Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!!

Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!!: Paul had to write this urgent second letter to the Thessalonians because they were greatly distressed by false teaching they had been gi...

The Reassurance of His Coming!!

Paul had to write this urgent second letter to the Thessalonians because they were greatly distressed by false teaching they had been given. Paul reminds them, 
⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he [the antichrist] may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
When you come to understand through the study of Scripture what the antichrist can and will do, you will praise God for the “Restrainer,” the Holy Spirit. The antichrist will be the devil incarnate.  His intellectual genius will be great.  His authority will be overpowering.  His hatreds will be extraordinary.  His techniques will be superb.  Men will be willing to die for the antichrist.  Women will swoon and faint at his feet.  Little children will breathe his name with praise.  He will come as a great world leader, part of Satan’s master plan, which is tied to Satan’s master man.
He will turn this world into a vast concentration camp with all of the inmates numbered.  Everyone must receive a number to buy or sell.  No sign, no sell.  No mark, no merchandise.  He will be evil wickedness distilled, all of the Hitlers, Napoleons, Stalins, and Saddam Husseins melded into one man.
By computer, all people still on earth at that time will be registered.  And they will be regimented with no escape.  The more machines act like men, the more men will act like machines, and they will do that during the great tribulation. There will be days of torture and terror for those remaining here.
Will they then repent? Paul continues,
¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 
People who do not receive the Lord Jesus Christ now in our day and age will believe the lies of the antichrist.  Once the Restrainer is taken away, people will be sitting ducks for delusion. They will willingly believe a lie.
 “How is that possible?” you ask. We see it everywhere today. People believe untruths about a vast array of subjects, from questioning the inerrancy of Scripture to denying biblical Creation, to life in the womb and God’s definition of marriage.  People today even question that there is absolute truth. Mark Twain once observed, “A lie travels around the world while Truth is still putting its boots on.”
Delusion will prevail once the Holy Spirit is removed. When that happens, and the antichrist is revealed and has had his day, God will then dispatch him. Remember verse 8:
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
“The brightness of His coming” refers to the Battle of Armageddon.  In some translations, “lawless one” is written “Wicked One”—capitalized. In the original text, the word has a masculine, singular ending.  Antichrist is a person.
What does “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth” mean?
From the Lord’s perspective, the Battle of Armageddon is going to be fought with a word that comes from Jesus’ mouth.  Do you know what that will be?   “Drop dead.”  Christ will consume him with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming.  You need not be disturbed, you should not be deceived, and you will not be disappointed.  Jesus Christ is coming again.

TWO ASPECTS OF THE SECOND COMING 
The Second Coming is not so much a point of time as a series of events that take place.
First, He’s coming for His bride—that coming will be sweet and secret.
And now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him. 2 Thessalonians 2:1
Earlier Paul had told them, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  And we which remain and are alive shall be caught up to meet them in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Next He is coming with His bride.  He comes first at the Rapture to take His bride out. After the tribulation, verse 8 says He comes back in glory and power with His bride to rule and reign.
First He comes sweetly as a bridegroom.  Then He comes sovereignly as a king in all His majesty. This is when King Jesus is going to destroy the antichrist.

Look at the difference between the first time Jesus came and His Second Coming.

• When Jesus came the first time, He suffered in shame.  The second time, He will reign in glory. 
• The first time, they crowned Him with thorns.  The second time, He will wear a crown of glory. 
• The first time, He came to die in the sinner’s place. The second time, He will execute judgment on the unsaved sinner. 
• The first time, He came to seek and save those who were lost.  The second time, He’s coming in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the Gospel. 
• The first time, He came in the greatest humility, riding on a donkey.  The second time, He’s coming in power and glory. 
• The first time, He was rejected of men.  The second time, every knee shall bow. Even the knee of every unbeliever will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
• The first time, He was judged guilty and sentenced to die. The second time, He will be both Savior and Judge.  “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son” John 5:22. 

