Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-05-19

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and the internet, providing real answers to whenever searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Number 1. Thanks for joining us here today. This is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. You are just in time to hear Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s teaching series on the Book of Revelation.

We pray that Bibleline will be glorifying to God as well as edifying to you. Through Bibleline’s combination of teachings from the Word of God and real life questions with answers taken straight from the Bible, we are continuing Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry of spreading the good news of salvation throughout the world, salvation through simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so. Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for information that could change your eternity.

We pray that you will come to trust Jesus as your Savior and be saved to the glory of God. We hope that you will plan to open your Bible and join us for this verse by verse study of the Book of Revelation. You might be familiar with the three major divisions of the Book of Revelation. Things past, things present, and things future. During this series, these topics and more will be explored. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about Bible line.

If Bibleline isn’t being broadcast in their area, then ask them to visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. If you miss any of the teachings in this series, then call our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now open your Bible to the Book of Revelation chapter 1 and join us for Dr. Lynch from teaching for today. And it’s almost like reading the newspaper before the newspaper prints the headlines, we’re reading about it in the Bible. In Deuteronomy, the fifth book of your Old Testament, I’ll give you the page number one I arrive.

In Deuteronomy 28, it says here in verse 49, and I believe it’s talking about the United States, that we are a key player in the end times, and once the rapture happens, the United States will come in and militarily take over the core countries of the Middle East, including Israel. And it says in verse 49 of Deuteronomy 28, page 247, the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far from the end of the earth.” Wow. Couldn’t get a better description than us because we’re as far as where Israel is located geographically, we’re the end of the earth.

We’re the other side of the planet. Then it says here, notice, as swift as the eagle flyeth. Haven’t we seen that term in relationship to this country since 9-11 that the eagle’s feathers have been ruffled, that the eagle would get revenge? and how we quickly flew to Afghanistan and took it over. Then we’ve flown to Iraq and taken it over. And the eagle is moving in the Middle East, and we have a real presence there, don’t we? And it says here, a nation who’s telling us what we ought to understand.

And of course, at that time, they would not have known about English, which today has become pretty much the universal language on the Earth. And this nation would come and take over the Middle East. Without reading the rest of it, I I want to go down to verse 52 where it talks about what the end of Christ will do after the rapture in the tribulation period. When he comes into Israel, he shall be sieged thee in all thy gates.

Get ready with your pen until thy high and fenced walls come down. Wow. Now think about it. Look at what it says next. Where in thou trusts us throughout all thy land. This wall would extend all throughout Israel, 430 miles. The Berlin wall was only 11 and a half feet tall. This wall is 28 and a half feet tall. It’s a huge wall with towers for observation, guard towers and electronic surveillance and razor wire at the top and moats on both sides that people would have to cross.

and also a road on each side for military to go down and make sure that no one crosses. It’s quite a wall, but notice it says here that the Antichrist will be siege the and all thy gates until thy high and fenced walls come down wherein thou trust us throughout all thy land. Those walls have come down. The antichrist will come in and tear them down. And notice the world seems to have an objection. When Israel is saying we have to protect ourselves from the suicide bombers, and I think if you lived over there, you’d want a big wall there too, wouldn’t you?

And so they’re building a wall to protect them and says they would trust in it throughout all their land and that these walls would be there in place when the antichrist would come and tear them all down. I think we’re reading the headlines in the Bible before they appear in the newspaper. Just take that passage and then think about today. headline about the wall in Jerusalem and I’ll tell you, it’s exciting to be living right on the edge. We’re watching prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes.

Alright, let’s go now back to the book of Revelation here and it says, He is the prince of the kings of the earth. In this book reveals how He comes back to rule and reign over this earth. Then it says in the last of verse 5, about Christ unto him that what? Love does and washed us from our sins in his own blood. What a simple beautiful statement of his love and of the provision that he made for our sins, that were cleansed or washed of our sins in his own blood.

The hymn writer wrote, What can wash away my sins? The answer being nothing but the blood. Amazing. Nothing but the the blood and churches will sing that and yet in their theology they’ll say nothing but water baptism, church membership, live in the Christian life. When you actually are asked the question, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven? They forget about the hymn, they forget about the scriptures, but the Bible says nothing but the blood and here we have it.

