Jesus’ Final Instructions to His Apostles (June 5)

Present Kingdom, Future Kingdom (July 2)

PRESENT KINGDOM, FUTURE KINGDOM (JULY 2) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/present-kingdom-future-kingdom-july-2/ "The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen" (2 Timothy 4:18). IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD SOMETHING THAT EXISTS IN THIS WORLD OR IS IT SOMETHING THAT WILL EXIST IN ETERNITY? The answer, if we let the Scriptures be our authority, is that it is both. PRESENT. The Scriptures clearly teach that the kingdom is a present reality. Jesus said it was “at hand” (Mark 1:15), and in Mark 9:1, He said, “There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” The kingdom began on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:1-2:47), and it has existed ever since. Anyone can be in the kingdom who accepts the requirements of God’s forgiveness and lives under the loving rule of God. Paul wrote that God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). FUTURE. The Scriptures also teach that the kingdom is a future reality, one the saints greatly anticipate but have not yet entered into (2 Timothy 4:18). Peter urged his fellow Christians to “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10,11). In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote at length about our resurrection when Christ returns. The events surrounding Christ’s return will conclude the history of this world and bring it to its climax. For those who have obeyed the gospel and remained faithful to the commitment they made, that will be the time when they pass from the kingdom of God in this world to His kingdom in eternity. “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (vv.24-26). "To say that we are in the kingdom implies that we have submitted our lives unto the rule of God in His Son. But God’s rule was never intended to be confined in space and time, for it is an eternal kingdom. We simply submit to God’s rule now so that we may live under the rule and care of God forever. We enter the kingdom now . . . in order that we may 'be heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him' (James 2:5)" (Tommy Poarch). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Whole Heart, Willing Mind (July 1)

WHOLE HEART, WILLING MIND (JULY 1) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/whole-heart-willing-mind-july-1/ "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind" (1 Chronicles 28:9). SOLOMON WOULD BE A NEW KING WITH SOME SERIOUS RESPONSIBILITIES. His father David having subdued all the surrounding enemies of Israel, Solomon (whose name meant “peace”) would have to lead his people in the rightful, godly enjoyment of the peace that David had made possible. But not only that, he was also charged with building the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem which David had planned and made provision for. So in his charge to Solomon, David encouraged his son with the most important advice he could have given him: “know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.” KNOW THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER AND SERVE HIM. Human beings can’t “know” God in the same sense that we know one another, but God’s character can be known through His revelation of Himself. On the basis of this knowledge, it is possible to enter into a deep personal relationship with God, and no one illustrates that any more than David. Yet God must also be “served”; that is, He must be obeyed. That is the essence of what made David a man after God’s own heart. Unlike his predecessor Saul, David could be counted on to carry out the Lord’s instructions. Even in his repentance, David’s disposition was to bow humbly before God’s law. WITH A WHOLE HEART AND WITH A WILLING MIND. A “whole heart” is one that is given to God completely, with no place in the heart reserved for other gods. Likewise, a “willing mind” is one that serves God gratefully rather than grudgingly. When these two are combined — a whole heart and a willing mind — a person’s character is well on its way to the purity of devotion that God desires. But all of these traits result from personal choice. David would not have charged Solomon to know God and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind if Solomon could not have chosen to have that kind of character. Excuses are futile. It is our hearts that God is seeking, and it is only we who can give our hearts to Him. "And what kind of habitation pleases God? What must our natures be like before he can feel at home within us? He asks nothing but a pure heart and a single mind. He asks no rich paneling, no rugs from the Orient, no art treasures from afar. He desires but sincerity, transparency, humility, and love. He will see to the rest" (A. W. Tozer). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

The Resurrection of Condemnation (June 30)

THE RESURRECTION OF CONDEMNATION (JUNE 30) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/resurrection-condemnation-june-30/ "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28,29 NKJV). RESURRECTION! The very word stirs the soul — it is the very essence of the gospel. It was Jesus who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). So Paul wrote these unforgettable lines, speaking for all who have obeyed the gospel and live in hope: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51,52). But resurrection is a double-edged sword. Go back and read our text in John 5:28,29. There, Jesus said that “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” For some, the resurrection will be one of “life,” but to others it will be one of “condemnation.” Human beings have eternal souls — souls that will spend eternity, if not with God, then away from Him. In Revelation 21:8, the eternal destiny of those who have refused God’s salvation is called “the second death.” Jesus said that to suffer that death is far worse than to die physically: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4,5). And when He taught on hell, He used graphic language. At the judgment, the ungodly will hear the words, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). These, Jesus said, “will go away into eternal punishment” (v.46). Our human freedom entails accountability to our Creator. And if, in the end, we have rejected Him, it will be useless to deny the choices we made. While there is time, let’s make the right choice. "Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, 'I can do no other'" (Heywood Broun). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Away from the Presence of the Lord (June 29)

