Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL100022
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00:01 Hello friends grab your Bible and a friend,
00:03 and sit back as we explore God's word together on this 00:06 edition of House Calls. 00:23 Hello welcome to another program called House Calls 00:26 if you are tuning in for the first time, 00:28 remember this station, you don't want to forget it 00:30 because this is the place where we really actually 00:33 use the Bible. My name is John Lomacang and 00:35 this is my good friend John Stanton, 00:37 good to have you here today. 00:38 It's great to be here. I tell you. This is live. 00:41 And this is the saddle to be in, the one that we know 00:44 the Lord is directing and guiding, and we want you 00:46 to sit back and enjoy this program, 00:48 its an exciting one, its informative and is based 00:51 solely on the word of God, and before we go any 00:55 further though we always like to begin our program 00:58 with prayer. So, John would you have prayer for us. 01:00 Let's do that. Loving Father its so good 01:02 to be able to open your word here today, 01:06 and to know that you are leading and guiding us, 01:08 and directing your work here on earth, 01:11 and we just pray that you would provide that blessing, 01:14 blessing of the Holy Spirit here in our lives today, 01:17 that you will lead and instruct not only our words, 01:20 but Lord the hearts of all those who are listening, 01:22 who are open to your voice. 01:24 We thank you for the blessing and for the 01:26 promise of Jesus, and all that he is doing in our lives, 01:30 and that he will come very soon one day, 01:32 and we will be able to go home with him. 01:35 In Jesus name we pray, amen. 01:37 Amen. Well thank you friends, 01:39 we like to let you know that if you have any questions 01:43 at all, you can send those questions here to us 01:47 at housecalls@3ABN.org, that's to 01:50 housecalls@3ABN.org. And if you have the ability 01:55 to do that you may want to record this program 01:57 because we never, let me use the phrase loosely, 02:00 we never shoot blanks. Everything that we share 02:02 with you is always filled with the word of God 02:04 and this program is no exception. 02:06 So send those questions if anything comes to your 02:09 mind you can reach us at the information just 02:11 given on the screen. But once again your Bible 02:14 questions do make a significant impact to what 02:17 happens on this program. So, we are gonna begin 02:19 with one of your Bible questions. 02:21 What do we have first John. 02:23 We've got a question here that is coming from 02:26 Cameroon. Yeah, and I don't think we had a question 02:31 at least in a while from Cameroon. 02:33 But it's a good question. It says I am so grateful 02:38 that I can write to you at 3ABN and Jesus 02:41 is blessing my life through your program, 02:45 which is really nice of them to say. My question 02:47 for you is which message of the three angels is being 02:50 preached to the world now. 02:53 Do you know the time period exactly regarding 02:56 the three angels messages? Been reading of 02:59 Revelation and really need to know more about this, 03:01 waiting for your response. Well, why don't we read 03:06 the three angles messages and then let's read 03:10 Revelation 18, the other angel that gives 03:14 great light to that message. Alright. 03:16 Then we can talk a little bit about that. 03:18 So, we are going to Revelation 14. 03:19 14 is where we want to go to. Revelation 14 03:22 and we will start with verse 6. By the way 03:29 Revelation 14 initially introduces the hundred 03:32 and forty four thousand, which are called or 03:35 titled God's servants in Revelation 7, so another 03:39 description there of the hundred and 03:40 forty four thousand. These are God servants, 03:43 who preach the last message to the world 03:46 and we pick them up here in verse 6 of Revelation 14. 03:51 Regarding the message what is the content 03:54 of what they are preaching and so let's begin with 03:56 verse 6, "And I saw another angel flying in midst 04:00 of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach 04:03 to those who dwell on the earth, to every tribe, 04:06 nation, tongue and people. Saying with the loud voice 04:10 fear God and give glory to him for the hour 04:13 of his judgment has come, and worship him who made 04:16 heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water. 04:20 And another angel followed saying 04:22 "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city because 04:25 she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 04:28 of her fornication. Then the third angel followed them 04:31 saying with a loud voice "If anyone worships the 04:34 beast and his image and receives his mark on his 04:37 forehead or on his hand, he, himself shall also drink 04:40 of the wine of wrath of God which is poured out 04:43 full strength into the cup of his indignation. 04:46 He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone 04:48 in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence 04:50 of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment 04:53 ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest 04:56 day or night, who worship the beast and his image, 04:58 and whoever receives the mark of his name. 05:02 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those 05:05 who keep the commandments of God, 05:06 and the faith of Jesus. Okay. 05:10 In there you have the three angels' messages. 05:14 And its essentially what the Seventh Day Adventist 05:15 Church has been preaching now for a hundred 05:19 and sixty years roughly, and so in the context 05:25 of today this message has already been preached 05:28 for that amount of time, and if you want to assign 05:31 some to it you would say the advent movement 05:35 began to swell and grow prior to 1844, 05:40 which is when the message relating to the end 05:42 of time and that date 1844 the twenty three hundred 05:46 year prophecy was coming to light, 05:48 and as the message began to be preached, 05:50 you would find the first angel and the second 05:53 angel swelling up to or transitioning up to the third 05:57 angel which began to be preached in 1844 and on 06:00 pertaining not only to the mark of the beast. 06:03 Some people look at that primarily as the third 06:04 angel's message, but is not the essence of the third 06:06 angel is really found in verse 12 of the patience 06:10 of the saints those who are faithful to God who 06:12 keep his commandments in the faith of Jesus. 06:15 Right. And so message has been preached 06:17 for sometime, and we have preached all three 06:20 that's been continuing on, it's not just the third 06:22 angel's message, but if you want to assign a time 06:23 period to it, those are the time periods you 06:26 would assign. But furthermore we need to go 06:29 little step further because if you look at the context 06:32 of Revelation 14, you find that the three angels 06:35 messages appear right before the harvest 06:38 judgment, the great harvest at the end of the 06:40 world just prior to the close of probation, 06:43 and that harvest is the harvest of souls of a great 06:47 multitude who are all of the earth, all the inhabitants 06:50 of the earth, who received that message 06:51 and in fact if you look at the response of that great 06:56 multitude in Revelation 16, excuse me 15, 06:59 you see that they respond to especially the first 07:04 angel which is almost quoted here from verse 3 07:09 of chapter 15, it says "They sing the song of 07:13 Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, 07:16 saying, Great and marvelous are your works, 07:18 Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, 07:21 thou King of saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, 07:26 and glorify your name? For you alone are holy 07:30 for all nations shall come and worship before 07:33 you for your judgments have been manifested." 