Undehem that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. We can never be saved unless we simply trust in the shed blood at Calvary that was shed for you and me. The blood of Jesus Christ is the means by which we’re washed of our sins. And amazing the apostasy we’re experiencing today when people forget about the blood, forget about Calvary as being the only means of a person’s salvation. Verse 6, guess what? It says here, He have made us kings and priests.

Now you are a king and a priest and during the thousand year rule of Christ you will come back in rule And so you’ll have a rule even capacity to help Christ administer the millennial kingdom And you already have that title as being a king yourself as a believer So maybe you didn’t know that before so you are a king also a priest All of us have been made by Christ priests which means that we are licensed or commissioned by him to proclaim this word, his gospel, and to take the things of God and share it with others and minister to others with his word.

So you’re a priest right now. And we ought to realize that. I witnessed a car crash years ago and I ran to the scene. The lady had not yet gone into shock and she was bleeding and she said, I need a priest. And I said, ma’am, I am a priest. And I shared with her the gospel and led her to Christ before she went into shock. And I believe she really did trust the Lord. And I am a priest and I can honestly say that.

And I’m more a priest than sometimes those who claim to be priest or priest because sometimes they don’t know the Lord. But as a believer, you and I truly are priests of God, and we can take and share the gospel with those who do not know Christ. And God has made us priests so that we can take and minister to others the things of God. So I would give us a little courage here to open our mouths up and to talk to people about Christ because that is something that we have been given.

It also goes on to say here to Christ, be him unto God and unto his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. God is in charge of this universe and one thing we learned as we studied this book that he is in charge. He has unfolded for us in advance what’s going to happen and as we watched the newspaper unfold after the fact we can say wow I knew it was going to happen. I knew it would take place God has said it in his word.

Verse 7 is said to be the book of Revelation in miniature, just as Martin Luther the Reformer said that John 3 16 was the whole Bible in miniature. The Bible could be summed up by John 3 16 for God’s love the world that he gave his only begotten son, the whosoever, believe it and him, should not perish but have everlasting life. In verse 7 we have the book of Revelation, Minnaturized for us. Capsilized. It says, Behold, He cometh with clouds.

book is about the return of Christ to take over the earth, establish His kingdom, a rule which would continue on into the eternity future. And so it says He’d come us. Behold, Ecoma, who’s that? Jesus Christ with clouds. Every eye shall see him. That’s the second coming, not the rapture. At the rapture, only those being raptured will see him, but the second coming, everyone on the planet will see him as he becomes visible, as he enters our atmosphere and takes over the earth.

They also which pierced him, which are obviously the Jewish people will recognize Christ by the nail prints in his hands and in his feet, as he’ll come back in the same body that he had that he was crucified in. And then it says, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. And that is because when Christ comes back, He’ll destroy every unbeliever, only believers enter the thousand year reign of Christ. And so if you have not become a believer, of course not referring to you, because we’re leaving at the Rapture, I pray that everybody hears a believer, and so we’re leaving.

But if you’re living in the tribulation period and are not a believer by the time it ends, you will be destroyed by Christ as He comes back and destroys all unbelievers and only believers enter into the thousand year reign of Christ. And so there will be obviously a lot of tears shed over loved ones who are lost who are destroyed and killed because they did not know Christ. Verse 8 says, I am Alpha and Omega in the Greek alphabet and the New Testament was written in Greek.

First letter was Alpha. The last letter was Omega. In English, we would say, I am the A&Z. It means the first and the last, which is a divine title of God. He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty. So here is the Lord God Himself declaring that He is the one who He begins things, the one who ends things. He’s the first, he’s the last, he’s the A and the Z, the Elf and the Omega.

Thank you for joining us. You are listening to Bibleline with your host, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Bibleline is a teaching ministry that is dedicated to reaching out to people with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many resources available at Bibleline, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s DVD teachings the topics of predestination, false gospels, and is Lordship Salvation a counterfeit gospel? In addition to many others, please contact our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now please join us for a segment featuring Dr.

