Statements of Faith: Second Coming

1st Peter 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Acts 1:9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

Revelations 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Matthew 24:36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

Revelations 21:3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Statements of Faith: Moral Living

1st Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.


1st Corinthians 10:1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

23 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. 24 Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. 25 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” 27 If someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. 28 (But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you. 29 It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.)

Shifting gears

 

SHIFTING GEARS

 

            Text: Text: Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of

Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of

repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

            2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of

resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

            3 And this will we do, if God permit.

 

            Hebrews 6:1-3 (Message Bible) So come on, let's leave the preschool

finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art.

Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your

back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; baptismal

instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment.

God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get

on with it!

            We are well versed in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Where

do we go to from here?

 

 

 

Examine yourselves

 

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

 

Ask God for help

             Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.

 

Look to the past and see what God has done.

             Psalm 121:1-8 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

² My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

⁸ The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

 

Forget the past that is unprofitable

            Ephesians 5:6-14 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

⁷ Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

⁸ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

⁹ (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)¹⁰ Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

¹² For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

¹⁴ Wherefore he saith; Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

 

Repent and move on

              Romans 14:22 Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

            Don't let Satan haunt you with sins that God has forgiven you.

 

 

What else can we do for Jesus?

Say not; What will God do for me. Say; What can I do for Jesus.

 

 

            Is your life o.k. with the Lord? How are you doing?

Have you allowed sin to creep in?

Have you neglected your prayer life?

Have you read your bible lately?

Have the things of this life kept you out of church?

 

FUTURE (2021) commit, submit & benefit

 

           

 

              Philippians 3:11-14 ¹¹ If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also, I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

 

 

 

You are on your way

            Philippians 3:12-14 The Message

            12 I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made.

            But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.

 13 Friends don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus.

14 I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

 

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Are we doing all we can do for Jesus?

            Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

.

Evangelize

            Can we pray that Jesus will send people out to church? This won't work.

Prayer is good. In fact, when we pray, we invoke the spirit of God and he

prepares hearts for evangelism.

We have to do things the way the scripture tells us to do them.

            Luke 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the

highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be

filled.

            Compel means to use irresistible force

 

                        We have already started the evangelizing process by praying for our communities. God is already talking to those in our communities about their souls. They are just waiting for our invitation to come and get saved.

 

           

            Grow up in Christ. Each one must be the firstfruits of our labor.

            Make yourself loveable.

            Exercise your calling.

            Get ready for revival.

            This year can be the best one we have ever had. We have a lot to look forward to.