CCR

The Kerygma

 

The Greek word 'Kerygma', is a word used by the Early Church for the Gospel.

It's God's Message to the Lost World.

 

  

CONTENTS

 

1. The Search

2. Sin

3. God's Son

4. The Cross

5. The Resurrection

6. The Second Coming

7. The Response

 

 

PREFACE

 

I have a question, you claim to base your life on scientific evidence, so why haven't you considered the evidence that the Bible provides about Eternal Life?

 

I'm not trying to be difficult in order to win an argument, I’m just trying to use reason to show you God's truth. In the spirit of friendship listen to what I have to say and then decide for yourself what you want to do with Christ.

 

 

1. THE SEARCH

 

The world is full of false prophets; telling people what they want to hear. They tell their victims, 'this is a fabulous time to be alive', 'this is an amazing city', 'we've never had it so good'. 'Don't listen to them, but listen to me instead, you'll get a better deal, your life will take off, and good things will start to happen'. Whatever it is that you want to hear, they'll say it for you. The pusherman tells the naive teenager, 'try it, it's cool'. The world is full of people using sugar coated words to deceive the general public. This is something that has been going on since the lie was introduced to humanity in the Garden of Eden.

 

The Garden of Eden 

From the very beginning of God's Creation back in the Garden, that angel called Lucifer the Devil began lying to mankind, and he hasn't stopped down to this day.

 

He lied to Eve, he told her that she could have her cake and eat it, that he would bring her everlasting happiness, when everything he said was a barefaced lie. He brought nothing but pain, sorrow, and misery.

 

He undermined her faith in God's Word by asking, 'Has God said?' The enemies of the Christian Church to this day continually try to discredit the Bible. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'. The Devil and his agents want you to doubt God's Word. If you reject the Bible, you reject the Christ of the Bible. 

 

The Most Important Story 

So into the darkness God has given a message of hope, and this message of hope is found in the Gospel of Christ.

 

The Gospel is the most important message in the history of the world. It is that message that we will explore in this discussion.

 

The Search for Meaning 

 The search for meaning comes in different forms for different people. No two people find God in the same way. God does it differently for different people, and there's no explaining why, it just happens that way. You just have to accept it. 'Ours is not to question why but to do and die'. God is God, and we are fallen men with all of our flaws, His ways are higher than our ways. In other words, God is a lot smarter than us. Just remember one thing, He loves you.

 

 Saint Augustine states “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” 

 

'As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God'.

 

'The Preacher is king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind'.

 

There's a God shaped space inside each one of us, and without God life feels meaningless. But with God filling our hearts, life takes on meaning, is given direction, and has a purpose.

 

Jesus answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'.

 

The things that really matter in life aren't things that relate to us as individuals but it's people and things outside of ourselves, such as children, family, country, or God. People who pursue pleasure, money, or a vice come unstuck in the end, just because of the way we're made. We have spiritual needs of the heart, and nothing in the physical realm can come close to giving any form of meaning. In fact the more you try the worse it gets. It's like putting a square peg into a round hole, the more we try, the more frustrated we become.

 

'And when the Prodigal Son came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger'!

 

Most people will be deeply shocked, to find out, at the end of their lives here on earth, that they've completely wasted their time. God had a wonderful plan mapped out for their life. Instead they chose to do their own thing, they married who they wanted to marry, did what they wanted to do and followed every whim that came along. When they finally realise what they could have had in Christ, they will wail with grief and feel pangs of the deepest sorrow. Only what's done for Christ will last, you absolutely must find His will for your life before you make a move or doing anything. You'll find meaning and purpose nowhere else except in Him. 'Lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him'.

 

 

Humanities Problems 

I can remember a time when we could leave our home without locking the doors and windows. Those days have passed as humanity has become corrupted and decadent, now no one trusts their neighbour. You wouldn't dream of leaving your home without locking the door. Mankind has entered into a deep darkness and men have wilfully turned against God.

 

If you ask people what are their main  concerns with modern life, they will tell you the following:

 

• The Nuclear Threat - This is the primary reason why humanity needs the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

• A Pandemic - A biological agent that escapes from a governmental facility.

 

• Financial Concerns - Those who live in the west take their wealth for granted. Even those who are considered the least well off are extremely comfortable in comparison with those in other godless parts of the world.

 

• Family Breakup - The family is the basic unit of society, if you can destroy it you'll destroy the nation. European Socialism with it's Cultural Marxism is out to do just that.

 

• Unemployment - A man is like a farmer who has been given a plot of land. If the farmer sits idle all day the farm turns to weeds. So a man's life will become worthless if he doesn't find meaningful employment.

 

• Gambling - What blight is to a plant, gambling is to the soul. I have stood and watched the tourists in the city get taken for a ride by the gambling scam artists. Gambling will devour a man's earnings, then devour his life and family.

 

• Ethnically Cleansed - In an age of modern jet travel migration has become a significant force for good. Countries lacking skills and knowledge are able to import people, bringing fresh blood, new ideas, helping to build a new, diverse, and dynamic society. But It's not all good, presenting a threat to some communities, with unforeseen consequences to the vulnerable. 

 

The far-left are able to use open-borders to threaten our peaceful, and godly way of life. Something that has happened across many communities in Europe. God through His Prophet's back in the 30's predicted this. A Christian community that has been law abiding, peaceful and safe, can in a very short time become a very dangerous place to live. A model of Controlled Migration can solve many problems, but with a belligerent Pan-continental Socialist in government, migration can quickly turn into a flood, overturning centuries of cultural Christian heritage - deliberately trashing a community is not an act of love.

 

• Social Media - A exciting new  form of digital communication, has for some become like opening a can of worms. Something that was meant for good, has become subject to many different types of scams, which are tricking young and old people, with tragic consequences for some families.

 

• Violence - The television and the movies are full of violence, we are being taught how to be violent, this cannot be good for society. We know too much about violence, and very little about peace. If everyone is well versed in violence, and illiterate about peace, then war is inevitable.

 

• Pornography - The blight of the age in which we live. Nothing else has been more effective at undermining marriage and the family than this scourge.

 

• The Television - Every home has one, many more than one. This new technology is being used to brainwash the people's of the world into a totalitarian world dictatorship. If we're not careful we'll lose everything our forefathers worked for. Modern society is built on truth, and truth can only survive with the free exchange of ideas. The television is biased toward the opions of it's owners, who are predominantly Pan-European Socialist, and these people do not believe in democracy, freedom of expression, equality or justice, but rather co-opt and abuse them for their own ends.

 

• Secularism - Atheists and Socialists have taken God, Jesus, the Bible and Prayer out of our Institutions and are now replacing them with Islam.

 

• Politics - Our Political system is controlled by a few large party's, and we little people don't have much of a say. These party's in turn are controlled by secret cabals, made of wealthy interest groups, families, secret societies, and cults. These in turn are even more secretly controlled and managed by the AntiChrist. Our so called freedom can only be preserved as long as We the People remain faithful to the truth. Jesus said, 'I am the Truth'. One nation under God.

 

• Identity Politics - A psychological minefield used to gain political advantage over an opponent.

 

• Modern Philosophy - A never ending, meaningless, attempt to find the way out of the darkness of the fallen mind, before the final eternal darkness envelopes them, and the ground opens beneath them, and they fall into the never ending abyss below.

 

• Drugs - Used by the individual to fill a void in the soul, a soul that has turned its back on Almighty God. Used by the state to control those who don't submit to European Socialism.

 

• Alcohol - Of all the addictions to befall mankind this is the worst, it's the easiest to fall into. It has brought a curse on many homes and has blighted the lives of many talented men, leaving them destitute out on the pavement.

 

• Mental Health - At some point one in four people seek professional help over the stress of modern life.

 

• Sexual Assault - Used by European Socialists as a weapon against the dissenting families who refuse to submit to the tyranny of the Socialist elite. 

 

•  Sexual Promiscuity - The sexual revolution has pushed through an anti-family agenda. It's designed to destroy the family and prevent the next generation from being born. It's a subtle form of genocide. Karl Marx taught that the Christian family had to be destroyed at all costs. They find the Muslim family desirable, but the Christian family must be eradicated. 

 

• Gender - Before the Great Flood, Noah's generation was full of the offspring of Nephilim, that's why God brought the flood, human flesh had become corrupted. God will not tolerate anything that goes against His Divine Order or Creation. In God's eyes it's not liberty it's license. Mankind has become corrupted, get ready the End of the World is nigh. You can get all of society to follow you but it won't change the mind of God, nor make Him disappear.

 

The Different Stages In Life 

Our life's experience is a journey that takes us through different stages; and these periods of time can often present particular problems.

 

• Lifeday - You're older than you think, take your Birthday and count back 274 days to your Lifeday, and that will give you your real age.

• Childhood - Life is carefree.

° Parents - You depend on them.

° School - Starting to learn about life.

• Teenage - Being 50 years of age is unimaginable.

° Peers - Coming under the influence of peer pressure.

• Young Adult - Facing up to the responsibility of adulthood.

° Marriage - Finding a life partner.

° Parenthood - Being responsible for another life.

• Middle Age - What have I achieved.

° Mid-life Crisis - Grey hair appears.

• Old Age - Where did my life go.

° Health Crisis - The body begins to wear out.

° Retirement Home - Too feeble to help oneself.

 

These things need careful thought, we always think that it'll never happen to us, but it slowly creeps up on you. We often prepare for old age, but fail to prepare for the life to come.

 

Philosophical Questions

Over the years men have sought answers to many deep philosophical questions:

 

• There must be more to life?

• What is the point? The whole thing is irrelevant, how could someone who lived 2000 years ago have any relevance to my life today?

• Why do I feel empty and lost?

• Why do I feel young when my body is old?

• Why have all past civilizations believed in life after death?

• There's something else going on, but what?

• Why am I here?

The Bible has all the answers to life's important questions.

 

Objections

Many can't accept the Gospel because they have personal objections.

 

• How is it that only those who accept the Gospel are saved, when many don't even know.

• God allows all of this suffering, and that's not right.

• I've sinned too much, God wouldn't forgive me, besides I couldn't live a good life.

• The God of the Bible is full of hate.

• I live a good life and yet I suffer for it, what's the point?

 

'The official answered, "How can I understand unless someone guides me?" So he invited Philip to explain the teachings of the Bible to him so that he would have understanding of these things'.

 

'And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; strengthen my faith and help me to believe'.

 

 

The Atheist 

The Atheist is someone who is in denial. History documents the fact that when people have the resources, the need to meet as a community to worship a deity becomes overwhelming. What the word racist is in politics, to silence opposition to social engineering, the word superstition is to silence those who object to the Marxist agenda. It is well documented that men want to find a meaningful religious experience with something called deity. This search cannot be dismissed with the word, superstition. There's something going on inside each one of us, a search for meaning, and something tells us we will find it when we find deity. The important question to ask is, who is this deity, and what does he want of us?

 

So you can see, to say there is no God is unscientific, to make such a statement true, the speaker would have to know and understand all things. Mankind has only scratched the surface of knowledge and is far from having full knowledge of our world or of fully understanding it, therefore atheism is a religious belief system, and could easily be dismissed as superstition.

 

But there's more to it than that, many atheists hate Christ. I heard one tell how hearing Christians preach the Gospel was like watching a drug dealer deal drugs. That's not science, that's superstition.

 

The Battle of Religion 

 

Many false prophets have gone out into the world with such cunning as to, if it were possible, deceive even the elect.

 

• Judaism - God used it to begin to reveal the truth about Himself, and about humanity. Without the Judaism, the Jews, the Bible, and Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have a clue about the realities of life. The Judaism has been superseded by Christianity, but God still has an ongoing Covenant with the Jews as a People.

• Christianity - Study what happens when Christianity comes into a country, and just look at what happens when it leaves. The values and ethical principles of the Christian not only changes the individual for the better, making him trustworthy and industrious, but the Church totally transforms society. Taking it out of the hands of the Witchdoctors control and giving it into the hands of Jesus, the carpenter Who died to save us from Satan's power.

• Catholicism - A fake form of Christianity, a political State hiding behind Christian religious belief.

• Islam – Islam teaches that there's no original sin, there's only honour and shame. There is no concept of redemption. Islam is a copy of Judaism without the sin and the redemption. There's only clean and unclean, you use water to clean the unclean parts of the body. Women are unclean and must remain separate from men who are clean. The woman's behaviour makes the man unclean and it is she who brings dishonour upon the man. The woman's rights end where the man's feelings begin.

Islam is a mechanism of control; it gives specific laws for every aspect of life. Those who submit themselves to this law find themselves constantly debating the intricacies of these detailed laws.

If Mohammed's claim to be perfect is not vigorously tested, then according to the rules of Critical Analysis, the claim and the claimant are automatically invalidated. 

 

The watermark of analysis can't be hurt feelings, because truth isn't based on feelings but facts.

 

If he was the perfect man, then he knew that being a pedo was wrong. Why didn't he tell his generation that it was a bad thing? If its wrong, then why did he do it? If he did do it and it's wrong, then he's not perfect, thus making him a false prophet.

• Hinduism - An attempt to find God through the many gods.

• Buddhism - A religious idea to find meaning through self-denial.

• Theosophy - The One World Religion of the United Nations.

 

Christianity is unique, it only has two laws, love God, and love your neighbour. Out of this freedom came Freedom. Those who have fallen under the spell of these other religious ideologies find themselves actively subverting freedom.

 

The Bible gives us boundaries, but leaves the details to our conscience, unlike other religious ideologies, which impose detailed restrictions on every aspect of life.

 

The Battle of Faith and Reason 

The modern renaissance was driven by Christian Philosophy. The vast majority of early thinkers were oriented around Christianity to varying degrees.

Many seek to corrupt the truth by using intellectual pretexts. If we are to find the truth, we must be aware of these snares. The Devil is a wily old fox, and nothing would please him more than to poison your mind with falsity.

 

• The Renaissance • The increase in international trade and the new burgeoning markets, meant that there was more money for art. It began in Spain and Italy and slowly moved up through Europe.

• The Enlightenment - During the 1700's there was a paradigm shift, a revolution of ideas rushed through society changing the way we did things.

 

A Christian man called Francis Bacon developed scientific methods to reason through a problem to a conclusion; doubt answers, intuition against hypothesis, experiment. Later atheists/evolutionists took his Ideas and claimed them for themselves.

 

The Enlightenment started around 1550 at the time of the Protestant surge and the mass rejection of the Roman Catholic Church. Up until 1650 it was driven by the Protestant Church, then these ideas were absorbed by Atheists, who took these ideas and grew hostile to Christianity. It was over this period that the French Revolution and other secular socialist ideas grew, in an attempt to destroy Christian ideas.

 

• Higher Criticism - I think therefore I am. If I doubt, then I am, because I am thinking. If I don't exist, then how can I doubt that I exist? I have to exist to doubt. This leads to the idea of a given fact, for example, you don't have to prove you think, it's a given that you do. From there you are able to build your ideas.

 

Christianity teaches that if we are truly being honest then we will doubt everything, question everything, and re-examine everything.

• Modernism - As society became more affluent it could afford to became more decadent, there was a need to combat Christianity, especially it's moral values. Those living within a Christian society needed to placate their conscience, therefore it became essential to undermine the faith. This was achieved by adopting a very critical attitude, and by requiring a higher expectation of proof. As society becomes more self-sufficient this need increases proportionately. Today the need to quieten the moral voice has become overwhelming. Modernists who want to let their hair down are frustrated by the persistent feeling of guilt. Needing to shut Christianity down once and for all, bizarrely they have turned to Islam for help. Historically known for its hatred of the Jews and the Christians, the far-left have imported this ideology to shut the church down and silence it's voice.

• Humanism - It teaches the end of being is the happiness of man, thus leaving the heart empty.

• The Age of Reason - Critical thinking was brought in by a devout Christian called Francis Bacon. He had learned this from his study of the Bible. Other heathen systems of thought had taught men that they must give up their critical faculties and obey, but the God of the Bible was the opposite. He said, 'Come let us reason together'. God encourages us to use our minds scientifically and work things out logically. These ideas were later taken up by Atheists and Socialists, who began to use critical thinking to undermine the Bible, God and Christianity.

• Socialism - Is a religious belief system, it's core belief is that everything can be intellectualized; closely akin to atheism, it's goal is to create a society based on this concept, something it calls secularism.

 

This State has absolute power over its citizens, completely governed by bureaucracy, and highly censored.

 

Suspicious of the profit motive, as this requires the use of the inner man to find new ideas, ways, and opportunities, preferring instead to take its new innovations from outside of its own sphere of influence.

 

You can tell that it comes up from the pit because each successive generation thinks, ‘we’ll make it work this time’. They never do, it's a proven failure. It's a delusion, they're deluded, they keep trying and go on failing just like losers always did, will always do, an obsessive can't help himself, that's why he's a loser. Socialism is a system the Devil designed just for losers.

 

This ideology has been called a political poison for various reasons:

 

° Divide and Conquer - The divide and conquer ideology undermines human endeavour but we as a people have always achieved so much more when we've looked past our differences and learnt to cooperate. Socialism looks for all of the little differences and heightens them in order to weaponise them.

 

° Safe-Space - To turn educational centres from places of learning and teaching, into indoctrination centres based on marxist propaganda and hatred of self.

 

° Cultural Marxism - Is the expression of the fallen mind; showing just how lost mankind is. It is the opium of mankind's collective insanity, lost, alone, destitute, still thinking that one can find a way through without God.

 

° Identity Politics - White Privilege, reverse racism against the white minority.

 

° Multiculturalism - a false fallacy devised by the Marxist to 'divide and conquer' humanity, and herd it like cattle into the Devil's One World Dictatorship.

 

• Philosophy - The study of the problems we all face such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. 

 

The Battle of Religion and Politics 

 

Christianity - Its political system:

 

• Magna Carta

• Bill of Rights

• Free Speech

• Habeous Corpus

• Trial by Jury

• Common Law

• The Ballot Box

 

Every action taken to God's glory.

 

This highly motivating system is responsible for the success our free society enjoys.

 

 Occultism - Begets Marxism, a political system that excludes the conscience and deity, yet most seem to be open to the occult. It makes the yet unproven claim that an elite group can steer humanity to some form of utopia. So far all its produced is misery. Its main exponents, Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and others, have far from being successful, have brought disastrous results.

 Islamism - Has produced a neo-religious/political system of governance called  Sharia Law. It's modelled closely after the Law of Moses. Jesus taught that the Law of Moses had been superseded by the Law of Love. Mohammed in the 7th century refuted this claim, teaching that mankind had been commanded by a god called Allah, to go back to the old legalistic way, and so he gave these new set of laws to his new and last prophet Muhammad. No one is allowed to question his documents.

 Catholicism - This is an archaic form of religion based on Christianity, Socialism is the preferred political system of Vatican City. Roman Catholicism is a centralised religion, built around the Pope, he maintains that he sits in the place of Christ. As such, he claims that he can't be questioned, and that he has the right to enforce his will upon the world. Socialism lends itself to such a neo-religious/political system, as the Pope can happily sit as the religious head of a centralised political entity. The European Union would be an ideal place for him to exercise such a position.

Over time successive catholic regimes omitted, and then made subtle changes to the Bible, thus allowing modern Catholicism to slowly morph into a Theosophy - an amalgamation of religion. This transition reached its zenith in 1950, when the Virgin Mary was adopted as Co-redemptress with Jesus Christ. If you visit a Catholic church you will witness hundreds of candles lit in front of Mary, and a few in front of Jesus. Anyone who insists that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, arouses the interest of the Jesuit faction of the Vatican, and is subject to unnatural prejudice.

 

Political Relations 

Mankind is like a restless sea, sometimes that sea becomes stormy, and it may become a threat to our well being, when it is, a man will do everything he can to protect his family, his land, and do whatever it takes to defend it.

 

• War - There will always be wars and rumours of wars, because humanity can't stop thinking bad thoughts.

• UN - This may seem an answer to world problems, but it's based on wishful thinking, as the heart of mankind cannot be tamed.

• Diplomacy - The art of lying, it can be described as a sticky plaster to cover the problem, while playing for time, or papering over the cracks, hoping for the best.

