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It's good to be here today. I just wanted to tell you something
before I get started. Is the mic doing OK? Yeah. Before I get started, I don't
know if this happens to any of you, but I was looking for something
in the house that I knew where I had put it, but I couldn't
find it. And in my searching, I went to the closet in my office. And up on the top shelf, there
was these two big notebooks. And I thought, what in the world
is that? And so I pulled one down, and
I just said out loud, oh, my word. I had forgotten. A few years ago, I had signed
for an online class from the Institute of Jewish Studies of
the Future. I thought it'd be good for my
gray matter to answer questions. And I even had to write a paper,
which was challenging. This is just one notebook of
information that we got, charts and everything, and the second
notebook isn't quite this thick. But I just wanted to show you,
Lee, so aren't you glad I didn't find these before? Just think
how long we would have talked. It was a lot of fun to take that
class. Like I said, challenging, but that's what I wanted when
I signed up for it. I went, they still do have the
Institute of Jewish Studies, but they don't do online classes
anymore. So I thought that's probably a good thing. So I was
half way tempted to, maybe I should do that again, but no. Okay,
let's open in prayer. Father, we are so grateful for
your word. I just pray that you would challenge our hearts today.
to be women who want to follow their God as close as possible.
I just thank you for the truth of the word. And I thank you
for sending your son, Jesus, to die as we think of this Easter
season. Lord, we just owe you everything. And I thank you for
that. And I pray that you would challenge our thinking, challenge
our hearts today. May we honor you. In Jesus' name,
I pray. Amen. Well, this is by far the
fewest number of verses that I have had to cover in any of
my talks, but they are also some of the most intense and far-reaching
than I have covered before. I mean, the Millennium itself
could take quite a few sessions to cover it totally because it's
talked about extensively in the Old Testament. There are different
views about it, and there are so many interesting characteristics
of it. So Gals, I'm going to tell you
right up front, we're just going to cover the bare bones, because
there are so many things that we could get into, and so many
things we have to cover today. And there's also things that
I want to include, being this is my last time teaching Lyft
this year. And who knows, it might be the
last time ever. Only God knows. I'm getting old. So if you were here last time,
Christie covered Revelation chapter 19 and the first four verses
of Revelation 20 and That's where we are today. We will pick up
where she left off in Revelation 20 Now those four first four
verses that she covered in Revelation 20 were about when Satan was
seized and he was thrown into the abyss and And he was bound
there for a thousand years, it says. And why was he bound for
a thousand years? Verse 3 tells us it was that
so he could not deceive the nations anymore. But then we find that
word until. And that's what we will get to
today. He was bound there until. So let's read Revelation chapter
20, verses 4 through 6. I saw thrones on which were seated
those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls
of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for
Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped
the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their
foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned
with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not
come to life until the 1,000 years were ended. This is the
first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who
have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power
over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will
reign with him for 1,000 years." Now, I am going to tell you briefly
the three different views of the millennium. Like I said,
there's three of them. The first view is called post-millennialism,
and that view teaches that world conditions will gradually improve
until the millennium arrives, after which then Jesus will return
to the earth. In other words, Jesus won't come
until we get it all together. That view isn't as popular as
it was a few centuries ago, and I think you can understand why.
Does anybody see us getting it all together in the world? Do
you see it getting better? I don't see that. Another view
is amillennialism. They teach that there is no future,
literal 1,000 years. They believe that the present
church age is the millennium. They believe that Satan is bound
now. And they believe that the saints, us, are currently reigning
with Christ, and it is a spiritualized thousand years. It's not a literal
one. And there won't be a literal
one. And I think you can see some
problems with that as well. Which probably tells you that
I believe the third one. I see problems with the other two.