07:36 So, you know, fearing God, giving glory to him, 07:40 and worshipping him for the hour of his judgment 07:42 has come, they have received that message 07:44 and they have followed it. And then of course 07:46 on the heels of that you have the seven last 07:48 plagues in chapter 16, so 14 really John is a end 07:52 time of proclamation, the context here is last, 07:56 very last days proclamation because it occurs right 07:59 before the harvest judgment, I mean the harvest 08:04 of the souls that are invited for the in gathering, 08:06 yes. But then if we add to that Revelation 18, 08:09 which is the mighty cry, we refer to it as the loud cry, 08:17 it is in the past been referred to the loud cry 08:18 of the third angel, but I'll share quote with you here 08:21 in just a moment, its really the loud cry of all three. 08:24 But if I read that here from let's see verse 1, 08:28 "After these things I saw another angel coming down 08:31 from heaven, having great authority, 08:33 and the earth was illuminated with his glory and he 08:37 cried mightily with a loud voice." 08:39 This is a louder cry that's why we call it a loud cry. 08:43 Saying "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 08:46 and has become a dwelling place of demons, 08:49 a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for 08:52 every unclean and hated bird!" For all the nations 08:55 have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her 08:56 fornication. The kings of the earth have committed 08:58 fornication with her. And the merchants 09:00 of the earth have become rich through the 09:02 abundance of her luxury. And I heard another 09:04 voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, 09:06 my people, lest you share in her sins, 09:09 and lest you receive of her plagues. 09:12 That's adjusted okay. Yeah and it goes on 09:14 to talk about the judgment of Babylon 09:17 has it actually fallen, but I bring that up because 09:22 you find that Revelation 18 and that last call appears 09:26 also right before the coming of Christ in 09:28 Revelation 19. So, contextually both are in time. 09:32 Right. And in that context you can say 09:35 that Revelation 18 when is that loud cry proclamation 09:39 that it is the messages of the three angels, 09:42 all three of them that are repeated. Okay, 09:45 it's not just the third angel or there isn't just a time 09:49 period assigned to this, and I wanted to share 09:54 this thought with you, here is the quote. 09:59 It says a similar work would be accomplished when 10:03 that other angel represented in Revelation 18 10:05 gives his message, the first, second, 10:08 and third angel's messages will need to 10:10 be repeated. Right. 10:13 So, you know, in that way it lumps all three 10:16 messages into that loud cry message, 10:19 it's not just the loud cry of the third angel only. 10:21 There are all three that may be proclaimed 10:23 to the world at the end of time. 10:24 So even contextually there she sees 14 10:27 as well 18 as a last day proclamation. 10:31 Right, and they are reaching their crescendo, 10:33 if I could add to that because what happens 10:36 is you have messages that are being preached 10:38 that are warning messages laying the foundation, 10:42 but many of us know the first time you put up a sign, 10:45 a new sign on the highway people don't see it, 10:47 so that signs stays up there day after day, 10:50 day after day, and sometimes years down the 10:52 road somebody will say that's a new sign and all 10:54 of a sudden they just see it for the very first 10:56 time. In that context the messages of the first, second, 10:59 and third angel had been preached ever since the 11:02 mid 1800s up until the present. 11:07 But there is a significant application here because 11:09 you will notice that the first couple of things 11:11 I want to point out the first and third angels 11:14 message are proclaimed with a loud voice, 11:16 but when it comes to Babylon is fallen, Revelation 11:19 14 verse 8, it doesn't say with a loud voice 11:21 until you get to Revelation 18 where it says 11:25 the angel cried mightily with a loud voice, 11:28 so Babylon is at that point in its smaller setting. 11:35 I won't use the word infancy because the 11:38 institution of Babylon a false worship or false systems 11:41 against Christ, have been existing through our time, 11:44 but when it comes to a apostate protestantism 11:47 or churches that use a title Christian, 11:50 but are not Christian they are coalescing together, 11:53 they still coming together, they are still growing 11:55 together, and by the time you get to Revelation 11:57 chapter 18, they have all coalesced together. 12:00 Matter of fact if you look at a picture here in 12:02 Revelation 13, just let me just show you this very 12:04 quickly. Revelation chapter 13 and verse 1, 12:09 it says, "I stood on the sand of the sea, 12:13 and saw a beast rising up out of the sea, 12:17 having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns 12:20 ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous 12:24 name." By the time we get to Revelation chapter 12:27 17 it shows you that beast again, 12:30 but this time it shows you that it's full of names 12:35 of blasphemy. It now comes to position 12:39 where in Revelation 13 once again in its introductive 12:44 infancy, but then it grows to coalition. 12:47 So one of the reasons why Revelation 18 repeats 12:49 Babylon is fallen is, I like the way that 12:53 Elder Kenneth Cox said Revelation or Babylon 12:58 is already fallen in the eyes of God, 13:01 but later on Babylon is going to fall in the 13:04 eyes of men. Right now that's why the Lord 13:08 then adds with it, he doesn't have this in Revelation 14, 13:10 but he adds this component come out of her my 13:14 people because today regardless of the denomination 13:18 even if they are not preaching complete truth God 13:20 says my people are there, but the other component 13:24 he says I am not reforming the other movements. 13:27 I am not correcting the other movements. 13:29 I'm calling my people out of that because they are part 13:32 of the institution of Babylon. In other words false 13:35 spiritual worship, they are not handling the truth. 13:39 So, before Babylon is destroyed, 13:43 I am gonna call my people out of that, 13:45 and that's what Revelation 18 is all about saying 13:47 come out of her my people. But anything as you 13:51 want to add to that John. Well, it's interesting because 13:54 this is the same message that is given in prophetic 13:59 as a prophetic voice here in Isaiah chapter 21. 14:04 Okay, Isaiah 21 what. In verse 9, it says 14:06 "Look here comes a chariot of men, 14:08 with a pair of horsemen, then he answered and said 14:11 Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the carved images 14:15 of the God has been broken to the ground." 14:17 So you know this is something that has been 14:20 prophesized for sometime, but we find then this 14:24 greater input I like what you were saying that, 14:26 you know, the first call is the description 14:27 that it is fallen, but the last call is come out. 14:30 Right. Because it's not only it's fallen, 14:33 it's about to take God's people with it as well, 14:36 so you got to get out now, and that is the last message 14:39 in this great proclamation at the end of time, 14:44 also known as the loud cry. 14:46 Right and it comes to that place because just before I've 14:54 seen pictures of demolitions and after all of the 14:59 explosives are rig, you hear the foremen or somebody 15:02 at the site yells the word all clear. 