Lindstrom answering questions from callers. We’re going to go to the phone lines again this time we have Margaret on the line in Clearwater. Welcome to Bibleline. Hi there. Hello. I was wondering, even when you’re saved and you know you’re saved, is it abnormal for even when you’re praying and talking to the Lord that the devil or evil can throw doubt a little bit of doubt into your mind like? Absolutely, that’s perfectly normal. But don’t stay in your doubts. The Bible says, faith comes by hearing.

Romans 10 17. Faith is right hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And the opposite of faith is doubt. So as we stay in the Scriptures, our trust in God’s Word grows and our faith therefore grows and we can get those doubts resolved. And we go back to maybe passages that we haven’t looked at in a long time and were reminded of God’s love and of His promises. And so we don’t have to live in our doubts. Isn’t he wonderful about that?

You can go to read the Bible and he’ll reassure you of something. You’ve heard that day or something you’ve been wondering about. He’ll just answer it right there. Amen. That’s what it’s all about. So you’re absolutely normal. Everybody that’s a believer, I think, if they’re honest, will have doubts from time to time. But don’t stay with the doubts. Go back and be reassured, as you just said, from God’s Word. That’s my only doubt. It’s just I have other questions, but this is the only one that applies to your subject.

Well, we’re not limited to a particular topic. So if you want to ask one more question, we’ll let you do it right now. Okay, I was baptized at a church, it’s a church of God, and it was a beach baptism, And one of the people that He came to the house and kept coming. He and his wife, wonderful people. Well, I asked him to baptize me. And then when I finally got my baptism certificate, as I said it was in the Gulf, and he baptized me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

But the preacher didn’t baptize me. And I haven’t ever heard him preach. heard and preach because I’m disabled and it’s difficult for me to get anywhere, not that anyone has and have offered help. But I’m just wondering, could that have been a true baptism? Absolutely, because it’s really about you giving testimony that you were cleansed of your sin by the blood of Christ. Obviously the water doesn’t take away your sin and it was you expressing your faith through baptism as Christ asked the believer to do.

So it He didn’t give testimony. He didn’t give testimony. That’s what I did to the people. Right, but that is the baptism is a testimony. It’s a picture of the death of the burial and resurrection of Christ and that you have identified yourself with Christ in his death as the means of your salvation. I’m still reassuring myself when I’m praying that, Lord, I am dead to myself now. I belong completely to you. you. And I just, it’s such a reassuring thing.

And the other thing that’s bothered me that no one has been able to answer the phone on, I can’t get through. We’re almost out of time. So, give me that question quick. If you’re disabled, taking a lot of medicine and you can’t think straight, does God take that into consideration if you can’t function and do all the things that you should do? Absolutely. He certainly does God bless you. All right. Thank you for that call today Bye-bye and certainly God understands our limitations Our weaknesses our infirmities our problems and he wants us to call upon him for help and he’ll do that We’re gonna go to Lakeland, Florida now.

We’re gonna talk to John John. Welcome to Bibleline I was just wondering about, I know once they always say, by Inglation 5, 14 to 21, I believe he’s talking to believers about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. Right. But especially in 21 where it says that you do lust and then they all that, that you won’t enter the kingdom of heaven if you get to explain that thing. Sure. Not just listen. Alright John, I was John in Lakeland and he’s talking about Galatians chapter 5.

You know it’s interesting here, talks about as a believer we have an old nature and we have a new nature, we have a flesh nature, we have a spirit nature and we are basically in the driver’s seat and we need to choose. In verse 16 it tells us that it says walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The opposite would be walk in the flesh and you’ll not fulfill the desires of the spirit of God for you.

So you have to choose. So which way are you going to walk? Are you going to walk in the spirit? Which means to walk in the directions given to us in the Word of God, because the Spirit of God is the author of scripture. And as we walk in the spirit, it means we’re really walking in accordance with God’s word. And if we do that, we’re not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then it talks about Christians who can obviously still choose to live after their flesh nature.

And And then in the end of that passage in verse 21, as you just brought up, it says, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s talking about the condition of the unsaved person that any sin, even, and notice one of the sins here listed is envy, murder, drunkenness, revelings, and so on, adultery. And if you’ve ever coveted, you have committed adultery according to the Bible. So obviously we’re all in that category, but if you don’t have Christ, then those things would send you to hell.

