasurable goodness, demands sinless perfection, therefore he has to judge sin with death, and for this purpose the Lord Jesus suffered death that he might take away the sins of those who would believe the gospel (1Cor. 15:1-4).

2 Corinthians 1:5

Title:  Our comfort overflows

For the Christian who suffers for the sake of the gospel, and for some to the point of total despair that they would welcome death, there will come a superabounding flow of consolation from the Lord Jesus whom they serve with unquestionable devotion.

Suffering, as a Christian, cannot be avoided, and so is the comfort that would wash away every trace of trouble, for as long as the church is joined together in prayer and in sharing their material substance with those who are afflicted beyond measure.

The church needs to understand that suffering is a vital element in Christian service; and those who would suffer hardships and persecution for preaching the gospel would bring with them the promise of comfort from the Lord and which is sorely needed by the people of God.

Romans 8:29

Title:  Conformed to the image of his Son

The greatest good for man is to be like his Creator.

To achieve this, one has to be born from above by faith in the Lord Jesus.  By becoming a child of God through faith, a Christian becomes a participant in the glory and suffering of the Son of God.  A believer cannot do otherwise because a saint who loves God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his mind and with all his strength has been powerfully appointed to triumph in every situation in life.

Every event in the life of a believer cooperates with the Lord God in his plan to jointly form us with the image of his Son.  Every situation, be it good or evil at first glance, is a tool in God’s hands to shape us into readiness for an eternity of worship and service in a kingdom that will never end.

Therefore we must seize every opportunity to be molded into spiritual maturity by the very God who created all things through the Lord Jesus and the Spirit who hovered upon the face of the waters of the primeval creation.

2 Corinthians 1:9

Title:  Not rely on ourselves

The Lord God is telling us that we cannot pacify or convince ourselves that we have the intrinsic capacity to alleviate the grief that overflows into our lives from sorrowful experiences that are common to all, because apart from the Lord through other believers we are open to despair and deep distress.

God is the source of all comfort, as we, together with the brethren, implore the Lord from our hearts to come alongside us so that we can endure with hopeful constancy every trouble and hardship that may come our way.

2 Corinthians 1:8

Title:  We do not want you to be uninformed

The church must not ignore the pressures, the hardships, that our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus are experiencing, because the body must mutually share in whatever afflicts any segment of it, and in so doing also partake in the solace of the encouraging nearness of the God of all comfort.

We must inform the brethren of our sufferings, and never be ashamed; we must not deny the church of the opportunity to be underworkers to those who are hemmed in from all sides by all kinds of troubles, because it is God's plan for the redeemed  to serve in helping together those who are utterly at a loss through the agency of prayer and physical presence as well as financial aid.

Indeed, comfort from God is channeled through believers joining together in prayer and in all kinds of helps.

2 Corinthians 5:16

Title:  From a worldly point of view

A person’s world view originates out of his own understanding of the meaning and purpose of life in relation to God (if he believes in one), to nature, and with other human beings.  Mainly he sees the world and internalizes and weighs his actions through the lens of his personal religious/spiritual convictions, with the pursuit of happiness as the primary goal in life.

But to the Christian the world is regarded, and everything in it, and the whole creation, through the Scriptures, and never of his own understanding, as existing for the pleasure of God under His sovereign will and determination. 

For this reason a Christian rightly esteems the Lord Jesus as he is:  the Creator, the only begotten Son of God, the only Savior, the Messiah, the God who is with us.

Matthew 6:10

Title:  Your kingdom come

A Christian’s main concern when approaching his Father God in prayer should be the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth; for himself he asks for his basic needs, righteousness, perseverance in times of testing, and deliverance from painful circumstances common to all.

Prayer is a longing for the time and the place where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, uttered with inward groaning as we fervently look forward to the revelation of the joint-heirs of the Lord Jesus and the transformation of our mortal bodies from the perishable to the imperishable.

The Lord God be praised.  Amen.

1 Timothy 6:6

Title:  Contentment

It is only godliness that can bring self-satisfaction with what one has because of the sufficiency, in fact the greatest gain in this life and in eternity, which piety procures in a measure that is necessary for life and Christian service.

Never was wealth assigned with contentment in the sense that no one really owns anything in his possession and one has to die as empty of material wealth as when he was born.