15:06 They want to make sure that everything is cleared 15:08 before the building comes down. 15:11 Well the call to come out of Babylon is some, 15:15 but all clear proclamation. The Lord wants to make 15:18 sure that the building is clear of all of his saints 15:21 before he brings it down and so I thought about 15:24 it that way when I was sitting here and so it's a 15:27 wonderful message, but the reason why it has 15:30 also a second application which you just pointed 15:32 out a moment ago; the reason why all three 15:35 messages are going to be repeated because it has 15:37 not only, we are not only in the time where 15:39 God is reviewing the life record of his people, 15:42 but when that hour of judgment does come, 15:46 its going to be repeated. This is the hour of judgment 15:50 and this is the hour of God's judgments. 15:54 Also, we will show later on a different program 15:57 how that builds into free vision, but why particular 16:01 hour is mentioned as in a life of Jesus he always said 16:05 my hour had not yet come, but when the hour 16:07 came he didn't see to release himself from the bonds 16:12 of those who arrested him. So, there is an hour 16:14 coming where these messages take on significance not 16:16 just as a church, but to the entire world and they will 16:20 believe because of what's gonna be happening 16:22 in that hour, the God's judgment hour has come. 16:26 Good. Okay, anything else. No. 16:27 Okay, let me go to another one here. 16:31 Well I like all the questions, but I need to lighten 16:35 the moment a little bit here. I got a little e-mail from 16:38 a lady by the name of Claudia, and she probably 16:40 thought we never read this on the air. 16:45 I was very, very disappointed in the fact that 16:47 someone would really waste time to comment 16:51 on your hair, well it's not a salvation issue, 16:56 remember that. We get all kinds of statements 16:59 and comments and I thought this was a light 17:01 hearted one to share for the moment, 17:02 especially from a male listener. 17:06 I do admire you first for your spiritual knowledge, 17:09 secondly for your sharp style and dress, thank you, 17:12 and then she puts in all caps there is absolutely 17:14 nothing wrong with your hair. 17:17 If the commenter had looked closely enough 17:20 he would have seen that you are a mixed person. 17:23 As a matter of fact I thought you are half Indian, 17:27 I wish the commenter would pay more attention 17:30 to the powerful Bible studies, and take a lesson 17:33 from your humble, but sharp dress style, 17:35 that was really nice. I love you all my brothers 17:38 in Christ, Claudia. Thank you so much Claudia 17:41 for clearing that up. We enjoy those comments 17:45 though I have to say that even those are critical 17:47 in nature, we can get a little smile out of it and find it 17:52 kind of amusing. I remember one way back 17:55 when we kind of started this program about 17:56 my glasses. You know why does Pastor Stanton 18:00 have to wear the stylish glasses. You know, 18:04 he shouldn't try to be conforming to the styles 18:06 of this world and I mean to me these are just glasses, 18:10 I like the way they look so I brought them, right, 18:13 but anyway it is fun to get those comments too, 18:16 so don't stop sending those and if you feel 18:18 like your heart is in it. 18:19 It is encouraging that people are watching, 18:21 and they are paying attention to things that sometimes 18:24 are distraction to other people, but let me add 18:27 another note here because there is a person 18:29 that ask the question, that was the comment 18:30 by the way, that was not a question, 18:32 thank you for the comment. But here is the question, 18:34 what do you say is behind the miracles that are 18:37 happening in churches today. You know this is a big 18:40 one, and one of the programs we did, 18:42 we talked about false Christ, and false prophets 18:43 arising and deceiving many. But we find one of the 18:48 key elements to deception, one of the key elements 18:52 is miracles. People are pill oriented in America, 18:58 not a change in life, not a change in direction, 19:02 but give me a pill to overcome whatever my ailment 19:05 maybe, and to a large extent miracles, 19:08 and miracle services had become kind of that 19:10 proverbial pill. You know touch me on my forehead 19:14 and cure me of my heart disease, 19:16 rather than change my way of life, 19:18 from all the things that I eat, and all the things 19:21 that I put in my body, and the way that I abuse 19:23 my God's sanctuary or God's temple. Give me 19:27 a touch on the head and clear my arteries, 19:29 and when you look at that way that's, that is miracles 19:34 not the way that God intent for them to be. And so one 19:37 of the things I must add here is in Revelation 16, 19:40 Revelation 16, verse 14, and since we open the book 19:45 to Revelation today, I must add this part in Revelation, 19:48 it talks about. And I saw three unclean spirits verse 13 19:53 of Revelation chapter 16, "And I saw three 19:56 unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth 20:00 of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, 20:03 and out of the mouth of the false prophet." 20:06 And notice what it says, for they are the spirits 20:09 of demons performing signs, another word for signs 20:12 there are miracles, performing signs or miracles 20:16 which go out to the kings of the earth and of the 20:18 whole world to gather them to the battle of the 20:21 great day of God almighty. When you are person 20:24 that is drawn in by miracle working you are actually 20:27 setting the stage for the great deception, the great, 20:32 great satanic miracle that's gonna come, 20:35 and harvest the world. So if you ask the question 20:38 what's behind the miracles, if they are based 20:41 on the word of God, and they are not the sole 20:42 focal point, like some evangelists 20:45 setup large stadiums, and this is gonna be our miracle 20:49 service tonight. And you find people that are being 20:52 wheeled in there actually they have ailments 20:54 that are not being healed, and so really be careful 20:58 if the miracles is the foundation because many false 21:01 Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs 21:04 and wonders in so much that if they were possible 21:09 they would deceive the very elect. 21:11 So don't let miracles to be the foundation 21:12 of your hope, maybe the word of God. 21:15 The other thing too is that if you think about the way 21:17 Satan works, and I'll just give you one example, 21:21 and then I'll give my actual example. Sure. 21:24 The first one is that, you know, people say well 21:25 these spirits and mediums are crystal ball, you know, 21:30 soothsayers, you can go and they will tell you things 21:35 that are really true, and think of this from 21:37 Satan's perspective, this is not too difficult. 21:41 For a medium, who is in contact with him 21:43 and depending upon his voice to give him direction. 21:47 When this person is asking for some information 21:49 about their life, its very easy for Satan who already 21:53 has a host of demons and angels who know 21:57 exactly what's going on in this person's life to feed 22:00 the medium information about that person, 22:03 and then that person says well this is going on your 22:05 life and you have such and such friend 22:06 and they are like amazed, 22:08 but Satan's like this is too easy. Right, it is. 22:11 It's not a difficult thing for Satan to work through 22:15 a person, to create amazement or wonder 22:19 in the world through miracles or these signs. 