But the third one is called premillennialism. And that's the one I hold on
to. That's the one our church holds on to. And this teaches
that Christ will come first. We saw that in chapter 19. We
take that literally. Christ came back on his white
horse. And we were on our white horses right behind him. And
then when he sets foot on this earth, that's when the millennium
starts. This is based on a literal interpretation
of the scripture that we have before us. So let's look at our
timeline here. We have been talking a lot about
the tribulation period there. Now, this is the second coming
of Christ. This is when, chapter 19, when he comes on his horse,
and the church-age saints are right behind him, and this ushers
in those thousand-year reign, the millennium. So, remember how we talked about
when the tribulation starts here, there is only unbelievers on
the earth, because all the church-age saints have been raptured up,
they've been taken up with God. We've studied that before. So
at the beginning then of the tribulation, or the millennium,
excuse me, God in the last chapter had judged all the unsaved. So
in the millennium, those on earth are only believers. So the tribulation
starts with unbelievers. The millennium starts with only
believers. So who are the groups of people
that will be on the earth at the start of the millennium?
One group is the Old Testament saints, all who have been saved
from the very beginning of time, creation, way past there, until
the Church Age started, right there. When that started, all
those saints, the Old Testament saints, will be resurrected at
this time And they will be ruling and reign with Christ in the
millennium. That's talked about in Daniel and other places. And
after, when you start your discussion time, I gave your leader some
handouts. Christie had made a resurrection
chart. It has all the resurrections on there and the scripture that
proves them. So if you weren't here last year and didn't get
that, that could be a resource for you. So they'll be the Old
Testament saints. Another group is the Church Age
Saints. That will be us, those who were resurrected at the time
of the rapture, those that were dead in Christ and were raised
to unite with their glorified bodies, and those who are alive
that were taken up with Christ and given glorified bodies. The
Church Age Saints will be there during the millennium. That includes
us. As we said before, Revelation 19 tells us that we come back
with Jesus at his second coming. Another group is the group mentioned
here in these verses, the tribulation saints. These are the saints
who died during the tribulation. They will be resurrected at this
time. Notice that it says that they came to life and reigned
with Christ for a thousand years. So all those people who started
out as unbelievers at the beginning of the tribulation, but during
that time they became believers in Christ. And they made it through
that horrible tribulation without losing their lives. They will,
or no, I'm sorry, those that have died because of Christ.
That's what it's talking about in these verses. They will be
resurrected and will rule and reign with Christ. So those three
groups will be there. I'm not going to take time to
take you to all the scripture, but I will mention them here.
If you want to jot some down, there's more. Daniel 7, 27. promises that the Old Testament
Saints will reign in the Millennial Kingdom. The Church Age Saints,
that's us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6-2,
do you not know that the Saints will judge the world? That's
during the Millennial Kingdom. And here in this passage, it
says that the Tribulation Saints will reign with him. So God will
somehow use all of us to rule and reign with him during the
Millennial Kingdom. Now, how exactly will that work?
What will it look like? I don't know, and I'm not even
going to try to guess. I just know that all of us will
have jobs to do, and they will be very fulfilling jobs, jobs
for the king of kings and lord of lords. And we will be able
to rule and reign with him during the millennial period. But there
is another group of people who are on the earth at the start
of the millennium. They will be those believers
who made it through the tribulation without dying, both Jews and
Gentiles. There will be that group going
into the millennium. They will still have their earthly
bodies. They won't have glorified bodies because they haven't died
yet. So they will go on living. They will live normal, quote
unquote, lives. They will get married. They will
have children. Those children will have children,
life will go on, and this will go on for 1,000 years. So as the tribulation starts,
like I said, with unbelievers on the earth, the millennium
starts with only believers on the earth. And can you imagine
going through the tribulation? becoming a believer in Christ
and making it through that horrible time, and then to be able to
step into the millennium when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning.
It'll be amazing. So what will the conditions be
like during the millennium? As I was studying, I was researching. I didn't bring it. My prophecy
textbook is about that thick. Things to Come by Dr. Dwight
Pentecost. That was my textbook on prophecy when I was at Grace.