• International Relations - The seething mass of humanity formed into nation states, forming alliances with the aim of gaining more influence, resources, and political power.

 

GOD

 

The God of the Bible is a God of love, and He loves you.

When you remove God, it's like removing oxygen, that's because like oxygen, without God life can't exist. God is life and where He is not there is only death.

The God of the Bible, the God the Bible describes. The God Who speaks through the pages of the Bible. He had no beginning and He has no end. He is all knowing, ever present, and all powerful. He is full of glory, power and wonder. God is Love.

 

Draw a circle; show me where it begins? God had no beginning, He has no end.

 

He created the heavens and earth and all that is there in. When He had finished He was pleased because it was very good.

 

A fallen angel called Lucifer who had been thrown out of Heaven saw the earth and decided to become its god. He set about deceiving Adam and Eve with barefaced lies and so stole it from them. The resulting chaos is his doing and not God's. Often people ask, ‘Why does God allow all of this trouble’? He doesn’t, the Devil is the troublemaker, but indirectly it’s our fault.

 

God has revealed Himself in three Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God in three Persons the Holy Trinity. Observe the flame of a candle; you will notice three parts of the flame, yet it's still one flame.

God is working constantly yet you wouldn't know it, but He's working away finding knew ways to save the lost and bring them to Christ.

 

God doesn't want you to fear Him, He loves you, He wants to be a father to you. He doesn't want to judge you, but to save you. This is something that is revolutionary, when Jesus taught His followers that God was their Heavenly Father, they were amazed, because the only understanding of God they had came from Moses and his laws. This left them with an impression of an austere God, but Jesus revealed a new side to God which transformed their understanding. God is love, and God loves you. When someone came into Church for the first time and heard this, it moved him to tears. God has a special plan for your life, not for ill but for good.

 

THE THREE SPIRITUAL ENEMIES 

You have three influences standing in the way of finding God your Heavenly Father.

 

The Devil 

 

Some people find it difficult to believe in the Devil, whilst exactly the opposite, they find it easier to believe in the Devil than they do to believe in God.

If the Devil told lies all the time you wouldn't believe him, but because he mixes the lies with truth you do.

One thing is certain, the Devil is your worst enemy, partly because he remains hidden, and partly he's like the ocean, something that's very powerful and must be respected. He's a formidable foe and can only be overcome with God's help.

The Bible is a sword that you use against him, so it's no wonder that his number one priority is to get you to doubt God's Word. When the Devil tempted Jesus, Jesus always quoted Scripture back at him. In the Garden of Eden the Devil tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God's Word. If he can get his victim to doubt the Bible, then he's won the battle for the soul. Without the Bible we haven't got a hope.

If you don't believe that the Bible is the divine witness left on the earth by God to guide the lost souls of men looking for Him, then you're like the seed that fell on stony ground and couldn't take root and was eaten by the fouls of the air. In other words the Devil has sown so much doubt in your mind and heart, you're what is described as a son of perdition, you were born to eternal damnation.

But if you do believe this to be the inspired Word of God, then give glory to God, there is hope for you, your faith is based on a firm foundation. You now have a basis to build on.

 

The World 

We don't realise how significant the influence of the World is upon our lives, and on the lives of those around us. 

 

The Flesh 

This includes all the physical and biological influences inside our mind and body. We are pre-programmed by the Fall, to instinctively do the opposite of what God intended for our lives.

 

The Mystery of Evil 

The Bible talks about the mystery of evil; it shouldn't really surprise us when we come across evil, as evil is the absence of God. When a created being rejects God, and excludes Him, that person slowly becomes the opposite of God.

 

God is love, so the opposite of love is hate. Hate is the result of estrangement from God. The absence of God brings corruption to the soul, and slowly gets worse and worse the further away from God you get. Until in the end you become like the Devil, cruel, calculating, and pernicious.

 

The Riddle of Life 

The Evolution Myth having been so widely propagated has become the given norm, if you tell a lie often enough everyone will stop questioning it and accept it, now it has taken hold of modern society despite the fact that there is no evidence. People are so brainwashed that they’ll keep saying, ‘There is evidence, there is evidence, there is evidence’. When for example, you ask them, ‘Where are the fossils showing one creature morphing across species to another’?  They just keep on saying, ‘But there is’? 

 

What animal hasn't evolved completely? None, they are all finished and complete. 

 

How could something come from nothing? Evolutionists hold to an unscientific belief system that is undocumented, and lacks logic or reason. The Genome has been mapped out, and all of the information written into a very large book. It has been called the Book of Life. How did it come from nothing and write itself? Did the Bible just write itself, the chapters on love, filled with such depth and humanity! A book cannot write itself; someone wrote it.

 

Evolution

Professor Dawkins of Oxford University was asked, how something came from nothing? He was flummoxed and couldn't answer, people began to laugh as he sat there red faced and embarrassed. I've listened very carefully to what he has to say on the subject, and the more I listen to him the more convinced I am of his schizophrenia.

 

Dr Joseph Goebbels said, repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth.

 

Did the earth and all that is in it just come from nothing? That's a very unkind thing to do to my intelligence. In any case it's not a scientifically proven fact to say such a thing. When arguing an intellectual position you must use the given laws of logic. Your hypothesis is illogical, something must come from something. We came from our Heavenly Father, but you refusing to abandon your sinful unnatural habits refuse to yield to His purity. Your uncleanness has made you hateful and absurd. 

 

King David in the Old Testament says, The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist." He is corrupt; he does vile things. There is no one who does good. 

 

The very posh and highly educated Mr Charles Darwin in his famous work entitled The Origin of Species told that within a century there would be millions of fossils with all of the missing links between the various species; where are they? For a scientific theory to hold water you must first provide evidence, you have none. So why do you persist with your fantasy? 

 

The Bible

The most wonderful book ever written. The Good Book.

 

Men are blind, they cannot see, they need help, and they can only find that help in the Bible. The Apostle Paul says, ‘Faith comes by hearing and by listening to the Bible’. For four thousand years men have lived and died by the Bible. It has proved itself time and again to have the answers to life's perplexing questions. Unlike great philosophers of the past who have asked multiple questions, and left their followers with more questions than they started with, the Bible provides clear answers, and has an authority found nowhere else.

 

The Word of God is quick and powerful, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Holy Spirit takes the Word and drives it deep into the heart, it convicts of sin and leaves the sinner feeling exposed and vulnerable before God. 

 

Don't just study the Bible, but expect God to speak to you through its pages. It's not a dead book, it's God's living Word, let it come alive, have faith in God.

 

When the ungodly and the heathen use propaganda such as perception and feelings in place of facts and figures, then at that point we must turn back to the old signposts. Western Culture derives from the Bible. This book has been tried and tested by God's People for 4000 years and never let one of them down. Therefore it is beholden on us to find the old pathway that leads to Christ and to Eternal Life.

 

The Bible is the key that opens the door to allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow into the house of our life.

 

The Bible leaves you with no excuse! On the Day of Judgement, and you're standing before God, He'll hold up the Bible, and you'll be left with no excuse. It was all there in black and white, you could have found the Truth! You made a conscious decision not to read it.

 

Mankind's Challenges

We've grown intellectually and scientifically, but not morally and spiritually.

 

Storm clouds are gathering on the horizon, mankind is facing new perils never before known in history. Will you be able to weather the storms that are on the way, and are even now at the door? 

 

• Demographic - The world elite can't control a large population so have implemented plans to reduce it.

• Economic - It's getting harder to find a worthwhile high paying job, an affordable home, and a safe place to bring up a family.

• Security - Young radicalised men are welcomed and Christian refugees sent away.

• Starvation - Food shortage due to war, economic mismanagement, 

• Migration - When large numbers of migrants come, the economy becomes larger, but the individual slice of wealth that each individual gets becomes smaller. Fewer jobs, it's harder to find affordable housing, food gets more expensive, the services get stretched, wages go down, and the overall standard of living starts to deteriorate. This problem is probably the biggest challenge our generation faces especially since it's been forced upon us for political reasons.

• Miscegenation - The NWO want to abolish white Christian families and replace them with foreigners, in their rhetoric, to bring about world peace. Of course it's the opposite, it's to do a demonic work of genocide on the church. Further proof that these people are working for Lucifer.

• Epidemic - Ebola, AIDS, and other plagues. A highly communicatively virus like smallpox that was untreatable would circumvent the world in as little as two months. There would be riots on the streets of the major cities within weeks.

Mass migration is spreading old diseases, flesh eating bacteria, and infestations.

• Racial Prejudice - A new form of racism has emerged over the past decade against the white Christian minority. Racial hatred and prejudice against white people has become rampant across the globe. In South Africa we see white people murdered in the rural areas. In the Middle East they're targeted. In Europe they're socially bypassed and discriminated against as their resources are turned over to other ethnic groups.

Money - The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Bad men want the power that money gives them over other people. Our real wealth comes from God, money is a necessity for the exchange of goods and services.

Money is also a mechanism of control, that's why the elite are pushing for a One World Bank and a cashless society.

 

Modern Life

The challenges of modern living and our ability to cope with the pressures they bring into our lives.

There are emotional issues that we all must face from time to time in life that have a profound effect upon our lives. They are as follows:

 

• Loneliness - There are several types of loneliness, a mental disorder can cause manic-depression where medication is essential. There is another type where your emotional expectations are unrealistic and you're not using common sense, as a result you leave yourself open to disappointment. There's a third type, a spiritual loneliness for God, where the deep seated hunger for spiritual reality overwhelms the heart and your unsatisfied need for God spills over into a sense of lostness of the soul. This type of loneliness is the worst because it means that you're indeed lost and on the broad road to Hell and Eternal separation from God.

• Depression - The realisation that all is futile without God

• Boredom - The empty heart needing God to fill it.

• Guilt - Sin is fun at the time, but guilt follows in the morning. As you get older, and you slow down and have more time on your hands, you'll remember what you did, and guilt will constantly haunt you into the grave. 'No it won't'! Just you wait and see.

• Unforgiveness - Holding a grudge can make you ill. Christ said that we must forgive 7x70, that's 490 times, but we find it difficult to forgive 7 times. You can only really forgive if you are completely yielded to the Holy Spirit.