22:23 But now think of it in terms of sickness and disease 22:26 you know Satan is the one that levies or brings 22:29 upon mankind its sickness, its disease, 22:33 and so when he sees the fit, he sees fit to remove 22:37 that disease from someone and make it appear 22:40 as if they have been healed. So, then people 22:42 follow after this one that he is doing these 22:45 miracles through. Right. He can do that. 22:47 So someone claiming to heal some others with miracle, 22:51 the miracles of healing, you know, powers, 22:54 Satan can easily withdraw the illness or something 22:57 from someone to make it appear as though 22:59 God is doing a miracle, and then in effect he is being 23:02 worshipped because then people are in wonder are 23:05 following after what has just happened, 23:08 and the sign that was just given, so these things 23:11 that we see that seems so miraculous, 23:14 Satan has an easy time using those to deceive. 23:18 Yeah. So, we have to be very, very careful that 23:21 what we are seeing that the signs that we are seeing, 23:24 they were testing them to see whether or not 23:26 they are of God or if the enemy is doing these things, 23:29 and it has more to do with what they say, 23:33 what they testify in their words according 23:37 to the word of God than the miracles they are doing. 23:39 Right. The word is more important than the miracles. 23:42 That's true. This is the key point; 23:44 this is the key thing I want to share. 23:47 Because the religious leaders of the day of Christ 23:50 said to him, show us a miracle, show us a sign, 23:54 and he said to them a wicked and adulterous generation 23:58 seeks after sign. So don't let that to be the foundation 24:01 of your hope. One quick question here John it says 24:05 that my church does not seem to care about how the 24:08 members dress themselves. Just this Sabbath was amazing 24:13 to see how people are dressed. My question is isn't 24:16 part of the pastors' responsibility to address 24:19 that issue. It seems that the world is coming to the 24:22 church imposing its worldly traditions. Well, I could 24:27 understand what they mean by that because whenever 24:31 we talk about standards that's a very loose term 24:36 because it has many, it shoulders, it's like a tray 24:40 that holds up many glasses of water, you have the water 24:44 of dress, you have the water of witnessing, 24:47 you have the water of modesty. So in this case 24:51 I would refer to this as the water of modesty. 24:54 We really do and John you may have heard and I have 25:00 as a marriage counselor and as a pastor. 25:03 Sometimes, I have to deal with members in church 25:05 who have gotten themselves in trouble with the person 25:09 of the opposite sex because of their provocative mindset, 25:15 and let me give example to that or explanation to that. 25:19 There are some individuals that would say, 25:22 its hard for me to come to church because the way that 25:24 women dress, because it takes my mind away from what 25:29 the Lord is trying to reveal to me when I see 25:32 so and so walk past me because of the way that they 25:34 have cloth slightly or slightly clad, 25:37 I am using a word not loosely, and then you go to certain 25:41 parts of the country for example if you go away 25:44 to the Midwest or the North Midwest of the country, 25:47 where its really cold at certain times a year, 25:49 people are gonna be very, very well dressed, 25:51 but if go down to some of the places further South 25:54 along the borders or down way in South Florida, 25:57 where its warm almost all year along and then 26:00 hot at certain times, people tend to dress a lot less. 26:03 So if you are living in one of those areas and sometimes 26:06 this is not always based on the area, but sometimes 26:09 is based on the mindset of the people in that area, 26:11 you have to be really be careful because there are 26:13 two evils that exists one is the way that the man 26:16 looks at a woman. Bible says if a man looks at her 26:19 to lust after her, he has committed adultery 26:20 in his heart already, but secondly a woman has to dress 26:23 in such a way that she has to not activate or even 26:27 advertise or make herself appear to be immodest 26:32 when she comes to the house of God to worship, 26:35 and so that's very delicate issue, because I have seen 26:38 people turned off by that. I have seen people 26:40 offended heavily by that. For example one of the terrible 26:44 ways of approaching the situation like this was one 26:46 of the elders, a group of elders got together, 26:48 not at my church praise the Lord, but there was a 26:51 young lady who just come into the church didn't know 26:54 much about the church, but I guess she was wearing 26:57 the clothing that she was used to wearing. 26:58 And they decided they were gonna go ahead 27:02 and give her a new dress and so these men got together, 27:04 these elders got together purchased a dress, 27:06 unbenounced to the pastor of that church, 27:08 and when this young lady walked into the floor they 27:11 presented her with this dress that they proceeded 27:13 to say we would like you to wear this when you come 27:15 to church because the way you dress is not appropriate. 27:18 Well, it took a long time before that young lady 27:21 came back, they almost lost her. So you have to be 27:24 very delicate about the way you approach 27:26 these topics. However, I'll say it in the way one of my 27:29 favorite preacher said, I won't give his name, 27:31 but he said when you are converted, when you are 27:35 walking with the Lord, the issues of modesty will not 27:39 become an issue in your life any longer because you will 27:43 realize that you are worshipping the Lord and you 27:45 come before him in modest apparel 1 Timothy 2:9. 27:49 Likewise also that the women adorn themselves in 27:53 modest apparel, so don't follow the fashions 27:56 of the world, some of them blows very, very 28:00 short skirt, very, very high arching heels, 28:03 low cut tops and some of the young men that come 28:05 to church and they are standing on the stage 28:07 singing songs, they say its difficult for me, 28:10 and some of these college student men, 28:12 young men in the church, and so young ladies please 28:16 be modest in your approach to worshipping the Lord 28:19 and I believe that you will be blessed by it, 28:22 and there will be no stumbling block before 28:24 the young men that are there 28:26 for the same purpose of worship. 28:28 Yeah and that's really good counsel, 28:31 and there is another site to this as well, 28:34 that I think we also need to whether it's man or woman 28:40 as we consider the issue of dress and modesty, 28:44 that we also do some investigation of our own lives 28:49 because there could also be an issue that this, 28:56 the attraction to someone dress slightly immodest 29:00 is an issue with you as well as the person 29:02 that is being immodest. Right. 29:05 And so I've had this saying, I say over and over 29:08 again, and I use it, in fact if you ask my current 29:12 congregation in standpoint, what is the most frequent 29:15 thing that your pastor says, and he says they would, 29:18 I must probably most of them would say judge yourself 29:22 extend mercy to others, that's the most frequent 29:26 comment that I say because we like to do the exact 29:28 reverse. We like judge others, extend mercy to our self. 29:31 Very good. So, what I am saying is examine yourself 29:34 to see may be if there is some sin in there or 29:37 something that isn't been quite rooted out, 29:39 the Lord needs to deal with you on in that you are 29:42 very attractive or very prone to looking at women 29:45 in certain ways. Right. Because I can tell you 29:48 there are men around that can see a woman 29:51 dress immodestly and not think an issue of it. 29:54 But notice what you just said, 29:56 they see her dress immodestly. Right. 