But I was looking under the heading of conditions existing within
the millennium. And he started out with A was
peace, B was joy, C was holiness. And he went on clear through
W. We don't have time for that, ladies. But he also included
scripture. There's scripture from Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Zechariah,
Malachi, Revelation. We just don't have time for all
of that. But ladies, there's a lot of information in the Old
Testament. Some of that gets tricky, because the prophets
weren't said, OK, now tell them that this is the millennium.
So it takes scholars smarter than me to figure out what timeline
they're talking about. But you can find that information
out there, and it is amazing. But I do want to go to a couple
of scriptures that give a unique picture of that time. Isaiah
11, 6 through 9, says, the wolf will live with the lamb, The
leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and
the yearling together, and the little child shall lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play
near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand
into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord. as the waters cover the sea.
Can you imagine? That's what the millennium will
be like. Can you imagine your child saying,
Mom, can I have a grizzly bear for a pet? Sure, why not? But seriously, I think this is
a strong passage to also show that post-millennialism and amillennialism
just don't work. Because even if we thought as
humans, we were going to straighten out society and make it better
and have that perfect millennial kingdom like it talks about in
the Bible. How in the world would we change the animal kingdom?
We can't. There's just no way. It has to
be a divine presence of God. So the animal kingdom will be
changed. And I have to admit, God is going to change me big
time over that snake business, because I can't imagine even
in my glorified body that I'm the cobra. But I know when I'm
in my glorified body and it'll be the millennium, I'll have
a totally different attitude. But right now, it's not happening.
So another interesting verse is Isaiah 65 20. It says, never again will there
be in it an infant who lives but a few days or an old man
who does not live out his years. He who dies at 100 will be thought
a mere youth. He who fails to reach 100 will
be considered accursed. And there's more verses after
that that go into the Millennium that I didn't print out. But
if you want to read more about the Millennium, there's some
following that that are really good verses. Um, this will be
an incredible time because Jesus Christ will rule in rain. No
one will be in want. No one will be left out. No one
will be dissatisfied. It will be utopia here on earth.
The lifespan will be like it was before the flood, you know,
when people lived hundreds of years. Can you imagine? I mean,
if I was in the millennium, I'd just be a kid now. It's hard
to imagine. So it's really going to be an
incredible time. Honestly, in my human thinking,
I can't even imagine totally what it will be like. But it
will be amazing because the government is a theocracy. God is in control. And it will be amazing. But back
to Revelation 20, verse 6. It says, blessed and holy are
those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death
has no power over them. Do you realize, ladies, that
if you have two births, you will have only one death? But if you
only have one birth, you will have two deaths. That's what
scripture teaches. You can have two births, your
physical birth, of course, and your spiritual birth. Remember
when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he said, you must be born again.
That's talking about a spiritual birth that takes place when you
recognize that you are a sinner, that you need saving, and recognize
that Jesus died in your place, and ask him to forgive you your
sins. So the two births. If you have those two, unless
you are one of those that go in the rapture, then you won't
have any physical death, of course. But normally, you will have only
one death, your physical death. But if you only have your physical
birth, without having a spiritual birth, you will die twice, you
will die physically, and you will die spiritually. And that
brings us to our next set of verses in Revelation 20, verses
seven through 10. They say, When the thousand years
are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out
to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog
and Magog, to gather them for battle. In number they will be
like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth
of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city
he loves. But fire came down from heaven
and devoured them. The devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the
false prophet had been thrown and They will be tormented day
and night forever and ever To be honest with you ladies these
verses just blow my mind Satan is released from his 1,000 years
Imprisonment in the abyss and he goes out across the earth
again Like he is doing now to deceive the nations to deceive
the people And here are all these people
who have been born during the millennium, who have lived under
the perfect reign of Jesus Christ, who have had nothing but good.