Now contentment is this: Assurance of possession of eternal life and with the basic necessities in order to live decently without burdening others, to be able to serve God in his church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, until the return of the Lord Jesus.

Note: 1 & 2 Timothy were written specifically for leaders in the church, but could be applied also to every believer.

2 Corinthians 13:5

Title:  Examine yourselves

Scrutinize yourselves whether the Lord Jesus is in you.

If He is, you have passed the test; and as proof that the Holy Spirit resides in you and you are guided by the truth, you are expected to do what is right as a church, dispense of justice with impartiality, aim for complete unity, pay heed to the advice of the elders, be of one mind, and live peaceably as one.

The church must conduct itself as a repository of truth, whether in doctrine or discipline or in its governance, that love and peace may abode in it in fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Job 26:14

Title:  Whisper

God reveals himself to us in faint whispers and not in fierce trumpet blasts, so no other sound should be in competition with it for our full attention.

A whisper is all we can tolerate about God for now, until the final trump be sounded announcing the triumphant return of the Lord Jesus, then we will know him as he is amidst all the glorious sounds and thundering heaven and earth could muster.

But until that moment arrives, we have to be still and like a sheep listening to the Shepherd’s soft yet distinct voice, hold fast to him.

John 15:7

Title:  Ask whatever you wish

In order to remain/stay in the vine who is the Lord Jesus, a Christian must read and study the Bible in order to know God’s will for His children, obey His commands, and thus stay in the sphere of God’s love.

Then whatever we wish in the name of the Lord Jesus will be provided us, whatever we ask that will enable us to love the brethren with a love that will allow us to lay down our lives for our Christian friends, and for any believer for that matter.

The everlasting fruit of the Christian that brings glory to the Father is our abundant love for the body of the Lord Jesus, the church, whether corporeally or individually; and by which all men will know that we are truly the Lord’s disciples.

Colossians 1:15

Title:  The firstborn of all creation

Cultists use this verse to prove that the Lord Jesus was a created being, having been created by the Father first and then Jesus, himself, creating all others in the universe.

If God the Father had indeed created the Lord Jesus, He had to bring forth time and space first in order to accommodate any created being; but v. 16 states that the Lord Jesus created all things, visible and invisible, to include time and space.  Now if the Lord Jesus had been created without the benefit of time and space (which is not possible), he is essentially eternal, because anything before time and space has no beginning or ending, and anything eternal is Deity.

The argument that the Lord Jesus was a created being is also faulty in the sense that creative power starts with nothing.  If the Lord Jesus was a created being, he was limited in what he could do, and surely he could not have made any thing out of nothing, for that is the prerogative of God alone.  If cultists would continue to argue that the Father had given the Lord Jesus the power to create out of nothing, that would be tantamount to making the Lord Jesus God, for creative power could not be transferred to a created being without making him Deity, if it could be transferred at all.

And we must also consider another aspect of creation which is the power to hold all things together (v. 17).  If the Lord Jesus was a created being, someone else holds the power to hold him together.  No one who is being held together by a higher power has the ability to hold other things together, for the simple reason that he has no control even of or over himself; and the power of keeping other things together will eventually fall on God the Father, and that would make (v 17) spurious.

The Lord Jesus was declared firstborn to show that he was before all creation, and that no one was before Him as his creator, that there was no creative act before him, that he was before there were time and space, that he was eternal, that he was Deity.

Colossians 1:19

Title:  All his fullness

Cultists may not use this verse to point out that the “fullness” referred to here was given or bestowed by the Father God to the Lord Jesus at a given time, for that is not what the verse is saying.

The “fullness” in the Lord Jesus is the completeness of God’s being, meaning the totality of who God is.  And here it is merely being affirmed as a fact that God’s fullness has always dwelt in the Lord Jesus and that the Father is pleased that it was so, and he was merely announcing it to all of creation.  No act of giving and receiving can be construed from this verse, and no time element is involved either.

The Lord Jesus had the fullness of God from eternity past to eternity future, if we could even imagine that eternity had a past and has a future, because he is Deity, the God who is with us, the Immanuel.  Amen.

Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory

The Second Coming of Christ as declared by the Apostle Paul in his Thessalonian Letters is not the ‘Pre-tribulation RAPTURE,’ but His bodily return at the end of the  Tribulation Period.

Notes on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

[Efren de la Cruz Agbulos, 2000]

significant facts to start with:

(John 17:15,20)

15  I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.

20  And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,

(Isa 26:19-21)

9 But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;

she will conceal her slain no longer.

NIV

the same word, "PAROUSIA", was used in the

following verses:

matt. 24:3; matt. 24:27; matt. 24:37; matt. 24:39;

1 cor. 15:23; 1 thess. 2:19; 1 thess. 3:13;

1 thess. 4:15; 2 thess. 2:1 2 thess. 2:8

Endtime protection

Rev. 3:8-10; Lk. 21:34-36; Isa. 26:20,21;

2Pet. 2:4-9; Exo. 19:4; Psa. 91; Psa. 27:5;

Zeph. 2:3; Isa. 33:14-16

(colossians 3:4)

Paul alludes only to one coming

Recipients:  Mostly gentiles

Purpose of 1 Thessalonians:

1) future of believers who die before Christ’s   return

2) time of His return

Purpose of 2 Thessalonians:

1) answer misunderstanding that the Lord had already come

2) give further explanation on his first letter, outlining the events that are bound to   happen before the coming of the Lord, as described in (1 Thess. 4:15-17)

 I. Who will come down with Christ at His coming?

                       

1] (1Thess.3:13; 2 Thess.1:7) holy ones; angels

(Zech. 14:5)   (Matt. 25:31) (Jude14)

2] (1Thess.4:14) believers who’d slept in Christ

II. Purposes of His coming According to the Thessalonian letters

                       

1] (2Thess.1:6) pay back trouble to those who trouble                 the Thessalonians/Christians

2] (2Thess.1:8,9) punish those who do not know God

3] (2Thess.2:8) overthrown the anti-Christ                        

4] (2Thess.1:7) give relief to Christians, including Paul

5] (2Thess. 1:10) glorified in His people

III. Manner of Christ’s coming

                       

1] (1Thess. 4:14) will come with angels and believers

2] (1Thess. 4:16) ‘come down’ (to earth) from heaven (Acts 1:11)

IV. Action of the saints

                       

1] (1Thess.4:17) meet the Lord in the air, where the “air” is just the place of meeting, a long ways off the ground, because the Lord Jesus Christ is really on His way down to earth

V. Time of Christ’s coming

                       

1] (1Thess.5:4) should not surprise Christians

2] (2Thess. 2:3) will not come until the anti-Christ is revealed

3] (2Thess. 2:7) the ‘restrainer’ should be taken away first before the anti-Christ is revealed.

Talking Points:

1) Paul was referring to only one coming in both Thessalonian letters

2) The difference lies in Paul’s treatment of the subject: in (1 Thess.) the future of believers who die before His coming; in (2 Thess.) that the Lord has not yet come

3) If it were the pre-tribulation rapture, the judgment of unbelievers (2 Thess. 1:6-9) and the destruction of the anti-Christ (2 Thess. 2:8)    would not have been the purposes of His coming, since the act of judging unbelievers and the overthrowing the ‘lawless one’ is at the end of the Tribulation Period

4) And Christ would not have come with His mighty angels if the purpose was just to fetch believers (2 Thess. 1:7)

5) (1 Thess. 4:16) refers to a ‘coming down’ from heaven, with the earth as the reference point of Paul (Acts 1:11)

6) If we were on our way up to heaven, Christ would have been the one to meet us, whereas in (1 Thess. 4:17) the believers are the ones to meet the Lord

7) The picture of (1 Thess. 4:17) is that of an Oriental guest being met by the host while still a long ways off.  In this case the Christians are the hosts out to ‘meet’ the coming Lord Jesus Christ

8) The sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul:

a] The ‘restrainer’—possibly an angel or the present world economic and political systems—is taken away first (2thess. 2:7)

b] Then a falling away; then the anti-Christ to be revealed,  (2Thess. 2:8)

c] Then Christ would come and all believers to be gathered to Him (2Thess.2:1-3)

If the church were the ‘restrainer’, then that would not be in keeping with the sequence of Christ’s coming according to Paul

9) It is a grave interpretation error to take just two verses (1Thess.4:16,17) without considering its place in both letters, which, incidentally, was written just 6 months apart, and claim that it points to the pre-tribulation rapture.

