And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of
the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled:
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:
and ye shall be hated of all nations for my names sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place,
(whosoever readeth let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anythingout of his house:
Neiter let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect.
Behold I have told you before.
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert;
go not forth: behold he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west;
so shall the coming of the Son of man be.
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven
with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender,
and puteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near, even at the doors.
-Matthew 24:3-33.
Things to Remember:
1. Jesus Christ is Lord.
2. Jesus is the Divine Son of God.
3. Jesus was born supernaturally of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.
4. The Holy Bible is the Inspired Word of God by the Holy Spirit about Jesus Christ.
5. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save us from our sins.
6. On the third day Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
7. We are saved by Grace because Christ died on the Cross for us, not by works.
8. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves without Jesus Christ.
9. God sends us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to guide our actions on earth.
10. Jesus Christ has assured us of His Second Coming to take us as Saints into Heaven.
About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if it be proper to call him a man;
for he was a doer of wonderful works,- a teacher of such men as receive the truth
with pleasure. He drew over to him many of the Jews and many of the Greeks. He
was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the instigation of the principal men among
us, had condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him at first did not
forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third day; the divine
prophets having foretold these and many other wonderful things concerning him.
And the sect of Christians, so named after him, are not extinct to this day.
-Matthew 22:2-14
When the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divide his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done itA
unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
- Matthew 25:31-46
In Hebrew the names Joshua and Jehoshua, which, as we have seen, become Jesus in Greek,
mean, "Jehovah is my help", or, "Jehovah is rescue", or, "The Help of Jehovah".
"You shall give him the name Jesus", the angel said, "for he will save his people
from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). The very name stamps Jesus as Saviour. He is God's
divinely appointed and divinely sent Rescuer whose function is to deliver men from
their sins. He came to rescue men from the estrangement and alienation from God
which is the consequence of their past sins, and for the future to liberate them
from the bondage to sin, from the moral frustration and the continuous and
inevitable defeat which are the result of sin. He came to bring friendship for
fear and victory for defeat.
Miracles
Christ's Commission to the Eleven And he said unto them, "Go yea into all the world, and preach he gospel
unto every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned . And these signs shall follow
those who believe: In my name shall they cast out demons; they shall
speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover." Mark 16:15-18.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without Him
was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness overcame it not.
The Ten Bridesmaids The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps
and went to meet the BrideGroom. But only five of them were wise enough to fill their lamps with oil,
while the other five were foolish and forgot. So when the BrideGroom was delayed, they lay down to
rest until midnight, when they were raised by a shout, "The BrideGroom is coming. Come out and
welcome Him." All the girls jumped up and trimmed their lamps. Then the five who hadn't any oil
begged the others to share with them,for their lamps were going out. But the others replied,
"We haven't enough. Go instead to the
shops and buy some for yourselves. "But while they were gone the bridegroom came,
and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door
was locked. "Later, when the other five returned, they stood outside, calling,
"Sir, open the door for us." "But he called back, "Go away it is too late. So
stay awake and be prepared, for you do not know the date or the hour of my return."
And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according
as his work shall be. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. He who testifieth these things
saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in inequity, but rejoiceth in
the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest
of these is love.
Verily,verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto
my Father. And whatever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name, I will
do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever;
Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not,
neither knoweth Him; but ye know him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.
Jesus Christ said to all Christians without exception, "Let him who would be my disciple
carry his cross, and follow me." The broad way leads to perdition. We must follow the narrow
way which few enter. We must be born again, renounce ourselves, hate ourselves, become a child,
be poor in spirit, weep to be comforted, and not be of the world, and not be of the world which
is cursed because of its scandals. These truths frighten many people, and this is because they
only know what religion exacts without knowing what it offers, and they ignore the spirit of love
that makes everything easy. They do not know that it leads to the highest perfection by a feeling
of peace and love which sweetens all the struggle. Those who are wholly God's are always happy.
They know by experiience that the yoke of the Lord is easy and light, that we find in him rest
for the soul,
and that he comforts those who are weary and overburdened as he himself has said.
The Great Commission
It is hard to imagine what must have been passing through the minds of that little band
of eleven disciples as they clustered around the risen Lord Jesus Christ somewhere on a
mountain in Galilee. They recently had gone through the misery of apparent defeat,
watching helplessly as Jesus was nailed to a cross. Their dreams of a world kingdom
under Christ's rule were shattered. Then came the reports from the women who had
visited the tomb early on that first Easter morning- reports that he was alive!
At first they doubted; but as time went on, they knew the reports to be true, for
Jesus Himself appeared to them many times. Finally, He comes to them and issues
the greatest challenge they- or we- could ever hear: "All power is given to me in
Heaven and in Earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Sayings of Jesus
The kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son.
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are hidden, Behold I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnedup their city.
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found,
both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had on not a wedding garment:
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called, but few are chosen.
-Matthew 22:2-14
jerrybarber@geocities.com
JERRY'S CHRISTIAN LINKS
Flavius Augustus
- William Barclay
The gift of performing miracles
takes its key term, "miracles", from a Greek word meaning "powers" (2 Corinthians 12:12).
A miracle is an event beyond the power of any known physical law to produce; it is a
spiritual occurrence produced by the power of God, a marvel, a wonder. In most
versions of the Old Testament the word "miracle" is usually translated "a wonder"
or "a mighty work". Versions of the New Testament usually refer to miracles as "signs" (John 2:11)
or "signs and wonders" (John 4:48; Acts 5:12; 15:12) Clearly, the wonders performed by Jesus Christ
and the apostles authenticated their claim of authority and gave certitude to their message.
And we must remember that people did ask Jesus and the apostles this question, "How do we know
that you are what you say
you are, and that your words are true?" That was not an improper question. And at strategic
moments God again and again manifested Himself to men by miracles so they had outward,
confirming evidence that the words they had heard from God's servants were true.
-Billy Graham
-John 1:1-5.
-Matthew 25:1-13.
-Revelation 22:12-20.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-13.
-John 14:12-18The Spirit of Love That Makes Everything Easy
-Francois Fenelon
-Billy Graham