29:58 So that's what we are talking about try not 29:59 to dress immodestly. No, I'm speaking of the 30:01 other side though. Okay. Okay, I am talking about 30:03 we shouldn't dress immodestly if someone has 30:06 dressed immodestly there are men who see that 30:08 immodest dress, and wouldn't think anything 30:10 of it. So, what I am saying here is from both sides 30:12 dress modestly, don't make it a stumbling block 30:16 between you and then the men especially in that 30:20 church, because men are very visually oriented. 30:23 At the same time men see if there is something 30:25 within you that the Lord needs to work on his wealth 30:27 to not be attracted or not be drawn to that because 30:31 come on if we have been in that world, 30:32 if you come out of the world the world is very much sex, 30:35 drugs, and rock n roll, and that's what you're used 30:38 to doing, and so that's why we see dress immodestly, 30:40 but also Lord see if there is any wicked way in me, 30:43 root that out. So, I am not judgmental or cautious 30:46 critical, but I am patience understanding toward 30:48 others as well. You mean dress modestly. 30:51 I mean both. Okay, I mean dress modestly, 30:54 and examine yourself. And you know this is not 30:57 just a women's issue too because we talked about, 30:59 I was over in Australia where some of the people 31:02 said that the young men come to church like they 31:04 are on their own way to a beach, the flip flops, 31:07 and you know the hang loose shirt, you know, 31:10 and shorts like they are on their own way to go serve 31:13 after church. So it' applies to the way that men come 31:17 to church. Some guys they said come to church 31:20 with their shirts unbutton all the way down half way 31:22 just to show their chest, you know, 31:24 because they wanna impress the young ladies. 31:26 So, when you think that the issue of modesty 31:29 is something that just applies to women, 31:31 it applies to everybody across the board. 31:33 We used to have this spring word; 31:35 you wear your Sabbath dress. 31:37 Yeah, it was never an issue in Sabbath dress. 31:39 You know you are looking in your wardrobe this 31:41 is my best out, this is the one I wear to church. 31:43 Right. And now it's like, oh, let's just pick this 31:46 and I think there does need to be more consideration 31:48 as to what we are brining to church. 31:50 And the world has a greater influence today on the church, 31:54 instead of a church having greater influence on the world 31:58 and the extremes of that is in certain parts 32:01 of the world where somebody, I was just talking 32:05 to somebody who just came back from 32:06 Saudi Arabia, they said we often think 32:09 of segregation in the sense of men and women, 32:12 but the major reason why women worship differently 32:16 in a mosque than with the men is because when they 32:19 worship they said they don't want any 32:22 distractions whatsoever. So, they separate themselves 32:25 for the purpose of modesty. So anyway thank you 32:29 so much for the question, but it's time for us to go 32:31 into our topic for today, and by the way if you have 32:34 many more questions you like to send to us, 32:36 you can send them to housecalls@3abn.org, 32:40 that's housecalls@3abn.org and we will try to be 32:44 as faithful as we can. You notice we try to do a 32:46 thorough job on our questions. So if yours have not been 32:50 covered at this program, you may want to resubmit that 32:53 because even though we try our best to make 32:57 our e-mail spam free, well the devil tries to find, 33:01 he gets in sometimes, and we get hundreds of 33:04 e-mails and we got to read through that. 33:07 I say for every now for every twenty e-mails there 33:10 is one question that's being asked. 33:12 Yeah, there is so much garbage gets in, 33:15 I don't know how the devils like a hole in the 33:17 e-mail system, but the garbage gets in there. 33:20 But our topic today we are gonna be talking about 33:22 is the millennium, I remember in 1999 when 33:26 I was doing a series with Doug Batch in New York, 33:28 the millennium of prophecy. One of my greatest 33:31 fears was that word millennium because it's a tongue 33:33 twister. So, I have to welcome the audience by saying 33:36 welcome to the millennium of prophecy. 33:40 So, instead of saying that word in one like millennium, 33:44 I just decided let me put some inflection on it so 33:46 millennium and I was able to make it through, 33:49 it was terrifying though. 33:50 Yeah you can say like milli-annum. 33:55 But in short the word millennium means 33:57 thousand years, and the Bible says quiet a bit 34:00 about the thousand years of Revelation. 34:02 There are three different schools, 34:05 and I just want to stop by listing those schools. 34:08 You have the pre-tribulation premillennist, 34:12 you have the post-tribulation premillennist, 34:16 you have the post-tribulation postmillennist, 34:21 and you have the a millennist, 34:24 try to remember that early in the morning and then 34:27 is another schools here that just are probably 34:31 very minor in their support, but the pre, the post, 34:35 and the a before the millennium, 34:37 during the millennium, after the millennium, 34:40 or before the millennium after the tribulation, 34:44 or before the tribulation before the millennium 34:47 that's pre tribulation pre-millennialism. Right. 34:51 Or post-tribulation pre-millennialism, 34:54 and now that you are completely confused 34:57 we are going to go to Revelation 1 and read about 35:00 the millennium. Well we are going to go to 1 35:02 Thessalonians first Alright. And the reason 35:04 we are gonna do that is because the millennium 35:05 is connected absolutely to the appearance of Christ. 35:09 Okay. And I say that because when you are talking 35:13 about you know pre-millennium, 35:16 post-millennium, pre-tribulation, 35:19 post-tribulation, all stuff basically what you are 35:21 doing is you are putting Christ visible appearing 35:24 on one or the other side of this thousand year event. 35:28 Right. Or one or after, before after the tribulation 35:32 period and so we want to not only talk about 35:35 a place the millennium and the tribulation, 35:38 we want to place the appearance of Christ. 35:41 And so as John reads this, but I wanna set up 35:43 and let you know is we are Seventh Day Adventists 35:47 are post-tribulation premillennists. 35:52 We believe that Jesus is coming after the tribulation, 35:54 and before the thousand years begin. 35:56 That's right. Just so that we can sort that out, 35:59 so you don't have to try to wrack your brain 36:01 which one are they. Go and read it for us 36:03 and tell us what text you are at. 36:05 I am at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 36:09 and I am going to be reading 15 onward. Okay. 36:16 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord 36:20 that we who are alive and remain until the coming 36:23 of the Lord, will by no means precede those who 36:26 are at asleep. Okay. 36:27 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven 36:30 with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, 36:32 and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ 36:36 will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain 36:41 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds 36:44 to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always 36:48 be with the Lord. So some things in this verse that 36:51 we really need to pull out here before we get to 36:53 the millennium. And the first thing is that Paul 36:57 is writing to the church in thessaloniki, okay. 37:00 He is writing to the church which are the saints 37:04 and he is telling them with regard to those who 37:08 sleep in Jesus, their loved ones, their friends, 37:11 their family members who have passed away before. 