The Patchwork Quilt

The Patchwork Quilt

            Making quilts has become a very popular hobby today.  In fact our church has a quilt making class where anyone can learn how to make quilts.  It’s a little different now than it was when I was a child.  No one used a sewing machine and every stitch was done by hand.  I recall a particular incident when I was about 5 or 6 years old. 

            My mother had sewn many small pieces of material together until it became the topside of a quilt.  Other ladies of the community came to our house and using 4 long boards, which rested on the backs of chairs, they tacked on the quilt top.  To me it seemed like a tent, so while the ladies worked on the quilt, I took my dolls and played on the floor underneath it.  I looked up on the bottom of the quilt top and could see all these hundreds of ugly strings hanging down.  It was really ugly and I didn’t see how that could be a quilt.

            However, by the end of the day, they took it off the boards and turned it over.  To my surprise, the quilt was beautiful with different pieces of material making pretty patterns.  I looked it all over and saw piece of material that was just like some of my dresses Mother made for me. 

            It’s been many years since I played under a quilt being put together, but I can clearly see how it is so much like a person’s life.  Many times our life seems to be ugly and ragged; without rhyme or reason and we wonder where God is in all of this.  Let me tell you: He is right there looking from above at the finished product.

            Just like a quilt has a pattern, God has a pattern for your life.  “For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)  Even when things happen in your life that you don’t understand, God understands and is trying to ‘piece it together’ according to His plan.

            Even in the worst of situations God not only sees what is happening to us now, but He also can see the future for His children, if you are a believer.  Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  He sees the ‘finished product’ of our life.

            Why does God care so much about how I live?  He tells us in Psalm 139:13, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  If you are a woman and have had babies, you know while that baby was growing inside of you that you already loved it.  It’s the same with God who formed us in our mother’s womb.  In the same scripture in verses 15-16, “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”  You can easily see how God has His hand on your life from the time you were conceived and every day of your life.  God has kept track of you each and every day until your time comes and His plan for you is complete.

Is it true that God knows how long our life is going to be?  King David knew that God held his life in his hands and knew we sometimes forget how quickly the years go by.  We seem to think we will remain on this earth forever.  “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4)  God gives us so many days to live before He calls us to be with him.  Remember in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die.”     

           God is our heavenly ‘quilter’ and keeps putting our life into his hands. We can plan to do all sorts of things, but God is still in charge if we allow him.  Just when we think we have it all planned out and our plans fall apart; we become disheartened.  Listen to this: “A man's heart plans his way; but the LORD directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)  When things don’t seem to go as we planned, tell the Lord, “Okay God, you take over.”  You will notice how much smoother the task when God has him way in your life.  One day you will understand and God will show you the finished product and you will praise God for how he put it all together.  Just like a beautiful quilt. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are You An Honest Person?

Are You An Honest Person?

           I was talking to some people the other day and we got on the subject of being an honest person.  My mother taught me as a very young child that stealing was wrong and to never, never take something that didn’t belong to you.  Not only did she teach me, but she was a great example to me. 

                
           If someone gave my mother too much change back, she never kept it but she always gave it back, even if it was a penny.  I never saw her try to take more than she paid for not was she dishonest in any dealings.  So I grew up to be a very honest person and taught my children the same. 

          As the years went by I was confronted by many opportunities to be dishonest, but to tell you the truth, I would have lost my job rather than cheat or cover up things for others.  In fact, one time I quit a long-time job because my boss wanted me to watch certain people and report to her about things they did or said.  I went to the CEO and was told, “You can’t fight the system.”  I did the only honest thing I could – I quit.

A few years later I was working at a new position and was manager of my department.  I was extremely busy, but I also was receiving a lot of personal phone calls.  One day someone from another department said to me, “You sure are making a lot of personal phone calls.”  At first I was a little upset because it really wasn’t any of that person’s business what I was doing.  Then I got to thinking about it and realized I was being dishonest; I was stealing time from the company and getting paid for it.  I changed my way of doing that.

          2 Corinthians 1:12 says, “We are so glad that we can say with utter honesty that in all our dealings we have been pure and sincere, quietly depending upon the Lord for his help and not on our own skills.”   Notice it says, ‘in all our dealing’.  This means is whatever we do from cheating, stealing, or being deceitful.  It means to not even taking a pencil that doesn’t belong to you.  Remember in whatever you do – you are being watched.

