Tue, Feb 20th - 12:22PM

STUDY # 1

WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?

God does not want anyone to perish (spend eternity with Satan and his angels in the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev. 21: 8), he wants everyone to repent (spend eternity with him in the Holy City, the new Jerusalem) (Rev. 21: 1 - 7), (2 Pet. 3: 9).     

THE BIBLE IS GOD'S INSPIRED WORD

          1) The Bible authenticates itself.                   We read:

             All Scripture is inspired by God and is helpful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in godly behaviour (2 Tim. 3: 16).

             Prophecy did not come from man's interpretation or man's will. The prophets wrote as they were enabled by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1: 20 - 21).

          2) Fulfilled prophecies also authenticate the Bible. 

           There are thousands of prophecies in the Bible. In his life, Jesus fulfilled more than 300 of them.

          We will focus on three. 

      1) When God created Adam and Eve, he gave them a command which they broke (Gen. 2: 16 - 17). God said to the serpent: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel" (Gen. 3: 15).

     For Jesus, this prophecy was fulfilled in his death and resurrection. For Satan, this prophecy is partially fulfilled in his binding (Rev. 20: 2) and will be completely fulfilled when he is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur (Rev. 20: 10).

     2) The prophet Isaiah recorded this prophecy before 586 B.C.

     "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9: 6).

     Jesus fulfilled this prophecy. We read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ...Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God (John 1: 10, 12 - 13). "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means, 'God with us' " (Matt. 1: 23).

    3) Micah prophesied between 750 and 686 B.C. He recorded: " ... They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (Micah 5: 1 - 2). ( "from ancient times" from days of eternity).

       Jesus fulfilled Micah's prophecy. He came from eternity. He was born in Bethlehem. He was Israel's king. He was beaten on his way to the cross. 

GOD HAS SET A DAY

 Dr. Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17: 30 - 31).

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

 On the day of judgment, our Lord Jesus Christ will gather all people before him, people from the creation of the world to the last person to be born before his coming. He will place the righteous on his right (those who have received him into their hearts) and the unrighteous on his left ( those who have rejected him) ( Matt 25: 33).

 He will say to those on his right: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25: 34).

 To those on his left, he will say: “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” ( Matt. 25: 41).

A PRAYER TO BE SAVED / BORN AGAIN

     Almighty God, I thank you that you sent your one and only Son, Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the world. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you died on the cross for my sins. Almighty God, I believe that you raised him from the dead as the Bible declares. Jesus, I confess my sins to you. I am sorry for them and I turn away from them. Please forgive me I pray. Jesus, I now receive you into my heart as my Savior/Messiah and LORD. Please fulfill your plan for my life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

NOTE -  (italic - mine) scriptural quotation scriptural paraphrase

  "Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright c 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers."