The Return of The Lord, Part 4 (#898)
Today we’re going to continue our series on the Return of the Lord.  Last time we got part way through the “difficult verses,” the verses where if you wanted to and you exaggerated a little bit you could say that you could prove the dead are alive.  But so far we’ve found in none of those verses that is really the case.  Today we’ll cover three more of these verses; they are a little involved, but I think you’ll find them interesting.  We’ll start in Luke chapter 20… Now the thing to keep in mind is as we’ve seen in other verses it is very clearly stated that that dead are not alive, that their bodies have turned to dust, and they have no consciousness until sometime in the future.  So we are starting from a basis where there are very, very clear verses; the verses we’re going to look at today are a little vague and you really have to push it even the way it reads in the King James to read that the dead are alive now, but then we find that when we get into the details we see that it doesn’t say that at all.  So Luke 20:27 is the first verse we’ll look at today…
Taught by Bruce Mahone 20160521.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Some Difficult Verses, cont.

Luke 20:27-38           He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him (vs. 38) [Context: at the resurrection. Vs. 37 – now: but. Cf. Romans 4:17]
Luke 23:43                 Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise [Hebrew idiom – I say unto you this day thou shalt (sometime in the future) be with me in paradise. cf. Deut. 4:26, 39, 40; 5:1; 6:6; 7:11; 8:1, 11, 19, etc.]
Heb. 11:5                   Enoch was translated that he should not see death [translated – conveyed to another place.  cf. Ps. 89:48; Luke 2:25-32 (same Greek words as Heb. 11:5); John 8:59; Acts 8:39-40; Heb. 11:13]
Teaching
898- The Return of The Lord – Part 4

The Return of the Lord, Part 3 (#897)
We’ll continue with Part 3 of our Sunday series on The Return of the Lord.
In the first two sessions, we’ve talked about these topics:

• Where are the Dead?
  • Answer: They have returned to dust.
• Are the dead conscious?
  • Answer: No, they have no consciousness
• Will they always be there?
  • Answer: No.  It says in Hebrews that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement” ; everyone does get up at various times and we cover this in later the class.
• Do Christians die or perish?
  • Answer: To die is simply to take your last breath, lose consciousness, and turn to dust, but in the future you come back to life.  Whereas to perish, is to be obliterated for ever.  Christians do not perish, if the Lord tarries, we’ll all die, but we’ll simply be sleeping waiting on the return of the Lord.  The perishing part is for those that don’t go on to eternal life, but rather go on to what is referred to in Revelation as the second death.

Today we’re going to look at some what I call difficult verses.  The reason I call them difficult verses is because if you take them by themselves and put your own spin on them, you could argue that the dead are alive or that people go straight to heaven.  As we hear in popular culture  and in much of Christianity that when you die that you do not lose consciousness that you are floating around somewhere and can talk to people, and that sort of thing.  There are some difficult verses which taken by themselves can look that way, but we try to very hard to look at what the whole Bible says about a topic .  And we’ve seen many verses that are very clear, that show when you die, you lose consciousness, you turn to dust, and that you stay there awhile, but aren’t there forever.  So the idea that after you die you would continue to stay alive or remain conscious, is simply not Biblical.   Today we’ll look at a few of these difficult verses, but we won’t cover them all; we’ll take our time and look at a few each week.  Let’s first look at a record in 2 Kings Chapter 2…

Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20160508.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Some Difficult Verses
II Kings 2:9-12        Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven (sky – vs. 11) [No indication he died at that time or stayed in the sky]
Eccl. 12:1-7             The spirit shall return unto God who gave it [Note the administration – spirit was upon certain individuals, not born within]  Orientalisms: keepers of the house: feet; strong men: knees; grinders: teeth; those that look out of the windows: eyes; doors: ears; daughters of music brought low: voice no longer strong; almond tree: in bloom looks like a white head of hair; long home: grave; silver cord: the wife loosens the silver cord she received as a bride and places it with her husband’s body; golden bowl filled with coals: broken to symbolize the soul departing the body.
Mat. 17:1-9              There appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him [Note vs. 9 – vision]
Mat. 27:51-53         The bodies of the saints which slept arose [vss. 52-53 do not appear in the earliest patristic quotations of this section]
Luke 16:19-31         Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom [cf. Judges 9:7-16; Mat. 5:13-16. Some early Greek and Aramaic sources add, ?nd he said also another parable – to the beginning of Luke 16:19. Pharisees:They also believe that souls have an immortal vigour in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life, and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again –  Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII, i, 3.  See also Luke 16:14-15; Acts 23:6-11.]
Teaching
897-The-Return-of-the-Lord-Part-3

The Return of the Lord, Part 2 (#896)
Today we are going to continue our series on The Return of the Lord.
Last week, in part 1 we talked about:

• Where are the dead now? They simply have returned to dust.
• Are they conscious? No, they have no consciousness.
• Will they always be dead? No, they will be raised in the future.