37:14 Right. That they will all have a great reunion 37:17 at Christ visible appearing when he comes with a shout 37:21 with a voice of archangel with the trumpet of God, 37:24 when he comes visibly in clouds of glory with all his 37:27 angels that those who sleep in Jesus along 37:30 with those who are alive at the time of his coming 37:32 in the church will meet the Lord in the air 37:34 and they will then go to be with the Lord. 37:37 Okay, let me add something to that as you go on. 37:39 You will find as you look at that text and we then 37:41 read verse 13 and 14, but in every passage 13, 37:44 14 and 15 you find the word sleep. So for those 37:48 of you who will come from the denomination that don't 37:50 believe in the fact that people are asleep when 37:54 they die, the Bible is reinforcing that over and 37:57 over and over and over again sleep in Jesus, 38:00 those who asleep, don't sorrow as those who have 38:02 no hope. If we believe that concerning those 38:05 as it says in verse 13 concerning those who have 38:08 fallen asleep. In verse 14, God will bring with those 38:12 who sleep in Jesus. In verse 15, those who are alive 38:15 will by no means precede those who are asleep, 38:17 over and over again it shows that death is a sleep 38:21 and in Jesus' own words in John chapter 11, 38:24 he said plainly about Lazarus who was sick and had died. 38:27 He said to his disciples Lazarus is sleeping, 38:29 but I am gonna go and I wake him up. Right. 38:31 And they thought that Lazarus was at home 38:33 getting some rest and recovering, but Jesus said 38:36 plainly Lazarus is dead. So Jesus in his own words 38:39 connected sleep and death together, 38:41 and the reason why he does that as we go on further 38:44 in the program you will discover that the second 38:46 death is not sleep. Right. The first death is because 38:50 everyone is gonna be awakened, 38:52 second death is called death. 38:53 Exactly, the final death. But everyone is sleep 38:57 the wicked and the righteous one, when they die 38:59 they are asleep because there is gonna be a call 39:01 to the resurrection either the first or the second, 39:04 and you will see as we continue to break 39:06 this topic down. And so we are talking about 39:08 in this passage those who sleep in Jesus. Right. 39:11 In fact verse 14, someone get this verse, 39:13 some get his verse very confused. That's right. 39:16 As it says if we believe that Jesus died 39:18 and rose again even so God will bring with him 39:22 those who sleep in Jesus and they scribe that or 39:24 they interpret that as being that when Jesus 39:26 comes he is bringing the saints from heaven 39:28 down with him, but the context doesn't even 39:31 work here because it says that Jesus died and rose 39:35 again in a similar way Jesus will bring with him those 39:39 who sleep in Jesus. Now those who died, 39:42 he will also raise to be with him, 39:45 those who sleep so and as you read on it's talking 39:48 about the resurrection, he is not talking about 39:50 brining the saints who slept from heaven down to earth. 39:54 I believe that too Job in Job 14 talks about 39:57 resting until his change comes. Okay. 40:00 Rest in the grave, he sleeps in the grave until his 40:03 change happens. 1 Corinthians 15, at the 40:06 end of 15 he talks about Paul refers to the change 40:09 is the body, mortal body receiving the incorruptible, 40:13 immortal body at the resurrection, 40:16 so all these points to, all these happens at the 40:19 resurrection which is what we are reading about 40:21 here in 1 Thessalonians 4. Right and so there is no 40:24 immortal person until after the resurrection. Right. 40:30 So you can't even be in heaven until you are immortal 40:35 because mortal man cannot exist in the presence 40:38 of an immortal God. Can mortal man be more just 40:41 in God that's the question that Job ask, and the answer 40:44 was no. Only God has immortality that's the fact, 40:48 so it is not until we are changed, Job made it clear 40:51 I will wait in the grave until my change comes. Right. 40:55 And that's what John is talking about, 40:57 so don't get that verse misconstruing thinking 40:59 that there are those in heaven that are gonna come 41:01 back and then go back, that's not the way the Bible 41:04 talks about that. Yeah, and I will read this verse 41:06 really quickly because I think it also speaks exactly 41:09 that point. Hebrews 11 verses 39 and 40. Okay. 41:14 Says that all those in that chapter and we are talking 41:18 about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sara, Isaac, 41:22 Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, you know all the great 41:25 saints of the past. It says about them that in verse 39, 41:29 "All these having obtained a good testimony through 41:32 faith did not receive the promise." That's right. 41:35 They have not gone into the kingdom, where Jesus 41:38 is now preparing a place for us. It says in verse 40, 41:42 "God having provided something better for us, 41:43 that they should not be made perfect apart from us. 41:47 In another words we all get made perfect together. That's 41:50 right. Its all happening at the same time which 41:53 is why, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 says 41:56 "That when Jesus comes down from heaven with 41:59 a shout, with the voice of an archangel, 42:00 and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ 42:03 are raised first that we will be caught up together 42:07 with them in the air to meet the Lord in the air 42:09 and together we will be with the Lord." Right. 42:14 This is not them going before us event. 42:16 And by the way I am glad you point that out and 42:19 I reiterate that because sometimes hearing it twice 42:21 from different perspectives make it click. 42:24 We shall be caught up together. Right. 42:27 That's the key, we shall be caught up together, why, 42:31 to meet the Lord which means they haven't, 42:34 the living haven't met him, we haven't the dead in 42:37 Christ haven't met him. The sleeping saints. 42:39 The sleeping saints haven't met him; the living saints 42:41 haven't met him. We shall be caught up together 42:44 for what purpose to meet the Lord, where, in the air. 42:48 We are gonna meet him together, 42:50 so there is no meeting that has taken place already 42:51 in heaven. And by the way in Hebrews chapter 11, 42:54 I want you to read verse 35 because it talks about 42:57 there if you just jot that down or turn with us 42:59 Hebrews 11 verse 35 it talks about all the dead. 43:03 Women received their dead raise to life again, 43:06 that was some of the great miracles that apostles 43:08 performed, but others were tortured not accepting 43:11 deliverance, that they might obtain a better what 43:16 resurrection, a better resurrection and so if we 43:20 would begin this program about the millennium John 43:24 started up by pointing out that the millennium one of 43:27 the first events that happen to begin the millennium 43:29 is the second coming of the Lord, the second coming 43:33 of the Lord. And the second event that marks 43:35 the beginning of the thousand years 43:37 is the resurrection. That's right. 