Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

February 2007 Issue

A.W. Tozer
Feb 1st, 2007

Uncategorized

The Lordship of Jesus is not quite forgotten among Christians, but it has been relegated to our hymn book, where all responsibility toward it may be comfortably discharged in a glow of pleasant religious emotion.The idea that the Man Christ Jesus has absolute and final authority over all its members in every detail of their lives is simply not accepted as true by the rank and file of evangelical Christians. To avoid the necessity of either obeying or rejecting the plain instruction of our Lord in the New Testament, we take refuge in a liberal interpretation of them. We find ways to avoid the sharp point of obedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect. And the essence of it all is that “Christ simply could not have meant what He said.” Dare we admit that His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by “interpretation”? Dare we confess that even in our public worship, the influence of the Lord is very small? We sing of Him and preach about Him, but He must not interfere!

Elijah and Obadiah
Feb 1st, 2007
A Bible Study on 1 Kings 18
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“And it came to pass after many days” (vs 1). For 3 ½ years God had been preparing Elijah to go up on Mt. Carmel and call down fire from Heaven and call the nation back to God. God had a purpose in Elijah’s life and He was preparing him for that purpose. Elijah had cooperated with God as He prepared him. Believer, God has some purposes for you, those purposes may seem great or small, but they are very important to God. Are you cooperating with God as He seeks to prepare you?“Go shew thyself unto Ahab”, the time had now come, there is a time for preparation and a time to act. Notice the great secret of Elijah’s life, the secret of all successful service for God, instant obedience. “And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab.”Believer, if you are defeated or powerless in your life or service, search your heart or your life for some disobedience. Study this chapter, there are many wonderful lessons, but I want to draw your attention to the contrasts between Elijah and Obadiah. Purpose – Elijah was committed to doing the will of God. “I will send rain upon the earth” (vs 1). Elijah had discovered the will of God and had set about to bring it about at any cost. Obadiah was committed to do the will of Ahab. “Ahab said unto Obadiah, go into the land … peradventure we may find grass … to save the horses and mules alive”. Elijah was focusing on the souls of men, while Obadiah was focusing on food for animals.Three Things about Obadiah1. He was governor of Ahab’s house (vs 3). He had a high position in Ahab’s kingdom.2. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly (vs 3). That was his attitude.3. Obadiah took 100 prophets of the Lord and fed them bread and water (vs 4).Obadiah had feared the Lord and he had served the lord. The famine had reached its peak and people were dying and in danger of dying. Look what God’s man, Obadiah is doing in a crisis hour, (vs 5, 6) saving horses and mules, while people were dying. If ever the world has faced a crisis hour it is now, and yet today some of God’s servants are caught up in the things of the world and the purposes of the world. What an unspeakable tragedy!Obadiah had feared God, now he fears Ahab. Obadiah had served God, now he serves Ahab. Obadiah had sought the souls of men, now he seeks food for horses and mules. What a change! Why the change? “Obadiah was governor of Ahab’s house.” He had lived too long and too close to Ahab (the world).Remember Daniel had occupied a high position in the world, but he went to the lions den rather than compromise. Joseph also had occupied a high position in Egypt. He went to jail rather than compromise. Moses left the courts of Pharaoh rather than turn away from God’s call on his life.But not Obadiah – he knew that Ahab had introduced idolatry to Israel. Ahab had caused Israel to commit fornication with the temple prostitutes. Ahab had led the Jews to offer their own children in the fire to Baal.But Obadiah never said a word to Ahab. Compromise is not the way to win the world. Obadiah did not change Ahab, Ahab changed Obadiah. Ahab was not persuaded to do the will of God. Obadiah was persuaded to do the will of Ahab. Obadiah was God’s child doing the work of the devil.Obadiah had done the will of God and the work of God in the past (vs 12, 13). But now instead of being salt he is sugar, a friend to the world and a hindrance to the work of God.What was the difference between Elijah and Obadiah? The fear of Ahab (the world) gripped Obadiah’s heart (vs 14) but the fear of God gripped Elijah’s heart (vs 15). Obadiah was committed to pleasing Ahab but Elijah was committed to pleasing God.Elijah said “as the Lord God liveth before whom I stand” 1 Kings 17:1God was real to Elijah, Elijah was His servant, and he spoke daily with God. He knew God intimately. He waited in His presence daily. He had learned to trust God.It was such a man who could stand before King Ahab and threaten him. This was a man who could stand on Mt. Carmel and call down fire from Heaven. This was a man who would turn the nation back to God. This was a man who could pray down rain after 3 ½ years drought.Dear believer friend, we live in a crisis hour, I have no desire to offend you but may I ask you respectfully, are you an Elijah or an Obadiah?The need of the hour is more Elijahs.

God Made A Covenant With Abraham
Feb 1st, 2007
Art Sadlier
Uncategorized

God promised Abraham three things; a land, a seed, a blessing.

I. The Blessing

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  Genesis 12: 2,3

First Blessing -  Salvation made available to all mankind through Abraham’s seed. “For unto you is born this day in the city David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Second Blessing - A glorious, earthly kingdom of righteousness and peace that will stand forever. “And, behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1: 31-33

II. The Seed

“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered”. Genesis 13:16

“And I will establish my covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee.” Gen 17:7 Later God confirmed that the seed would come through Isaac and Jacob.