Then we started into the topic: do Christians die or perish? and we’ll pick that up again today in John 3:16…
Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20160501.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Do Christians die or perish?
John 3:16                     Whosoever believeth in him should not perish (Greek apollumi: be              destroyed, abolished, put to an end), but have everlasting life
John 6:47-51               A man may eat thereof and not die – subjunctive (conditional)
John 8:51                     never see death – absolutely not see death forever (but perhaps
temporarily)
John 10:25-30             I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish (apollumi)
John 11:1-26               vs. 4: unto death – towards death (he was raised to life)                                     vs. 26: never die – absolutely not die forever (but perhaps temporarily)
Rom 14:8                    Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto      the Lord
I Cor 1:18                    For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish (apollumi) foolishness
I Cor. 15:12-23           Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished (apollumi – vs. 18)
Heb. 2:14-15               Deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to     bondage (He himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil – NASB, vs. 14)
Teaching
896 – The Return of the Lord, Part 2

 

The Return of the Lord, Part 1 (#895)
Today we’ll begin looking at The Return of the Lord, this is a class I taught several years ago.  You can find it on the website, http://www.speakwordsorgrace.org (The Return of the Lord), where you’ll find not only the audio, but the class notes as well.  I’m going to follow those notes.  You are welcome to print out the notes and follow along, you can review the audio and notes ahead of time, wait until each Sunday teaching, or just approach it anyway you are comfortable.  There are a number of topics covered:

• Where are the Dead?
• Are the dead conscious?
• Will they always be there?
• Do Christians die or Perish?
• Difficult verses
• Jesus Christ’s first coming
• Jesus Christ’s second coming
• The Gathering Together
• Heaven and paradise – When?
• Summary
• Chronology

We’ll go through all of these topics; although it is quite lot of material, we’ll cover each of the topics in bite size pieces.  You are welcome to go to the web site and check out the notes and the audio and review the audio from the class in advance and work this at your own pace and listen to each Sunday’s teaching.  If after this you still have questions, please e-mail me.   So that is the plan.
Let’s start with the first topic, Where are the dead.  Please turn to Genesis 3:17…
Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20160417.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Where are the dead?
Gen. 3:17-19               Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (cf. Rom. 6:23)
Job 21:13                     They spend their days in wealth, in a moment go down to the grave (sheol)
Psalm 89:48                Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave (sheol – gravedom)?
John 3:13                     No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven
Acts 2:34                      David is not ascended into the heavens
Acts 13:36                   David…fell on sleep…and saw corruption
Are the dead conscious?
Job 14:14, 21               His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not (vs. 21)
Psalm 6:5                     In death there is no remembrance of thee
Psalm 115:17              The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence
Psalm 146:1-4             His breath goeth forth … In that very day his thoughts perish (vs. 4)
Eccl. 9:4-10                   Their memory is forgotten [E. W. Bullinger: their faculty of remembering ceases to exist] (vs. 5).  No knowledge in the grave (vs. 10)
Isa. 38:18                      For the grave (FOS metonymy – those in the grave) cannot praise thee
Will they always be there?
Job 19:25-27                In my flesh shall I see God (And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God – NLT, vs. 26). Reins be consumed (vs. 27) – heart faints.
Psalm 16:10                 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol)
Psalm 49:15                 God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave (sheol)
Acts 2:27, 31                His soul (part put for the whole) was not left in hell (hades – gravedom)
Heb. 9:27                      It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement
Do Christians die or perish?
John 3:16                     Whosoever believeth in him should not perish (Greek apollumi: be destroyed, abolished, put to an end), but have everlasting life
Teaching
895 – The Return of the Lord -Part1

