As the apostles of Christ were listening to the Lord’s words, and when He finished, we are told, “while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11).
Our lesson will focus on the words, “Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven”. We are awaiting the coming of the Lord so that one that Great and Wonderful Day, Jesus will take the church He purchased with His own blood up into the clouds to be with Him for ever more.
Paul described this event like this. “16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thess. 4:16-18).
Listen in as we search the scriptures and learn from God the things necessary for us to be in that final ascension with Jesus the Lord…
There are many topics on which we can talk on this evening regarding being a new creature in Christ. Things that have to do with our relationship with God, with our brethren, with those who are outside of Christ in the world.
We know from studying our scriptures and being disciples of our Lord Jesus that we can gain much to be prepared for the work that must be done in the kingdom. For any kingdom to be successful there must be workers. We know Jesus is our example. We read in John chapter 9, “I [a] must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (V.4).
“13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not [a]prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:13-18).
Christ and His church is a prevailing theme from the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. In our lesson today we will examine the scriptures to see what this is all about with a goal to make application to our lives as individuals.
Let us focus on the church–who do we say that He is? For we will be defined as a church by the way we define this.
The young don’t get it and the Old do. When James said, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14).
The closer one gets to eternity–the more impressed upon them is this truth. Life ends all to short, and especially for those who don’t live past their prime. We must therefore, be serious and fruitful with what life we have, and having the right attitude helps. In a psalm of David we read, “4 “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. 5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah 6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they [b]busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. 7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.”
(Psalm 39:4-7).
We are warned—we must have the proper understanding and attitude about the uncertainty of life.
We’ve all likely heard the saying, tomorrow is not promised to anybody.
We must count every day a blessing and a gift to be treasured and used to the glory of God.
If we don’t—we put our souls in jeopardy.
The best place to begin is seeking first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33)…
Where Your Faith Lies Determines Where You’ll Lie in Eternity!
I’ve found “few” people who are able to pin down exactly why they believe what they believe.
Even fewer are able to pin down where their “faith” comes from.
If we really want to see Jesus, if we really want to be among those who will be delivered up to the Father—we must be able to adequately answer what we believe and why.
It is an important question that we must all be ready to answer for ourselves. The truth is, we are all on a journey and if that journey is with Jesus according to His truth—God’s word—we will spend eternity with Him.
The religious world today has confused and deceived the multitudes. Let me be plain! The religious world today has been by its own “church leaders”, swindled, defrauded, cheated, tricked, hoodwinked, hoaxed, duped, take in, mislead, deluded, fooled, misguided, and ensnared.
You cannot be a victim if you know God’s word, by you will always fall victim if you simply trust the teacher and preacher to tell you what God said.
Yes, the devil is out to deceive you and he does it best by just letting you listen to every teacher, preacher, friend, even parent, who themselves have been deceived, possibly all their lives.
When it comes to truth–we are limited to just one source–that is God’s Holy written word. You want truth, that is where you’ll find it.
Jesus said, “37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38).
When it come down to love, the way that we great one another is vitally important. There are all kinds of greeting methods – the handshake, the first bump, and my choice the good old fashioned hug. Bottom line is that the greeting needs to be sincere, and with genuine care and interest for the other person.
It is my desire in this lesson to emphasize the importance of developing our method and practice of greeting one another…understanding it is much more than hello!
In the title of the lesson notice that this is not a question—where not asking how Big is God?
We know God is Big – what we want to accomplish is the impossible. We will consider a few scriptures that simply help us to understand God’s greatness, but also that we as finite creations of God—will never be able to comprehend God’s size.
People often draw from a list of “big words” when talking that in some cases impart God’s greatness. Commonly words like, awesome, great, powerful, mighty, high, are use. Three words we’ll discuss are the three “Omini’s”, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent.
Let me offer one example of how words are insufficient in describing how big God is…
WHEN ONE CONSIDERS ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE IN EXISTENCE, THE CREATED THINGS, THEY ALL POINT TO THE GLORY OF THE CREATOR.
What should we do with this knowledge? What should our reaction be? When we see tremendous design in everything made—do we assume it was all by accident? I say emphatically, unequivocally, indisputably, no!
When all the facts seen in creation point to an intelligent and powerful designer.
When we comprehend these things, we must proclaim as the psalmist did and say, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well” (Psa. 139:14).
Yes, our reaction needs to be praise toward our awesome God. Isaiah wrote, “I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images” (Isa. 42:8).
God—from the beginning has been speaking to the world through His creation.
Are you listening?
In the 29th Psalm, David wrote, “1 Give[a] unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. 2 [b]Give unto the Lord the glory [c]due to His name; Worship the Lord in the [d]beauty of holiness.”
And in verse 9, “The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Psa. 29:1-2, 9)
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17).
Give unto the Lord glory and strength for good reason too when you consider all the the Lord our God has done…