• Addiction – This is often brought on by the inner obsession to find meaning and fill the emptiness inside, when a sense of lostness becomes overwhelming it can drive the soul to seek relief in other things, these things over time become self-destructive.

• Sorrow - The sorrow that comes from a misspent life.

• Anger - The insufferable frustration of getting things wrong. The inability to admit you've taken a wrong turn. The inadequate feeling that comes from knowing your life's a mess but being too stupid to turn around, go back and do it properly.

• Suffering - The pain that inevitably comes when you turn your back on God and refuse to open the Bible.

• Jealousy - If a spouse cheats on their partner the resulting sense of betrayal and jealousy can get the better of the best of us. When jealousy strikes you have to throw yourself at the feet of Christ. It's at such times that you can't make it through without His power inside of your heart.

What all of these negative emotions prove is that we can't live a successful life without God.

Unforgiveness - Jesus gave instructions to forgive, not to help the sinner but to help the sinned against. He told us to, turn the other cheek, pray for the spiteful, go the second mile. This helps the victim, the Devil has come but for to rob to kill and to destroy. He does it by getting inside, but Christ says pray the Devil out. Jesus came to set the captive free, his Words have great relevance to the persecuted. They are pregnant with value and meaning.

 

The Heart

Without a change of heart, we will never solve our problems. We are powerless to change the human heart. At the local level education is helpful, at the international level institutions like the United Nations might seem to offer something of value, but without Christ the world has no hope. Only He can change the heart, and give men the power to change.

 

Without that change there is no hope; for men continue to lust for more, to control, to enslave, to rob, kill, and destroy. Mankind's insatiable appetite for sin and its pleasures continue unabated to satiate the lusts of his flesh. Never being satisfied he will trample over every good and wholesome thing until nothing is left of any value and the world is turned into a rubbish dump. A pile of smoking trash, empty, desolate, and in pain.

 

One last point; you have to understand your precarious position, you're not a customer choosing a product from many, it's not a case of 'the customers always right'. You're in serious trouble, you have to escape the judgement that is to come, you're like a drowning man who's been thrown a lifeline, take it?

 

The Exit Sign 

Mankind is looking for a way out.

 

• Drugs - peace cannot be found down such a negative avenue, although at first it might seem to offer hope. It will dash your hopes and make you a slave.

• Alcohol - Some don't see alcohol as the problem, but see reality as the problem. The realities of life can be too much for some to bear, for them alcohol is the answer, and the way of escaping from reality.

• Sex - If you allow lust to get the better of you then you'll lose in the battle of life.

• Pleasure - adopting a lifestyle of pleasure brings misery. A little pleasure is desirable, but to constantly seek it leads to emotional emptiness, and boredom.

• Suicide - is not a way out of your dilemma. Death is not the end of your life. To commit suicide is like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. No matter what you're going through now, what you will find on the other side is a thousand times worse than what you're going through now.

• Work - A man must work hard and provide for his family, but becoming a workaholic is detrimental to one's spiritual life.

• Travel - Men have traversed mountains and crossed oceans in search of truth, but you don't even have to leave your home to find the truth, He's a prayer away. You find the truth in your heart.

• Drop Out - Some have become disillusioned with modern life and have given it all up to find a meaningful way of life outside of the mainstream of life. Whilst such a life may seem idyllic, it can't bring the meaning your heart craves.

• TV - This medium of communication has become a corrupting influence on society. The TV along with other forms of mass communication such as Hollywood, will deceive, mislead, and take you to a very bad place. 

The day I got rid of my TV was the best day of my life.

• Religion - Men turn to man-made religion to find a way of satisfying the need for a religious experience. It's a substitute for the real thing. Men won't give up their sin, if they come to Christ they must. So to get a sense of religious relief, they turn to religion to placate that need, while keeping their sin.

• Politics - Mankind's attempts at solving the social problems will never work until we realize that we need a change of heart, only Christ can change the heart.

 

The Pursuit of God 

 

The Bible says, 'If you seek you will find'. If you're just looking out of curiosity, then you'll never find out what you missed. But if you truly seek God with all of your heart, then you'll find Him. You won't find Him in the Science Lab, but in your heart. Your spirit is located in your ribcage, it's invisible, but it's the real you, it's the part of you that lives on after your body dies. God is Spirit, invisible, and eternal, you find God inside of your spirit. It's a spiritual relationship, that slowly effects you from the inside out, and then overtime effects and transforms the physical side of your life. God can radically change a person's life. People can see what God has done and so see Him, but only if they want to see Him. Some people don't want to see God, they'll find all kinds of excuses to explain away what they see, ‘It's mind over matter, one day science will show that this is a natural phenomena, it would have happened anyway’. If someone doesn't want to find God they won't, God is committed to freewill, He doesn't force Himself onto people. Everyone has a choice, Heaven or Hell, it's your decision, and we must make it all on our own and of our own freewill.

 

Human Conflict 

Interpersonal relationships can become strained.

 

• Divorce - A most painful thing to go through, causing damage to the family, and to society at large.

• Bullying - It's fun for some, and hell for those who are still developing emotionally.

• Racism - Born out of the desire to protect one's own community. In a mobile world it can cause tensions, but it's worth remembering we are all descendants of Adam, meaning we're all family.

• CPS - The balance between protecting children from abuse in the home and abuse in institutions is a big challenge.

 

The Road Block

The Devil hasn't gone away he is still active, working flat out day and night to bring about our downfall. He's trying to prevent each one of us from learning about the Gospel and preventing us from being saved. He'll never rest until he has you chained up down below in the Pits of Hell. It's your job not to be deceived by him, and to find Christ for yourself.

 

Ask not, 'What can I get out of God'? Instead ask, 'What can God get out of me'.

 

Don't ask, 'Will I be blessed'? Instead ask, 'Will I be a blessing'?

 

Don't ask, 'Who can I change'? Ask, 'Will I be changed'?

 

Our quest will only end when we finally find our way back to our Creator. Until then we will feel unsettled, unfulfilled, and incomplete. Only Christ can bring us back to the Father, without Him we have no hope of finding closure on this quest of the soul. We were made for God, and in Him are joys forever more. We have one obstacle, I, me, myself.

 

So what is the answer? Jesus Christ is the only answer that there is to the seemingly unresolvable problems we face today.

 

 

2. MAN'S SIN

 

Sin doesn't pay, crime doesn't pay, in the short term it may seem to be a solution, but after a while it stops working.

 

An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

"a sin in the eyes of God" "I sinned and brought shame down on us"

 

Sin has consequences, the Bible says, 'Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap'. In a pleasure hungry society, where people young and old have more spending power and more time on their hands, are able to indulge their wildest fantasies, we've forgotten that actions have consequences. Don't forget the warnings of Scripture, we can become like little children in a sweet shop when we're over indulgent, so be careful what you sow, if you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption, but if you sow to God you will reap eternal life.

 

 Some enjoy playing Russian Roulette with sin and eternity, but every time you pull the trigger the odds of your losing increase. Your friends who egg you on will abandon you when you lose, they won't associate themselves with a loser. Just remember what the Scriptures says, 'God is not mocked whatsoever you sow, that shall you also reap'. There are many fools down below who thought that they could out smart God, don't be one of them. Remember this, we will all stand before the Judgement Seat and give an account of our lives, and everyone who knew you will be watching and listening to every little sordid detail.

 

The Fall 

The Bible teaches that mankind rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden. As a result we are cut off from God. As a result we are all born on Death Row. We're all born in sin; for example, you don't have to teach a child how to lie, the child does it automatically if caught out embarrassment follows.

Sin

Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:23

 

'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God'.

 

Sin is a thief, it robs you of something deep down in your soul, something dies. Self-esteem, self-worth, guilt, a dull ache, emptiness, feeling lost, confused, dissatisfied, fear, boredom, loneliness, 

 

• Singular - Individual, personal, and egocentric.

• Plural - Communal, common, and national culpability.

 

Treason

Sin is treason against God; you have wilfully and knowingly broken His divine law. God called you to live a holy righteous life, but you have lived for your own happiness. You were expected to live for God, to put Him first, to consider Him and His glory and to put His pleasure first, but you have no fear of God, instead you mock Him with your words and your deeds.

 

The smell of your life has reached God's nostrils. The stench of pride, the putridity of your arrogance, the odour of your vanity. If you're not clothed in the righteous of Christ then to God you smell worse than a homeless tramp. Turn away from your wickedness and towards the righteousness of a holy God. Christ didn't call men to happiness, but to right living. Give up your transgressions, lay them at the Cross, and live according to the example given by Jesus.

 

The Conscience

When an animal behaves like an animal, it does it knowing nothing else, but when a human behaves like an animal he does so knowingly. God blessed us all with a conscience, we all know right from wrong, and we choose wrong doing, knowingly. This the Bible calls sin. We feel guilty because we know we've done wrong.

 

The conscience is proof that God exists.

 

A man needs a reason to bypass his conscience. To do this different men have different mental constructs:

 

• Jesuit - you're a heretic.

• Marxist - the conscience is a leftover from the stone age. 

• The Sinful – I need the money.

• The Weak Minded - superstition.

 

These reasons are called, 'doctrines of devils', they're carefully crafted ideas to blind a man's soul from the truth.

 

Moral Integrity

Men are capable of great acts of compassion and great sacrifice, but we also have a darker side, and that weaker, insipid side the Bible calls the sin nature.

 

‘They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one’.

 

 One's sin is like a mist, a thick fog that makes it hard to see God.

The heart is desperately wicked who can know it.

 

 Isaiah the Prophet said, 'But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear'.

 

 The truth is men are lewd, and they derive pleasure from their lewdness. They'd rather go slumming than do the decent thing and spend time with their family.

 Think of all the trouble, strife and pain our sin has caused down through time and across the world. Then we blame it all on God, as though it's His fault!

 God is a just God, and a just Judge. For example He says, 'Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless'.

 If the criminal doesn't get what he justly deserves then there's no justice for the victim. Justice demands punishment for the crime. God can't just forgive and forget, the laws of justice won't allow it. Someone has to pay for the crime. If there isn't a Hell; then God is no longer true to Himself, and the victims of sin are without justice, and the world is a lawless place, where no one's safe.

