Friday, March 18, 2022

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: You Shall Forgive

 


“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him (Luke 17:3-4).” 

If there is genuine repentance, then we are to forgive, keeping in mind our own weaknesses and having mercy on others as the Lord has forgiven us. If the Lord expects this from us, how much more patient and forgiving is the Lord toward us? 

I think this is a strong rebuke for those who teach that if you struggle with sin you are not saved. The Lord makes it clear that Christians will struggle with sin at times. Repent from a sincere heart, fight against the old nature and pray for strength and victory, and the Lord will forgive you as often as you need. Thank you for your immeasurable patience and kindness toward us, Jesus. Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to live holy lives inside and out, and change these old, sinful bodies into glorious bodies like your own.




Friday, March 11, 2022

Millions to Disappear


One day, in the not too distant future, the true church of Jesus Christ will suddenly disappear from this planet. Religions, including Christianity, will remain mostly unaffected. Though some Christian churches will disappear nearly completely, most will be missing only part of their congregation. Many churches will not be missing any people, or just a few. 

Sometime following the rapture of the church, the coalescing one-world government seated in Europe will ultimately unite around one man, increasing its global over-reach throughout the seven years of great tribulation. At the end of the seven years, Jesus will return at His second coming to destroy it and establish God’s Kingdom of righteousness and peace on earth. This is what the Bible says will happen, and in numerous places it describes what these days near the end of the age will look like, including Jesus’ description of those days in Matthew 24. The Bible also describes what His Kingdom on earth will be like. 

The Lord’s Kingdom will be full of His glorified people from all of human history, along with those who belong to Him who have survived the tribulation. Most people on earth will not survive God’s judgment poured out during that seven-year period. Jesus, who Himself is the eternal God, the Creator of all things, said of that time, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:21-22).” 

Before the rapture, in our day and age, the true church of God is made up of all sorts of people from all sorts of places. The one thing they have in common is that they’ve been born again, literally born from above, (born of the Spirit of God) by faith in the only begotten son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, who died for the sins of the world and rose again to give us eternal life. 

These were the ones saying, “you can only be made right with God, forgiven of your sins and saved from eternal punishment, by faith in Jesus alone. Salvation is the free gift of God, given by His grace and accounted to us through faith in Jesus Christ. That is God’s plan, His Way, and there is no other name under Heaven by which a person must be saved but through Jesus. God will not save you from His wrath because you are a good person in your own eyes. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (read Romans 3).” 

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).’” 

Choose today to yield your life to God, to do what is right and good, to turn from your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, and you will receive the free gift of eternal life. Cry out to Jesus and avoid the wrath of God to be poured out on earth shortly. Call out to Jesus and be rescued from hell, the eternal separation from God that will come upon you at your death if you are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ by trusting in Him. God’s judgment is the just reward for a proud and wicked people who perpetually and eternally hurt and destroy while refusing God’s love and forgiveness. The true worshipers of the true and living God “will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

For more on the rapture, read The Timing and Significance of the Rapture, a free PDF.