New Focus: Christ Arose (#894)
This time of year we always like to take some time and talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means to our salvation and our lives in general. And around the world, this time of year is a time we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what it means to us.  So I thought we should take some time and look at the scriptures.  Let’s start in Luke chapter 24.
Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20160403.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Luke 24:1-8                 Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Acts 1:22                     A witness of his resurrection
Acts 4:33                     And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all
Acts 17:16-21             He preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection
Acts 17:31-32             He hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked
Gal. 3:13                     Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
Heb. 9:12                    By his own blood he obtained eternal redemption for us
Exod. 12:1-11             The Lord’s Passover
Mat. 8:16-17               Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses
Mat. 26:26-28             The cup and the bread
John 1:29                     Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world
I Cor. 5:7                     Christ our passover is sacrificed for us
I Cor. 10:16                 The cup and the bread
I Cor. 11:23-26           This do in remembrance of me
I Peter 2:24                 By whose stripes ye were healed
Teaching
894 – New Focus – Christ Arose

New Focus: Delighted in God (#893)
Today we’re going to talk about a very favorite topic of mine called  delighted in God.  The thing that got me started me thinking about this is, when years ago, I was given a book about a British minister named George Mueller who lived in the late nineteenth century; that book was actually titled Delighted in God.  Everybody has strong points and weaknesses and his strong point was prayer…
Taught by Bruce Mahone on 20160320.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Psalms 1:1-3                      His delight is in the law of the Lord
Psalms 37:3-5                    Delight thyself also in the Lord
Psalms 37:11                     Delight themselves in abundance of peace
Psalms 37:23                     The Lord delighteth in the way of a good man
Psalms 40:1-8                    I delight to do thy will, O my God
Psalm 43:4                         God my exceeding joy (NLT: the source of all my joy; NIV: my joy and my delight; lit: gladness of my joy)
Psalms . 94:17-19, 22       Thy comforts delight my soul
Psalms 112:1-8                  Blessed is the man that delighteth greatly in his commandments
Psalms 119:16                   I will delight myself in thy statutes
Psalms 119:24                   Thy testimonies are my delight
Psalms 119:33-35              I delight in thy commandments
Psalms 119:46-47              I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved
Psalms 119:69-70              I delight in thy law
Psalms 119:77                   Thy law is my delight
Psalms 119:92,93              Unless thy law had been my delights, I should have perished in my affliction
Psalms 119:143                 Thy commandments are my delight
Psalms 119:174                 Thy law is my delight
Proverbs 15:8                    The prayer of the upright is his delight
Jeremiah 9:23-24               In these things I delight, saith the Lord
Teaching
893 – New Focus – Delighted in God

New Focus: God’s Faithfulness (#892)
We’ll continue our series on having a New Focus in life
So much in life becomes a challenge when aren’t focused on God and His wonderful Word and His wonderful deliverance.  So we’re trying to address that each and every time we meet by giving us something more positive and godly to focus on.
Today our focus will be on God’s faithfulness.   And it is very, very important to know about God’s faithfulness and how faithful He is to follow through on what He said.
We love it when we find people that follow through on what they say, and often they do.  I’ve found that people, even with the best of intentions, aren’t always able to live up to everything they claim.  Of course not everyone has good intentions.  But even with good intentions they often can’t get there.  Whereas God, not only has God good intentions for us, He has a desire to help us, and He’s always able to accomplish that which He’s promised, without fail.   Let’s start in Deuteronomy 7…
Taught by Bruce Mahone 20160306.  All rights reserved.
Verses and Notes
Deuteronomy 7:7-9                   The LORD God is the faithful God
Psalms 36:5-9                             Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds
Psalms 92:1-5                             To show forth thy faithfulness every night (vs. 2)
Psalms 119:86                            All thy commandments are faithful
Psalms  119:90                           Thy faithfulness is unto all generations
Psalms 119:138                          Thy testimonies are very faithful
Lamentations. 3:22-23              Great is thy faithfulness
I Corinthians 10:13                    God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able
I Thessalonians 5:23-24            Faithful is he that calleth you
II Thessalonians  3:3                  The Lord is faithful, who will stablish you and keep you from evil
II Timothy 2:13                           If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful
Titus 1:9                                      Holding fast the faithful word
I John 1:9                                     He is faithful and just to forgive
Teaching
892 – New Focus: God’s Faithfulness