         Way back in Old Testament times, the people were warned to “Be fearless in your stand for truth and honesty.”  2 Chronicles 19:11 Trust is a very important thing in life.  It’s important to have people trust you because they know you are honest.  Others who trust you bring promotion, success and prosperity.  I think of Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th. President, 1860, was called, ‘Honest Abe’ because he was honest in all he did; he never cheated and never lied.  To this day the name ‘Honest Abe’ is who he is known by. 

          Who would want to be remembered as liar, thief and cheater?  I would rather be remembered as someone who never lied to anyone; who never cheated anyone and who never took anything that didn’t belong to them. 

         Why do we remember Abraham in the Old Testament, because he was a ‘Friend of God’?   Why did God call him that?  “He was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time. He tried always to conduct his affairs according to God’s will.” Genesis 6:9 (TLB) Abraham was an honest man who obeyed God’s commands.  Dishonesty will get you nowhere, but honesty will take you everywhere.

            Be the example they can follow.  Your children watch you and they will do what they see you doing.

TRUST, DELIGHT, COMMIT AND REST

Trust, Delight, Commit and Rest

 

 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.                 Psalm 37:3-7 (NKJV)

            We all have our good days and bad days; days when were ready to give in and give up.  Depression can eat you up if you have no one to turn to for help.  You may feel like you’re no good for anyone and they would be better off without you.  You might even have thought about ending it all.

            STOP!  I really do know what you’re going through; I’ve been there.  Many years ago I was that person.  I felt like I had no hope whatsoever.  I hated myself and blamed everything and everybody.  When I was at my lowest point in my life; God came into it.  I wasn’t even looking for him; I didn’t call on his name or even pray for help, but He was there. 

            I don’t have space to write my whole testimony, but I will add a line from a very funny movie, “Pee Wee Herman’s Great Adventure”.  A girl named Dottie was telling him the sad story of her life and he said to her, “I know; I’ve lived it, Dottie.”  It was a very funny line in the show, but in real life, I can say, “I know, I’ve lived it, friend.”

            It’s hard to give encouragement to someone who is going through some ‘stuff’, if you haven’t been through it.  So – let me encourage you.  The grass really is greener on the other side.  There is hope and there is happiness waiting for you.  God is the only reason that I am alive today; not only alive, but happy and filled with joy.  I am walking in the favor of God because of 4 things I will share with you.  These 4 things come from Psalm 37:3-7

            The first thing that happened after I asked Jesus into my heart was reading the Bible and discovering I could TRUST God.  I was at a point in my life that I didn’t trust anyone because I knew they would let me down.  However, God was different.  I began to look back over my life and could see how I came through things I couldn’t have without divine help.  God literally saved me from myself a number of times.  I came to realize that a God who would sacrifice the life of his son for me was a God I could trust; a God who was faithful.  I also knew he had never let me go without; I didn’t always have my wants met, but my needs had always been supplied my whole life.  Praise God!

            The second thing I learned was to ‘DELIGHT in the Lord’; to find joy in my life because of who he was.  I found delight in the fact that God loved me beyond what I could even imagine.  He wanted the very best for me; he wanted me to be happy and to enjoy prosperity and good health.  I read in 3 John 2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”   This doesn’t mean that I would never get sick or not always have money, because we live in this world and things happen to both good and bad people.  But this is what God wants for me.

            It also says in that verse that God “will give us the desires of our heart”.  This is probably one of the most misinterpreted scriptures in the Bible.  We need to take in the entire verse because it says “IF” If we give our whole life to God, our desires will be godly things.  If our desires are to be rich or to have our own airplane or to take a cruise or have a big house, we are asking for selfish desires to be fulfilled.  If the desire of our heart is to become a missionary, or to see people set free, or to serve God more, He will give you those things.  It doesn’t mean to delight in our selves, but in Him.  He never fails.