III. The Land

“And the Lord said unto Abram after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward, and eastward and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”  Notice - “to thee”, “to thy seed”, “forever”. The writer to the Hebrews says that “it is impossible for God to lie.”

If God can lie to Abraham about the promise land to Israel then He can lie to us about the promise of eternal salvation, but God cannot lie!

God’s purposes for Israel and His future World Government are bound up in the land.

God made two major covenants with Israel.

The first was a works covenant. Two parties were involved, God and man. Both had to keep their promise, man failed, making the covenant of no effect.

The second was a grace covenant and involved only one party, God. Man was not involved in it, he made no promise. This covenant will always stand because it depends on God and God alone.

In Genesis 15:8 Abram said, “Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (The land)  Lord how do I know that it will ever happen? How do I know you won’t change your mind? How do I know that when my seed displeases you that you won’t cancel the promise?

Lord give me assurance that you will do what you say. Lord prove it to me.

In the verses that follow (9-18) God did just that, study them and you will see that God made an unconditional, one-sided, eternal, promise (covenant) to Abram that his seed would inherit the Promised Land forever.

Study Hosea 3:4, 5 and Jeremiah 31: 8-10, 35-37.

M.R. DeHaan stated “to take the promises God made to the nation of Israel in regard to Palestine and their future glory and restoration; and to spiritualize them to the Church is one of the greatest of all evils which has ever beset the Church”

It blinds our eyes to grace and closes our vision to the program of God for the closing days of this age.

God’s Grace is greater than all of Israel’s sin; the dividing line for individual Jews is faith or unbelief. For the nation of Israel their hope rests in the promises of God (Romans 11:26).

Today the whole world is saying Israel must give up the land God promised to them and restored to them.

The UN General Assembly voted 157 to 7 that Israel must give up her land. The EU, the US, Russia, China and the world are demanding a Palestinian state on Israel’s divinely Promised Land.

Even Israel is acting in disobedience and unbelief in volunteering to give up God’s land.

The whole world is on a collision course with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is the issue in our world today! God’s response will be the Day of the Lord Judgment.

“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead (judge) with them there for my people and for my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land.” Joel 3:2

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the Day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand:” Joel 2:1

If only the world would understand that in a few short years 2/3 of the world’s people will be killed in the awful Day of the Lord Judgment.

Blow the Trumpet! Sound the Alarm!

Pity those who claim to be Christians and make God a liar by denying his promises to Israel. Pity those blind unbelievers who are fighting against God in trying to take the promised land from Israel.  Art Sadlier

Hebrews 12:1 Says
Feb 1st, 2007

Uncategorized

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience, the race that is set before us,” 

Preterism - Amillenialism
Feb 1st, 2007
Art Sadlier
Uncategorized

Preterism claims that nothing remains on the prophetic calendar to be fulfilled, events such as the rise of the Antichrist, the tribulation, the rapture and the Day of the Lord all took place around 70 AD, the year Rome invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the second temple.

I cannot understand why anyone would follow the preterist line of thinking in light of current world events.

Basically this error rests upon Jesus’ statement that, “this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24: 34)

It is easy enough to claim Jesus was speaking about a first century generation; however, this is not logical when contemplating the fulfillment of all Bible prophecy.

If we make 70 AD the magic year, we would have to delete dozens of prophecies that were never fulfilled at that time. When was the gospel preached to all nations? When was the mark of the beast implemented? What about China’s 200 million man army? When did 100 lb hailstones fall from the sky? And when was the Euphrates River dried up? Why do we have the rebirth of Israel? If Jerusalem was removed from being a burdensome stone, why is it after 2,000 years a burdensome stone today? When did Jews shout, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord,” As Jesus said they would?

After being so adamant about Matthew 24: 34, preterists violate many clear statements of Scripture. They say that although the resurrection of the saints happened in 70AD, the bodies of Christians were left in the grave.

Preterists take the dangerous step of spiritualizing all passages of Scripture that relate to the nation of Israel, and maintain that these refer to the Church, claiming the Church is the new Israel. They teach that the “old earth” which the Scriptures say will pass away, is the Old Covenant. The “new heaven” and the “new earth”, they claim, is the New Covenant, and the “elements” which Scripture states will burn up with fervent heat are the ‘elements of the law”.

Preterism says we are now living in the kingdom age, and they produce some bizarre explanations for the calamities and sufferings from which the world still suffers.the theory that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. It

The Margaret MacDonald Origin
Feb 1st, 2007
unknown
Uncategorized

One of the most widely circulated attacks against the pre-trib rapture is the notion that a girl named Margaret MacDonald started this theological view back in 1830. The claim is typically made that MacDonald received a demonic vision, passed it on to John Darby, who in turn popularized it. Disproving this assertion proves rather easy. Pre-trib scholars have discovered a host of rapture writings which predate Margaret MacDonald. Epharaem the Syrian said, in 373 AD, “For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.”One post-trib author offered a reward to anyone who could find a quote that predated MacDonald. He had to quickly cough up the money when someone identified a scholar who wrote about the pre-trib rapture several years before MacDonald. As of late, dozens of examples have been found, and the literary surface has hardly been scratched.

With the revealing of all these pre-MacDonald writings, you would think that this argument has been debunked. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We seem to be involved in a tug-of-war with the truth. Apparently, due to their lack of research, pre-trib opponents continue to pump out publications which cite MacDonald as the originator of the pre-trib rapture.