There's been no crime, no anything. And those who turn and side with
Satan, it says, are like the number of the sand on the seashore. Isn't that incredible? But, you
know, this shows the truth of the Word of God. Jeremiah 17,
9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it? You know, we're good at blaming
our sins on everything but us. You know, it's our parents. It's
our environment. It's whatever. You know, we don't
take responsibility for our sins. But the truth is, it's in us. We have an old sin nature. And
those people that are born during the millennium, they still have
that old sin nature because they're human. That has to be dealt with. And some of them will accept
Christ, but many, many, many will not, even though they live
in a perfect environment. It has to be a heart choice.
And thousands are going to side with Satan. I was trying to think
of an illustration of this. And one thing I thought of is
most of you are raising kids now. Most of us have raised some
kids. But we've all been around it.
And maybe you were part of this growing up when two of the siblings
were fighting. And your mom and dad say, tell
your brother, tell your sister you're sorry. Sorry. Ever seen that? Done that? You
know, outwardly, you are saying it, but you can tell inwardly,
and no, they don't mean a word of that. You know, that has to
come from inside. We can't make them do that. So
when Satan deceives these people and they decide to side with
him, it shows what their heart really has done. It has rejected
Jesus Christ as their Savior. They go out to war against God.
And in this war, he just calls fire down from heaven. And it's
done. They're gone. There's no big
battle. The people are dead. And it's
at this time that Satan is thrown into his eternal destination,
the lake of fire. And notice that it is constant. It's day and night. It's forever
and ever. Don't believe those who say that
eternity isn't eternity, that it's not going to last forever.
That's not what the Bible says. The truth is it is forever and
ever. God says that. So we learned
last time the beast and the false prophet were already thrown in
there. So Satan joins them. And that is his eternal destination.
And now we come to what has to be right up there with the saddest
verses in the Bible. And to tell you the truth, studying
these verses has made me weep many times. It's just gotten
to me. And I hope I can make it through,
because if I start crying, I can't see my notes. So forgive me. But this is about the great white
throne. Let's read Revelation chapter
20. verses 11 through 15. And I saw a great white throne,
and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence,
and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and
small, standing before the throne, and the books were open. Another
book was open, which is the book of life. The dead were judged
according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The
sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave
up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according
to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second
death. If anyone's name was not written
in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." On our chart, I think I have
that. Right at the end of Lumenanium, see at the top, there's the great
white throne. That happens at the very end of that 1,000 years
after Satan is judged. Then the great white throne comes. John sees a great white throne. The description of that is really
cool. It's great because it's the throne of God. It's white
because it symbolizes His purity and His perfect righteousness.
And it's a throne because He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. And they are there to face Him.
But there's a very interesting sentence here that I want you
to know. It's kind of just tucked in there.
It says, Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no
place for them. Excuse me. I need to get a sip
of water. I'm getting pretty dry. This is the moment in time, after
the millennium, when this earth and our atmospheric heavens are
gone. Do you realize what scripture
says about creation? We all probably know Genesis
1-1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In
Psalm 33, verse 6 and then verse 9, It says, by the word of the
Lord were the heavens made, their starry hosts by the breath of
his mouth. And then verse 9 is, for he spoke,
and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. So Psalm tells us in other places,
I couldn't include all the scriptures, but God just spoke the word.
And it came into existence. He's God. So creation in six
days was nothing to God. He just spoke the word. And then
look at Colossians 117. It says, he is before all things,
and in him all things hold together. Do you realize that you, everything
in this room, everything you see in creation, is held together
by the power of God, by the word of God? That's the only way it
is held together. God is doing it. But now look
at 2 Peter 3.10. It says, but the day of the Lord
will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with
a roar. The elements will be destroyed
by fire. And the earth and everything
in it will be laid bare. This is a verse that corresponds
with that sentence we have in Revelation 20, that earth and
sky fled from his presence. Do you realize that God just
has to speak the word? All he has to do is release the
atoms and everything. I mean, talk about a roar. It's
gone. And that's what will happen at
this time. Now don't worry, because you'll
get to Revelation 21 where there's a new heaven and a new earth.