            The third thing I learned was to COMMIT my life to Him.  When I was a new Christian, someone once asked me, “Can’t you talk about anything but God?”  I said, “Sure; let’s talk about Jesus”.  Why wouldn’t I want to talk about him all the time?  “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.  He has put a new song in my mouth-- Praise to our God.”   Psalm 40:2-3  

            These changes in my life didn’t all happen suddenly, but gradually as I gave more and more of myself to Him.  I was not financially secure and when I read in the Bible God wanted me to prosper, I realized I needed to let him prosper me and so I began tithing 10% of what money came into our household.  I could hardly believe it when even though our wages didn’t increase, we never ran out of money.  When appliances died, we were able to replace them.  They were not always new, but always supplied our need.  God has blessed us so abundantly that I can’t even count the times. 

            I’m still committed, even after all these years.  I can’t imagine not being committed to my church and to people.  I can’t play the piano for three services a week, like I once did; I don’t teach a Sunday School class like I used to and don’t go to all the retreats and conferences, but I do what I can.  This is what causes me to write these teachings on a blog every week, spending many hours of study.  God called me teach his Word and I will do that somehow because I’m committed.  Being committed to God is not just repeatedly do things like going to church every Sunday, or tithing your ten percent, its because its part of being faithful to God.  After all, He is faithful to me.

            The fourth thing is REST in Him.  What this means is to be ‘patient’.  We live in an ‘instant’ world and we have grown to expect things to happen immediately.  God is not one to be controlled by what people say and do.  He wants us to give our problems and trials to Him and then leave them there, resting in the fact that He will take care of these things in His own time and way. 

            Two or three years ago I had cancer and then broke my shoulder in four places.  I know my children thought I would never get out of my chair again, but I knew God was healing me and I was resting in Him.  He didn’t let me down, but gradually healed me and put me back on my feet.  Last month I went up in a balloon and rode in a helicopter.  I’m pretty proud of doing those things, but I give my heavenly Father the glory for giving me the ability to do it.  I never thought I had the patience, but it took a time of not being able to do anything to learn to ‘rest’ in Him.

            Trust in God, Delight in His ways, Commit your life to Him and Rest in His promises and your life will only get better and better.  The joy of the Lord is my strength and it can be yours if you let it.

 

THE LOVE OF GOD

THE LOVE OF GOD

 “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”  Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)

 Trying to explain the love of God is like looking through a giant telescope and seeing the vastness of the universe; it looks to be endless.  So is God’s love; there are no adequate words to describe it.  I hear people all the time saying, “I love God”.  It seems to be a rather puny remark when compared to how God loves us.  I only know this, ^“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 (NLT)

There are those in this world who have never felt loved; then they haven’t experienced the benefits of being a Believer in Jesus.  There are those who are so lonely they end up in deep depression; then they haven’t understood the message of Jesus Christ, because he said, “He would never leave us or forsake us.  Here’s what he wants to do for you, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” Psalm 40:2

Many of us do not understand that God’s love is constantly surrounding us; constantly watching over us.  I could list more than a hundred scriptures telling of God’s love and care for us.  3 John 1:2 is for those who worry over financial problems: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

Whatever your need is; when you are afraid to move forward, read Isaiah 52:12; “For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”  I love this; whatever I’m facing, God has gone before me to look over the situation and I don’t have to be looking backwards; fearing what’s coming up behind me.  God is already watching my back; nothing will get by Him.

I once heard a pastor on the radio talking about the word, ‘El Shaddai’ and the meaning of it.  It means, “God is the Sufficient One; God is Enough!”  Listen, He loves you so much that he wants to provide all your needs.  Look in Luke 12:27-31, "Look at the lilies! They don’t toil and spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory was not robed as well as they are. And if God provides clothing for the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, don’t you suppose that he will provide clothing for you, you doubters?  And don’t worry about food—what to eat and drink; don’t worry at all that God will provide it for you. All mankind scratches for its daily bread, but your heavenly Father knows your needs. He will always give you all you need from day to day if you will make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."

You don’t always ‘feel’ God’s love; He might bring a great happening in your life, or it may be just a small thing.  My mother depended on God for everything and she prayed about everything.  One time she told me she had difficulty combing her hair after she had a stroke.  She prayed and God always helped her with it.  There were times she needed things from the store and she prayed; sure enough someone would call and ask if she needed anything from the store.  This might seem like coincidences, but I can tell you that God hears every prayer and loves you so much he wants to take care of you in even in small things.