So where does that leave you? When you stay at a hotel when it's time to leave you'd better be able to pay the hotel bill. When you reach the end of your stay here on earth you'd better be able to pay the bill God will present you with. God gave the Ten Commandments and wrote those ten laws into our hearts, we call it the conscience. Your conscience leaves you with no excuse. You've broken those laws and stand guilty before a Holy God. How are you going to pay the bill? You're a sinner; the Bible says, 'The soul that sins must die'. You're going to die because of your sin. You'll die spiritually, physically, and eternally. So what are you going to do? There's nothing you can do, being extra good won't work, the Bible says, ' Even your good works are like filthy rags'. You're a sinner and you're going to be judged for it.

 

The Frog 

The story is told of the frog that was put into a saucepan of hot water and it immediately jumped out again. They put it into cold water and it sat there and let them slowly boil him. Sin is like that, it's incremental, it creeps up on you slowly. You must pray and read your Bible, this has a cleansing effect upon your heart and mind, and will help keep you on the straight and narrow.

 

 'The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it’.

 

It's not easy to admit you're wrong.

 

 

 

Sin Is The Enemy 

 

You have to be ruthless with sin, or sin will be ruthless with you. It takes no prisoners, shows no sympathy, it just takes what's good and chews it all up. 

 

'Don't be fooled, God is not mocked, what ever you sow you'll reap'.

 

 We are living in a time when the proliferation of mass multimedia has deadened our sensibilities to sin. We've forgotten how to blush, we've lost our innocence, we've become indifferent to sin.

 

When you tell a naughty child to behave, the child ignores you. If you threaten to smack the child, it still has no effect. Not until the child feels the smack across the back of the thigh does it jolt the child to behave. We're like the child, we don't want to follow God our Heavenly Father, we need to be jolted too. At some point life will do that to us.

 

An Acorn

One of the biggest problems with sin is that it keeps getting bigger, never smaller. If you plant an acorn under the side of a house it will keep growing until it tears the house and its foundations apart. You can't sin a little bit, by its very nature it will keep growing keep corrupting keep dragging you down until it completely ruins you. Like the house you become unfit to live in but you've become enslaved to it and there's no escape. You'll die cursing God.

 

 Sin Is Cancer To The Soul

It slowly eats its way into the soul. Sometimes it's more malignant, sometimes more benign. It doesn't matter whether we take to sin quickly or slowly, we'll get there in the end. The Devil started off as a good person, he didn't get that bad overnight. Everybody liked him, he was in charge of building the City of God. He had a great job and a great life, but one day a bad thought entered his head, and instead of resisting the temptation, he gave into it. Now look at the mess he's in, well that's exactly where you'll end up if you don't change your thinking. He's in a whole lot of trouble, and you will be too if you don't do something about it.

 

So you see, a little sin will eventually lead to a lot of sin. Even if you feel you're not that bad right now, you will get there, that's your destiny, to be like the Devil, it's only a matter of time. Some of your friends are little further along on the journey, you're not as bad as them yet. But you will be, it's just a matter of time, you're powerless to stop it. One day you'll be as ugly and as vile as the Devil himself. If you're determined to remain on the road that leads to your becoming a devil in your own right, then by the Law of Justice you can only expect the same fate that awaits the Devil himself.

 

If you don't turn away from it and turn to God, then you will burn down below, whether or not you think you're a good person or not. Sin is cancer, turn to God and let Him heal your soul, before you go too far away from Him and can't find the way back.

 

    

 

The Soul 

 

Jesus said, 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul'?

 

Your soul is worth more than all of the wealth on the entire planet. Just imagine your soul in Heaven for a trillion years, and the happiness - that's got to be worth something. Eternity in Heaven has to be infinitely valuable. So if that's so, why would you jeopardize all of that for a few moments of worldly pleasure that doesn't really satisfy the soul anyway?

 

    

 

3. GOD'S SON  

 

The grace of God has appeared to all men. A good thing happened to the world, God sent His only begotten Son to help us.

 

The Birth of Jesus

Caesar Augustus declared that the whole world should be taxed in A.D. 4. And so for the Roman census, Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem from their hometown of Nazareth. Jesus was born in the lower room of a house where animals stayed and there they laid Him in a manger.

 

Isaiah 7:14 says: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

 

The shepherds visited the baby Jesus following the angelic announcement. The angels worshipped the Christ.

 

A bright star hung over Bethlehem that night and guided three wise men to the Saviour. When they found Him, they knelt and worshipped Him, and gave Him their kingly presents, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The birth of Jesus is not a myth but a reality that changed the world forever.

Jesus was born in a stable with the farm animals because there was no room for Him. Today things haven't changed, there's still no room for Him. People would rather make room for illegal migrants than make room for Him in their heart.

When Joseph and Mary took their first born child Jesus to the Temple to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. God spoke to His servant Simeon and told him that Jesus was the Christ and he gave thanks there in the Temple that he had lived to see such a wonderful thing.

When King Herod heard about Jesus he tried to kill Him, but an angel warned Joseph and they fled to safety in Egypt. After Herod had died they returned to Israel and settled in Nazareth, where Jesus worked with His father as a carpenter.

In your pursuit of pleasure you've hurt a lot of people, and you don't deserve any help, but because God is full of love He decided to help us. He sent His Son to be our Helper and to get us out of our predicament.

 

'While we were still in sin Christ died for us, the just for the unjust'.

 

We stood condemned, and Christ stood in our place, and took the punishment for our sin. He was guiltless, we are guilty. He never sinned, we won't stop. He didn't deserve what happened, but we do.

 

• He never committed a single act of violence.

• He was chaste all His life.

• He healed the sick.

• He fed the hungry.

• He raised the dead.

• He walked on water.

• He calmed the storm.

• He owned nothing.

• He had no political power.

 

Jesus asked Peter who he thought Jesus was, and Peter told Him that he believed that He was the Son of God. Jesus told Him that he was blessed, because only God could have given him that knowledge. God will only reveal His truth to a pure heart, a man with evil intent will never be allowed to see.

 

So God stepped into time and space when 2000 years ago He sent His Son to earth to die on a Cross for our sins. We being poor, wretched, and blind, dead in our sin, unable to help ourselves, unwilling to face up to our responsibilities were rescued by our Heavenly Father who cares for us. He the Holy Son of God, God Incarnate, in a way we cannot understand, God became a man.

 

The Teachings of Jesus 

Mankind has made enormous technological strides. Yet despite that, mankind still hasn't been able to come up with anything that betters the teachings of Jesus. We can solve physical problems, yet fail to solve spiritual problems. We don't want to be better, we like being bad.

 

• Love God.

• Love your neighbour.

• Love your enemies - The most revolutionary statement ever made.

• Pray for those who spitefully use you.

• Turn the other cheek.

• Better to give.

• Sell all that you have and give your money to the poor.

• Forgive seventy times seven.

• Judge not so that you don't get judged.

• Let your word be your bond.

• Do to others as you'd have them do to you.

 

The Argument

 

The argument is put forward by some apologists that Jesus was either:

 

• Insane

• Lying

• Mistaken

• Telling the truth

 

Each person has to decide who they believe Jesus to be. Since His life has had such a big impact upon the world, it's hard for anyone to avoid the subject. Seeing that His claims are so astounding and far reaching, and it being such a big issue, it really does require every thinking person give an honest answer.

 

The Identity of Christ 

Most religious leaders directed their listeners away from themselves, but Jesus directed people towards Himself.

Other religious leaders pointed away to a God or a way of life, but Jesus told His disciples to look to Him for salvation. He said, 'I am the Way, I am the Truth and I am the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me'. No one ever dreamt of doing such an extraordinary thing before!  

The people who heard Him said, 'No one ever spoke like this'.

 

'And Jesus said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said unto him, Thou art the Christ'.

 

The Jews answered him, saying, 'For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, make yourself God'. 

 

• The Bread - In other words He's the One Who fulfils the deepest needs of the heart.

• The Water – ‘From out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water’.

• The Word – ‘ He is the Word of Life’.

• The Way – ‘The only way to God’.

• The Truth - When you think about it logically, you realise that if He really is the Truth, and the answer to the riddle of life, then it's beholden on us to consider its relevance.

• The Door – The door into Eternal Life.

• The Life – He is the Life and without Him there is no life.

• The Good Shepherd – The pastor of our soul.

• The Great Physician – Who heals our body, soul and spirit.

 

IN THE GOSPELS

 

1: The Bible Teaches That There Is One True God

2: The Bible Teaches That Jesus Pre-Existed Before The World Was

3: Jesus Is Creator Not Creature

4: Jesus Identifies Himself as Divine

5: The Apostles Identified Jesus as Divine

6: The Jewish Leaders Recognized Jesus’ Claim to Divinity

7: The Early Church in the New Testament Prayed to Jesus

8: The Early Church in the New Testament Worshipped Jesus

9: Jesus Made Claims That No Human Being Could Ever Make

10: Jesus Is the Son of God

 

The Parables 

Jesus taught His disciples with parables to show them the important principles of His Kingdom:

 

• Like a pearl of great value, finding His Kingdom is such a valuable thing that you would want to sell everything you have in order to acquire it.

• Like salt, the Christian will help prevent Society from turning bad.

• Like a lamp, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and give off God's light in a world dark with sin.

• Like a tree, our Christian life will bear fruit. The bad person bad fruit, the good person good fruit.

• Like a house, the Christian life that is based on the teachings of the Bible will be able to weather the storms of life. The life built on selfishness and sin will collapse when difficulties come.

• Like a seed, to produce fruit the Christian must endure dark times, and that through suffering bring many to Christ.

• Like a lost sheep, our Heavenly Father will show compassion on His sheep when we become disoriented. He will search for us, and bring us back into the fold.

• Like the Prodigal son, who strayed from his father's love, and in straying discovered his own weakness and need of his father, and returning in repentance found his father watching for his return. So we can be assured that God is not willing that any should perish, not even the undeserving.

• Like the Good Samaritan, who showed compassion on a man who despised him. He showed charity to someone who had no love for him, with no hope of reward.

• Like the workers who were all payed one pound, some worked hard all day, others only worked for half an hour. The boss paid everyone the same, and some felt grieved because of it. This was to show that you're not saved by works, but by God's grace, and the Blood of Christ.

