Bibleline Radio Show – 2007-01-04

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Coming to you from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Declaring God’s love through radio and television. Providing real answers to an ever-searching world. Got a question? Dial toll free at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s the host of Bibleline, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Good morning and welcome to Bibleline. I’m great to be with you and thanks for tuning in today as we look forward to being with you each and every day. Monday through Friday as we come to you live from our studios right here in Tampa, Florida at the Calvary Community Church where I’m the pastor.

We look forward to always meeting our listeners and if you ever get a chance to come by if you’re in the Tampa Bay area, come by and see us for just the block west of Tampa’s International Airport. We’d love to have you come by and visit our Resource Center. We’re open every day until about 4.30 in the afternoon. And of course you can always come by on a worship day and we’d love to have you do that. This Sunday, being the first Sunday of the new year, 2007, we’re going to have the Lord Supper at 9.45 before the morning worship at 10.30.

And you’re welcome to come and join us for that. If you would like to come and join me for an abbreviated adult class that I teach at 915 and the other children’s programs beginning at the same time. You can come at 915, at 945 we will have the Lord’s Supper at 1030. We will have the morning worship and we would love to have you drop on by the third Sunday of the month. We have a dinner, a lunch right after the worship service.

That is a great day to come. Be my guest. Just bring your Bible, your family, your appetite and join us for the 1030 service. And we would love to have you if you would possibly be able to come. We would love to have you be our guest. Come at 10.30 and join us for the morning worship and then stay for the dinner. We are looking forward to hearing from you today. You are welcome to call us at 1-800-576-3771. That is 1-800-576-3771.

We’re going to take a look at the Bible for a few minutes and then we’re going to go ahead and go to the calls and you can leave an off-air question as well as an on-air question. We would love to hear from you and you’re most welcome to give us a call here today. This is our television day. We’re on direct TV tonight at 6.30 on Channel 321, World Harvest Television. That’s nationwide at 6.30 this evening, Eastern Standard Time.

And also at 7 o’clock in the West Coast of Florida here, we’re all over the place on CT and the Christian Television Network. We would love to have you catch us at 7 on the West Coast of Florida, everywhere from Fort Myers to Crystal River over to the middle of the state and Orlando and we’d love to have you catch our television program this evening. Thanks for tuning in. It’s great to be with you and we hope that you are enjoying by blind each and in a every day.

We hope that you will open your Bible now and take a look at what is going on here as we take a look at the verses of Scripture. We hope that you will take a look at the Scriptures with us as we turn to them. This is my line. I am Dr. Hank Lindstrom and it is wonderful to be with you. Again, open your Bible. Let me get my Bible and we’ll get going together. Open up the book of 1 Thessalonians and we’re going to take a look at chapter 5 for just a moment.

I’ve always been taught all of my life that there are no signs for the Rapture. The Rapture being the event when Christ will come and shout and all the living believers on the earth will be evacuated before the seven years of tribulation begin. We will be transformed into our new bodies on the way up and we will never die. That’s right, there’s a group of people that will be exempted from death, that will be living and caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the event called the Rapture.

And we find that that event will close out this present age, the church age, that began Pentecostable in the Atherapture. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost to end while the believers of this age. We know at Pentecost that’s when the age began. It began on a Sunday, but we find that the Lord will come back and the Holy Spirit will be taken up. And when He goes, we go and that will conclude this age. And then God will go back to carrying out His plan for Israel here on the planet Earth.

Now in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 it tells us here that yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night now the day of the Lord is the Thousand-Year Day Where Christ will rule on this earth called the Millennium and it’s a thousand-year period where there’ll be peace on earth Goodwill toward men in the broadest sense it also includes the the seven years that preceded the seven years of tribulation and so the full day of the Lord is a thousand and seven years, but technically it’s just the thousand year period But so we find from this interesting passage that the day of the Lord backs up right against the rapture once the rapture happens the thousand year period will be seven years away, but the day of the Lord includes those seven years of tribulation that preceded and

We find here it says in verse three for when they shall say That’s the unsaved world when they shall say the Peace and safety then sudden destruction said destruction come up upon them as travail upon a woman with child and And they will not escape this tribulation that’s coming upon them. You know, it’s interesting that the tribulation period is going to be a horrible time. It will be the darkest hours in church history. And those seven years will follow immediately after the rapture.