But you’ll notice a little bit further down here in the chapter in verse 24, it says, they that are Christ, if you are a believer, then it says you have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts. And that’s of course, because when you trust Christ, as shown earlier in the book of Galatians, You are placed into the body of Christ, and therefore when Christ was crucified, you were crucified. In chapter 2 Paul says, I’m crucified together with Christ.

Nevertheless I live. You know, as a believer, we were placed into the body of Christ at the moment we trusted Christ. And so God sees us in Christ body when Christ was crucified. We were crucified. We’re going to go to Newport, Rich, and we have Vicki waiting on the line. Vicki, welcome to Bibleline. Hey, how you doing? All right. Good. I’m glad you brought up salvation because I’ve been going talking to so many different Christians. And I think we listened to you.

Oh, tape you had how secure your salvation. Yeah, that you. Yes, me. We were listening to you that night. Oh my goodness. And we were we went out with some Christian friends the other night for the first time. We have prayer before dinner and went back to their house and prayed afterwards. But our whole conversation was, okay, I’m learning once you’re safe, you’re always safe, but then they have, he brews six. And they said, well, that’s the only way you can throw your salvation out.

And I’m going to hang up and just listen to what you have to say. All right. Thank you for calling. And that’s interesting that you were listening to that Hebrews chapter 6 is interesting. It says it’s impossible, verse 4, for those who are once enlightened and it lists five things that are the marks of a genuine believer. And it’s not talking about falling away from salvation because that’s impossible, but it’s talking about falling away from serving the Lord. What it’s saying there is it’s impossible to renew them again under repentance.

Repentance means a change of mind. It’s the change of mind that occurs when you trust Christ as Savior, where you change your mind about Christ and about whatever you were previously trusting in to be saved to trusting Christ. And so it’s basically saying if you fall away or you get away from serving the Lord, phrases like falling from your steadfastness, falling from your confidence or common in the Bible, but it never says you can fall from salvation, that’s impossible.

So basically what it’s saying is it’s impossible for you to go back and become saved again. And that was a point that had to be made I think with these Hebrew Christians, the book Hebrews was written to believers who were Jewish in background and they were used to that yearly sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. And so they thought, well, if I get away from the Lord, I have to go back and start all over again. And this verse says, that’s impossible because you can’t be saved a second time.

You only saved once. And if you try to do that, you will crucify Christ again to yourself, it says in verse 6, and you’ll put him to an open shame. It’s really blasphemous to say that you’d have to go back and crucify Christ all over again to pay for sin. And actually this is a great eternal security verse. In fact, I had one lady I talked to and she said that she had lost her salvation seven times. And I got this real solemn look on my face and I said, oh man, I’m so sorry for you.

My heart goes out to you. And she says, what do you mean? because if this verse means what you say it means when you lost it the first time you were damned to hell because it says it’s impossible for you to be renewed again under repentance so if you ever lost it you can’t get it back well then all of a sudden it was interesting how she changes it well I almost lost it I came close you know she changed real quick on the spot but this verse is saying once you get saved it’s impossible for you to get saved again it’s not saying you can lose it.

It’s saying in the following verses we’re talking about things that accompany salvation and how rewards come about by serving the Lord. So if you fall down or you get away from the Lord you need to get up and get serving again and the result will be rewards. Verse 10 of that chapter says, God is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love and he’s going to remember and reward you for whatever deeds you’ve done for him. So get up and get going again.

If you fall away you don’t have to go back and become saved again. You’re saved once and for all by the one time sacrifice of Christ. And Vicki, if that doesn’t do it, I’ve got a sheet I’ve written on that and you can ask my operator, call back later after the program and we’ll send that out to you where I go through that very passage in great detail. We hope that you’re learning with this. As you listen to this question and answer segment featuring Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. If you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives, as well as access other resources, including articles on a variety of topics written by Dr. Lindstrom. In addition to many other resources in our online store, it’s time for us to take a short break now. When we return, we will continue this question and answer segment and then hear more Bible Bible teaching from Dr.