 

The Miracles of Jesus 

The miracles that Jesus performed during His three and a half year ministry set Him apart from all others. His miracles prove that He was Who He claimed to be and that others who come claiming to be of God we're all false teachers and prophets - since they did no miracles.

 

• The dead raised back to life.

• The blind given their sight.

• The dead and dumb hearing and speaking.

• The lepers cleansed.

• The servant girl healed of a severe fever.

• The withered hand.

• The paralysed.

• The lame walked.

• The woman with the personal issue.

• Epileptic.

• Possessed.

 

 

4. THE CROSS 

 

At six o'clock in the morning the Romans took Jesus to Golgotha and Crucified Him. Mankind killed God.

 

So we see that mankind is fallen, sinful, and lost, and if we don't find a way back into having a right standing with God then we'll die in our sins and be lost in Hell forever. So what are we to do? There's nothing we can do, only God can help us now, only His kindness can save us and that's where the Cross comes in.

 

Christ elected to stand in our place and take the judgement for our sins upon Himself. He became our substitute, the one who took our place. When Jesus hung on the Cross, God took our sin and the judgement for our sin and laid it on Christ at the Cross. When you Jesus on the Cross, see yourself there, He died in your place.

 

Jesus didn't hang on the Cross for anything He'd done, but for everything we've done.

 

‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed’.

 

God declares there can be no forgiveness of sin except through the shedding of blood. Christ shed His Blood at the Cross, and His Blood has the power to cleanse away every sin no matter how bad it might be.

 

The Apostle writes, 'But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin'.

 

The last words Jesus spoke on the Cross were, 'It is finished'. The Greek word for finished, means paid in full. On our behalf, Christ settled the account with God for our sin, and if we'll identify with Him, and kneel at the Cross by faith, then God will forgive and forget our sin, and restore right standing before Him.

The moment Jesus breathed His last, was the moment the Devil's attempt to control and dominate the human race came to an end. 

 

The Blood 

 

It's the Blood that gives the Gospel its power.

 

Remember this, 'There is no remission of sin without the Blood.

 

The Bible tells us that, ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin’. The shed Blood of Christ has the power to cleanse away any sin someone may have committed.

 

• He was our substitute.

• His death was a propitiation (a covering and turning away God's wrath) for our sins.

 

The Jewish Rulers had turned the Temple from a House of Prayer into a House of Money Dealing. Jesus became angry and drove them out. God is displeased with the way we have excluded Him and given ourselves over to pleasure.

• He bought our redemption from the Devil's power.

• He brought reconciliation. We were once far off but not anymore, now we are brought in close.

• He was the scapegoat that carried our sins far away.

• He was our Passover.

• His last words, 'Paid in Full'.

• He justified us. His Cross gave us legal standing before God and made it as though we'd never sinned. 'Just-as-if-I'd' never sinned. 

 

Restored Relationship 

The Cross means that we can come back into a good relationship with Him. 'We who were once alienated from God can now through Christ's atoning sacrifice make a way back for us into the presence of a Holy God'.

 

God now adopts us as sons of God, joint heirs with Christ.

 

It wasn't a third party who bore the judgement for our sin but God Himself.

 

A cloak of righteous is given to the believer, 'We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ'. 'Therefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ'. He gives us right standing before God.

 

The Lamb's Book of Life 

To gain entry into Heaven your name must be written into the Lamb's Book of Life. Your name is recorded there when you enter into a redemptive covenant with Jesus and you are Born Again of the Spirit.

 

Make sure your name is found there, if you find out that it's not you'll be in for a terrible shock.

 

TIMELINE OF JESUS' DEATH The PRECEDING EVENTS

 

The Last Supper(Matthew 26:20-30; Mark 14:17-26; Luke 22:14-38; John 13:21-30)

 

• In the Garden of Gethsemane(Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-45)
• Jesus is Betrayed and Arrested(Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11)
• The Religious Leaders Condemn Jesus(Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71)

 

GOOD FRIDAY EVENTS

 

6 a.m.

 

• Jesus Stands Trial Before Pilate(Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-37)
• Jesus Sent to Herod(Luke 23:6-12)

 

7 a.m.

 

• Jesus Returned to Pilate(Luke 23:11)
• Jesus Is Sentenced to Death(Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:23-24; John 19:16)

 

8 a.m.

 

• Jesus Is Led Away to Calvary(Matthew 27:32-34; Mark 15:21-24; Luke 23:26-31; John 19:16-17)

 

THE CRUCIFIXION

 

9 a.m. - "The Third Hour"

 

• Jesus Is Crucified on the Cross

 

Mark 15: 25 - It was the third hour when they crucified him. (NIV). (The third hour in Jewish time would have been 9 a.m.)

 

Luke 23:34 - Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (NIV)

 

• The Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus' Clothing(Mark 15:24)
• 10 a.m.

 

• Jesus Is Insulted and Mocked

 

Matthew 27:39-40 - And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!" (NLT)

 

Mark 15:31 - The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself!" (NLT)

 

Luke 23:36-37 - The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" (NLT)

 

Luke 23:39 - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" (NIV)

 

11 a.m.

 

• Jesus and the Criminal

 

Luke 23:40-43 - But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

 

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

 

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV)

 

• Jesus Speaks to Mary and John

 

John 19:26-27 - When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, "Woman, he is your son." And he said to this disciple, "She is your mother." And from then on this disciple took her into his home.(NLT)

 

Noon - "The Sixth Hour"

 

• Darkness Covers the Land

 

Mark 15:33 - At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. (NLT)

 

1 p.m.

 

• Jesus Cries Out to the Father

 

Matthew 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”(NKJV)

 

• Jesus is Thirsty

 

John 19:28-29 - Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I am thirsty."A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips.(NLT)

 

2 p.m.

 

• It Is Finished

 

John 19:30a - When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!"(NLT)

 

Luke 23:46 - Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)

 

 

 

5. THE RESURRECTION 

 

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then Christianity is a hoax. If He isn't alive then the Gospel becomes invalid, having no intrinsic value or meaning. Christianity rises or falls on the Resurrection. If He did rise again from the dead, then the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe.

 

Our faith is based on three words, 'He is risen'.

 

'That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved'.

 

'For if we die with Him then we shall also be raised to eternal life with Him, through the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit'.

 

The best way of knowing that the resurrection is true is by making Jesus your Lord and Saviour.

 

When the Apostle entered the empty tomb, there was something about the way the grave clothes were laid out, that convinced him that Jesus had risen.

 

The Resurrection Means 

 

• Every claim Jesus made about Himself is true.

• It means that He has the power to save anyone from their sins and give them Eternal Life.

• It means Jesus is Divine, that He is the Son of God.

• It means He has the ability to keep all of the promises He gave to us.

 

The Tomb of Jesus is the only tourist attraction where people queue up to see nothing.

We've been to the Tomb and it's empty. 

 

Up until that moment Good Friday looked like Black Friday, but when the Angel of the Lord rolled back the stone covering the entrance, and Christ stepped out, the Cross took on a whole new meaning.

• It meant now you could enter into the presence of God.

• When He was hanging on the Cross, they mocked Him and said save yourself. They're not mocking Him anymore, and now He can save you to the utter most.

• It took a bad day and turned it into a good day. It took loss and turned it into a win. It took a dark day and turned it into a glorious day.

 

The power of the Resurrection can take a bad life and turn it into a good life.

 

Sequence of Events

 

Jesus is buried, as several women watch (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42).
The tomb is sealed and a guard is set (Matthew 27:62-66).
At least 3 women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, prepare spices to go to the tomb (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1).
An angel descends from heaven, rolls the stone away, and sits on it. There is an earthquake, and the guards faint (Matthew 28:2-4).
The women arrive at the tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene leaves the other women there and runs to tell the disciples (John 20:1-2).
The women still at the tomb see two angels who tell them that Jesus is risen and who instruct them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee (Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:2-8; Luke 24:1-8).
The women leave to bring the news to the disciples (Matthew 28:8).
The guards, having roused themselves, report the empty tomb to the authorities, who bribe the guards to say the body was stolen (Matthew 28:11-15).
Mary the mother of James and the other women, on their way to find the disciples, see Jesus (Matthew 28:9-10). 
The women relate what they have seen and heard to the disciples (Luke 24:9-11).
Peter and John run to the tomb, see that it is empty, and find the grave clothes (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-10).
Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb. She sees the angels, and then she sees Jesus (John 20:11-18).
Later the same day, Jesus appears to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5).
Still on the same day, Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).
That evening, the two disciples report the event to the Eleven in Jerusalem (Luke 24:32-35).
Jesus appears to ten disciples—Thomas is missing (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25).
Jesus appears to all eleven disciples—Thomas included (John 20:26-31).
Jesus appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25).
Jesus appears to about 500 disciples in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Jesus appears to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).
Jesus commissions His disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).
Jesus teaches His disciples the Scriptures and promises to send the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-5).
Jesus ascends into heaven (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-12).

 

 

 

• He is our Advocate.

• He is our High Priest.

• He is our Baptiser with the Holy Spirit.

 

What turned the followers of Jesus from frightened people into a bold courageous world changing powerful church? The Resurrection changed them, all but one of them died as Martyrs for the Gospel, what further proof do you need than that?

 

Christ is risen, get over it!

 

 

6. THE SECOND COMING 

 

The return of Christ is imminent; His coming is sooner than you think. Jesus told His disciplines that He would come back for them and they should be ready. He told a parable of the Ten Virgins, five were wise, and five were foolish. He told them to be prayerful, watchful, and ready, these He likened to the five wise virgins. He then went on to describe the five foolish virgins who lost their way and who were tempted and who lost everything.

 

‘Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord’.

 

The Second Coming of Christ will be preceded by great opposition from the AntiChrist. As he and his system grow stronger and more ambitious, he will do everything he can to frustrate the Church and the Gospel. Only those who are ready, who keep their hearts ready, and are watching for the Saviour will make it through. Who is this AntiChrist? Even he who's city is built on seven hills. He who it is who sits on a great white throne. He it is who claims to be Christ on earth, he it is who speaks many blasphemies against our Father in Heaven, and His precious Son Jesus Christ.