This world is like a Shakespearean tragedy.  When you read one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, you know to anticipate an untimely end, and there’s nothing that can stop it. That’s the way our world is, apart from Jesus.  Friend, if I did not know Bible prophecy, if I did not understand who Jesus is and what God has planned for us, I would be a world-class, industrial-strength pessimist.
But I am a glowing optimist. We will not be disappointed.  You can bank on it. Jesus Christ, who came the first time, is coming again. “That same Jesus,” the angel said, “which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him return to Heaven.”
What does this mean to us?  The days in which we live are actually glorious days. We’re living in the beginning of the end. These are not days to let up, back up or shut up until we’re taken up. We need to press the battle right to the gates.
I want to go up as a growing Christian.  I want to be a better Christian tomorrow than I am today.  I want to love Jesus more this afternoon than I do this morning.  I want to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The great apostle Paul at the end of his life said, “I’m reaching for the prize of the high calling of God” (Philippians 3:14). At the end of his life, he’s still climbing.  He’s still moving up. We need to be moving one step higher.
HOW DO WE MOVE “ONE STEP HIGHER”?
Intercession
If Jesus Christ is coming, we ought to be praying for unsaved loved ones that don’t know Jesus.  We ought to be getting as many ready for the Rapture as we can by winning souls to Jesus Christ.
Soul-Winning
Be telling people about Jesus.  We need to be winning souls.
Preparation
Teach your children.  Build Bible truth into your children. Become familiar with Bible prophecy yourself and then teach them. This world is becoming so vile, so wicked so fast, they must be prepared for what is coming on the earth.
Comfort
There is great comfort in knowing that this is not the end. What you see today is not all you can expect. This is not all there is. Jesus is coming to this world and this world is coming to Jesus.

Thank God we can say, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

Messages From Heaven: The Truth Shall Set You Free!

Messages From Heaven: The Truth Shall Set You Free!: God’s will isn’t just for you to be saved. Jesus didn’t come just so you could go to heaven. Heaven is wonderful, of course, and it’s the...

The Truth Shall Set You Free!

God’s will isn’t just for you to be saved. Jesus didn’t come just so you could go to heaven. Heaven is wonderful, of course, and it’s the joyous prospect of every believer. But what God sent Jesus to do is to set you free, emancipate you, rescue you from sin and its power in your life. We’ve been liberated in this life, right here on Earth—we have been freed!
 So why are so many still slaves?
You may say, “Well, we don’t have any slavery in America, Pastor!” Yes, we do. Some of us are slaves to our work. You know the drill: Work is all that matters to you. Even your time off is spent “on,” thinking about work, worrying about work. That kind of attitude is often called workaholism, but it’s more than an addiction—it’s slavery. You’re a slave to making a living when you should be free to make a life.
 Others are slaves to things: You not only have things, but things have you. Or perhaps you’re a slave to other people. You have an inordinate desire to please people. What others think about you, what others say about you, what the world expects from you—that’s your master. Then there’s the deep-seated sin of slavery to ourselves. Perhaps it’s a selfish habit. Or fleshly pleasures that are out of bounds and out of the will of God.
 There are any number of things you can be enslaved to. But let me share an incredible truth with you: You can break free.
 I believe one of the reasons the Bible is such a magnetic and powerful book is because it    is a book of liberty. In the Word of God we have God’s own Emancipation Proclamation. The Word of God tells us how to be free. It promises liberty. And it delivers!
[Pull quote] In the Word of God we have God’s own Emancipation Proclamation. The Word of God tells us how to be free. It promises liberty. And it delivers!
 “But,” you ask, “why do we still sin? Why do believers break God’s laws?” I have a simple, homespun theory about that: We do what we want to do. Christians who want to sin choose to sin. And so often believers do it with their eyes wide open and minds made up, continuing to live under the power of sin in their lives. They are voluntary slaves!
 Yet, in Jesus Christ that is never, ever the way to live. You have been emancipated and that is a fact! And in Romans 6, Paul points out our path toward freedom…
 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness (Romans 6:11-13).
 You are no longer in Christ a helpless victim constantly terrorized and victimized by evil. You are now a victor! Jesus Himself said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” and promises, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32; 36).  
That is sweet release—true emancipation from slavery—whatever it is, however it binds you. You are free, my friend! “Praise God,” as the old hymn goes, “from whom all blessings flow!”

Messages From Heaven: Big Prayers—Big Peace!!

Messages From Heaven: Big Prayers—Big Peace!!: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...