10) The evidence from the 2 letters themselves overwhelmingly prove that Paul was referring to just one coming.

11) And that coming is not the ‘pre-tribulation Rapture,’ since the event stated in Paul’s letters is related to the punishment of unbelievers and the destruction of the anti-Christ which, we all know, cannot happen at the beginning of the Tribulation Period

13) In (Matt. ch. 28), Jesus tells us that He would be with us up to the end of the age.  The church will be here up to the end of the age to fulfill the ‘Great Commission.’

14) (1 Corinthians 15:51,52) does not refer to a ‘rapture’ either but to the process of change from a ‘perishable’ body to a ‘imperishable’ body the moment Christ comes down from heaven.  It doesn’t refer to any upward flight/movement at all.

15) (Daniel 7:21-25), the Anti-Christ will defeat the saints until the coming of Christ.

16) (1 Thess. 4:16) the rapture was supposed to be secret, but Paul was describing something open and public (Mark 13:26)

17) There is no evidence from Scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ even hinted to His disciples that they would be caught up in the clouds before His bodily second coming as described in (Matthew ch. 24), among others.

18) (Rev. 19:8,9) The wedding of the saints and the Lamb will occur upon the bodily return of Christ on earth just at the end of the tribulation

period, and not in heaven after a pre-tribulation rapture as some groups would claim.

19) (2 thess. 2:2)

Paul equates the return of Jesus in the Thess. letters as the Day of the Lord

20) (1 Thess. 4:15)

The language here seems to indicate a not so common event transpiring, such as a wave of persecution against believers, for Paul to suggest that many believers would die, but some would be left alive unto the coming of the Lord

Texts to consider: 

Isaiah 66:15,16

Zech. 14:5

Dan. 7:21-25

Rev. 19:11-15

Matt. 28

Matt. 24

1 Cor. 15:51,52

2 Thess. 1:7

2 Thess. 2:8

1 Thess. 5:2

1 John 2:28

1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20

Title:  Frequent illnesses

According to Paul the apostle, Timothy was frequently ill and he (Paul) had left Trophimus behind in Miletus because he (Trophimus) was sick.

These verses wouldn’t fit well with social gospel and full gospel proponents because they claim that healing is part of the good news of the Lord Jesus.  It is not arguable that healing really happens, but all in accordance with the sovereign will of God and not because of any promise of divine healing.  God will heal according to his plan, and there is a sickness that is unto death.

The complete gospel (as against the full gospel) tells of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus for the salvation of his people from their sins, period; there is no prosperity clause or a promise of blessed health in the gospel.  All the gospel has is the remedy for sin and the resulting eternal life for those who would believe.

Yes, there would be complete healing and inconceivable riches awaiting the Christian, but that will not happen now; all the good things promised as inheritance to a joint heir with the Son of God await the revelation of the saints on the day the Lord Jesus returns to establish his eternal kingdom.  Amen. 

1 Corinthians 11:1

Title:  Be ye followers of me

What example did the apostle Paul follow in the Lord Jesus that he is encouraging us to pursue also?

The Lord Jesus during his tenure on earth did not seek his own profit but the benefit of many.  He lived and died for the sake of others, the very people who would lead him to the hill to be crucified.  In fact this was the exact reason why we were created in the first place, and why the church was established on the Rock who is the Lord Jesus, that we may be servants serving the Lord by serving his people.

What greater advantage is there in this life than receiving the gift of eternal life?  Nothing!  Therefore, since we have every resource we would need to live righteous lives, we seek the good of other people before our own so nothing in our testimonies would hinder them from hearing the gospel that they might be saved.

Mark 9:35

Title: Who was the greatest?

Christian service is not about achieving greatness or prominence.  If that were so, we should have known the identity of the good Samaritan long ago.  The kingdom the Lord will establish will have only one foremost and essential figure in its economy, the Son of God.  In the presence of the majesty and awesomeness of the power of the Lord Jesus, we dare not yearn for any other position but that of a servant.