 

The Bible calls him the Man of Sin because he only accepts those parts of the Bible that fit his agenda. He rejecting those parts, and even changing the words of the Bible, to suit his own blasphemies. Many will be deceived and led away from his bible into a strong delusion. He will be dressed in white so as to deceive even the elect.

 

‘Woe unto you in that day, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets’.

 

EVENTS PRECEDING THE RETURN OF CHRIST 

 

1. WARS, VIOLENCE AND LAWLESSNESS

2. DROUGHT AND FAMINE

3. EARTHQUAKES AND OTHER NATURAL CATASTROPHES

4. DISEASE EPIDEMICS

5. THE RISE OF AN AGGRESSIVE, FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC POWER

6. AN ASCENDANT EUROPEAN UNION SEEKS GLOBAL PRIMACY

7. A POWERFUL RELIGIOUS FIGURE LEADS A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

8. THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD PREACHED TO ALL NATIONS

9. FAITH AGAIN BECOMES A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH

10. A CRISIS STRIKES JERUSALEM

11. THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

12. THE COLLAPSE OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS—THE GREAT TRIBULATION

13. HEAVENLY SIGNS AND THE DAY OF THE LORD

14. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES

 

The Last Days 

 

• The Foolish Virgins are those who take the Mark of the Beast. ( The Beast is the UN, and the mark is your personal barcode). The Wise Virgins are those who put their trust in Christ, and who implicitly follow His every Word.

• The AntiChrist is the Pope; also known as the Man of Sin.

 

The Great White Throne

Then all men will be called by name, one by one to give account for the deeds done in the body.

 

The books will be opened and the deeds of each person having been faithfully recorded by the angels shall be examined and each person judged from the records therein.

 

Only those persons whose record has been washed away through the Blood of Christ will be received into Heaven. Those whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be cast out into eternal damnation.

 

When You Die 

There are three types of death.

 

'It is appointed to men once to die and then the judgement'.

'The soul that sins, it shall die'.

 

1. Spiritual death - The soul corrupted by sin and spiritually dead and blind to God's truth.

2. Physical death - The final end of our earthly life when our body stops forever. 

3. Eternal death - The sinful soul lost in Hell forever with no hope of eternal life in Heaven.

 

In this life because of your sin you are blind to your sinful condition. The moment you die that blindness leaves and you suddenly become aware of your plight. You realise that you're sinful, guilty and naked. You become desperate to change your mind and make desperate promises to change, but it's too late, you've missed your chance, and the horror of being lost forever, suddenly hits the pit of your stomach. You were always so smart, you knew everything, you were so sure of yourself. How could you have been so stupid? 

 

It's a human tragedy when someone passes away without knowing Christ.

 

Eternity 

There is no Purgatory, no Nirvana, and no Paradise with 72 virgins. The Bible teaches that when you die you go to one of two places, Heaven or Hell. The righteous choose to go to Heaven, and the unrighteous choose to go to Hell.

 

Heaven

 

A very good place.

Full of the finest people.

The River of Life.

Where even the trees worship God.

 

The inner search going on in each one of us will be realised when those who have chosen to go to Heaven finally congregate around the Throne of God. The righteous will sing hymns and give praise to God their Maker. That will be the greatest day of all for mankind and for God. For on that glorious day, God and His creation will have become one in a truly meaningful and assenting way. 

 

God has made a home just for you in Heaven, made with the finest materials, and decorated in a beautiful way. But listen, if you don't want it, don't let that worry you, God will give it to someone else.

 

Heaven is a place so full of God's love, should you ever shed a tear, God Himself will wipe it away.

 

The Bible talks about a Heavenly throng gathered around the Throne of God. They didn't want to be part of the Devil's crowd, they wanted to know the presence of God. They weren't fearing death but rather looking forward to it, waiting for the day when they could stand face to face with Almighty and Everlasting God. What a spectacular day that will be. 

 

Hell 

Some brazenly say, 'There is no Hell', they've got quite a shock coming.

 

A very hot place.

Full of the worst types of people.

Even if someone came back from the dead people still wouldn't believe it to be true, they have the Scriptures but will not believe them.

There's a reason why you are sent to Hell.

 

One day you'll be screaming at me saying, 'Why didn't you warn me'? I did, but you wouldn't listen. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it, but it won't make any difference. God is struggling to reach you but you don't want to be reached.

Then you'll say, 'I'll change now Lord', but the reply will be, too late, too late.

Hell exists whether or not you believe in it, the Bible says so.

As we are all sinners we all deserve to be sent to Hell but this is not what God's wants. God wants to wash away our sin and give to us the gift of Eternal Life.

The more you sin the more legal power you give over to the Devil, meaning he has more influence over you in this life, and it means he has been given the legal rights to drag you even deeper into the belly of Hell.

One day, God will close the eternal door for the last time, and look out in love at the lost facing their final doom in Hell. He'll still love them, but they chose to hate God, they rejected Him.

God wants Heaven full and Hell empty.

Often after something bad has happened we think, 'if only I'd done that differently'. Imagine the anguish when you look back from that sombre place and think, 'If only'.

To have a healthy fear of fire is better than indifference.

This message is not meant to offend but to warn, Hell is real and you need to do something about it. 

 

Sinner to the Preacher, 'What are you going to do when you die and find that what you've been preaching is wrong'?

 

Preacher to the Sinner, 'What are you going to do when you die and find out you were wrong and find yourself in Hell'?

 

Sometimes I think that it's a waste of time trying to tell people, it seems too far fetched for them to believe, and even those who do believe you, are just too embarrassed to talk about it.

 

God's Wrath 

It's not a sudden uncontrolled outburst, but a calm, considered response to sin. The rejection by God's holy nature to the vileness of the depravity of sin. It's the fair meted out judgement on the deeds of a fallen irredeemable sinner.

 

 

 

7. THE RESPONSE

 

TODAY NOT TOMORROW

 

You're aware of the spiritual search going on in the heart, but did you know that God is on a search too. God loves us, and just as you enjoy spending time with your children, so God the Father enjoys it when you spend time with Him. He wants you to give up your wayward ways and be a good person. The problem isn't in God's heart, He is full of love and grace. The problem is in your heart, you've become estranged from God, and He wants you back in His life.

 

Repent And Believe 

Turn from your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  

 

Whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved'.

 

Joshua's battle in the town of Ai, as recorded in the Book of Joshua illustrates this point perfectly. God had given Israel clear instructions on how to conduct themselves when engaging the enemy. One of Joshua's soldiers broke the code of conduct and transgressed the law of God. This sin meant that they lost God's protection and they subsequently lost the battle against an inferior force. After this sin was exposed and dealt with God's graced returned and they continued to drive the Canaanites from the land.

 

We learn from this story that the difficulties we have with the lack of faith is a direct result of unforgiven sin. If your heart is right with God, then your  faith becomes strong. If there is sin in our life then we lose the victory. When we deal with sin and drive it out of our heart we become victorious, and God's peace is ever present. All of your spiritual problems are a direct result of latent sin.

 

God doesn't want you to pray for revival, He wants you to pray for holiness. When that happens, then you'll have your revival.

 

Repent 

Repentance is a change of mind. When the Apostle Paul was persecuting Christians, he thought they were misguided, He thought Jesus was an imposter, but when he had an encounter with the Risen Christ on the Damascus Road, he changed his mind, and this change of mind completely changed the direction of his life. 

 

Turn away from wrong doing. It's the stopping of sinning and the start of living for God.

 

It's changing direction from bad deeds to good deeds. Fighting wrong thoughts and searching for good thoughts.

 

Repentance is turning back and going against the tide. It's no longer going with the crowd, but going against it. It's deliberate, wilful rebellion against sin, and a deep desire for clean living.

 

Believe 

Believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

It's easy to believe when everything feels good, but real faith is believing when things feel bad.

Real faith is like finding your way through a building in the dark with only someone who can see guiding you. It's stepping out in faith in God's Word, even though you feel nothing outwardly, but inwardly you put your trust in what He says, believing that He will honour His Word and keep His promise.

 

We are saved by hearing and believing the preaching of the Word of God. 'Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God'.

 

The jailor who was holding the Apostle Paul in prison asked him, 'What must I do to be saved'? 

 

The Apostle replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved'.

 

Regret

Many people live in regret having let so many opportunities pass them by. Zacchaeus was such a man. On that day, as he sat there in that tree watching, he saw Jesus passing through the town, he was adamant that this time he wouldn't let this opportunity pass him by. Don't you let another opportunity like this pass you by.

 

• Know the joy of suffering for Christ.

• Enjoy keeping the Ten Commandments.

• Know the peace that cannot be understood.

 

 For he says, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 

 

Common Mistakes

 

• Works - Your works and good deeds justify you before men, but to be justified before God you have to put your faith in Christ and His shed Blood.

The Tower of Babel is an example of men trying to work their way to God. They tried to build a tower that would reach into Heaven, but God was displeased. You can't work your way to God, you must come by faith. ' He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him'.

• A Good Person - being a good person isn't enough, your good works are as filthy rags in comparison to God's holiness.

You need to be clothed in Christ's righteousness.

• Wrong Ideas - following the Office of the Pope - who is the AntiChrist, will lead you into sin, you must follow Christ and Him alone.

• Suffering - this is a foolish notion perpetuated by Catholics and Muslims, that if you make yourself deliberately suffer (self-flagellation) you'll win God's favour, this shows a serious misunderstanding on their part, only the Blood of Christ can cleanse away your sin.

• Rituals - Jesus taught that vain religious rituals such as those followed by Catholics and Muslims will lead off the cliff of eternity into the Abyss below.

• Background - having righteous parents, or a Christian background won't save you.

• Self Denial - self-denial is not self-sacrifice - that's where you make a personal sacrifice to help someone else. Self-denial is where you make yourself suffer to gain God's favour, that is a corrupt idea. There's nothing you can do to save yourself, only by putting your trust in Christ's Blood will you find favour with God.

• Exit - If you want it then you'll find a way out of following God, the Devil will personally make sure there is, guaranteed. 

• Religion -  Beware of organised religion, it's man-made, it might take you away from God.