Big Prayers—Big Peace!!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6–7, ESV).
Throughout the day we need little arrow prayers—quick prayers in the car, in the office, in the kitchen. When we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), this connects us to the Lord in sweet communion. But these quick-fire prayers, though important, don’t yield the deepest peace.
Nor does ritual praying. Mindless repetition is unbiblical and won’t bring you peace. Little prayers yield little peace. Big prayers yield big peace.
If you want peace, you must pray biblically. Here’s a practical checklist: fervent prayer, by yourself, out loud, kneeling down, with a list. If you pray like that for five or ten minutes, a river of peace will rush down the parched canyon of your anxiety. Peace is coming like a flood to a person praying fervently to the Lord.
The enemy of your peace is anxiety. And if you are living crippled by anxiety, that suggests your prayer life could use some focused improvement. Review the past month of your life. Have you been fretting over some things? Fearful? Anxious? Worried? No doubt, those feelings increased as you moved further and further from your last, fervent prayer time with God.
On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your prayerfulness over the past month? A score of ten means you are rocking your world several times per day with faith-filled, awesome prayer. Zero means . . . zero. A prayer vacuum in your life. Perhaps you can’t even recall the last time you knelt down and prayed out loud fervently with a list.
On the same scale of one to ten, rate your anxiety level. Zero means you are calm. Nothing deeply divides you. Though bad things happen to you, they don’t rob you of peace. Ten equates to frequently freaking out, crippled by dividing cares, no peace.
Now notice the correlation. The lower your score in prayer—the higher your score in anxiety. The higher your score in prayer—the lower your score in anxiety. Where fervent prayer abounds, peace abounds.
If you want to lower your score in anxiety, the solution is to raise your score in prayer. This isn’t a mystery. It’s not a function of personality, as if some people are natural pray-ers and others missed out on that gene. Philippians 4:6 clearly links anxiety and prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When anxiety goes up, up, up, you must pray it back down. Go back and review what you know to be true about God and His faithfulness.
One particular component of peace-producing, anxiety-destroying prayer is absolutely essential: we must pray with thanksgiving. At the root of human depravity is ungratefulness (Romans 1:21).
Thanksgiving will transform your prayers. When you go in a room by yourself, shut the door, pray out loud fervently with a list, and begin to thank God, you recall . . .

• who He is.
• all He has done in your life.
• the ways you have seen Him provide.
• His personal, intimate care for you.

When you pray with thanksgiving and review God’s résumé of faithfulness, you suddenly become aware of what He has been, is, and will continue to be for you. In light of His faithfulness, your anxiety begins to minimize. Your problems shrink into perspective.
It’s a holy exchange in prayer—anxiety for peace. Available for you today.

Messages From Heaven: Thankfulness!

Messages From Heaven: Thankfulness!: Being thankful to God is the essence of worship. To be specific and thoughtful about our gratitude is not only well-received by the Godhe...

Thankfulness!

Being thankful to God is the essence of worship. To be specific and thoughtful about our gratitude is not only well-received by the Godhead, it is expected (Luke 17:17). We owe him nothing less than to catalog our blessings and prompt our own hearts to recite them in thanksgiving. We see this discipline in the lyrics of the Psalmist as he calls his own soul to "Praise Yahweh!" and "forget not all his benefits" (Psalm 103:2). It may sound elementary to remind yourself to "count your blessings and name them one by one," but nothing would capture the essence of spiritual maturity more than doing just that (1 Thessalonians 5:18). And unlike the non-directed "thanksgiving" of our world, we must be careful and clear in our minds about the ultimate recipient of gratitude. It is not enough to passively feel thankful, we must actively direct our earnest expressions of thanks to the Giver of all good things (James 1:17). Though he has blessed us in countless ways, it is our responsibility to start counting anyway. As we do, God is honored, we are refreshed, and Christ's Church is adorned with the worshipful hearts that befit his children.
Thankfulness should not be just for those times that are going well, but should be our attitude regardless of our present pains or disappointments. The Bible assumes that if we are recipients of his grace and mercy, we have a lot to sing about as Psalm 96 would indicate. This Psalm calls us to "Sing to the Lord" (Psalm 96:1a). And the focus should not only be historical (i.e. what God did for us in years past), but our attention should also be on God's merciful involvement that is observed to be "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). That is why the psalmist calls us to sing to him "a new song" (Psalm 96:1b). The "newness" in view is not the modernity of the melody (necessarily), but it clearly has to do with the recent awareness of God's "marvelous deeds" and manifestations of his "glory" among his people and in our lives (Psalm 96:3). We could consume all of our time and attention focusing on the difficulties of the Christian life, but the Bible says that would be a mistake. Because God "is great" and "most worthy of praise" (Psalm 96:4), there are many good and awesome things of which we should take note, and then, in obedience to God's word, we must turn our hearts and our voices to him in joyful song. Psalm 96 ends as we might expect, looking forward to the day when God makes everything right (Psalm 96:13), but in the meantime we should never fail to find the "right" that he is doing right now and celebrate it with glad and sincere hearts.
While pain hurts, and few of us would choose it if we had a choice, God often chooses it for us, so we can experience his strong deliverance and learn to praise him more perfectly. Consider Psalm 102 (a psalm with a preface that reads "the prayer of an afflicted man") where we discover that amid the psalmist's pain he has learned to recognize God's providential rescue. More than that, he is resolved to utilize God's answer to his prayers as a springboard for liberal amounts of thanksgiving and celebration. He even directs it to be written down and memorialized so that others can join with him in worshipping God for his gracious relief. So when your stormy trial encounters those respites of peace and calm, let us follow this inspired example and share our incremental victories so that together many can rejoice in the deliverance that God is providing!