Acts 6:4

Title:  Give our attention

A man of God who enters the political arena is clearly out of order.  He doesn’t comprehend the immensity of the spiritual task to which he has been called and the urgency of the times.

Drawing back from activities that would take his mind, heart, and soul away from prayer and the continual proclamation of the gospel, he is to attend assiduously all the exercises surrounding prayer and preaching, to persevere, never to leave the presence of, and thereby develop strength in them. 

That leaves him no time for the affairs of the world.

Note:  Christians should be encouraged to pursue a career in government, but a pastor who desires to get entangled in politics must first resign from his post.

2 Corinthians 6:17; James 4:4

Title:  Be separate

While the world is talking peace and unity, the church must draw the line and severe any ties it might have with humanistic philosophies, with what is evil in society that people now call good.

The body of the Lord Jesus must not remain silent when the truth of Scriptures is being attacked in schools, in government, in the media, even in the field of entertainment and sports; for unless the church, even the individual Christian, separates itself from the world, it cannot achieve the unity it desires. 

We must fight like soldiers for the truth of God.  We must raise our voices against the promotion of sodomy, same-sex (union) abomination, the murder of babies in the womb, the intrusion of government into church (spiritual) affairs.  If we fail to do this, we are, in effect, haters of God, and will receive the same plagues as would befall the enemies of God.

Ezekiel 34:20

Title:  I myself will judge

After the world had been harvested by angels and the wicked had been separated from the righteous, God himself will then judge between one sheep and another.  He will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

The fat sheep are those who took care only of themselves and had left the rest of the flock to fend for themselves; these are those who loved to be first in the congregation and who exerted power and influence to gain prominence and in many cases financial gain at the expense of poorer and weaker brethren.

We will be judged how we treated the brethren, for God doesn’t show partiality to the poor or favoritism for the great.

Genesis 22:8

Title: God himself will provide the lamb

With confidence in what God had promised that he would be the father of multitudes, Abraham brought his only legitimate son to the hill of sacrifice believing the Lord will intervene and spare the life of his son and provide a better offering, one that was without spot or blemish and with the proper value, while his son was a sinner like all men are and also in need of a Savior.

Jeremiah 29:11

Title: For I know the plans I have for you

For a people whom the Lord had chastened with exile and are about to be restored to their former habitat, the Lord had intentions of welfare, health, safety, prosperity, and continuity of their existence as a nation [in contrast to their former state of tragic banishment], while anchored on their continued dependence on God.  The national character of this prophecy was directed toward the integrity of the inhabitants of the land, and will result in the restoration of worship and fellowship with their Savior.

Matthew 9:37

Title: The workers are few

Preachers will always be few, and among them those who are idle and who love the title and the accolade outnumber those who truly work in the fields, nameless and not often appreciated.  Our prayer should be for day workers who will pray and preach the knowledge of the kingdom, who would not be masters nor reap where they have not sown, nor eat the day they would not work, men after God’s own heart, for only the Lord could call such as He would send.

Genesis 1:31

Title:  It was very good

The best state for man was in Paradise, even if it was lacking in all the amenities that dominate our lives today; else the Lord God would not have pronounced it as superlatively the only good.  Indeed, it will be restored in eternity, minus the gadgets we could not live without.

If Adam were alive today, he would feel deprived of perfection in life: a leisurely task of tending the garden, food to eat, and a daily fellowship with the Lord God in the cool of late afternoon.

Matthew 5:13

Title: Salt is good

Salt is good, and it is good for the earth because this world is without taste, it is bland to the palette.  Nothing in this world, its wisdom and learning, its governments, its enjoyments, can truly satisfy man, without the flavor of the testimony of the righteousness of God in the Christian, as he stands his ground and marks his influence in its institutions, the workplace, the community in general.

Matthew 21:13

Title:  House of prayer

Congregations today are far from being houses of prayer, where preaching has taken center stage as well as other social pursuits not pertinent to the worship of God, and prayer relegated to the opening and closing of such activities.

While the exposition of the Scriptures is vital to the growth of the church, prayer is its very life.  There has to be sermons, but a double portion of time must be allotted to prayer.

It is more desirable to talk to God than to talk to each other.

