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.

"resurrection" Tagged Sermons

DO YOU BELIEVE?

Carmen Joy Imes in her book “Bearing God’s Name” writes:
“Matthew’s gospel breaks neatly into five blocks of teaching, mimicking the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
These five blocks of teaching are preceded by an introductory story in which Jesus’ life is in danger because King Herod, like Pharaoh, is killing Jewish babies. To escape, his parents take him to Egypt. It’s an inside-out Exodus story. When the coast is clear, they return to Palestine, retracting Israel’s journey from Egypt to the promised land. Next, we fast forward to Jesus’ adulthood, where he passes through the waters of baptism in the Jordan, reminding us of Israel’s crossing both the Red Sea and the Jordan.
After this, Jesus is sent by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, where he reenacts Israel’s wilderness wanderings.”
Baptism does not produce salvation in this text, Rather, it corresponds to something that does, THE DEATH OF JESUS (v 19) and the RESURRECTION (v 21)
“Baptism saves” if one makes a decision; a pledge of loyalty oath,
a public proclamation of who is on the Lord’s side in the cosmic war between good and evil.
Every Baptism is therefore a reiteration of the past and future doom of the Watchers in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God.
Early Christians understood the typology of this passage and its link back to 1 Enoch and Genesis 6:1-4.
This is why early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels. Baptism was anything but routine. It was a symbol of spiritual warfare.” Dr. Michael Heiser “Reversing Hermon”
Who is Azazel?
We find the Biblical text in Leviticus 16:7-10
“And Aaron shall take the two goats, and he shall present them before Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh and one for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall sacrifice it as a sin offering. But the must present alive before Yahweh the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell to make atonement for himself, to send it away into the desert to Azazel.”
R.T. France
“His Father is testing him in the school of privation, and his triumphant rebuttal of the devil’s suggestions will ensure that the filial bond can survive in spite of the conflict that lies ahead.”
Dr. Michael Heiser in the “Unseen Realm” makes this comment about that temptation:
“Had Jesus given in, it would have been an acknowledgment that Satan’s permission was needed to possess the nations. It wasn’t. Satan presumed power and ownership of something that, ultimately, was not his but God’s. The messaging behind Jesus’ answer is clear: Yahweh will take the nations back by his own means in his own time. He doesn’t need them to be given away in a bargain. Jesus was loyal to his Father.”

THE COSMIC BATTLE

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?

The Last Chapter

We have to take God’s word for what it says, the things we like and the things we don’t like. Before we go deeper into these verses, let’s briefly challenge all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Why do we study the prophetic scripture? Why do we long to hear from Scripture what God has prepared for those whom he loves? Do we want knowledge to prepare, or do we want insight so we can impress others? Do we study the prophetic word because we want to be in the know, or do we study it because we don’t want to be caught off guard when the things start to unfold?

Times of Refreshing

Imagine a world were there is complete, total, enforced, and permanent peace, where joy abounds and good health prevails, so much so that people live for hundreds of years. A world where the curse is removed, where the environment is restored to the pristine purity of the Garden of Eden, where peace reigns even in the animal kingdom, so that “the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little boy will lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)Our human mind can hardly comprehend such a world. Yet the Bible clearly states that when the King returns, such conditions will be the norm, because this world will be ruled by a perfect, glorious ruler, who instantly and firmly will deal with sin.
When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, He will rule for 1000 years from Jerusalem, on this earth, sitting on the throne of David as promised through God’s Word, the Bible throughout the Old and New Testament.
Today, there are 3 major views of eschatology regarding this 1000 years literal kingdom on earth.
It is imperative to understand all 3 of them clearly and biblically.
• Premillennialism
• Postmillennialism
• Amillennialism
The ammillenialists do reject the concept of an earthly millennium, and especially one that is actually 1000 years in duration. They believe that the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah’s kingdom are being fulfilled right now. They say that this kingdom is now, because the saints reigning now with Christ in the heavenly realm and by the church on earth in the earthly realm. In other words, the church is ruling now in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm (meaning political).
What is Postmillennialist?
Postmillennialists believe that the current era is the millennium, though it is not necessarily to be regarded as a literal 1000 year period. After this period, Jesus Christ will return to accept the kingdom then already established by the church. Out of this believe system came the idea that producing a formal powerful church that would be the ultimate determining factor in spiritual and political matters would produce the final kingdom on earth.
This is the belief that the institutional church would bring the world into a kind of new golden age, through the teaching of Christ.
What is a Premmillennialist? A premillennialist is a person who believes:
• That Jesus Christ will return before the Millennium
• That the period immediately before Christ’s return will be the worst in human history
• That Jesus Christ will physically return to this earth, sit on the throne of David and rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years.
Before chapter 20 of Revelation, the Lord already has destroyed all human rebels. The ringleader of that rebellion (the Antichrist) and the False Prophet will have been thrown into the lake of fire (19:20)
And now the final step before the kingdom will be inaugurated will be the removal of Satan and his demons, Jesus Christ will reign without the spiritual opposition.
THE WORD TRANSLATED BOTTOMLESS PIT IS ABUSSOS, which always refers to a temporary place of incarceration for certain demons. This word is found 7 times in the book of Revelation.
The second death is defined in verse 14. It is hell, the lake of fire.
Those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, those who believe what God has revealed to mankind, will never have to experience the second death. They will participate in the first resurrection and rule and reign with Him.

