May we be “ready” when Jesus returns

 

Do Jesus' words come alive in our minds daily with real, committed belief?

Actions show what people really believe!

All around us are those whose actions show they do not give a moment’s thought to there being a God, who had a Son, who invites them to follow him. We ourselves prove by our words and actions in doing “the will of God” whether we really believe – and, as a result, have a wondrous relationship as a brother or sister of Jesus – this being a day after day experience.

As a result, may we be “ready” when Jesus returns.

+++

Related articles

• The Destiny of God's People
• 07/21/2016 Scripture
• Authority from the One God to one mediator between God and men
• Pray And Don't Worry
• Romans 10
• Today's Scripture: 1 John 5:1-5
• Love Jesus, Love Others
• we need more "character" and less "characters" #GreatestGeneration
• the Bible - God's guide for life #8 Looking to Jesus #1 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
• 2016 March 9 Beginning of Relating to God

Increasing turmoil and fear but a rock to look at and go for

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge” (2 Samuel 22:2,3).

 As we see the world in 2016 in increasing turmoil and fear, we become aware that

 “salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed”.

 May we be ready and waiting for the return of Jesus, which we pray will be soon.

+++

 

 

 

Related articles

• God and Politics?
• Love, Water, Death, Peace
• You Save Me From Violence
• Absalom: When Rebellion Thwarts Reformation
• Audio: If Christ Will Return, How Should We Live Until Then?
• Violence and Our World
• Dependent Power
• Revenge
• Flawless
• Anne Graham Lotz Names 3 Sins America Is Committing Against God, Says Nation Is 'Reaching the Point of No Return'

Afraid to see the man of the heavens opened

Icon of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Stephen had to come before the High Priest and the religious leaders after he had been arrested and charged made against him because he never ceased to speak words against the holy place and the law …” (Acts 6:13) he was not afraid to tell about the truth and what we should believe.

Still today lots of Christians are afraid to accept what Jesus told about himself and his heavenly Father. They prefer to continue in the thought of the early Christian leader Athanasius who many years after the disciples of Christ castrated their ideas.

Looking at Stephen his process we may find comparisons in more recent centuries with the persecution and killing of those who spoke to expose the false teachings the churches developed about humans having an immortal soul and the teaching of the Trinity, a word foreign to Scripture. It was Athanasius, who is celebrated in many Christian communities today as a saint, who in various writings defended the teaching that the Son and the Holy Spirit were of equal divinity with God the Father and so shared a three-fold being. (See Athanasian Creed)

Stephen was one of those men who was not afraid to give a reply and gives those gathered around him, a long history lesson of all the follies of belief and actions in the past and how God worked through faithful men to fulfil his purpose.

Like him we should show others how God has sent a man to the world to declare the Works of God. But this son of man who is the son of God was killed like other prophets, who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, were persecuted and killed. (Acts 7:52).

Like today we can see that mots people think only about themselves and want to have all the advantages the world has to offer, and as such exclude the world of God, the reaction of the accusers of Stephen was totally human, totally self-centred! Their minds were blind to the ways of God.

The Holy Spirit gave Stephen a vision of “… the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said,

 ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’” (verses 55,56).

How long before we see such a vision – and then realize it is more than a vision: it is reality – and the words of the two angels to the astonished disciples we read in Acts 1 come true,

 “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (verse 11).

Our minds cannot comprehend this event, yet it will happen, over 200 scripture passages testify to this.

Finally look at what we read on April the 27th, in chapter 3 and Peter’s testimony about the return of Jesus,
 “whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago” (Acts 3:21).

Stephen and his friends did believe in the man he had followed and which we also should follow and believe, because only by accepting who he is and what he did we shall be able to come under the grace of salvation.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”.

For the Gentiles God offered also a solution to become children of God, becoming part of the people of God who may enter the Kingdom of God. for being able to come under that blessing they only have to accept this sent one from God, who is the son of God. He gave his life as a lamb but was taken out of the dead as an example for what can happen to us. His resurrection is there to look at as our liberation out of death and the Way to a new life for us all. We should be pleased to find him now sitting at the right hand of God, being a mediator between God and man. His intercession for us even now before the throne of God The Father should convince us of his importance for us and how heavens are opened for us.