Hank Lynch. Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. What a turn to the prophet, Hosea, for just a minute. And in the prophet, Hosea, there’s an interesting hint as to when Jesus will return. It says here in verse 15 of chapter 5 of Hosea, and I believe it is a prophetic utterance here of Christ. And it’s exactly like the words he spoke in the New Testament.

He says, I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face in their affliction. They will seek me early. Here it tells about Jesus leaving after being rejected and his first coming and that he would return back to heaven to his place Tell they the Jewish people would acknowledge Their offense that is rejection of Christ as they rejected him and then it says here and Till they seek my face they want to see the Messiah come and I believe that’ll happen during the tribulation period And it says in their affliction will they seek me early and here it talks about affliction prior to and I think we’ve already seen that in around the world Jewish people being afflicted in particular during World War II six million Jews being killed by Hitler in his extermination camps.

Chapter 6 verse one goes on to say the Jewish people’s cry come and let us return unto the Lord. The Jewish people have returned back to the state of Israel and became a nation in 1948. This year they’ll be celebrating their 60th anniversary. That’s right. Israel has been a nation now for 60 years. Wow. And so it’s interesting that we’re coming up on the end of a whole generation. You know, if a generation is 70 years, then we got 10 more years to see that conclude.

And Christ would come back in the generation that would be living when Christ would become a nation again. So maybe we’re getting very, very close. I think we are. I really believe we’re getting close. And here the Jewish people will cry out and this has been their cry. Come and let us return unto the Lord for He hath torn and He will heal us. He hath smitten and He will bind us up. So here it talks about the affliction that the Jewish people have gone through and what happened with Hitler and in Europe in World War II obviously caused the beginning of the existence of the state of Israel.

The world was shocked when they discovered the concentration camps and the Holocaust was unveiled. And in 1947, the United Nations voted unanimously, getched that unanimously for the state of Israel to be founded and they took the land that was controlled by the British for more war one and divided it and allowed the state of Israel to be established. And then it says here in verse two, and this is the remarkable verse. If you have your Bible open to Hosea chapter six verse two, if not, go back and look at it later.

It says, after two days, will he revive us? In the third day, he will raise us up and we shall live in a sight. What it’s saying here is after two days, the Jewish nation would be revived. And in the third day, he would live in our sight. It says, in the third day, we shall live in this site. Now we know the length of that third day. That’s the millennium. When the Jewish people will be back in the state of Israel and Christ will come back as their king and rule and reign over this earth and rule over the Jews as the king of the Jews.

And over all the rest of the world is king of kings and Lord of lords. Wow. So if we know the length of the third day, a thousand years, then obviously the length of the first two days also must each be a thousand years. So what it’s saying here in Hosea chapter 6 and verse 2 is after 2,000 years will he revive us? And in the third thousand years he’ll raise us up and we shall live in his sight.

Oh my goodness, Jesus of course in Matthew 23 says exactly the same words that we read in chapter 5 verse 15 of Hosea that he says I’m leaving, I’m going. Now I’m going to return to my place, that means he’s been here. Then he will return to his place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. Here we come up on the end of the age and that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Christ will return and they will be raised up and live in his sight.

We’re at the end of the 2000 years right now. Again, if you can help us financially, we are totally listeners supported. We don’t have any other means of support and we would appreciate hearing from you in that way because we have no other way to be able to stay on the air, to continue and to grow and to reach forward, we need your help. So please, please consider giving a gift to my blind, and certainly we thank you for praying for us.

If you would do that, we’d be very happy. Anyway, we are gonna go back to the stations that have been on break and do the second half hour, my blind, so. I hope you’ll keep your radio right where it is and here we go. We’re going to do Bibleline in the second half hour right now. Would you like to help Bibleline continue in your area? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. And now back to Bibleline.

Welcome back from the break. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to Bibleline and hear real-life questions with… With scriptural answers from Dr. Hank Lindstrom, please make plans to join us and open your Bible as we also present in-depth studies covering a variety of biblical topics. Now let’s return to our question and answer segment and then we’ll hear more Bible teaching from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’re going to now go to the phone lines again. We have Lou and Tampa.

