Joshua 1:1-9 Joshua 5:13-15 John 14:1-4 The purpose of this journey is to come to grips with the essential teachings of the biblical text from Joshua through 2 Chronicles. We…
Jewell, Iowa
COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
"Egypt" Tagged Sermons
Nehemiah 2:9-10 Acts 1:6-11 Acts 3:19-26 Revelation 21:1-8 “A Scimitar is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures.” Wikipedia.org…
Dr. Michael Heiser in his book: “The Unseen Realm” makes this statement:
“The seeds of that failure were sown in the events of the conquest. For whatever reasons – lack of faith or lack of effort, or both – Israel failed to drive out their enemies. They allowed vestiges of the targeted bloodlines to remain in the land in the Philistine cities. They chose to coexist (Judges 1:27-36). The visible Yahweh, the Angel, asks the rhetorical question, “Why would you do such a thing?” and he announces the consequences: “Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will become as thorns for you, and their gods will be a trap for you” (Judges 2:2-3). The name of the place where he uttered these words was thereafter appropriately remembered as Bochim, a Hebrew word that means “weeping”.
John North wrote the foreword to Malcolm Muggeridge’s book titled: “The End of Christendom”
The book is based on Malcolm Muggeridge’s lecture series given in 1978 at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.
“Most of the great universities of the West were founded with the conviction that theology is the queen of the disciplines, and that the key to man’s wholeness is the pursuit of the truth of God through Jesus Christ. Apart from that truth, it was believed, all other expressions of truth are fragmentary and sterile. Now, in the latter part of the twentieth century, that tradition has almost disappeared. Where Jesus Christ and Christian doctrine are the subject of formal study, it is usually as a minor are of Comparative Religion or in a divinity school well segregated from the general student body. Religious enthusiasm among students is an embarrassment; belief in the authority of the Bible and the deity of Jesus Christ is treated as naivety to be enlightened rather than life to be nourished. Scholars in the arts, letters, and sciences who show signs of Christian devotion are likely to be shrugged off as simplistic and eccentric. Coincidentally, truth itself has become devalued, especially in the humanities and social sciences and increasingly in the pure sciences, its consequence and even existence of matter of doubt.
Universities seem to promote fragmentation, in part by undermining general studies in favor of specialized and practical studies, in part by ignoring the signs of decay in the spiritual, moral, and emotional health of the academic community.”
Chuck Swindoll in his book “The Church Awakening” wrote:
“It is precisely these four areas the adversary will attack so he can disrupt and, if possible, destroy the church. That’s why it’s important to keep our priorities straight. It’s essential that we do not get distracted by all that we CAN do as a church…and stay focused on only what we MUST do as a church. Otherwise we may be attracting a crowd for the wrong reasons.”
Genuine authentic fellowship with other followers of Jesus is the soil for becoming contagious. There are way too many Christians that sit in church every Sunday, they take notes, walk out, and come back next week, to sit, take notes, walk out, and return again next week…
…….UNTIL JESUS COMES BACK. Such Christians will grow stagnant. They come, sit, soak and sour.
Fellowship is much more than coming to church to hear a sermon every Sunday, or engaging in weekly Bible studies, or subscribe to 5 daily devotionals, or to read 5 books a week. Fellowship is physical getting together to share LIVE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Warren Wiersbe in his book “On Being a Servant of God” writes:
Christian service means invading a battleground, not a playground; and you and I are the weapons God uses to attack and defeat the enemy. When God used Moses’ rod, He needed Moses’ hand to lift it. When God used David’s sling, He needed David’s hand to swing it. When God builds a ministry, He needs somebody’s surrendered body to get the job done.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book “Life Together” wrote:
“The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we ARE sinners! But it is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says:
You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He wants you alone. “My son, give me thine heart” (Proverbs 23:26). God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner.”
Question of the week:
When tempted by the devil to jump from the top of the temple to prove that he was the son of God, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:16-17. This is an excerpt from Moses sermon to Israel AFTER they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. The “real-time” incident is recorded somewhere else in the Old Testament. WHERE can you find this story and WHAT was the real temptation Israel faced?