But notice here, the unsaved world will be talking about peace and security. We hear that all the time today, don’t we? Obviously people are looking for longing for peace on this earth and They’re going to be talking about peace and safety which we already here being said and when that happens then all of a sudden The tribulation period will catch them off guard and they’ll be plunged into this period of wrath or destruction the seven years of tribulation and We find though that the believer According to verse 4, it is not in darkness that they should overtake them as a thief.

In other words, we are alerted. We know that when the world is talking about peace and safety, we are going to be caught out and meet the Lord in the air. From that moment on, we will be forever with the Lord, but we find that the world will be plunged into this horrible period of destruction and tribulation that will follow. be called by surprise. But when you know it talks about here coming as a thief, that means a thief doesn’t call you up and say, look, I’m coming over to your house and going to rob you at 11 o’clock, be ready.

A thief catches you off guard and by surprise. And the world is going to be caught off guard by the rapture. But the believers shouldn’t be caught off guard at all because we’re not in darkness that they should overtake us as a thief. So obviously there are signs. Otherwise we couldn’t have the passage read as it does. We will not be surprised. We will be raptured out and in the world caught by surprise those that are unsaved will be left behind for this awful period of tribulation.

That’s just one of many signs that are there for the rapture. By the way, most Bible teaching says that there are no signs for the rapture. And there are. Obviously, this is one. The world is going to be saying peace and safety, and then, boom, out we go. And the world like a thief is surprised and is caught into the tribulation period. They are left behind and they’ll go through the darkest hours of human history. Obviously, I’m glad I’m leaving at the Rapture.

How about you? And this could be the year. You know, this year is the 40th anniversary of Israel getting Jerusalem back. It was in the 1967 war, and the Six-Day War that Israel got their country’s capital back, Jerusalem, and that is significant. And so the 40th anniversary is this year, and who knows? Maybe the Lord will come this year. I don’t know. I’m not sending any dates, but I’m always looking for the Lord to return. I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom.

This is Bibleline. We are glad to be able to be with you today. I hope that you’ll give us a call if you have a question and we’ll be glad to try to take an answer or give an answer for you from the Bible. You’re welcome to give us a call. We have Paul in New York calling in and he leaves an offer question. He says, when you die, is there a waiting period before you see God face-to-face? Of course, the answer is no.

Second Corinthians 5.8 says absent from the body, present with the Lord. So when you die, you’re going to be immediately in the presence of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5.8, write it down. When will the Christian be judged? Well, that’s a different ball game and that will not take place until the event of the Rapture. When Christ comes back and we are given our new bodies, then will stand before the judge was hit a price and he will judge us according to our works to determine the degree of reward or unreward or loss of reward that a believer may experience.

Paul, thank you for calling in from New York and apparently a lot of our New York audience likes to leave an offer of questions. We have Joseph in Albany, New York and he says, What do you think about Charles Finney’s revival teaching that took place in the 1800s? Was it emotionalism or preaching or was it the gospel? From what I’ve read, Finney’s gospel was not very clear. I would imagine people get saved in spite of that by simply trusting Jesus.

But if you listen to what he had to say, or I guess you’d have to read what he has to say because he’s no longer around. But it was not a clear gospel and it was mixed with a lot of works as a part of the Salvation Plan. That’s scary because when you add works and a person believes that perverted message they will not be saved. The whole book of Galatians seems to be written to clarify that issue that if you are attempting to be saved by Christ plus works, then you will not be saved.

And I like to look at Galatians 5-4 where it says Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. Now it doesn’t say you’re fallen from salvation, but the lost person, it’s interesting here in verse 4 of Galatians 5 that Christ has become of no effect unto you. What would that mean? before God and Christ counted nothing for you, you’d wind up going to hell. It says Christ has become of no effect unto you and then it tells us to whom it’s addressed whose silver view are justified by the law.

If you’re attempting to be saved by your works or by keeping the law, then it says Christ will count nothing for you and you are fallen from grace. Grace is the means by which we’re saved by grace or you save through faith. It doesn’t say you’re falling from salvation. Grace brings salvation to the person who places their faith in Christ, but grace and salvation are not the same thing. It says in Titus 2 11, the grace of God that bringeth salvation have appeared to all men.

So we’re all provided the opportunity to become saved, that God’s grace that brings salvation have appeared to all men, but only those that respond to grace and trust in the finished work of Christ are saved. Those that are trying to be justified by the law, Christ will count nothing for them. So that’s a good verse to take a look at Galatians 5-4. We have Catherine in New York calling in and leaving this off here question. She says she knew Christ died for the sins of the world, but didn’t understand that it was the only way to heaven.