43:40 And so what I like to do is go to the book of 43:42 John chapter 5, and unless you want to say before. 43:47 I want to add something really quick to it, okay, 43:48 other thing that marks is the end of the tribulation, 43:51 the end of the time of trouble. True. 43:54 And the reason I say that is because in Matthew 24:29, 43:57 it says immediately after the tribulation of those days 44:01 the sun will be darkened and the moon will 44:03 not give it's light, and the stars will fall from heaven, 44:05 and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 44:07 Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven 44:10 and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn 44:12 and then verse 31 and he will send his angels 44:15 with a great sound of a trumpet. That's right. 44:18 And they will gather together the elect, 44:20 at the resurrection and all those who are alive 44:23 from the four winds from one end of heaven 44:25 to the other. That's right. 44:27 This fits very, this is perfectly in harmony 44:32 with each other, that at the end of the tribulation 44:36 the time of trouble, then the resurrection occurs the 44:39 gathering of the live scenes with those who sleep 44:42 in Jesus at the last trumpet of God and they are 44:45 raised in up to meet the Lord in the air, 44:47 and then we are gonna talk about where they go. 44:49 But go first of all to where you are describing 44:51 here I know John chapter. 44:52 John chapter 5 verse 28 and 29, which brings us 44:57 to the picture of the resurrection. 44:59 The resurrection is a glorious event, one of the things 45:03 that many Christian churches have left out of 45:04 the picture and you know what one of the greatest 45:06 evidence is that you are in a place that's confused 45:09 is a funeral. You go to many churches nowadays 45:12 and you list to the funeral. Okay, wait a minute, 45:16 they are in heaven but they are not in heaven, 45:17 they are here, but they are in heaven. 45:19 They are glad that they are watching us at the funeral, 45:22 but one day they are gonna come out of the grave, 45:23 which one is it, it's so confusing and so that's why 45:26 you find they hang on to these Bible verses to be absent 45:30 from the body as to be present with the Lord, 45:32 and they build an entire doctrine around that when it 45:34 doesn't have anything to do with death, 45:36 no where in that passage does it talk about death. 45:40 We won't go into that right now, but notice what the 45:41 Bible says about the two resurrections, okay. 45:45 John chapter 5 verse 28 and 29, it says do not marvel 45:50 at this, in other words don't be surprised looking James 45:53 version here, for the hour is coming, 45:56 in which John tell me what's the next word. All. 46:01 All that are aware. In the graves. Will do what. Hear 46:05 his voice. Hear his voice, notice. Let's look at those 46:07 words all who are in the graves, not in heaven, 46:16 let's look that click because you may be a part of a 46:18 denomination that says momma is in heaven looking 46:21 down on you, don't want to brush your bubble, 46:23 I want you to understand that you and momma 46:25 are going to heaven together, that's Jesus' plan. 46:28 She is not up there looking down on you; 46:30 dad is not up there looking down on you. 46:31 She is resting peacefully. Thank you, rest in peace, 46:36 that's why we always say that, earth to earth, 46:38 ashes to ashes, dust to dust. So this topic John could 46:42 go on forever for thousand years because 46:45 there is so much scriptural evidence as to components 46:47 that we need to touch to make this very, very clear. 46:50 Probably biblically one of the most easy teachings 46:54 to teach, to share from the word of God. 46:58 There is so much on the nature of man in our mortality 47:02 and what happens with us when we die. 47:04 You don't need to be deceived on that, just 47:06 study the word, just study the word in the subject. 47:08 Go ahead let's finish it. Look at verse 29, 47:11 it talks about first verse 28 all who are in the graves 47:14 will hear his voice and verse 29 begins by saying 47:16 and come forth. Now notice the two coming forth. 47:21 Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, 47:26 those who have done evil to the resurrection 47:29 of condemnation and you will find these are the 47:33 beginning and ending points of the one thousand 47:38 years of Revelation. The second coming of Christ, 47:41 and the first resurrection. The third coming of Christ, 47:45 and the second resurrection. 47:47 Who comes to the millennium? 47:48 There you go, let me repeat that again, 47:50 the second coming of Christ, and the first resurrection, 47:53 the third coming of Christ and the second resurrection. 47:59 The second coming of Christ for his saints, 48:04 which are alive and will be resurrected. 48:08 The third coming of Christ with his saints that he has 48:12 taken to heaven at the first resurrection, 48:15 get that we will make that very clear as we go on, 48:18 and I am glad you are recording this, 48:20 so you can rewind that and get back and get it clear. 48:22 In verse 29. Yes. It doesn't give you the timing 48:25 of the two resurrections. It only says there are two. 48:29 Right. So, don't get confuse by that like we are 48:31 putting a doctrine in years to timing, 48:32 the timing will come with future scriptures 48:35 we are going to bring into play. 1 Corinthians. 48:38 This simply is saying in verse 29, that there two 48:40 resurrections that's what we wanted to know, 48:43 one to life and one to condemnation. 48:47 And John you began a moment ago and I would 48:49 like you to go 1 Corinthians 15 and add another 48:51 component to that. John began by going to 1 Thessalonians 48:54 chapter 4 when it says the Lord himself will descend 48:57 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of archangel, 49:00 with the trumpet of God. So now let's look at that trumpet 49:02 again to see what happens at that time that the 49:05 trumpet blows. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 49:07 and I would like you to begin John, by the way if 49:10 you have any challenges about the resurrection what 49:13 happens when you die the entire chapter of 1 49:15 Corinthians 15 is dedicated to clearing that issue up. 49:19 And we talked about the hundred and forty four 49:21 thousand earlier in our program and if you look at 49:24 Revelation 14, they are described as the first fruits. 49:27 Jesus is also described as the first fruits of those 49:30 who slept, right. And if you know the heading 49:32 on my Bible says here just above verse 20 49:35 order of the resurrection. 49:37 Hey that's exactly mine says it. Yeah. 49:40 Order of the resurrection. And so we will start with 20. 49:43 Well no actually what I like you do is let's go ahead 49:45 and go from verse 51 to 55. We will start with 50. 49:52 Okay, let's do that. It says in 50 "Now this I say, 49:55 brethren, that flesh and blood can what. 49:57 Cannot, Cannot inherit the kingdom of God; 50:01 nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 50:03 This is the key. Okay. Because until you receive 50:08 the immortal body that God is going to give you 50:11 at the resurrection you can't enter into the kingdom. 50:14 Right. It simply it says it very clearly corruption, 50:18 flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 50:21 and flesh and blood there is not talking about just 50:25 a physical body. Okay, he is not saying someone might 50:29 conclude well in spirit you enter there, 50:32 but that's not what he is saying. 50:33 No that's not what I was talking about. 50:34 It's basically saying that prior to you receiving the 50:38 body, the new body you can't go there, that's right, 50:41 that's what saying more than in spirit only because 50:43 this isn't about spirit; this is talking about the 50:45 resurrection. Clearly. Verse 51, Behold, 50:48 I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, 50:52 but we shall all be changed. There you go. 50:54 And link this now again with Job 14. Go back to there. 50:58 Waiting until my change comes. 50:59 And read that. In a moment in a twinkling of an eye 51:04 at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound 51:07 and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall 51:10 be changed. I just saw something John 51:16 at the last trumpet. Yeah. Why the last one because 51:22 there is some prior to that. 51:23 Yeah, there is some prior to that, absolutely. 51:25 Okay, alright, let's go on. 51:28 The dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall 51:30 be changed verse 53 for this corruptible another 51:35 word of saying that is immortal. Right. 51:38 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal 51:41 must put on immortality, so when this corruptible has 51:45 put on incorruption and this mortal has put 51:47 on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the 51:49 saying that is written: 51:50 "Death is swallowed up in victory." 51:52 So and it does mention there mortal and immortality 51:55 to corruptible, he is talking about the flesh that 51:57 has been corrupted. It is sinful flesh that he is 52:01 describing there, and then of course mortal body 52:03 which is only going to be around until it dies, 52:05 and then its sleeping or if it's the second death 52:09 its gone forever. And if you look at this text what 52:12 it combines is we are gonna be changed in the 52:15 spiritual nature and we are gonna be changed 52:17 in the physical nature at the same time, 52:19 you cannot be sinful, that's gonna be changed to the 52:25 righteousness of Christ eternally. 52:28 Matter of fact Revelation 22, verse 11 says in this way. 52:31 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, 52:33 he remains mortal, but either he is holy let him 52:36 be holy still, he now is made like Jesus righteous, 52:40 either is filthy, let him be filthy still, 52:44 he stays corruptible, but he that is righteous, 52:48 let him be righteous still, so you have holy and righteous 52:50 for those who are change in the likeness of Jesus, 52:53 you have filthy and unjust for those who are not in the 52:59 first resurrection. We will talk about that in a moment 53:01 because what separates these two resurrections 53:03 as we just read in John chapter 5 is one comes 53:07 forth to the resurrection of life, the other one comes 53:10 forth to the resurrection of condemnation 53:12 and you clearly have to understand that they are 53:14 separated by large caver. 53:17 They don't both happen at the same time. 53:19 Yeah in verse 55, 'O Death, where is your sting? 53:23 O Hades, where is your victory." Talking about 53:25 you know death, being the death is swallowed up 53:27 in victory in 54 we read that. You know its not until 53:31 this moment that death is swallowed up for the saints, 53:34 that death has become or has been put down 53:37 for the saints. In another words. 53:40 So this side of the resurrection death still 53:44 reigns which means you cannot enter in life whether 53:48 it would be in the body or spirit, 53:49 you are dead this side of the resurrection. 53:53 I am glad you emphasize that and I want to add 53:56 something to that. A lot of us think that death 53:59 is the knockout punch. Well when the resurrection 54:03 comes the Lord says where is your knockout 54:05 punch now. Death is not the last chapter, 54:08 it is the chapter that allows us all to enter into rest, 54:11 but that rest is going to be interrupted just as Jesus' 54:15 rest was interrupted when his father called him 54:17 from the grave. Now he will do the same thing 54:19 with the voice of archangel call us forth from the grave. 54:22 So clearly death is not the last thing and that's why 54:26 I like what he says in verse 'O Death, 54:28 where is your sting or where is your victory. 54:31 The grave does not have victory over the saints. 54:34 The grave is just a temporary holding place like Job 54:37 says I will wait, if I wait the grave is my house, 54:41 I will make my dwelling in the dust, 54:44 that's where he is gonna go. 54:45 I can hear some saying out there and there 54:47 may be even some teachers, school teachers or 54:51 ministers who are thinking well these guys have 54:54 a confused because you see there is a spirit and then 54:58 there is a body, and they are talking about 55:01 the body, and they are accurate, but the spirit 55:03 does go ahead of the body to heaven. 55:08 We beg to differ because the first light that was ever 55:12 told is continuing to be told to this very day 55:15 which is in the Garden of Eden. 55:17 Satan himself said from the tree to Eve, 55:20 you shall not surely die. In other words, 55:24 God says you are going to die, but you won't 55:27 really die and today many are still teaching that 55:32 when you die your soul goes on and your spirit departs 55:35 from your body and goes on ahead to heaven, 55:38 and the Bible in nowhere says the soul is separate 55:40 from the body or immortal. That's right. 55:43 Its just not even there, it's read into the text 55:46 because people want to put it there, but it is not there. 55:49 Right. This is Greek philosophy that goes back 55:52 to the Greeks. These are philosophy about the 55:54 flesh being the corruptible part and the spirit 55:56 being the good part of man. He has got nail plate in his. 55:59 Yeah and the spirit will be released upon death 56:01 and the good man will be able to dwell with God and that 56:04 is a teaching from the old Greek philosophers, 56:08 it is not a biblical teaching. 56:10 So, when you hear people say they are in a better 56:11 place now, that better place better be the cemetery. 56:17 Yeah. Because they are not in heaven anymore 56:20 than they are not in hell. Now it's amazing we never 56:22 say they are in hell now. What we actually do at 56:26 the funeral is only what God does he is the only 56:28 one that decides where they go, 56:30 but the ministers take that position at the funeral says 56:32 they are in heaven now, are we the judge. 56:34 You can't assign a person to heaven because you are 56:36 not the judge, you can't say they are there now 56:39 because you don't have the authority to determine that. 56:42 Yes. See that's why the judge Jesus himself 56:44 is gonna determine, where our end is when he comes back. 56:46 In other words, you would hear a minister 56:49 at the funeral say well this guy didn't live a very 56:52 good life, he was kind of a grumpy old guy, 56:56 he is in hell right now, burn him up. Right. 56:58 You never hear someone say that. You don't. 57:00 Even though I think some people are thinking it, 57:02 the Bible does not say at all and we have a question 57:05 coming up on this. Bible does not say that hell 57:08 is burning now. No, it doesn't. 57:10 So, anyway that's another topic. 57:12 But as you know at House Calls, we believe 57:14 in the Bible and the Bible only, so continue, 57:17 we will continue this topic on another upcoming program, 57:20 but we thank you for joining us today. 57:22 And once again remember study your words, 57:24 so that when this event comes you will if you die 57:27 at the end of the first resurrection whatever 57:29 the case maybe make your decision today 57:31 to meet the Lord in peace. God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17