Christmas cannot be understood apart from this simple truth revealed to us in Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the women, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
The entire Old and New Testament was written so we can understand the spiritual struggle thousands of years in the making. Just think about the New Testament alone. Every chapter provides a glimpse into this spiritual conflict. Follow Jesus footsteps and you are confronted with the fact that wherever He goes, whatever He says, whatever He does, spiritual confrontation with the unseen powers are a daily occurrence. Eventually, the conflict pursues him unto death – it was just a matter of time; God’s time.
Today, the Christmas story has been so sanitized we miss the whole story altogether. It did not happen over night. This romanticizing has taken place over centuries and eventually was picked up by Hollywood, and commercialized by the merchants of this world. The church is not without fault in all of this. Throughout the western world, churches idealize the birth of Jesus Christ through songs, pageants, musicals and dazzling performances.
As we address the theme of this series: “It’s just a matter of time” in the next few weeks, we will pull back the curtain to see what is going on in the spiritual and physical world for thousands of years, eventually culminating when Christ returns the second time to this earth. It’s just a matter of time; God’s time when everything will come to a completion.
Remember, at that time political intrigue, racial tension, increased immorality and societal instability was the norm. This was a time of unprecedented economic and political success for the rich only. For the rest of the Roman empire it was a time of unprecedented economic and political oppression. In other words, for the Jewish people it was anything but ideal. They were hoping that their Messiah would show up and once again lead them out of bondage like Moses did when leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. It was such time as this that God the Father sent His son to this earth. It does not look good. The chances of success are slim from a human perspective.
The problem with the world at large is that people’s lives are dominated with the headlines of the day. God works behind the headlines to accomplish His will. In His word, He revealed to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear what He will do IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME. He tells us WHERE, WHAT, WHEN AND HOW.
Today’s time are no different when Jesus was born. Political corruption…religious compromise…economic crisis. These will always be headline news. Just remember, God uses desperate times, anything but ideal times, to accomplish His eternal purposes in our world and in our lives.
Today, we will cover plagues 2-6. The danger we face when we study those plagues is the fact that most people are more interested in the details describing these events then they are about the great announcements that JESUS IS ABOUT TO ARRIVE ON THE SCENE. Always keep this important truth in front of your spiritual eyes when studying the Word of God.
Richard Wurmbrand titled chapter 8 of his book ‘PROCLAIM THE TRUTH’.
“Some years ago while in Norway, I dreamed I heard a voice that said, “You will not always have a God.” For a long time the dream troubled me, until finally I grasped its meaning. Meister Eckhardt had a similar intuition: “The man united with God has no God.” The verb “to have” does not exist in Hebrew, the language of the Bible. Even in modern Hebrew no one can say “I have money”, “I have a car”, I have a house”; neither can one say “I have a god.”
We are never intended to have a God. We were meant to realize our high calling by being one with God. Jesus says, “You are gods” (John 10:34}. We are meant to be overcomers, to whom Jesus gave this promise: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21).
Only God sits on God’s throne. This is also my final destination. Then evidently I will no longer have God. I will be WITH God.
Everything less than becoming godlike is unworthy of a child of God. It is a shame for a prince to be only a good shoemaker.
Realize your calling and you will not ask such questions as to why rivers overflow, volcanoes erupt, children are in hospitals, and tyrants reign. You will sit on the heavenly throne from which universes are created and ruled. You will be above these things.” Richard Wurmbrand in “The Oracles of God”.
In other words, when we study the bowl judgments today, we must look at these events from a heavenly throne room view, not from an earthly view point. Why is that so important? Because looking at these events from an earthly, worldly viewpoint, we will react just like everyone else reacts on this earth, with fear, uncertainty, preparing for the worst, paralyzed by what we hear, or denying what the text says by spiritualizing its meaning. While others simply try to ignore the prophecies God spoke long ago, believing that such ignorance would protect them from the judgment of God.
BEHOLD, I AM COMING, Jesus announced long ago. He is coming to this earth, and so are all the saints with him. Remember, we are WITH GOD and God is WITH US.
HIS PROPHESIES WILL BE FULFILLED TO THE FINEST DETAILS
HIS PREPARATIONS WILL BE DONE ACCORDING TO THIS WORD
HIS POWER WILL BRING EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE UNDER HIS AUTHORITY.