Dare to step away from the false teaching of a three-headed god and come to the same believe as St. Stephen and the early followers of the Nazarene teacher Jeshua, the son of man and son of David who, when the heavens opened up above him after his baptism, God declared to be His only begotten beloved son.

During May we will start reading the heart-stirring prophecies God gave through Isaiah – some of these will enable us, in a spiritual sense, to “see the heavens opened”. How long now before we literally see this?

+
Preceding article: It happened on May 2nd 295

+++

Related articles

• The Cost of following Jesus
• The Touch of His Mighty Hand
• Faith In Action 'Why We Can Rest & Rejoice'
• You Are Loved
• You Are Loved
• A message to pass on
• What Does It Mean to Obey YHWH?
• DIG for Thursday the 21st of April.....classic picture of forgiveness.....Luke 15 v 22 and 23
• The Fruits of the Spirit
• Why Christians Must Reconsider Baptism and the Holy Spirit

Credo of the Christadelphian

There is only one God, the Father.
This is the Almighty God above all gods, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus and his followers.

The only true God who tells no lies, created the world and has given mankind His infallible Word.

The whole universe came into being by the Power of the God (the Holy Spirit)

The Holy Spirit is the Power of God.

The Bible is the only true message of the only true God, creator of heaven and earth.

The Bible or Holy Scripture is God's inspired word.
It is His message to us. 

By the original sin man is doomed to die, wherein his life completely ends.
Man is mortal and all life ends at death.

The gift of God for the faithful is immortal life on earth after Jesus' return.

People are responsible for their sins.

Jesus is both the Son of God and a human being or a son of man, born about 2,000 years ago, of his mother Mary.

Christ has transcended human nature and was sinless.

By a sinless life Jesus lead, he has opened the way to salvation from death for all those who believe in him.

Through Jesus' sacrificial death, we have the opportunity to be saved and to obtain eternal life.
 

Jesus, who rose from the dead, will come back to earth to judge the living and the dead and to give the faithful eternal life.

Jesus is now in heaven at the right hand of God his Father.

Jesus will soon return to earth.

When Jesus returns, he will rule the world as king of the restored Kingdom of God.

He will give immortality to all those who have faith in him and his father and who follow him. 

Baptism is an outward sign of following Jesus.

Jesus followers will also prevail in peace on earth.

***

Related articles

• Billions of universes, billions of humans!!
• Reordering the Trinity
• 12-18-2015 Jesus, More Than Meet The Eye
• The Messiah in the Manger
• Your Word for This Day: Jesus is...Wonderful!
• The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
• Mary's Heart
• Dec. 18: Mary
• Tussles of Faith
• Abiding

Together tasting a great promisse

Lots of things are happening in this world by which we can ask questions. Certain events seem like we have heard already about them. Some of the disasters and wars have been spoken off already long before we were born. We can find them in the Book of books, but not many are really interested to read those very old books.

In those books we also can find that the best of the covenants of promise God made still lie in the future. We do not know precisely when they are going to be fulfilled. The majority of people who have believed and hoped in God's promises are already in the grave, and there is a chance we shall die, too, before Jesus comes again. Yet the glorious truth is that even if we die, we can still taste the joy of God's Kingdom. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his death cell, we can be brought back to life again, to receive

 "the crown of righteousness which the Lord", he said, "will award me on that Day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing". 

When the Messiah shall return to the earth we do not know. But what we do know is that we shall receive signs which are declared before. Those signs are having been spoken off in the Book of books. Perhaps not all will recognise them at first. But some will clearly see them and could and should help others to see them too. This site would like to help to find the words leading up to such a wisdom that can be given to us, for free, and which can open doors for us all, for free.

From the Bible we do know that a great tribulation will come over the world and that the Messiah shall return and will raise from the dead all those who have died in faith, and give them a strong, immortal body like his own. Abraham will certainly be there, and so will David, and Paul. We can be there, too. 

Israel 5 009.Jesus Christ Walk of Tears on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And it is all possible through the blood of Christ, which has brought us near to God. For whether we are Jews or Gentiles, we are sinners. We break God's laws, and deserve nothing but death. Jesus' death, the offering of his sinless self in sacrifice, broke the power of the grave for all who join themselves to him. Thus the two Comings are inseparably linked. 

In a few weeks time we shall remember the day Jesus was for the last time at the table with his disciples. It was that night in the upper room he established the last covenant. Some hours later he found his death at the wooden stake.

