Each week our pastors study diligently to deliver practical, thought-provoking messages from the Word of God.
There will be a new heaven and new earth. The old will pass away, and God will make all things new. It will be spectacular, and God will be there. In light of this wonderful reality, what manner of persons ought we to be. We are to live our lives anticipating that day. We should be so heavenly minded that we do much earthly good.
Read MoreYou will always get, in the end, what you choose. You have a binary choice: will you choose to enter eternity with Christ or without Christ?
Read MoreThe world economic system will fail; the kingdom of Babylon will fall. Those who are part of this kingdom will weep, not at the judgment of God but at the loss of their prosperity. Those of God's kingdom will rejoice. Christ will return as a mighty warrior--the King of kings. with the host of Heaven behind Him, He will decimate those who oppose Him. Everyone who has ever existed, including you, will see that day from one of two perspectives. We are to come out from among to those who are part of this world's kingdom. We Should have no treasure in Babylon. It will fall.
Read MoreAt the end of chapter 17, Satan's kingdom, which began at the beginning of time, will be ended and the world's religious system along with it. God's judgment and sovereignty will again be demonstrated. God's hatred and unfiltered feelings toward religion and anything else that pulls man away from Himself is on graphic display in this text. What are the harlots and what is in the golden cup that keep us from an intimate relationship with God? God forbid that, in our lives, there would be any part of the structure that one day He intends to destroy.
Read MorePain and suffering may change direction, but neither can change the heart. Suffering only hardens a heart that has rejected God. We must allow His goodness to lead us to repentance because His wrath will not. And God's wrath is a terrible thing to experience.
Read MoreGod's final judgment is looming just over the horizon of human history. Our Good is holy, and He despises the sin in our hearts and in His world. Our sin and our rejection of His salvation offends Him. The day of God's wrath is coming. He will judge the world and make all things right. In light of this reality, what manner of person ought you to be?
Read MoreOne day very soon, the Lord is going to return, and He will execute revenge on all of those who’ve oppressed His people. But He’s not just returning to make things right; He’s also bringing with Him a reward for those who have done good. We must make it a goal every day of our lives to remember that that day is coming very soon and we need to be ready for it.
Read MoreHumanity has been given the amazing opportunity to choose God. However, humanity has largely refused Him collectively and individually. We will all be held eternally accountable for the choice we make.
Read MoreTrue Christians entrust their care to Christ, no matter what the world brings their way. True followers of Christ are not fair-weather believers. No matter what life brings us, it has passed through the hands of our savior, and we are protected. We are to rest in that fact. Our contrast with the world should not change because our way of life is threatened.
Read MoreThe word of God repeatedly warns us against believing the deceptive teachings of false prophets. There is perhaps no greater danger to God’s people than the intentional mixing of truth and falsehood. As God’s timetable for our planet draws to a conclusion, there will be a proliferation of those who will teach a compromised version of God’s word for selfish gain and self aggrandizement. The apex of all those who distort the truth of the Bible will be the Antichrist and his false prophet.
Read MoreThe inevitable cannot be escaped. Life in a fallen world has inevitable hardship and hurt. We can't escape all things, but by the grace of God, we can survive all things. The things that hurt us do not have to destroy us. We win by dying in faith. A world of darkness and God-hating is inevitable. Be prepared for the inevitability of hardship, and be ready to endure it in faith.
Read MoreEven against the most hostile attack, God is greater. We overcome our spiritual deficit and fate not though ourselves or anything we do, but by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was that event on the cross that allows us to stand before God one day cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Nothing Satan can do will take that away. It does not matter if it looks like Satan is winning both on earth and in our lives, we don’t have to be discouraged because we know that God is greater and that He has already won. However, even though Satan’s doom is sure, that does not mean he is not fighting and causing casualties. What are you doing to help the winning side? You can’t win a war you won’t fight in. We need to be soldiers in this life.
Read MoreThe Bible teaches that pride always goes before destruction and a fall. The greatest and most consequential of these falls was and is the fall of Satan. He went from spectacular and exalted to enemy of God and adversary of men. He is full of animosity toward God and every part of his kingdom, including us. We have a spiritual adversary who targets us with his vitriol and hatred. A lack of awareness and caution leaves us extremely vulnerable. Our thinking and philosophies must be grounded in Truth. If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he has, in some measure, won.
Read MoreWe are either a part of the Kingdom of God, or we are a part of the kingdom of this world. Those are the only two options, and they are mutually exclusive. We're taught that this absolutism is not legitimate. We are told to reject anything that is absolutist. If we are not careful, in an effort to embrace this ideology, we may swear fealty to the kingdom of this word, one of the two. Christianity isn't a choice among many valid choices. Christianity is a Truth.
Read MoreGod has always sent messengers to the world to call men to repentance. Mankind's response has always been the same: they harken not. God will send witnesses, as He always has, at the end of time. The vast majority of men will not respond. However, despite this fact, there will always be a remnant of people who love God, and His purposes will still be accomplished.
Read MoreServing God understands that He is in control. Every day of our lives is under His omnipotent supervision. Our God is in control. The earth is being ripped apart from above and below, and God is in control in the midst of it.
Read MoreThe fifth and sixth trumpet represent the greatest judgments the world has ever seen. Demons rise up from below the earth to torment men. They unleash horror and pain. They turn against those who have worshiped them. Sin and darkness always turn against those who serve them. In all of this, men do not repent of the priorities they have given their lives to. Humanity, in its fallenness, gives itself to that which wounds, kills, and destroys. As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.
Read MoreThe trumpets bring about staggering apocalyptic events as God’s wrath is poured out on the earth. The judgment described in chapter 8 is both sobering and unimaginable. The judgment reveals the hardness of men’s hearts as they refuse to repent, even in the face of awesome displays of power and wrath. Sin has a callousing effect on the human heart. We would be prudent to check the condition of our own hearts.
Read MoreMercy is not getting what we deserve. We become the recipients of mercy by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 7, 144,000 redeemed people sing and rejoice because of this reality.
Read MoreAs Jesus begins to break the seals in chapter 6, the events that follow are awful and terrifying. God effectively removes all restraining grace from the earth, and man is left to face the consequences of his own depravity. The result is catastrophic. We’re reading of a future reality; what should be our response? Future realities ought to press themselves into present conduct and behavior. This revelation is a demonstration of what our sin looks like unchecked. The irony of the tribulation is that those who sided with Satan think they are winning. Their sin brings them gain for a short time, but the reality of sin is that it will always cannibalize itself. Every time we willfully sin we bring tribulation on ourselves.
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