AWAY FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD (JUNE 29) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/away-from-presence-lord-june-29/ "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:9,10). THE STARK TRUTH IS THAT OUR CHOICES WITH REGARD TO GOD WILL HAVE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES. Having been created in the image of an eternal God, we also are eternal. Whether we accept Him or reject Him, we will live eternally. And as Paul taught in the text above, those who reject God will have an eternity “away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” The doctrine of eternal punishment is not acceptable to the modern mind. The current trend, even among conservative Christians, is toward “universalism,” the belief that all human beings are going to be saved (or at least that the unsaved will simply be annihilated rather than punished eternally). Francis Chan worded it well: “Does everyone go to heaven? Based on what I hear at funerals, the answer is an overwhelming ‘Yes!’ How many funerals have you attended where this was even in question?” Yet, as Chan has forcefully argued, the Bible simply cannot be taken seriously if the reality of eternal punishment is not accepted. Unfortunately, many people do not take the Bible seriously. Universalism is fueled not by biblical exegesis but by emotional preferences. Hell is simply incongruent with the way people want to feel about God. As Arthur Climenhaga has said, “The issue of the new universalism is no longer ‘God hath spoken’ but ‘Man hath reasoned.’” So this debate presents a challenge. Will we let Jesus be our Teacher in texts like Matthew 10:28 or will we not? The knowledge that those who are lost right now will, if they fail to receive salvation in the gospel of Christ, be lost in eternity is the reason our evangelism should be so urgent. So let me ask you: is the reason why we Christians are not any more urgent in our evangelism the fact that we don’t really believe the lost will be lost? Why is there so little passion to rescue the lost? Concerning hell, non-Christians need to accept what the Scriptures teach — and the evidence suggests that many Christians need to believe it too. "The true universalism of the Bible is the call to universal evangelism in obedience to Christ’s universal commission. It is the conviction not that all men will be saved in the end, but that all men must hear the gospel" (John Stott). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

Learning About Love from God (June 28)

LEARNING ABOUT LOVE FROM GOD (JUNE 28) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/learning-love-from-god-june-28/ "Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father"?'" (John 14:9). NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR CONCEPT OF GOD. What we think of our Creator — both His character and His will — is the principal force that shapes our lives. Since ideas have consequences, the bigger the subject, the more our ideas need to be true. There being no bigger subject than God, we should be extremely careful. In the end, the way we have lived will have been the outworking of our real (not our pretended) beliefs about God. When Jesus said that “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), He had more in mind than just the truth about God’s plan of salvation. I believe He meant, first and foremost, the truth about God Himself. The path that He has designed for our redemption must be accepted (untruths about God’s plan are deadly), but out of all the errors that must be corrected, none are more crucial than wrong ideas about God. The problem of sin arose when we started acting on the basis of falsehoods about Him, and if the problem is to be fixed, those falsehoods must be rooted out of our thinking. So let me ask you a practical question: what do you think about the “love of God”? And more importantly, where did you get those ideas? Most of us have some concept of what love is and how it behaves, but unfortunately those notions have often been picked up from pop psychology, pop theology, and even pop culture. Rather than letting our definition of love be formed by God, we imagine love as the world has taught us to see it, and we then transfer that shallow, sentimental view to God. Even when we flatter ourselves that we’ve gone beyond the worldly view to an understanding of “unconditional” love, we are still limited by the world’s concept of what love would actually do in specific situations. Clearly, our minds are still fettered by a good bit of untruth. Nothing about Jesus was more revolutionary than His exemplification of love. If we take all of what He did (and not just our favorite parts), even our most “advanced” ideas about love will be disrupted. It will be a disturbing, and truly liberating, experience. "The Christian does not understand God in terms of love; he understands love in terms of God as seen in Christ" (Joseph Fletcher). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com