So all will be good. It's amazing when you stop and
think about it that we are here just because God is holding us
together. And when he releases that atom,
it is gone. It doesn't almost seem real to
us, but it will happen because God says that it will happen.
And it's just amazing to think about. And then at this time,
there is a final resurrection. I don't know if I have the chart
next. Nope. I won't go back there. On your
charts, at the end of the millennium, there will be one final resurrection. And it will be the resurrection
of all unbelievers from the beginning of time, from creation until
the end of the millennium. All unbelievers. They will be
there standing before God, before his great white throne, at the
end of the millennium. John says he saw the dead, the
great and the small, standing before him. So again, it's all
unbelievers of all time, whether they were kings or slaves, whether
they were famous or not famous, whether they lived in castles
and mansions, or whether they were homeless. whether they were
what the world thought were somebodies or the world thought were nobodies.
Everybody who does not have Jesus Christ as their savior will be
there. And it says he opened the books
and they weren't in the book of life. So they were judged
according to their deeds and were thrown into the lake of
fire the second death. The thing that has really made
me weep over this passage is because they didn't have to be
here. They didn't have to be here. Jesus could have been their
defense lawyer instead of their judge. if they had just turned to him,
but they didn't. So now he is their judge. And
gals, if there is a part of you that thinks, you know, it's really
not fair of God to send them to the lake of fire for all eternity. And in our humanity, it's sometimes
easy to fall into that trap. I beg you to turn that thinking
around. Because the truth is, it's not fair that I'm not there
with you. Because that's what I deserve. That's what Easter
is all about, ladies. Jesus came and took my place. He died on the cross. So I wouldn't
have to be where I deserve to be. It's such an incredible truth. I came across a couple of verses
in my study of this that have become very precious to me. They're in Job chapter 16, verses
19 and 20, the first part of verse 20. Even now, my witness
is in heaven. My advocate is on high. My intercessor
is my friend. Isn't that amazing? He's my witness. He's my advocate. He's my intercessor. He's in heaven doing that for
me. I have these verses underlined. I hadn't had them in my memory
verses, but they're there now because they're such precious
verses. What an amazing truth. If Jesus
wasn't my advocate, if he wasn't my intercessor, I would be standing
along with the rest of these people at this point in time
and deservedly so because I was lost. Daniel talks about this
setting in Daniel 7. And he says there that there
are myriads and myriads standing before him. I mean, we can't
even imagine how many people this will be all believers of
all time. Can you just imagine? And with
our finite minds, we kind of tend to picture this Tremendously,
tremendously long line, and one at a time going before God and
getting their judgment. And if that were the case, it
sounds like it would take all eternity, right? Because unbelievers
of all time. And this is just a thought of
mine. I have no idea, but I suspect it might be this way. Because
God is everywhere. If you are a believer in Christ,
he is in you. I'm a believer in Christ. He is in me. He is
everywhere. So I just wonder if during this
right white throne judgment, that one person is having their
one on one time with God. And it just seems like there's
just the two of us, two of them, and they are getting their judgment. But at the same time, another
person might be having their one on one time with God, getting
their judgment. because God is everywhere. Does
that make sense? I don't know. We'll see how God does it. I
don't know. But everyone will be judged. And they're all judged
and thrown into the lake of fire. And I just want to mention here,
we don't have time to get into it because I really want you
to have plenty of discussion time at your tables today. But
The scripture is clear that there will be degrees of punishment
in hell. Some will get severe punishment
than others because of the deeds that they have done while they
were on earth. But make no mistake, they're
still in the lake of fire. It's still a place you don't
want to be. Eternity apart from God, and it's going to be awful
for everyone. As Christy mentioned last time,
I wanted to go back for a few minutes to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. In my old textbook, again, That
Thing's to Come, Dr. Pentecost made a case for this
event taking place during the Millennial Kingdom that we've
been talking about. And some scholars think it will
be during the Tribulation, while we are up in heaven while the
tribulation is going on in earth. I have no problem with either
one. I'll find out someday. But it made sense to me that
it takes place during the millennium. I'm not going to get into the
whys of that, but I do want to focus on a verse here. So while
I get another drink, flip back to Revelation 19, verse 7. This verse talks about the fine
linen. Well, let's read it first. Revelation
19, verse 7. Let us rejoice and be glad and
give him glory for the wedding of the lamb has come and his
bride has made herself ready. And the next verse talks about
the fine linen that will be given to us. as a bride and we know
that we don't receive these until we get to heaven and we are at
our judgment, not for our sin, but for what we have done for
him. But until that time, while we're down on earth, we are still
going to struggle with our old sin nature. We are never going
to arrive as long as we're on this earth. There are scripture verses that
tell us that we should be a bride making ourselves ready now. Are
you working on that? Are you wanting to be confident
and unashamed at his coming as 1st John 2, 28 says. There's
been a couple of people who have called my attention to a teaching
going on right now called full grace. One gal I know, and she's
not from here, her brother has gotten into this, and this is
what is being taught. They say God offers you full
grace for all your sins, and that is true. If you have received
Christ as your Savior, all your sins are forgiven. But then they
teach, so therefore, God doesn't care what you do. He doesn't
care. You can do whatever you want
to, because you have full grace. That sin is forgiven. To which
I say, what Bible are you reading? Because that's not what my Bible
says, gals. That God doesn't care about what
you do. I, when I was at Grace, I had a professor named Dr. Brooke
Holder. He's with the Lord now. And one
of the classes he taught was Romans. And the classes at Grace,
most of them were in this great big white building. We called
it the big white barn, the students. There were all the different
floors, the academic classes were in there. And whenever Dr. Brooke Holder got to Romans chapter
six, I thought I had it in there. Well, I'll turn there. I must
have missed one for Christi. I'm going to blame her. She missed
it. Romans chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. It says, what
shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? And when Dr. Burkholder would
come to this verse, Say, I want to show you how much emphasis
in the Greek is in that by no means. And he would just yell
to the top of his lungs, no. And I don't want to do it here,
because I'd scare the babies. But it stuck with us, because
through all the building, everyone would say, Dr. Burkholder's on
Romans 6. You should hear it everywhere. But that's what God says, no,
we don't keep sinning so that grace may abound. Gals, there
are tons and tons of verses that we could use to prove that God
cares about the way we live our lives. If you look through my
Bible, I think I've told you this before, I underline commands
in pink. There's a ton of them. Do I do that perfectly? Absolutely
not. But Romans 8.29 tells us that
we are to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. We are supposed
to be becoming like Him. Does that sound like you can
do whatever you want and God does not care? I want you to
turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 3. These are some verses that I
wanted to touch on because they talk about the last days, which
we've been talking about here in our prophecy lessons. 2 Timothy chapter 3, I'm going
to read verses 1 through 5. But mark this. There will be
terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having
a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do
with them. Paul talks about the last days
and we need to heed his word. Does any of that sound like it's
happening in our time? I don't see anything really on
that list that isn't happening now. And as believers, we have
to be so careful. Move your eyes over to chapter
4 of 2 Timothy. Read verses 3 and 4. It says, for the time will come
when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit
their own desires, they will gather around them a great number
of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They
will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. That sounds like what I've just
been talking about, doesn't it? We tend to gravitate to teachers
that tell us what we want to hear. If we don't want to hear
that the lake of fire is eternal, then we'll find those teachers
that will say, oh, don't worry about that. You're just annihilated,
or it's temporary, or whatever. We have to be so, we have to
be women of sound doctrine like it says here. We can't pick and
choose around the Bible. To pick what we like, this part
I don't like, so I'm just going to throw it out. It's God's word
to us, and we need to be women of sound doctrine. And I wanted
to, as we approach the summer months, and eventually our weather
will get there, I think, but I want to challenge you a little
bit about what you do this summer. During the summer, we tend to
take a break from things. We get a break from Lyft. If
you're helping in Iwana, you take a break from Iwana. Leaders
are going, yes. If you're in a discipleship group
or maybe a Bible study, you take a break during the summer because
summers are busy with vacations. Don't take a break from church.