New Focus: Persistence in Prayer (#890)
Today we’ll continue are series on having a New Focus in life and continue also in working through the topics found in the Class on the Stayed Mind and the Peace of God. Today our focus is Persistence in Prayer, and that is a great field; it is something we cover from time to time, but it is something we can’t remind ourselves enough of too much. We know that people persist in their business goals, they persist in their financial goals, they persist in their fitness and weight loss goals; if they’re studying, they persist in keeping the their GPA up to a level they want; this their working in a job they persist in trying to get the next promotion, if they have raising their level of sales. It is good to have goals and work hard and focus. But somethings we get so wrapped up in these things, we forget to simply persist in prayer and be determined to not give up.
Today, we’ll read about Moses, Elijah, Jesus Christ, and the apostle Paul who persisted in prayer. Many times Jesus Christ would simply command something and their would be an immediate result, other times it took some determination, a little more prayer and extra effort. And we know from our lives, that sometimes we pray once for twenty seconds and we see God’s deliverance right away and other times, we may have to pray for a year. But then, finally, when the time is right, your believing is there, you’re ready for it, other people involved are cooperating — then God comes through. But either way, God always comes through. Let’s start in Luke chapter 18.
Taught by Bruce Mahone 20160221.  All rights reserved.
Verses and Notes
Luke 18:1-8                   Men ought always to pray, and not to faint
Genesis 18:20-33          Abraham reasoned with God about Sodom’s destruction
II Kings 4:18-37             He walked in the house to and fro…child sneezed seven times
I Kings 18:41-45            Elijah prayed, and it rained – James 5:17-18
Mark 8:22-25                 Men as trees walking
Romans 1:8-13              I purposed (determined) to come unto you, but was let (forbidden)
Colossians 4:1-4            Praying…that God would open unto us a door of utterance (vs. 3)
Romans 12:10-14          Patient in mental pressure, continuing instant [steadfastly, faithful, persevering, be constant] in prayer (vs. 12)
Teaching
890 – New Focus – Persistence in Prayer

New Focus: Be Still and Know (#891)
Today we’ll continue our series on having a New Focus and the stayed-mind and the peace of God.  The title of what we’ll cover today is Be Still and Know.  Just to be able to be still, to be quiet in our hearts, and not be overly worked up is a great, great quality to have.
Taught by Bruce Mahone, 20160221. All rights reserved.
Verses and Notes
Exodus 14:9-14             Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord
Ruth 3:18                       Sit still until you know how the matter will fall
I Samuel 9:27                Stand thou still a while
I Samuel 12:7                Stand still that I may reason of the righteous acts of the Lord
II Chronicles 20:17       Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord
Psalms 4:4 (5-8)            Stand in awe and be still
Psalms 37:7                   Rest in the Lord [be still, silent before the Lord]; Wait patiently for him
Psalms. 46:1-2,10-11    God is a very present help; be still and know that He is God (vs. 1)
Teaching
891 New Focus: Be Still and Know

New Focus: Giving Thanks Always (#889)

We’ll continue our series today on having a new focus in life. We’ve been working through a class I’ve taught before, the Stayed Mind and the Peace of God class, which I believe has eight main topics which we’ve been recently covering in our weekly teachings. I should note that we skipped the Secret of Radiant Living — and although it is one of my favorite topics, we covered it in July so we didn’t cover it in this series. You are more than welcome to review that materiel, it is available in the class and in our teaching in July. Today we’re onto Giving Thanks Always. I feel thankfulness is greatly under appreciated for what it has to offer in our lives. Often there is so much focus on setting goals, a vision, charging ahead, and accomplishing things. These are themes in the Bible, sports and business and these things are good, but if you don’t have some thankfulness mixed in you’re just never satisfied, you’re always worrying about the next project and you will forget to just step back and remember all the great things God has already done for you. Having a vision, settings goals, praying for others, and moving ahead are all great things, but as we are doing that, if we take some time to remember what He has already done, not only will our lives be much more peaceful and more content, but we’ll have much more confidence that God will help us with that next problem, because we’ll remember what He has already done. Let’s start in Philippians 1.
Taught by Bruce Mahone, 20160131. All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Phil. 1:3-6          Be thankful when we pray for one another
Phil. 4:6-9          Let your own requests be made known to God with thanksgiving
Eph. 5:18-20     Giving thanks always for all things
Col. 1:12-13       Giving thanks unto the father…partakers of the inheritance of the saints
Col. 2:6,7            Abounding with thanksgiving (overflowing with gratitude)
Col. 3:15-17       Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, and be ye thankful
Col. 4:2-4            Pray with thanksgiving for a door of utterance to open
I Thes. 5:16-18   In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God
I Tim. 1:12-15     Paul called to ministry
I Tim. 2:1-6          Give thanks for all men…for all that are in authority
Phm 4-6               I thank my God, making mention of thee in my prayers
Teaching
889 – New Focus – Give Thanks Always