And you know, it’s interesting that a lot of people, and I was in that boat, I was raised in church, and I was certainly aware of the fact that Christ lived and died and died to pay for sins and so on. But I didn’t realize that I had to trust Christ and His death for me to be saved. So Catherine says, does this mean that because she wasn’t sure maybe that she wasn’t saved? Well, I know in my case, I knew Christ died, but I had never trusted that He died for me.

Until you trust Christ as the one who died to pay for your sins, you are not saved. And Katherine, perhaps that’s the case for you as well. I know that if I had died, I would have gone to hell. I had not trusted Christ. That was really trusting in my works until I understood that I had to trust Christ’s death for me. I’d like to say it this way, Christ died. That’s history. Christ died for me. That is salvation.

So Christ died, that’s a history fact, but the fact that Christ died for me is salvation. when I personally trust that he died. he died for me, then I become saved. The phone number here at Bibleline is 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. And we have a caller here from, this is Eden and welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air. Yes sir. I’m right here, boy. I’m listening to you. Yes, my question is this morning, I need to know but I was reading our regulation, I believe it’s the fight between the angels, Michael and the other angels.

That’s in Revelation 12. That’s 12? Yes, sir. Okay, and I didn’t quite understand the whole thing in you. What is taking place there is you’re in the middle of the tribulation period when that occurs and Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Satan and his angels control the earth and the air space, the atmosphere around the earth. In the tribulation period in the book of Revelation it outlines how Christ will take over this earth away from Satan.

And And one of the things that you do in at least modern warfare is you take out the enemy’s air force. You want to control their airspace and you see that in all these Middle Eastern wars that have been as of late. We go in and take out their airports and their airplanes and their missiles and so on and then we control the airspace and then we go after them on the ground. Well, but what is happening there in the middle of the tribulation is that Michael and God’s angels, fight against Satan and his angels, and of course the devil and his angels are then cast down onto the earth and they lose control over the airspace around the earth, the atmosphere.

And that happens midway through the tribulation period. So this is really a part of what is going to take place and then of course three and a have years further along the Lord will come back and take out the armies of this world as they fight against him as he comes back out of heaven and defeats the armies of this world. So hopefully that helps. It’s basically a part of the takeover of the planet by Christ when he comes back to rule and reign on this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Satan right now controls the airwaves, the atmosphere, and the earth itself. He will lose control of the atmosphere and be confined to the earth. It says he gets mad as a hornet there in Revelation Chapter 12. It doesn’t use the word hornet, but he’s angry. He takes out his wrath on Israel and in the second half of the tribulation period, do all that he can to kill every Jewish person on the planet Earth. Another Holocaust is coming. A tragic time for Israel.

We have Frank on the line from Sarasota, Florida. And Frank, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Oh, thank you very much, Dr. Hank, for taking my phone call. Happy New Year. Here’s my question. You were talking about the signs of the Second Coming of Jesus. My question is I was reading about evangelization and the author talks about the Great Commission. and Matthew 24 and make disciples of all the nations. And he was trying to convey the idea that as Christians, when we evangelized, when we shared the gospel, we contribute to the second times, When every nation throughout the world has believers in those nations, that’s when the second coming will occur.

Is that true or not? I’m not… That’s really not really accurate at all. He’s mixing up several things. In Matthew 24, this is what they’re talking about. In Matthew 24, 14, It says that in the tribulation period that when this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached into all the world for a witness, unto all nations, then shall the income and then Christ returns. azardly, the gospel of the kingdom is the good news about the kingdom. It’s not being preached right now and hasn’t been preached for the past two thousand years because the kingdom has been postponed and we’re in the church age right now where Christ is calling out for himself a bride.

And all of us in this age between Pentecost and the Rapture are the bride of Christ. And when the Rapture happens, Christ is coming back for His bride. His bride will be caught up to medium in the air. And then there will be a marriage taking place between the church and Christ. And then at the end of the seven years, Christ comes back to present His bride and the The whole earth celebrates in a marriage supper a celebration that lasts for a thousand years.

So the Gospel of the Kingdom is the message of the Kingdom being established. It was preached by the disciples at the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry the first time where they said the King was here on the earth and the Kingdom was at hand because the King was right there ready to be received. received him, the kingdom would have been established 2,000 years ago and this present age would not have existed and you and I would have never been born.

But God in his foreknowledge knew that Christ would be rejected and he revealed that he had planned because he knew they would reject the Savior, the king when he came the first time that he would turn to the Gentiles, but the Gospel of the Kingdom is not yet being preached. Herbert W. Armstrong, a cult leader, a number of years ago on the radio would talk about how that he was the only minister preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. And he probably was right.