The question is: Are you willingly under His authority?
Last year we have studied the book of Revelation all the way up to the 16th chapter. So I will not repeat what I have shared with you then. However, to fully understand the 16th chapter before us, we need to read it in context of the previous chapter.
The question must be asked: WHY DOES GOD HIMSELF LET ALL THIS TROUBLE COME UPON THIS WORLD? What’s the purpose of all this? The Answer: Let My People Go. In other words, God’s judgment will always fall on those who tried to destroy everything God has created, especially His crown creation: THE HUMAN BEING made in God’s image.
He will come unexpectedly! The vast majority of people will still be eating and drinking, focusing on their everyday lives, unaware of the dangerous times they’re living in. Just as the people in Noah’s day, they will be ignoring the warning messages and rejecting God’s righteous ways Noah, the prophet of God, was very likely mocked and ridiculed for preaching “righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Bible reveals that in the end time, prior to Christ’s return, people will also ignore warnings to repent. As Peter notes, “Scoffers will come in the last days, … saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Noah preached for 120 years while he built the arch. Eventually only 8 people made it into the arch. THOSE WHO WERE IN THE ARCH WERE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD. This was not Noah’s idea. It was God’s master plan to destroy wickedness on this earth and to start over again. “I will destroy them with the earth”.
Egypt was the Empire that ruled the known world at this time. Egypt called the shots in this world. Without understanding what God did with Egypt, you will not understand the bowl judgments, the last 7 judgments that will come upon this whole earth, known as the wrath or judgments of God.
Like Egypt enslaved God’s covenant people, so has every world empire enslaved God’s people. The last Empire on God’s calendar was and is the Roman Empire. While today, this empire is fractured, it will COME BACK TO FULL POWER under ONE MIGHTY RULER, THE ANTICHRIST. By the time the bowl judgments will come upon this earth this REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE WILL BE IN FULL CONTROL OF ALL HUMANITY.
And Pharaoh said, “WHO IS THE LORD, THAT I SHOULD OBEY HIS VOICE TO LET ISRAEL GO? I DO NOT KNOW THE LORD, NOR WILL I LET ISRAEL GO.” Wrong thing to say to God Almighty who made the heavens and the earth and who is the owner of His own creation. But the rulers of this world have not learned anything yet. The final ruler of this world, before Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom here, will act exactly the same way. Look at the plagues God brought upon this nation Egypt. Four of the seven judgments of Revelation are copies of the plagues Egypt had to endure. They were literal plagues in Egypt and they will be literal judgments when God will pour his wrath upon this world.
LET MY PEOPLE GO. The final judgment upon this earth is carried out by God to set His people free, to set his entire creation free.
The first time he did use WATER.
The next time he will use FIRE.
WHY DOES GOD ALMIGHTY, THE ONE WHO WANTS THAT NO HUMAN BEING PERISHES BUT THAT ALL COME TO REPENTANCE, pour His wrath upon this earth.
While this question is not the most important one we can ask, it is none the less a crucial one. Isn’t God loving, caring, forgiving, merciful and gracious? Yes, He certainly is; but he also is pure, holy, righteous, and just.
This most important question: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Will put every human being on the spot. Now and especially during the tribulation period when the world ruler together with the world religious leader will demand that we proclaim that they are the savior of the world, those who say that they are FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST must deny to worship anyone else and PROCLAIM WITHOUT HESITATION LIKE THE APOSTLE PETER DID:
YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.
It is important that we understand the spiritual battle in the heavenly places that is going on here and how Satan will fight to the bitter end. Yet, as foretold by the prophets of old, God the Father will give everything to His Son Jesus Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. There is no alternative. The great day is at hand.
In other words, signs and wonders do not make the gospel believable. When Jesus walked on this earth, He performed many incredible miracles and gave them many signs, yet these same people who saw those miracles and heard him preach God’s wisdom rejected Him and killed Him.
When these two witnesses preach and perform signs and wonders, the people will listen but also reject their message. Instead of embracing the truth, they will kill those two witnesses and rejoice over their death.