1 John 5:14

Title:  If we ask anything

God will not give us everything we want and have prayed for; the idea that God would grant our every whim and wish as his child is totally absurd and is not in keeping with His character and sovereignty.

What we want cannot be separated from what other people want, under the umbrella of the complete control of God, or there will be anarchy and chaos.  There is interconnectivity between the lives of people, and only God can see the connection, and His will takes into consideration all the elements relevant to the past, the present, and the future, the totality of His plan.

In life, it is not what we want, but what God wills; the same goes with prayer, or it is we who are sovereign, and not God.

Isaiah 22:13

Title: Let us eat and drink

Warnings of impending judgment call for repentance on the part of God's people, and they will be set apart from the heathen who would not heed any caution of calamity and destruction by doing what is contrary to what the Lord requires.

Instead of weeping and wailing for the sins that have offended God, those who have no hope of resurrection will clothe themselves with gladness and joy in place of sackcloth and ashes; they will utilize what little time they have left to indulge the senses to the utmost in lieu of strengthening the spirit by prayer and fasting and the study of the word.

But God is not mocked; as a man sows so shall he reap.

1 Peter 1:1

Title: Strangers in the world

Christians are, for all intent and purposes, citizens of the eternal kingdom while yet residing temporarily on this present earth.

Their lives exhibit a standard of righteousness which cannot be challenged for purity of intention even in a human court of law because they live for God and the gospel, and not for themselves.

They live for God the Father through obedience to the Lord Jesus by their faith, and whose inheritance they will share at the resurrection in the last time.

Luke 11:3

Title:  Give us day by day our daily bread

In days of old people had to toil daily so they would eat, in the absence of refrigeration and modern storage facilities, and add to that the lack of standards of exchange and credit.

The background picture for trusting in God for daily needs has changed significantly when food is readily available, especially for those who are well-off.

To derive contemporary meaning from an ancient supplication, we have to view it in the light of two basic truths:

1]  God owns everything, and we are to ask his permission to use his

      money for our food

2]  We can lose everything without prior notice

By these we come to terms that both the rich and the poor are totally dependent on God for daily survival, but only those who come to Him in prayer have the honor and the means to thank him for the prolonging of their lives.

1 Corinthians 15:4

Title:  According to the scriptures

A Christian is guided by the Word of God, not by what he feels.

Does says the Lord in creation, righteousness, salvation, marriage, the family, education, human government, sexuality, etc.

Every obedient mind submits to the truth of God in the Bible, and will never dare formulate ideas contrary to the vein of truth that persists from the Old to the New Testament.

Habakkuk 3:17

Title:  Although the fig tree shall not blossom

The purpose of God’s judgment on his chosen people for their transgressions is not to grind them down into oblivion, rather to deliver and save them, putting their faith to the test by subjecting them to the pressure of suffering and loss so they would turn from their wicked ways and reaffirm in their hearts the sovereignty of the Lord in their lives.

Chastisement was never a pleasant experience. It has to hurt or we will never appreciate the unbiased justice of God, which was the basis of our salvation, and which will be poured at the appointed time on those who have not obeyed the gospel of the Lord Jesus and have persecuted the saints of the Most High.

Habakkuk 2:18

Title:  Graven image

An idol is carved out of unregenerate man’s concept of who and what God is and his expectations of him.

The truth is an idol is nothing more than a reconstruction in wood, stone, or metal, etc., of the person who trusts in it, making himself his own god.

Mark 12:30

Title:  Love the Lord your God

Anyone who claims belief in God must love God. 

And anyone who loves God must love him with his whole being.  Anything contrary to this pattern rejects the centrality of God as the rationale for creation and life.

If the life of the Lord Jesus is to be regarded as a pattern for Christian living, a believer must live and die for God.  He has no claim to any rights but what his Christian duties demand.  And his only assured blessing is eternal life, for which end God so loved him.

Matthew 26:46

Title:  Rise, let us go!

A Christian is a follower of the Lord Jesus, the Christ.  Firstly, a disciple is a follower of his righteousness; then he is a follower of his sacrifices.

If we are not following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, in his righteousness and in his sufferings, we have not known him or the value of his sacrificial death on the cross, and we are actually deserting him and fleeing from him.

And to whom shall we go?  Outside there is only deep darkness.