But of course he was out of step with the biblical prophecies and that message shouldn’t be preached until after the rapture. So he’s wrong in what he’s saying there and that’s certainly not true. Okay, I appreciate the clarification. God bless you. Thank you, Frank and let’s frank down in Sarasota, Florida calling in with that question and we Are now gonna go to Let’s see here we have Michael in Utica, New York Michael welcome to a Bibleline from New York New York.

Oh, that’s a lot. I just wanted to thank you for setting up the people I got, for that, for that. I just want to keep talking to people in error. I just want to ask you one question too. How important is our communion in the church? I’m going to hang up at the studio at one o’clock. I’m in my truck now. All right. Thank you, Michael. He’s calling from his truck up there in Utica, New York. And the program is aired later up there at one cost.

I’ll hear the answer later. Communion is obviously one of two ordinances that Christ established. Water baptism is to be done once as a picture of our salvation, and then it’s done. You’re washed of your sins by the butt of Christ only once, and a one-time full immersion in water is a picture of how we’re cleansed of our sin by the butt of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is to be an orphan and it has to do with our communion or our fellowship with the Lord, and it doesn’t tell us in the Bible how often we should do it, although the early church apparently did it every week when they came together on the first day of the week.

But it says in 1 Corinthians 11 and I recommend you read that chapter and it says there as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord’s death till he comes. So it’s a witness it’s a testimony it’s a time of communion and fellowship with the Lord as we really are brought back to Calvary and are reminded of what it cost to purchase our salvation. The greatness of His love, the greatness of His sacrifice, it doesn’t bring about salvation, but it is something that we are commanded to do.

Christ says twice there, this do in remembrance of me. So it’s a way of being reminded, the Lord knows that we forget how much He loved us and what he did in order to purchase our salvation. We in my church here in Tampa, we do it once a month on the first Sunday of the month. We decided that because we didn’t want it to lose its significance by just being a ritual that we do every Sunday. We didn’t want to wait too long where we missed out on the blessings that come by having the Lord suffer.

We chose once a month. get more difficult in our country as we approach the Lord’s return, we’ll probably step it up and do it every week. But right now we presently have chosen, and I think it’s open for each church to decide how often, but we do it once a month here. But yes, it is important. And a church certainly is remiss if they don’t offer the Lord’s Supper because Christ tells His Church this new in remembrance of me.

And Paul tells us in chapter 11 there, first Corinthians that we’re to keep the ordinances plural, water baptism is discussed in chapter 1, the word supper in chapter 11. And so yes, we should do or practice both. And I baptized by immersion in water. We usually go out to a lake nearby. And I love the outdoors and it’s more, I think of the biblical type scene. And so we do those several times a year. And then we also observe the Lord’s Supper monthly here on the first Sunday of the month.

Thank you for that call. We now have Ken in Clearwater. and can we’re coming up against the break book welcome to bible and uh… you have a question you have to ask it quickly I have a question about what an overcomer is. I know I think you gave a definition. It’s basically a believer, but it’s looking at Nelson’s study Bible and it seemed like it was all, it was a believer, but also a believer that had earned rewards. Alright, I’ll have to catch up probably after the break.

Stay tuned because we’re coming. we’re coming up on break don’t go away keep you ready to doh tuned right where it is and uh… will be right back for the bible and part two and so uh… don’t go away don’t go away bible line will be back in a moment give us a call at one eight hundred five seven six three seven seven one That’s 1-800-576-3771. I’m Dr. Englund’s Chairman. This has been Bible, and we’re having a great time being with you today, and we thank you so much for joining us today.

And we hope that you’ll join us each and every day. And of course, here we’re getting toward the end of the week. And we want you to know that you can catch our programs on the internet over the weekend, and any time a day from anywhere in the world 24-7. We also want you to know that this is our television day and you can catch us on direct TV this evening at 6.30 pm Eastern Standard Time and that’s nationwide.

So anywhere in the nation you can watch our program called Bibleline on World Harvest Television Channel 321 at 6.30 this evening. If you’re in Florida, the West Coast of Florida cares our program on the Christian television network at 7. your viewer guide or just scan the dial at those times and you’ll find our program. We also want you to know that we are listeners supported and we could use your help in keeping Bible on the air. A gift for Bible on would be very helpful and certainly we want you to keep us on your prayer list but if you would also be able to give a gift that would be greatly appreciated.