There is a song called, “His Love” and here are a couple of verses:

 

His love is higher than the highest of mountains
His love is deeper than the deepest of seas
His love, it stretches to the farthest horizon
And His love, it reaches to me

His love is stronger than the angels and demons
His love, it keeps me in my life’s darkest hour
His love secures me on the pathway to heaven
And His love is my strength and power.

 

Our pastor preached a message one morning from John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”  Don’t miss this; God loves us so much that we didn’t even have to look for him because he already chose us.  God knew us before we were even born and loved us then.  He loved us when we didn’t even serve him and he loved us when we sinned.  He readily forgives us when we repent.  Why?  He expects us to go out and bear fruit by leading others to road of salvation.  We might say that we decided to follow Jesus, and we did have to make a choice, but in truth, he was already calling us to him. 

I don’t know of any other than God the Father who sent his Son, Jesus, to this sinful earth to die for so many undeserving people, unless His love was beyond what we could understand.  To not accept His amazing love would be like throwing our very life in his face. 

Never forget that you are chosen and appointed and filled with God’s power.  The Holy Spirit lives within you because God sent him to be our Comforter.  What love God has for us!

"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 (NKJV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Happens When We Die? Part 2 - Con't.

What Happens When We Die?

Part II - Con’t.

 

When Believers die, where does their spirit go?  To answer this question, we need to look at several scriptures.  When Jesus was still alive on this earth, he told the story of a beggar who died and the angels took him to ‘Abraham’s Bosom’; the rich man died and was in Hades (Hell) Luke 16:22-23

When Jesus died, he first went down into the lower parts of the earth which is called “The Bosom of Abraham.”  Prior to Jesus resurrection, when believers died, their spirit went to that place.  He preached to them and then they were set free.  Many came with him out of ‘Abrahams Bosom’ as it tells us in Matthew 27:51-53, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

How could that be?  There are two scriptures that speak of a place deep in the earth.  1) Ephesians 4:9 Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?  2)

I Peter 3:19-20 “Through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”  And also in chapter 4:6, “For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.”  Both scriptures are in [NIV].

While Jesus hung on the Cross one of the criminals believed in Jesus and asked him to remember him.  And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Luke 23:43

After Jesus died and rose again he told Mary, “Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” John 20:17

From this time of his death, Jesus held the keys of Death and Hell in his hands and Paradise became the place for the ‘dead in Christ’.  Where is Paradise? Paradise is in the “Third Heaven.”  2 Cor. 12: 2-5 “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago; whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows; such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man; whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows; how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.”

This is why we know Paradise is in the third heaven.  Most Bible scholars believe Paul was speaking about himself in this scripture.  Let’s look at the layers of heaven. 

            a.         The sky above us is considered the first heaven

            b.         The second heaven is believed to be out in space where the stars are.

c.         The third heaven is above that and where Paradise is.  However

 it is not where the Throne of God is or within the pearly gates.

 

It is believed that Hell, Hades, Sheol; which ever you call it, is in the lower parts of the world.  Even the Old Testament speaks of this place:  Psalm 63:9 “But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.” It has long been considered there were two compartments under the earth; a place for the unrighteous dead and a place for the righteous that died before Jesus came to set them free.  After he did that they came into Paradise.

To further explain this place, turn to Rev. 9:1 “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”

Vs. 11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.  Sometimes the pit is called the ‘Abyss’ meaning a bottomless gulf.

             When Jesus returns to this earth he will bring all the souls in Paradise with him.  I Thess. 4:14 “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” We know that flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom of God.  I Cor. 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. 

Now Paul called this a mystery in I Cor. 15:51 “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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

We must remember one thing; our new body will not have any blood in it.  All the blood came out of Jesus at his death, so when he was resurrected, his body was without blood.  We know we shall be like Jesus when we return.  Jesus had five senses working and so will we.

            1.         Sight

            2.         Feeling

            3.         Taste

            4.         Ability to walk through solids

            5.         Move at the speed of thought.

            There are some things that happen before a person actually is dead. When a baby is born, the umbilical cord that is attached to the stomach of the baby is also attached to the mother.  Only when that cord is cut that separates the baby from its mother, can the infant begin to breathe on its own.  I’ve read many testimonies of people who thought they died and how they are hovering over their body and looking down at it.  Then they feel themselves floating upwards, but later on they come back into their body.  This is a strange thing to take place, but I believe there is an explanation.  Let’s go to Ecclesiastes 12:6   “Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

I believe that just like the umbilical cord, until the silver cord is severed, there can be no life in the spiritual world.  This scripture gives different explanation for the same thing, but there must be a severance from this world to remain in another.