Realize there'll be weekends that you're gone on vacation
or stuff. But if you're around. You need to keep going to church.
But we get a break from what we have going on. But I want
to challenge you now. Don't take a break from God.
Don't take a break from God. Keep coming like it says in Revelation
19, like a bride who has made herself ready. Do what you can
do to be a bride that is making herself ready. So I want to challenge
you, I want to, if you are willing to set up a goal for yourself
this summer, of what you can do to keep yourself growing deeper
into Christ, to become a bride that has made herself ready.
Now what will that look like? I don't know. It'll probably
differ from each and every one of you. Some of you are raising
little kids, so I assume that your goal might be a little bit
less than what mine might be. And that's great, because you're
investing into the lives of those little ones. You're teaching
them about God. I remember those days. It's tiring. It takes time.
But that's your priority, too, and it should be. So maybe for
you, if you're busy with little kids, maybe your goal could be
just to memorize a handful of verses that you get up in your
mind. Maybe that could be your goal. If you have more time,
like I do, maybe you could find a couple books. And I have, along
with a handout for the resurrections, I have at your tables a list
that a couple of the pastors gave me some books that they
enjoy for growing deeper into Christ. I listed a couple. I
didn't tell who listed what, but there's some suggestions
there that you might pick. But I want you, that's why I
wanted plenty of time. And we are going to, well, That
clock is wrong, I think. But you're going to have plenty
of time to discuss, brainstorm around your tables. Tell books
that have really helped you. I want to hear at my table what
books have helped you. Give some ideas of what you might
do, what that might look like. But set a goal for yourself to
attain so that you can be growing this summer in Christ. Maybe
you could Choose an accountability partner. I suggest that because
sometimes we say we're going to do something and nobody knows
about it Nobody knows I made it Maybe could be your spouse. Just would you ask me once in
a while every couple weeks? You know, how you doing? I'm
reading your book or you know, whatever I actually I asked my
old roommate from Grace, she lives in Arizona, and I asked
her if she'd be my accountability partner, and she was happy to
do that. Probably because we ended up talking for an hour
on the phone, so hopefully. But sharing books and stuff,
it was a blast to talk to her again. So anyway, I don't know
what it'll look like for you, and maybe you don't want to do
it. I'm obviously not forcing anybody. But I think it's good
because, like I said, I don't want the summer to be a break
from God. Just spend time getting to know
Him. A couple of Sundays ago, in Sunday
evening, Pastor Jake was teaching about the woman who washed Jesus'
feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. And he was
talking about how she did that because she had been forgiven
so much. She loved him so much. And ladies, let's grow in our
love for Jesus because of him. I don't have to be at the great
white throne judgment. I should be growing in my love
for him so much more than I am. So oftentimes I pray, Lord, I
love you. Help me to love you more. I don't
think it'll take us all the eternity to realize how much Jesus really
has done for us. Grow in him. Let it increase
your love for God. Be a bride that has made herself
ready. Let's pray. Father, these truths here are
so thrilling and yet so terrifying at the same time. Lord, help
us to be women that see the loss is really lost. Sometimes I think
I miss that. Help us to be bolder in sharing
the faith. Help us to be more consistent
in praying for those that we do not know, do not know you
yet. Neighbors and relatives. I pray
that you would help us to grow in you to be a bride who has
made herself ready. Lord, thank you for this Easter
season. Thank you for sending your son to die for us. Thank
you for that crown of thorns that he wore for our sake. And
I pray, Lord, that as we discuss around the table, that you would
give us wisdom, help us to honor you, and help us to be women
of sound doctrine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
The Millennium and the Great White Throne
Series lift
| Sermon ID | 424221439197576 |
| Duration | 46:47 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Language | English |
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