Two Things Are Going to Happen

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 KJV)

Have you ever walked into a completely unfurnished house? Do you remember sensing an empty feeling or like the house was lacking the most essential things, the things that made it a comfortable and perfect home? It can be a long process to take an empty house and turn it into a thoroughly furnished and functional home.

God desires every man and woman of God to go through a process of becoming perfect. We are to become who God truly created us to be.

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:17 KJV)

God has planned good works for you to complete! He has a plan for you! There is hope and a future for you! God desires to use you to impact other people and be a blessing! And He will furnish you for every good work He has asked you to complete. He will place everything you need inside of you so that you can facilitate and complete EVERYTHING He has planned for you to do, every good work.

Why is this important? Why must we comprehend that we are thoroughly furnished and equipped to complete all good works?

Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12-13 KJV)

Because 2 Timothy 3:12-13 is just as relevant today as when Paul conveyed it to his spiritual son Timothy. We can be guaranteed two things, those who live godly will be persecuted, and evil people will become worse and worse.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7 NKJV)

The above Scriptures come incredibly close to describing the current culture we live in today. No one wants to be persecuted, and no one wants to witness others becoming worse and worse, but these things will happen. So what can you do?

I invite you to watch this message, Two Things Are Going to Happen, and be encouraged to live a powerful life devoted to God and His Word. It is through the Word of God that you become thoroughly furnished, and only then can you begin to help future generations become thoroughly furnished and equipped to walk in the lives God has planned for them!

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV)

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Three of The Questions We Are All Asking

There was a man in the Bible who had questions. Lots of them! He was going through a time of difficulty, and he simply didn’t understand why God would allow such a challenging season in his life. As a result of his distress, he began to search for understanding in the hope of having his questions answered, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know it’s worth.” (Ref. Job 28:12-13 ESV)

After some trial and error, this man, Job, later concludes that if you have questions, you go to God for the answers. Let’s look at three questions we wrestle with today, correlated with five answers God has already provided.

1. Why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?

According to Romans 1, God didn’t want evil and suffering to reign as it currently does. But if we as a culture continue to pull against the conviction God has placed in our conscience, then He “gives us (humanity) up” to the things our flesh desire:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind (absence of God-consciousness) to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1:24, 26-31 ESV)

Take note of Paul’s prophecy of the last days in 2 Timothy 3, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV)

God’s answer to our first question: ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28)

2. What does God want from me?

Everyone is searching for purpose. Some people are just more aware of the search than others. To find purpose -- as elusive as it might be -- the first thing one must do is to realize that it isn’t about us as individuals or our personal success. We find purpose when we decide to put our relationship with God first, our relationship with others second, and ourselves last. After all, Jesus told us, “Seek first the kingdom, then everything else shall be added to you.” (Ref. Matthew 6:33) And, according to Paul it is never too early to get started in this pursuit, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12 ESV)

Defining personal purpose requires good understanding, and thankfully God has also given us a formula for that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” (Psalms 111:10 ESV) And, He stated it directly to Job as he answered our second question, “‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28 ESV)

3. Will God forgive all of my sins?

Yes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV) Because “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1 ESV)

But, the fact that God will forgive all of your sins does not become an entitlement to keep on sinning, “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” (Romans 6:15-16 NLT)

Or, you may notice a trend here… God’s answer to our third question is the same as His answer to our first and second questions. In fact, I believe it is God’s answer to all of life’s most difficult questions. Just as he told Job in the midst of incomprehensible struggles and trials, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28 ESV)

May we all choose to live with reverential awe for God, for it is wisdom! And, in so doing, we will turn away from sin and evil and walk in the enlightenment of true understanding!

Finding Jesus

Can you think of a time in your life when you expected someone or something to be in a specific place, but it wasn’t? Remember the intense feeling of chaos that arose within you when you realized that this particular person or thing was missing. During the message, Finding Jesus, I shared an event that took place in my life that I will never forget. A time when my wife, Mandy, and I felt an overwhelming sense of chaos. It came as the result of realizing people we greatly loved and valued were not where we expected them to be! They were gone... Missing... Completely disappeared! (You can listen to that story here.)

One Sunday morning, 2,000 years ago, similar chaos was taking place at a tomb in Jerusalem because something… someone… was MISSING!

Matthew 28:6 NKJV (The angel said), “Jesus is not here; for He is risen”

Jesus was not there! The tomb was empty!

While we celebrate this truth today, the initial reality created intense turmoil for Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John as they tried to investigate where Jesus' body was and who had taken it. At that moment, they couldn’t fully understand the happenings (Ref. John 20:9). Amidst the chaos, angelic beings became manifest and spoke directly to the disciple shedding tears and possessing the most significant brokenness; Mary Magdalene. With point-blank directness, the angel informed her, Jesus wasn’t in the tomb because he had RISEN.

Matthew 28:6 NKJV (The angel said), “Jesus is not here; for He is risen”

Shortly after this moment, on the first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene discovers she will not find Jesus. Instead, He found her (Ref. John 20). And, the same will be true for each of us! Consider then, all along... despite the disciples’ chaos... Jesus had been there -- not in the grave, but the adjacent garden! Jesus overcame death, Hell, and the grave! Then, he hung out in a garden to bring man's journey from Genesis full circle. And, as best relayed theologically by Len Sweet and Frank Viola (in a recap of their mutual study of Jesus’ life), “Jesus was not a ghost or a delusion of the disciples’ minds. He was a resurrected human being.”

For 40 days following his exit from the tomb, Jesus stayed on earth with his disciples; allowing them to test and prove his Resurrection. This period set in motion radical transformation in his followers. Next, born out of resurrected power, this richly diverse group would go on to be known as the early Church and turn the world upside down! The Gospel-recorded change from who they were to who they became, thus proving the effect of Jesus’ Resurrection upon their lives was incomprehensible. They grew bold and on fire with a passion for sharing about Jesus. To them, death had lost its sting!

Likewise, we serve a resurrected Jesus today!

The Jesus that conquered and took the keys to death, Hell, and the grave!

He is not THERE. He is RISEN. He is HERE!

And… if invited, Jesus can be IN you.

All you have to do is decide that you believe in Jesus' Cross & Resurrection, and allow him ownership of your heart. Despite any level of chaos or personal loss, call on his name one time, and discover you’re not searching for Him... Jesus has been with you all along. He’s just awaiting the invitation to step into your life fully with His resurrection power!

Romans 8:11 NCV God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives IN you.

Check out this message by Pastor Eric as he walks us through the events that took place on Easter Sunday thousands of years ago and why these events are just as relevant to us today!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION and GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

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