Eternity is without time and the marvelous things God has planned for us have no explanation. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."  I Corinthians 2:9

 

I know this: Either I will go up in the Rapture and be changed in the 'twinkling of an eye', or my heart will stop beating and two angels will lift me out of this body and carry me to Paradise.  I will be given a new and glorious body and will be with Jesus forever.

 

"For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”   1 Corinthians 15:53-55 (NLT)

 

 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

What Happens When We Die?

Part I 

 

Over the years of teaching, many have asked me what happens when we die.  Of course not having experienced this event, it was difficult to answer.  I love to study the Word of God, so I’ve spent a lot of time searching for answers.  I read many books by different preachers and not all agreed with one another. 

            I have noticed most pastors, when giving a funeral service; say the same thing, “Your loved one is now in heaven”.  Of course that is not always true, even if it makes those remaining feel good about it. I want to share some of the miraculous things the Bible tells us, along with some insights from Perry Stone and myself.
            There are four (4) things we know for sure:

1.               All people must die (except for Elijah and Enoch and those taken in the Rapture).

Heb. 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”

                       Notice we are ‘appointed’; we have an appointment with death and it’s one we can’t    
                       call up and cancel.  We don’t know our appointed time, but we all have one.  It was
                       this way from the beginning.  Turn to Genesis 3:19 “In the sweat of your face you shall
                       eat bread until you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken; for dust you are,
                       and to dust you shall return.” 

2.         Every one who ever lived will be resurrected some day.  Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

            When Jesus rose from the dead He defeated the enemy, Satan.  This scripture tells us those who are born again will also rise from the dead.  I Thess. 4:16-17 “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. 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.”

 

                       Dead or alive, we will be resurrected, “Acts 24:15 “I have hope in God, which they
                       themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
                       and the unjust.”  There it is; all that died, the good and the bad, will be resurrected on
                       that great day.

3.         Where will they go when they are resurrected?  Let’s take a look at Matt. 25:46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."  This tells us that some will enter eternal life with God and others damnation.  I know there are those who believe everyone will go to heaven when they die, but the Bible tells us differently.

             Matt. 25:32  "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”  There is not much more to be said about this.

4.         Every person will be judged.  John 5:26-29 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 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.”

 

Let’s look at what the bible tells us about judgment after death.  There are two judgment events: 

1) The judgment seat of Christ which is for the Believer and 2) The Great White Throne Judgment which is for the unbeliever.

            1)  Romans 14:10 “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

 
            2)  Revelation 20:11 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.” Who are ‘them’ this speaks of?  These are the ones who never accepted Jesus as their Savior.
 

Resurrection is both a physical and a spiritual thing.  Gen. 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man

of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being.”  Here we see a physical side to it.  We can see that dust is a physical thing and what
is created from it returns to it.

Daniel 12:2 explains it even further.  “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”   

I Cor. 15:53 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”   What does this mean?  Is it physical or spiritual?  It seems quite clear that it is both.  We will change physically from dust to an immortal body and spiritually from our sinful thought life to pure spirituality.

            Our body is the ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit’ and that makes it invaluable, but in the physical it only worth about $14.00.  It has enough sulfur to make a box of matches, enough salt to fill a salt shaker and enough iron to make a 3” nail among other things.  It’s almost ridiculous that you put $50 shoes on ten cent feet; a $40 hairdo on a fifty cent head and $400 teeth in a five cent mouth.
 

Think of this; a $14 dollar man gets up and puts on $20 dollar slippers; takes a shower and puts on a $200 suit; a $25 dollar tie and $85 dollar dress shoes.  He leaves a $400,000 dollar house and drives a $40,000 car.  He gets to work and sets behind a $1,500 desk and turns on a $2,000 computer. 

 
He works 8 hours a day to make some money and eventually goes home to his $14 wife and his two $7.50 dollar kids.  He sets down and eats a $10 meal, picks up a $1.00 newspaper and sits in a $450 recliner.