His dying preceded the crown; the suffering servant became the king of kings. And the same land where Abraham waited in his tent and Jesus walked with the good news of the Kingdom, is given to them both with their family around them, to enjoy for ever.
When Peter stood up in Jerusalem at Pentecost and began to explain the mystery of the two comings, he had an urgent message for the people. Let us look at his words again: "Repent therefore", he cried, "and turn again" (Acts 3:1 9). He was exhorting his hearers to prepare themselves for the coming of Jesus by changing their lives, turning round and going a different way. Earlier that day when the crowds had asked him what they should do, he said to them:

 "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (2:38).

What do you want to do, where do you want to go to. Have you chosen to go on your own or with others?

Today we do invite you to come and join us and to go together with us on the road to that Kingdom of God. Be a sojourner with us and share your thoughts and prayers with us.

++

Related articles

• Jesus Christ is not God Almighty ! Proofs from Bible ! (answeringchristian.wordpress.com)
  Throughout the NT of the Bible, Jesus (pbuh) referred to himself as “son of man” (human being). He never possessed the knowledge, nor any Divine ability that of GOD. Jesus (pbuh) was never self-sufficient or all-knowledgeable and most importantly he prayed to GOD, so this is enough to say that he wasn’t God nor did God come down to earth to be Jesus. The one thing Most Christians don’t understand about God is that His Divine Nature, Knowledge, Abilities, and Attributes are far more superior to the nature of His Creation. Many Christians will proudly say that GOD can become whatever He wants just to justify their way of thinking, but this ideology contradicts His Nature and Self proclaimed statement in Numbers 23:19 about how He is not a man, nor the “son of man”! If GOD Himself says He is not the “son of man” while Jesus (pbuh) clearly claims to be the “son of man”, then this proves beyond a resonable doubt that they’re not the same diety so who gives anyone the authority or right to change GOD’s Nature? GOD cannot be the opposite of what He is!I
• ... With the Crook and the Adulteress (gonzalnatal.wordpress.com)
  Jesus gave His life up for Everyone, including what society calls: the unworthy, the broken and the outcast. We don’t know much about the men who were crucified beside Jesus, only that they were not moral men. They had done A Lot of “bad stuff” and were paying the price for their wickedness. Within a society governed by law, they deserved to be crucified. However, Jesus… well, He (perfect and without sin) did not deserve to die like this. The criminal with the repented heart knew that. He knew Jesus wasn’t supposed to be there. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah and that He could bring eternal peace into his life, at least for the few hours he had left. So he took that chance and believed that Jesus was who He said He was - Jesus saw his heart just like He sees yours. Right then and there, a bandit is saved, a crook is transformed, a lawless man is no longer condemned by Earthly law.  Death, for this man, now meant eternal bliss with His Savior.
• Repentance: An Example Part 3 (cbcirwin.wordpress.com)
  Have you repented, changed your mind? Have you realized that you can’t help the Lord Jesus save you? Your baptism, your good works, or simply trying to be a ‘good’ person will never justify you before a holy God. There is not one thing you or I can do to earn it. We must trust in Christ and His work alone to save us.
  +
  I want you to know, that no matter who you are out there or what your history is, God promises salvation to you and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanses you from all sin. No matter what you have done you will be forgiven and saved as long as you accept Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, that He sent down here from heaven to be a sacrificial lamb for the cleansing of our sins so that our names can be written in the book of life guaranteeing a spot in heaven for us.
  Jesus Christ is coming soon, sooner than you think! He could come back for his followers at anytime, so we should make ourselves ready.
• Note on the Physical Land of Israel: Who Inherits the Land of Israel - Christian or Jew? (ilyston.wordpress.com)
  here is no greater point of debate between dispensationalists and non-dispensationalists than the issue over the physical land of Israel.  This has heated up over the past few decades because of the Zionist movement and American evangelicals’ support of the State of Israel.  However, at the outset, we must agree with Jewish scholar A. J. Heschel’s statement, “The State of Israel is not the fulfillment of the Messianic promise, but it makes the Messianic promise plausible” (Heschel, 1969, p. 223). 
• The Kingdom of God (tomhuff.wordpress.com)
• the kingdom is already come and its ruler is Christ: the Davidic Messiah who rules over the throne of David forever (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7, Matthew 28:18,Revelation 19:16, and especially Colossians 1:13). We see the fruit of the kingdom in our lives everyday. Christ’s reign in our lives, His power and grace to changes lives, and the dwelling of His people, the church of the firstborn (Hebrews 12:23), as “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11) in this earthly land all speak to the fact and the glory of His arrived kingdom. The future consum
• Jesus, Imposter, Or Messiah? (themarkishere.wordpress.com)
  Tactius, the Roman historian, writing in about AD 115, speaks about Nero’s persecution of the Christians in the year AD 46.
  “Christus, from whom their name is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.”
  Suetonius, the Roman historian, writing in approximately AD 120, speaks about Chrestos. “Since the Jews were continually making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestos, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome.”
  The Talmud (Jewish traditions from the 3^rd century) “On the eve of the Passover they hanged [on a cross] Jeshu of Nazareth.”
  Isn’t that incredible? The Messiah was to be the Passover Lamb all through the Old Testament, and the Talmud even mentions it!
  
