Episodes
Sunday Jun 25, 2017
WHAT IS THE RAPTURE (Revelation 4:1-3)
Sunday Jun 25, 2017
Sunday Jun 25, 2017
If I were to ask you to describe the rapture in two words or less, how would you respond?
For me, it would be heaven-bound. At last, I am heaven-bound. That is what the rapture means to me.
The single event that declares the church age has come to an end, is the rapture of the church. The church is defined as all those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during the church age, or that time from Pentecost until the rapture occurs. The rapture is that event when, at the midnight cry, Jesus will come for His own.
Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, and are still living, will be miraculously transformed with glorified bodies and caught up, or raptured, into the air to meet the Lord. Those whose bodies sleep in the earth will be raised from their sleeping place to meet their heavenly spirits that are coming down with the Lord, and they will be joined together in the air. Each New Testament believer, dead or alive, will rise up to meet the Lord in the air. This is the event that is called the rapture.
The Bible calls this the blessed hope. And you need to be ready, but you don’t have to be fearful, about the coming of the Lord to catch us up in the rapture. Remember that sorrow looks backward, worry looks all around us, but hope looks upward. We are on a collision course with destiny, and we cannot afford to be ignorant.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon on what the rapture is and when it will occur. Jesus is coming again, the question is, are you ready? Amen.
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
THE CURE FOR LUKEWARMNESS (Revelation 3:17-22)
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
Last week we began a lesson on what a lukewarm Christian is and how God feels about that type of Christian. The Lord condemns the lukewarm Christian. He tells them that I would thou wert cold or hot, meaning that the Lord would rather have you against Him than pretending to love Him with a lukewarm heart. Lukewarm Christians have done more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than all the prostitutes, bartenders, pornographers, and drug pushers combined.
Lukewarm Christians are the alibi of sinners. They double-cross Christ. Jesus would rather have you on the wrong side of the fence, than sitting on the fence. Jesus hates this condition so much that He says in verse 16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. God is saying that there is a sin that is so vile that it nauseates Him. What is that sin? Lukewarmness, and it is the sin that is probably the most prevalent in the church today. God is speaking to self-satisfied, half-hearted Christians. He is speaking to most of the people who attend our churches today, and that should break our hearts.
So, how did their self-satisfaction and complacency begin? How does a person, who is so excited on the day they are saved, become a lukewarm Christian?
Do you remember the fire that burned within you for the Lord on the day you were saved? The joy that filled your heart, the earnest desire to tell everyone around you about the wonderful gift of eternal life that you had just been given by a gracious God? Do you remember that at all? What happened to that person? Are you more on fire today than you were then? If not, then you have cooled down. People cool down by degrees.
Somebody has said that an average church is so lukewarm that you have to backslide to be in fellowship with all of the other members. Was there ever a time when you loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than you do right now? If so, then to that degree you are backslidden, you are beginning to cool down, and before long, you will be room temperature. And when you do, you will look around and say, I must not be so bad, because I am just like everyone else. The sad part is that if you really get on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ, people will think that you are odd.
So, how do you become lukewarm? You begin by becoming satisfied with where you are in your Christian life. You begin by assuming that you are all right because you are becoming more and more like those around you, but instead you are cooling down by degrees. If you are not a better servant of God today than you were yesterday, then you are cooling down. Lukewarmness is caused by self-satisfaction.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon about the cause of lukewarmness, and the cure of lukewarmness.
Monday Jun 12, 2017
ARE YOU LUKEWARM? (Revelation 3:14-16)
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Monday Jun 12, 2017
When we call something lukewarm, it means that it is too hot to be cold, and too cold to be hot. Now, if I were to say that you were a lukewarm Christian, what would that mean? It means that you are too hot to be a stone-cold atheist, and too cold to be a passionate soul winner for Christ.
How many people in our churches today are room-temperature, lukewarm, Christians? Actually, in most churches today, if you are not a lukewarm Christian, you will stand out and be different from the majority of the other members.
Let me ask you another question, is it a sin to be a lukewarm Christian? G. Campbell Morgan said, “Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy.” If you are lukewarm in your faith, then you are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ.
A lukewarm Christian says, “Jesus, I believe in you, but you just don’t excite me. I believe in you, but I just don’t get anything out of hearing your Word preached from the pulpit. There just is no message. Jesus, I believe in you, but I don’t intend to serve you with fire and fervor.” When you say these kind of things, you are saying to the Lord, who is present in every church service where two or more are gathered, “Lord, I am bored with You.”
Would you sing differently in the worship service if Jesus was standing next to you in the flesh? Would you pay more attention to the sermon, if Jesus was sitting next to you in the flesh? Would you be looking at your phone for the latest post on social media while the pastor preached? Would your mind be on the work you left undone the day before? If Jesus Christ was sitting next to you in the flesh, how would you be different in the service?
We ought to be worshipping and singing as if the Lord Jesus Christ was standing right there next to us. There is nothing pleasing to the Lord about a lukewarm service, full of lukewarm Christians, singing lukewarm songs, and hearing lukewarm sermons.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon about a lukewarm church. It is the last of the seven churches that we have been studying in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of revelation. These churches are real churches, but they are also representative churches of all the churches throughout the church age. There is not a problem in our churches today, that cannot be found in one these seven churches.
Sunday Jun 04, 2017
A CHURCH WITH AN OPEN DOOR (Revelation 3:7-13)
Sunday Jun 04, 2017
Sunday Jun 04, 2017
What is a church with an open door? Is it a church that opens its doors to all people? Certainly, in today’s vernacular, that would be the meaning most of us thinks of. However, if the Lord told you that He was setting before your church an open door, what would that mean to you? Would it still mean that He was putting an open door that would welcome all people?
In 1915, Dr. R. A. Torry conceived of a church that was to be non-denominational, but evangelical. Its purpose was to reach the lost people of the city of Los Angeles, and it was called the Church of the Open Door. The name was chosen based on words from these two verses:
Rev 3:8
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
KJV
John 10:9
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
KJV
The Church of the Open Door is still alive today, although not in its original building. Some of its famous pastors have been Dr. Louis Talbot (1932-1948), and Dr. J. Vernon McGee (1949-1970). The church was known for its iconic sign that stood on top of the building, that said “Jesus Saves”, and could be seen from across the city. During the time that Dr. McGee was pastor, several thousand people attended the church, and if you know anything about Dr. McGee, you know that it was a church that focused on the teaching of the Word of God.
Click on the link below to hear a lesson about a different church that the Lord told, because they were faithful, He would set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. It is the church of the city of Philadelphia, in Asia Minor.