Suddenly he has a heart attack and dies.  Then they buy a new $300 suit to put on him and lay him in a $2,000 coffin and bury him in a $3,000 cemetery plot.  Then they cover him up with the same thing he’s made out of – DIRT!  [Perry Stone]

If he, or she, is serving God, two angels will descend and lift the spirit out of his $14 dollar body and take him to Paradise.  He has the promise to someday be resurrected.  I Cor. 15: 21-22  “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coming Millennium

The Coming Millennium

            Let me begin this last teaching and 7^th in the end times series by saying the Battle of Armageddon is over and the mess is being cleaned up.  We cannot leave out some important events that take place prior to the battle following the Rapture of the Believers; this is the Judgment Seat of Christ where true Christians will be given rewards or lose rewards according to his/her service.  No believer will lose their Salvation because that is a gift of God, but as the Bible says in Romans 2:6 TLB “He will give each one whatever his deeds deserve.”  

            Those in Christ have been judged; “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)  We are speaking of the saints which are made up of those believers from the beginning and those who were still alive and taken up in The Rapture.  I Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that only the ‘dead in Christ’ would be caught up to meet Jesus. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (TLB)

            The Marriage Supper of the Lamb has taken place; the Judgment Seat of Christ is over and now begins a thousand years of peace. 

            The Millennium begins:  “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. Rev. 20:1-3 Can you imagine a life on earth without Satan temping and deceiving people?  What will it be like?  What will be different from what we know now?  Think of it; there will be no wars, violence or murders for 1000 years.  No one will have to be afraid of anyone. 

            Look at Isaiah 2:4, “For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Here are some things that will be different on earth during this time.

a.      Restoration of the original creation

b.     Life spans restored to their original length of over a 100 years.

c.      Animals will no longer be a threat or be threatened

d.     No one shall be sick or dying

e.      Jesus will sit on the throne and rule the world

f.       No one will be deceived any longer

g.      A time of prosperity and peace

            Isaiah 65:20-25 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old.” At this time, food will be so abundant that people will have to wait to plant because the harvest isn’t completed.  You can see there will be no hunger on the earth.   Amos 9:13 “The time will come," says the LORD, "when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!”  NLT 

As kings, priests and teachers, we will have the privilege of assisting Him in governing and teaching mankind the way of God.  We will also have help from the angels; they will be under our judgment.  I don’t think they will actually need judging, but will move and do things under our direction.  Remember – they were created for service as well as worship and praise. I Cor. 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” 

          People will marry, have children and all will be offered salvation during these thousand years.  They will be able to see Jesus and learn about him first-hand.  It will be a wonderful period of time and leads into a glorious eternity. 

At the end of the thousand years, God said, “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, which deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” 

Next comes the time when Satan is released on earth again.  Many question why God would do this?  Obviously, not all people living on earth during Christ’s reign accepted him as their Savior and not all nations bowed to his rule. Satan appears to still want to overcome God as much as he ever did.  We are not told how long he was loose but it must have been for a length of time until he got the nations of the earth stirred up to come against Jerusalem.  At last God says enough is enough and he literally scorched them with fire and cast them into the lake of fire. 

You may be wondering what happened to the countless dead people who never had salvation and the answer is very clear in the Revelation 20:5, “ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:5 (NKJV) At this time there is another judgment the Bible speaks of in Revelation 20:11-15 and it is called The Great White Throne Judgment.  This will take place at the end of the thousand years of peace on earth.  This trial is for all those who have rejected God's salvation by not accepting Jesus as their Savior.  Those who have died over the centuries and those who lived through the Tribulation times will not escape this terrible judgment.  At this time they will kneel before their Creator, and acknowledge that He is God; that he is Christ is Lord!

In Matthew 7:23, Jesus told this to those who did not accept who he was, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”  Then they will then be cast into the Lake of Fire, which will be their place throughout Eternity.  You can read more about it in Revelation 20:11-15.

 

 

 

 

          Ever wonder what happens to you after you are gone from your body?  There is a lot more to it than you can imagine.  Next week begins a 2-part teaching on, "What Happens When we Die?"  Be sure and read it; you might be surprised.