• A Decent Life - We believe that we're good people, we live a decent life, we haven't hurt anyone, why would God think ill of me! When you come under conviction by the Holy Spirit you realise that you're not as good as you thought. Thinking that you'll be alright because you're a good person is a serious mistake. The reason being is that we're blind and spiritually impoverished. Even the best thing we ever did compared to God's holiness is like a smelly old rag. Eve only committed one sin to bring about her downfall.

 

God's Grace 

 

'Not by works lest anyone should boast, but by God's grace are we saved'.

 

We think God is judging us, but He's not, He wants to save us before it's too late.

 

The Hardened Heart 

 

'Harden not your heart'.

 

Take care, For he who being often reproved who hardens his heart shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy.

 

There are those who find themselves in a position where they hear the Gospel message over and over again, but fail to make a positive response. The longer they leave it, the harder it becomes to decide. That's because the heart slowly hardens towards God, the mind builds excuses, the neck stiffens, and the resolve is weakened. This is because we are inherently sinful, we can't help it, we have a tendency to become devious without realising it. This must be guarded against at all costs, your eternal soul is dependent on your keeping a clear head and a pure heart. Remember you are your own worst enemy, you have no greater enemy than you yourself.

 

God Is Calling You

 

The Father's fervent plea. Remember also that God is not wanting to judge you, He loves you more than the most loving earthly father ever did. There's a good chance that our earthly father let us down, thus distorting our view of fatherhood, but God is not like that, He is a perfect Father. He will not let you down, He will love you like you never thought possible, but He will never tolerate your sin. Despite our sinfulness, if we truly repent, He will forgive, forget, and make it as though we'd never sinned.

 

• Absolute forgiveness.

• Assurance of eternal life.

• Peace that passes understanding.

 

Jesus said, 'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful'.

 

• Joy.

• All things work for good.

• A relationship.

 

 If you knocked on someone's door, and asked if you could live there, because you're a stranger, they'd say no. At the end of all things, if you knock on Heaven's door and ask to be let in, you'll be seen in the same light. You knew the Pope, Mohammed, Buddha, but you didn't know Christ, you rejected Him. On that Final Day God will say I never knew you. You must have a personal relationship with Christ, and your name must be written into the Lambs Book of Life or else you'll be lost forever. We like to hear our name mentioned, or see it mentioned in the newspaper, but more importantly we need to know that it's written into the Lambs Book of Life and that one day an Angel will read it out of that precious Book.

 

Today Jesus is knocking at the door of your life, He wants to come in, but you won't let Him come in. One day you will be frantically knocking on His door wanting to come in and find safety, but back will come the words, 'too late, too late, go away I never knew you'. 

 

Personal Mental Blocks 

We often find that there are personal reasons why we can't become a Christian:

 

• My boyfriend is an atheist, he hates Jesus, I love him too much to give him up to become a Christian. There are countless millions burning in Hell who said that self same thing. The truth is there isn't a person on earth worth burning in Hell for, no not one.

• I'm too busy - Jesus wasn't too busy to die on the Cross for you.

• I've got too much money and I enjoy spending it on myself. - The love of money is the root of all evil. There are and will continue to be many who languish in sorrow because they know that their love of money is greater than their love of God. As such they know what's waiting for them, but it's no good, they can't give it up. They are slaves to sin. The more you get the more you want. Never satisfied, constantly hiding from the underlying emptiness growing in your heart, a sense of deep loneliness as people around only want you for your money. You never know who or if anyone actually genuinely likes you, or loves. Slowly becoming bored with another cocktail party, another holiday, another restaurant, another house, eventually having no real home, real friends, or real meaning to your life. Like a child in a sweet shop, you've become jaded and cynical about life. Perhaps that's why so many people who seem to have everything, end it all.

• I like sin too much - Some people just plain come out and say it like it is, they want to sin and they don't care about the consequences. That's why Jesus said that only a few would be saved. People just won't give it up. Sin is like a cancer it silently feeds off of the host and brings about destruction. Do you want to destroy yourself? It's very easy, just give yourself over to sin.

 

But, the wonderful thing about the Gospel is this, God comes into your life and changes you from the inside out. As you yield your life to Christ He fills you with His risen power. If you come to Him with pure intentions even though you're full of sin, He'll do a miracle in your life. The sanctification part of the Gospel is the fruit of the justification by faith part. Put your trust in Him and watch Him work a miracle in your heart.

• I don't want to give up my freedom and yield to the Lordship of Christ. - A sense of freedom is something we all want to feel, and people think that if they give their life to Christ they'll lose. Actually, it's the opposite, you actually find a new sense of freedom, a different kind.

 

God Is Speaking 

 

‘Though your sins be as scarlet I will wash them white as snow’.

 

I have plans for you, not for ill but for good.

 

I am come to share the gospel with the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, to give deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

 

I don't want to judge you but I want to give you life in all of its fullness.

 

There's Always Tomorrow 

I'll do it tomorrow. How many grains in an hour glass? How many minutes in a life? How many tomorrows do we have left? One day we'll run out of tomorrows. They say that tomorrow never comes. One day that sad reality came true for someone just like you, and one day we'll all run out of tomorrows. We don't know when, we don't know how, but as sure as the night follows the day, it'll happen to each one of us. Don't let all of your tomorrows pass you by without getting right with God.

 

The Death Bed

Mankind is aware of the finite nature of his existence and of his pending death. For centuries he has pondered the mysterious journey that he must take and what might be on the other side. Many just say, when you're dead you're dead, but despite this optimism the nagging doubt still persists, what if the Bible is true. So this is the question, when they stand looking at your gravestone, where will you be?

 

If you died tonight would you go to Heaven?

 

When you reach the end you'll come face to face with the man you could have been, with the realisation that you could have spent more time with the people who mean the most, you could have been a better person, you could have done more with your life, and been a better example to your community.

 

It's a place where you take stock of your past life, and it's a place where it's too late to do anything about it.

The damage that you've done to your life at that point is irreparable.

Don't leave it until it's too late, get up and be that person today, change your life for the better, while you still have time to make a difference. Don't leave it until it's too late and all that's left is regret.

You can't change the past, but you can change the future.

 

You'll never meet anyone, anywhere, in any place who regretted giving his or her life to Christ. In fact people often say, 'Why didn't I do it sooner'?

 

My Story 

I believed in God, but I didn't know that a personal relationship with Him was possible. As I listened to the Word of God spoken to me, it became personal, and I realised that God was speaking to me. I realised that He was knocking at the door of my life, and He wanted to come in, and so I opened the door and let Him in. I realised that was what I'd been searching for my entire life.

I have no doubts where I came from, why I'm here, or where I'm going. Christ gave me a purpose, meaning, and a new direction in life. What I have found has transformed my life, and would have been impossible without God's love.

There is nothing between me and my Saviour, and I am determined that's the way it's going to stay.

When Christ entered my life I stopped thinking about myself and couldn't help but start thinking about Him. God takes you out of yourself and gives you something meaningful to live for. No longer living for self but for Him. Now you want to dedicate yourself to the glory of God.

Many are disillusioned with the materialistic emptiness of the modern world, and countless thousands are now turning to Christ and in Him they're finding fulfilment, and so can you. I have no doubt in my heart that if I should depart this life I would immediately go into the presence of Christ my Saviour.

If I was in a lift and it started to unexpectedly descend at a rapid rate, it wouldn't bother me in the least, because I know that if it went down I would go up.

 

Relationship With Christ

 

A personal relationship with Christ is the best thing this side of Heaven, don't let the opportunity pass you by.

 

It's a wonderful thing to become a Christian and enter into a personal relationship with Christ, but there's a very important thing you need to know before you make such a decision. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 people who make an affirmative decision fall away over time, why is this? It comes down to the pull of sin, a man has to decide within himself whether he loves righteousness more than he does sin. It's something worth thinking about before converting to Christ. Jesus taught that we need to count the cost, He spoke of a builder who started to build a tower but ran out of money and couldn't complete the project, and was left bankrupt, and left looking foolish. People start with good intentions, but they never really considered the cost, the cost is everything you have has to be given over to God. Sometimes He gives it back, and sometimes He doesn't, your job is not to question why, but to do and die. Are you ready, figuratively speaking, to land on the beaches of Normandy and lay your life down for Christ, if you're not, then you're not ready to become a Christian.

 

It's Time  

 

Whosoever will, let him come and God will abundantly pardon.

Whoever comes to God, He will never turn away.

 When Peter stepped out of the boat, and looked down at the storm and the raging sea and looked at the storm waves and felt the gale force winds about him, who did he look to, to save him? Jesus.

Jesus told a story about the Last Days, He told about two people who were friends, but only one of the two got saved. On the Cross there were two people hanging next to Him. One of them got saved, but the other was lost. You are listening to my words with a friend, one of you will get saved, while the other will procrastinate, and be lost. Don't be the one who is lost. Let this be the day when you finally make up your mind to follow Jesus.

 

Take the whole picture into account, not just the present, but see the bigger picture, see the whole thing, see where it begins, and see where it ends. Is it worth selling your soul for a few days of fun, when you can see it's all going to end in a box full of bones. There's a lot more to life, and Christ can open it up, and give you a new life, and a life that doesn't end in a box, but in eternal glory.

 

This is a very serious matter, you face a grave decision, you can no longer afford to waste any more time, I urge you to consider your position, do it now, you are facing a Christless eternity, you must invite Him into your life before it's too late.

 

I implore you to respond to my words, they are the words of the Bible. I call you to turn to God, it is not my call but it's God calling you. You must decide, it's not for me to decide for you, you alone must make that choice. 

 

Do you think the Lord might be speaking to you, if so are you willing to respond?

 

All that's left is for me to ask, 'Are you born again, are you ready to make a real commitment to Christ, and give your life to Him in total out and out surrender. The choice is yours'?

 

I'm asking you to come, by faith, and kneel at the Cross. Get up out of your seat, wherever you are, just get up and come and by faith kneel before the Cross and pray this prayer.

 

The Sinner's Prayer (by Dr. Ray Pritchard)

 

Lord Jesus, for too long I’ve kept you out of my life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. No longer will I close the door when I hear you knocking. By faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe you are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Thank you for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Savior. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Listen if you're still not sure about things, why not find a local church and ask someone there to pray for you. I know that it might be a bit embarrassing, and yes you will feel vulnerable, but it might be worth it in the end, you know to find God for yourself!