F) Christian Living (When a Christian sins)
Two things happen when a true Christian commits sin : the Body
of Christ is diminished and the person normally feels guilty. I emphasize the word « true »
because oftentimes, we believe that because someone says that they are
Christian, they are Christian; such is not always the case. A true Christian,
never remains in sin because he or she has the Spirit of God abiding in them
and is convicted immediately. But, because his or her body is imperfect, it is
subject to the three areas of potential sin.
They are : the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life 1 John 2 :15. Why do Christians sin? Very simple; they are not focused on Jesus
and are usually starved spiritually because they only snack on the Word of God
instead of feasting on It.
Isn’t wonderful that the Bible gives us
a perfect example to follow when a person is tempted? When Jesus was in the desert and tempted by
Satan, it was in precisely these three areas : The Bible says in Matthew 4 that Satan said
to Jesus in verse 3 : “if you are the Son of God, command that
these stones become bread”. (Here Jesus was tempted in the
flesh). Further in Matthew 4, Satan took
Jesus to the top of the temple and in verse 5, said to Him :
“if you are the Son of God, throw
Yourself down” (Jesus was tempted
with the pride of life). Lastly, Satan
tempted Jesus in verse 9 when he said to Him “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship
me” (Jesus was tempted in the lust of the eyes).
Notice, in these passages, how Jesus
responds to Satan’s temptations - He quotes Scripture and nothing
else. Wow! The last time I looked, we have these very
same Scriptures in our Bibles and God wants us to use them in similar
situations when we are tempted. But to
use these Scriptures, we must know them; to know them we must read and, better
yet, meditate on them. Trust me, it
works; God’s Word is perfect.
H) Prophesy
(Pre-millennialism explained)
Premillennialism, in a nut shell, means that Jesus Christ will
return, with us in His trail, to earth before a period of one thousand years as
described in Revelation 19 and 20.
During this period, Satan will be bound and unable to seduce the nations
but will be released, for a little while, towards the end of the millennium
(Rev 20 :1-3).
The Saints (that’s us) will reign with Him and be
priests of God for the one-thousand-year period. (Rev 20 :6).
This return of Christ must not be confused with the Rapture of
the Church (1 Thess
A few words on pre or post-tribulation. This deals with when the Church will be
raptured. Pre-tribulation rapturists
believe that the Church will not go through the Great Tribulation as described
in