Preparing Christ’s Second Coming – Part One

We know that the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is primarily the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Throughout the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation, the main theme is always the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Redeemer of mankind.
The Apostle Paul declares that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And he goes on to say that by Him, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah to the Jews, the king of the Jews, the Savior of the world, is the one who created everything that is in heaven and that is on the earth. All things were created through Him and for Him. And the book of Revelation is giving us the details HOW GOD HIMSELF IS PREPARING CHRIST’S SECOND COMING TO THIS EARTH. There is a condition that must be met before Jesus Christ will return to this earth to establish His VISIBLE KINGDOM.
According to Matthew, Jesus began His ministry in chapter 4. You can read this Gospel from chapter four until chapter twelve to find out that Jesus went around Israel proclaiming that He is the promised Messiah. The purpose of all His miracles recorded in those chapters was to authenticated His Messiahship and His message, the Gospel of the kingdom. In other words, all the miracles Jesus did were signs to the nation of Israel to challenge them to make a decision about Him. Everything changed regarding the purpose of His miracles and His message in Matthew, chapter 12, beginning with verse 22.
The people were not willing to come to a decision by themselves. They were looking for the answer from their religious leaders, the Pharisees. When they accept Him, when they authenticate Him, then we will accept Him as well.
Then, in verses 30-37 Jesus pronounced a judgment on the Jewish generation of that day. Why? Because that generation had committed the unpardonable sin: THE BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Listen, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was not an individual sin but a NATIONAL SIN. It was committed by that generation of Israel in Jesus’ day.
In other words, the content of the unpardonable sin was the national rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus while He was physically present, on the grounds that He was demon possessed. THIS SIN WAS UNPARDONABLE, AND JUDGMENT WAS SET. THE REALIZATION OF THIS JUDGMENT CAME IN THE YEAR 70 A.D. The Roman army destroyed Jerusalem, burned down the temple, slaughtered over one million Jews, and dispersed the rest world-wide.
It is interesting that from this point on in the Gospel of Matthew, special emphasis is placed on THIS GENERATION. Why? Because it was this generation that was guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Judgment was unavoidable, because there would be no forgiveness for this sin.
Listen, the book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians who, because of persecution, were contemplating a return to Judaism. The book warned them that they must completely separate themselves from Judaism. If they failed to do so, they would be caught up in the judgment of 70 A.D. and suffer physical death. Only of they separated themselves from Judaism completely would they have the opportunity of escaping the judgment upon that generation. Of course, from Hebrews it is not known what the results were. But it is known from JOSEPHUS AND EUSEBIUS quoting HEGESIPPIUS, a Jewish Christian historian of the second century. These men recorded how the Hebrew Christians, in obedience to the book of Hebrews, separated themselves from Judaism. So when the revolt against Rome began in the year 66 A.D., the entire Jewish Christian community left the country and waited the war out in the town of PELLA, and the east bank of the Jordan River. Although 1,100,000 Jews died in this Jewish revolt against Rome, not one Hebrew Christian was killed. Because they did obey the book of Hebrews, they escaped with their lives, and they were freed of the judgment upon that generation.

I Also Send You

What a week it has been for those who followed Jesus and those who came to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Three full days have passed since the masses demanded that their King should be crucified. The Romans, as prophesied in Scripture long ago, did the gruesome task and killed the Prince of Peace, not knowing that with it they would zeal their own fate as a nation.
We need to understand that Jesus work on the cross was finished just prior to giving up His Spirit into the Father’s hand. There was no more punishment to be paid for our sins. IT IS FINISHED.
Letting Jesus body hang on the cross for a longer time period or to be thrown on the garbage dump WAS SOMETHING THE HEAVENLY FATHER WOULD NEVER HAVE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN TO HIS SON. The work was done. And it is here where two disciples, secret disciples, stepped in and asked for the body of Jesus from Pilate.
Mary Magdalene is the person from whom Jesus cast out 7 demons. She was the first person mentioned to be at the tomb which was at that time already empty. When the angels asked the question: WOMEN, WHY ARE YOU WEEPING? She did not reply because of GRIEF.
Mary recognized the risen Lord when He called her by name. She recognized HIS VOICE. A typical characteristic of a sheep in relation to the shepherd. In other words, John did not write these words of God on paper that people might believe the right things, that they might be orthodox, or that their theology might be sound.
He did not call Jesus Master or Teacher or Messiah. Thomas called Him Lord, which is the same word translated from the GREEK Old Testament YAHWEH. Thomas confessed that Jesus was Yahweh, His God, standing before him in the flesh. Thomas confessed the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus never rebuked him for it.
Listen, there is a more important purpose, a purpose beyond coming to the knowledge of the truth of Christ.
“…and that believing you may have life in His name”.
That’s exactly what Jesus said earlier, found in John 10:10b
“ I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”