Friday 120624
Don’t let me or my writings influence or scare you in any way, instead, allow me to be used as a vessel to open the Word, just a little bit, and hopefully, together we are going to read and study His Word, and let God teach us what He wants us to hear.
Since the beginning of this study, our vision has been that we are ONLY going to follow what is found in the Holy Bible, that pertains to us, and we realize that it’s ONLY from our own effort that we put into this study, that we’re going to take anything away for our own use.
The verses we are going to study tonight:
Acts 2:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 16:18; John 1:11-12; Acts 9:31; John 1:17, 14:16; 1 Corinthians 10:32; Matthew 19:28; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, :58.
In my attempt to spread the Word, to the people in the 21st century, I am posting a new lesson every morning.
I am posting my lessons on eleven (11) different sites.
On Facebook, I am:
Whosoever inhim Bible Study
Or, in a search engine, simply type:
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I begin this lesson this morning, sorry there are those people out there (some of them are my friends and family), so many are caught up in what this world teaches, and they’ve never attempted to open up their Bible’s to see what God has told us in His WORD.
It doesn’t matter what some ‘man’ tells you on a Sunday morning; it doesn’t matter if you heard it on a Wednesday or Monday night at church either, if a ‘man’ said it, you have to ask yourself, did man say it or did God SAY IT?
So, next let’s ask yourself:
ARE YOU READY
It’s an easy question to ask, but it may be a hard one to answer for so many because, we’re too busy listening to what this world is teaching us instead of us following what GOD has been telling us from the start.
Another thing that really frustrates me is hearing so many people today quoting Scripture, but so many of the verses they quote from the Bible have been written to and for the Jewish person. The promises made to the Jewish believer in the Bible is only good for the Jewish believer.
If you’re going to quote from the Bible, why not quote a verse that was intended for us as a people … for us Gentiles (since the percentage of people that even read the Bible anymore are Gentiles).
The apostle Paul was hand picked by Jesus to be the teacher to the Gentile nation … why would someone go against, what God deemed to be so important for us, and go out on their own?
God didn’t feel it meant anything to continue using the eleven that waited in Jerusalem for His return after His death, burial and resurrection.
The bible can be used as a historical record in those days that followed the crucifixion.
Peter, James and John all remained in Jerusalem for Jesus 2nd coming, to the Mount of Olives, where they were going to be, waiting for Him to return.
But the original, remaining eleven, never received the promise of the MYSTERY that was ONLY given to Paul when he taught about the Age of Grace or teaching about the Age of the Church. The eleven had no clue what the Age of Grace even meant, they thought grace was what they recited before they ate lunch or dinner.
An ‘age’ is an historical period of time or an era. Some historians divide human history into many epochs and name them according to their defining characteristics: Middle Ages, Modern Age, Postmodern Age, etc. Biblical history, too, can be divided into different eras. When those divisions emphasize God’s interaction with His creation, we call them dispensations. More broadly, biblical history can be divided into two periods, roughly following the division of Old and New Testaments: The Age of the Law and the Church Age.
There is a wrench thrown into the gearbox right here, the O.T. and N.T. doesn’t necessarily end and begin when the Bible is separated.
The N.T., or the Church Age doesn’t begin until Pentecost. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are in the Bible are considered N.T. gospels but they are NOT part of the Church Age.
The Church Age is the period of time from Pentecost to the rapture.
Acts 2
vs1 ‘…When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…’
vs2 ‘…And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting…’
vs3 ‘…And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them…’
vs4 ‘…And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
1 Thessalonians 4
vs13 ‘…But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope…’
vs14 ‘…For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus…’
vs15 ‘…For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep…’
vs16 ‘…For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first…’
vs17 ‘…Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord…’
vs18 ‘…Therefore, comfort one another with these words…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
It is called the Church Age because it covers the period in which the Church is on earth. It corresponds with the dispensation of Grace. In prophetic history, it falls between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel.
Daniel 9
vs24 ‘…Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place…’
vs25 ‘…So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress…’
vs26 ‘…Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined…’
vs27 ‘…And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Jesus predicted the Church Age in Matthew. Jesus has kept His promise, and His Church has now been growing for almost 2,000 years.
Matthew 16:18 ‘…And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
The Church is composed of those individuals who have by faith accepted Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
John 1
vs11 ‘…He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him…’
vs12 ‘…Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so, he gave them the right to become God’s children…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Acts 9:31 ‘…And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Therefore, the Church is people rather than denominations or buildings. It is the Body of Christ of which He is the head. The Greek word ecclesia, translated ‘church,’ means ‘a called-out assembly.’ The Church is universal in scope but meets locally in smaller bodies.
The Church Age comprises the entire dispensation of Grace.
John 1:17 ‘…God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
For the first time in history, God actually indwells His creatures, permanently and eternally. In other dispensations the Holy Spirit was always present and always at work, but He would come upon people temporarily. The Church Age is marked by the Holy Spirit’s permanent indwelling of His people.
John 14:16 ‘…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Scripture makes a distinction between the nation of Israel and the Church.
1 Corinthians 10:32 ‘…Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
There is some overlap because, individually, many Jews believe in Jesus as their Messiah and are therefore part of the Church. But God’s covenants with the nation of Israel have not yet all been fulfilled. Those promises await fulfillment during the Millennial Kingdom, after the Church Age ends.
Matthew 19:28 ‘…Jesus said to them, you can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
This one verse in Matthew, though it may show a promise made to His followers, it also shows, I think, the reason why these men never left Jerusalem after Jesus was crucified because in their minds, Jesus was returning to set up His kingdom and they wanted to be the first ones in line so they could sit on the thrones that had been promised to them.
The Church Age will end when God’s people are raptured out of the world and taken to be with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15
vs51-52 ‘…Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed…’
vs53 ‘…For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die…’
vs54 ‘…So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: ‘Death is destroyed; victory is complete…’
vs55 ‘…Where, Death, is your victory?
Where, Death, is your power to hurt…’
vs56 ‘…Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law…’
vs57 ‘…But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
The rapture will be followed in heaven by the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9) as the Church, the Bride of Christ, receives her heavenly reward. Until then, the Church carries on in hope, exhorted to ‘stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.’
1 Corinthians 15:58 ‘…So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>