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I don’t understand a whole lot about the Bible, but I believe Jesus Christ died and paid for my sins on the cross was buried and rose again from the dead. The moment you trust Christ is the only means of your salvation God saves you. the most important decision you’ll ever make in your entire life. And I certainly hope that you will remember to not put that off because if you die without Christ, you’ll be forever lost and spend an eternity in hell.

I am Dr. Englund Striman. We’re going to go ahead and return to the stations that have been on break. Come back and do BioLine Part 2, so keep your radio down. to invite where it is and we hope that you’ll enjoy Bibleline every day and if you want to hear the program again, you can always go to our website BibleLineMinistries.org or dot com. So don’t change your dial. Here we go. We’re going to do the second half. A Bibleline, we invite you to stay tuned for part two.

Would you like to call Bibleline and ask Dr. Lindstrom a question? You can, just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771 that’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here again is Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Alright, we’re back from that break and this is Bibleline. It’s wonderful to be able to be with you each and every day and I want to thank all those responsible. It’s our listeners that pray and give the Bible. And because you’re the ones who help us stay on the air by paying the bills.

And if you’d like to be a partner and help us keep Bible ongoing, you can do that by calling our 800 number and they’ll tell you how you can do it by mail or give a gift by credit card over the phone. We’re coming to you live from Tampa, Florida from our studios here at the Calvary Community Church. We’re on the pastor and I’m Dr. Anker Ains from Mrs. Bible and it’s wonderful to have be with you each and every day Monday through Friday.

I hope that you will tell your friends about the program and help us grow our audience. Today is our television day and tonight at 6.30 we will be on direct TV, Channel 321, World Harvest Television and that’s at 6.30 tonight and it’s 7 on the West Coast of Florida. We’re on the Christian television network and that’s all over the West Coast from Fort Myers the Crystal River and over to Orlando. So keep that in mind and try to tune us in if you can.

And if you don’t have a church home or if you’re visiting the area, come by and see us this Sunday at Calvary Community Church for our 1030 service. We also webcast our morning service on Sunday. Go to my website and click on the camera and you’ll be connected to the morning broadcast. go there about eleven o’clock you’ll see clouds going by you’ll hear the old road cross and then they are when i begin the actual message the video and audio will come up and you’ll be seeing uh…

the morning message as i give it live from uh… calvary community we’re going to go out to adam and ten pforda and adam uh… welcome to my mind you’re on the air My question is in 1st Corinthians chapter 11, the first section about winning, hovering, or head. Can you explain that? Well, it’s talking there about… and cornton particular the uh… covering of the head was the woman’s hair andPlex and the man should have short hair and that a woman was to have longer hair.

In those days the prostitutes would shave their heads bald and so they were clearly recognizable in Corinth. I’ve been to Corinth and they would even have the footprints carved out in the sidewalk so you could find out where the prostitutes were in Corinth. It was a very worldly city. It talks here about in verse 11, verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 11, that’s not even nature itself teach you that if a man had long hair, it is a shame unto him.

Throughout the Bible, the Bible teaches that there’s a distinction between the male and the female. The men were to wear short hair, but then it talks about a woman having long or longer hair, but if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. So her hair should be or her head should be covered, and if she didn’t have any hair, then she should probably put some kind of covering on her head.

And it was a picture here, of course, of submission in the chain of command that’s given here earlier. It says in verse 3, I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. And so then it talks about immediately leaping in that every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered dishonor his head. So it’s talking here about the Chania command, and essentially God has this order of God, Christ, man, the wife, and then the children under the husband and wife, and that the man was to have short hair and the woman was to have at least longer hair and that’s important.

If you take a look at that, I hope that answers it a little bit for you. Yes sir, that does. I was wondering also do you have a teaching resource for my further studies and first grant names in your resource? Yeah, we sure do. We have some commentaries. I forget who they’re written by, but they’re pretty good on on Corinthians. You can call and ask about that. And I think we have them in stock. A lot of our stock was depleted over the Christmas holidays, so we may not.

But I think we still have some of the Corinthians commentaries, which will be helpful. Alright, thank you Adam and that was Adam and now we had a question asked by a caller before the break and we’ll try to get that into it in just a moment. So Frank we forgot your question. I’m so sorry. We needed to call back and bring that question back up again and we’ll try to get to it. We have John in Tampa, Florida calls in and leaves the question off here.

are the seven churches, a representation of the churches throughout the centuries, and I think there are several meanings here to the seven churches. They were seven literal churches obviously, but they also represent to us seven different types of Christians, and also therefore since churches are made up of Christians, seven different types of churches, but also they are obviously a picture prophetically of the past