• Refurbisment or Rebuild (venabling.wordpress.com)
  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a “refurbishment” message. Rather it is “demolition and renewal” message. John the Baptist was the man who preached in a demolish and rebuild fashion. Consider this account of him in Matthew 3:1-12
• Who is saved? (themoderntheologian.wordpress.com)
  Faith, backed by works, all revolving around the unquestionable devotion to God and man, is what is needed for salvation, this and nothing more. Do you need to be a Christian? No, but it is far easier to accomplish this for those who have the teachings of Christ, than for those who do not. But, Paul tells us that it is not impossible for non-Christians to be saved: Rom 2:12 “All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
• Repentance in today's Gospel (geoffandpat.wordpress.com)
  The substance of John the Baptist‘s message was:  ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Mat 3:2. This was also Christ’s message:  ”From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mat 4:17 Christ condemned the lack of repentance in contemporary cities: “Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” Mat 11:21 Christ also condemned the lack of repentance in his contemporary generation:  “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”  Mat 12:41 Christ proclaimed repent or perish:  “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”. Luke 13:3 & 5. Christ proclaimed the heavenly joy over one sinner who repents: “Just so, I tell you, that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  Luke 15:7 And again: “Just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
• Open Heavens Devotional - Saturday - 22/03/2014 - God's Remembrance & Deliverance I by Pastor E.a. Adeboye (princeadetokunboolaoye.wordpress.com)
  When God remembers a sinner for good, He forgives that sinner, forgets his past sins and delivers him or her completely from the power of sin that has enslaved him or her for a long time.
  +
  Genuine turn-around from wickedness to godliness (i.e. repentance) will earn earnest seekers of salvation divine remembrance.

Presentation: Crisis in the Middle East - Bible Expectations

Greetings in the Hope of Israel

Presentation: Crisis in the Middle East - Bible Expectations
Particularly suitable for Bible Hour talks, Bible classes, Seminars etc
 
The Presentation (DVD 42mins) and booklet investigate the fulfilment of some remarkable Scriptural prophecies concerning the Nation of Israel. It quotes the thoughts of particular writers and puts forward expectations of a surprising future. Many Bible verses are highlighted showing that with the return of the Jews to their own land there would develop a time of trouble centred in the land of Israel,

Zech 12:3  "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people."

Against all the odds, however, the indications are that there is yet to be a period of unmistakable peace in the Land of Israel, which will be cut short by the battle of Armageddon. The literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven as King in Jerusalem will bring this battle to an end. The outcome will the Kingdom of God on earth for 1000 years - in line with scores of Bible prophecies.

While there is time the final appeal and warning is to all those who hear the message to embrace the true gospel in the waters of Baptism by immersion:
John 3:3-5  "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."€ 
 
Availability and costs are at  “Steps to Bible Understanding” www.revelation-steps.org.uk

With Love
Philip and Judith

+++

Related articles

• Prophetic Snap Shot - Update
• The third Jewish temple
• Why Israel Will Rule The New Middle East
• Israel: Obama visit will send 'powerful message' to Middle East
• The Great Tribulation
• Abbas to Ahmadinejad: Talk more about Palestine than destroying Israel
• Tunisian ruling party rejects proposal to dismiss gov't - Jerusalem Post
• Red Letter Year: 2/7
• Is the Bible true?
• The Hebrew Bible As Common Ground