Lou, welcome to the book. How are you? Good. Good. Dr. Hank, I’ve got a question for you. How do you talk to an unbeliever about the beatitudes. They always seem to start quoting and I’ll just give you the three or four that they quote and you can tell me how to explain it to a nonbeliever. Okay. All right. Three and seven, eight and nine. And then I’ll hang up and I’ll listen to you. Okay. Well versus three, seven, eight and nine.

All right. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Hagg. Have a good day. You’re welcome. All right. That was Lou and Tampa and asking a question and then jumping out. Let me go ahead and turn to that passage and this is going to be in Matthew and let’s see here what verses he was talking about chapter 5 of course verse 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I believe that that really refers to those who recognize that they are sinners unable to save themselves and that they then trust in the Savior who obviously makes them rich.

It says in 2 Corinthians 8 that Christ gave His life and through His gift of His death, He really does make us rich. Let me quote the exact verse. It’s 2 Corinthians 8 and I believe the thought is really expressed very well in this particular verse. Corinthians 8 and 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. So here we are poor in spirit, unable to save ourselves, helpless, and just like the dying thief, headed for hell, without any possible way of saving ourselves.

And when we place our trust in Jesus Christ is our Savior, we become rich. Verse 5 says, blessed are the meek. Now, meek doesn’t mean weak, but again it speaks of humility. The Bible in the Old Testament tells us that Moses was the meekest man who’s ever lived. And obviously Moses spoke about Christ and Moses spoke about faith in him and Moses was saved by faith in Christ. And we find that the meek are those again I believe who recognize that they are unable to save themselves.

And verse 6 goes on to say, blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. The righteousness of God is what is required for salvation and when you hunger or seek after that righteousness then of course you receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. In Romans 9 there’s an interesting passage where it talks about the Jewish people who sought after righteousness, stumbled at the stumbling stone of Christ and they didn’t receive righteousness because they attempted to get it by work.

Let me just read verse 31 of Romans 9. It says Israel which followed after the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness. Verse 32, why? Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith. They sought it not by faith. But as it were by the works of the law. So they attempted to be saved by their works and that’s a problem that a lot of people have. And as long as you’re attempting to work your way to heaven, according to the Bible, you’ll never have the righteousness that is required for heaven which is offered by faith.

So it goes on to say in verse 33, God says, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. That’s talking about Christ. And then it says, whosoever believeth on him, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So the person seeking after righteousness by faith will receive it. And the meek are those who recognize that they are… Verse 7, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. You know, a lot of these, I think, are dealing with the Christian life and disciples living for Christ.

But this one probably deals with the Christian life after we’re saved. Verse 9 says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. And there again is the Christian life where I believe that our works, evidence are faith to human life. to humans. But God knows our faith whether we do any works or not. So the believers ought to have the qualities that would mark this out to be called by others Christians. For example, in the morning, maybe I’d go out for a breakfast and all by myself I’d bow my head and thank God for that breakfast.

And I’ve had people come over and say, you must be a Christian just by observing that little moment of silent prayer to thank God for the food that He has given to me. given to me. So hopefully, Lou, that will answer your question. Obviously, the Bible is very, very clear. And I think what you have to do is take them to clear doctrinal passages which make clear that eternal life is God’s gift. And obviously, interpret all of these in the light of those because obviously the only way to be saved is to trust Christ.

But then after you’re saved, then it talks about in verse 12 here of Matthew 5, rejoice if you’re persecuted falsely for Christ’s sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great as your reward in heaven. So believers are going to receive rewards based upon our deeds. But when we are poor in spirit and recognize our need of Christ, then of course we’re going to find Christ and find salvation through faith in Him. But if you are going to be proud, which is the opposite, and say, hey, I don’t need God and I can do it myself or as Frank Sinatra used to sing, I did it my way.”

Well, that’s really the very essence of sin because even back in the garden, Cain did it his way and it was wrong. The Bible says, woe unto those that go in the way of Cain because he chose to bring an offering that was the fruit of his own hands and of his works. Whereas we find that Abel brought a sacrifice that reflected what Christ would do for us at the cross. He brought a lamb and it was a picture of Christ giving himself on the cross of Calvary.

So hopefully we’ve answered those verses. We’re going to go to the phone lines again. This time we have Margaret on the line in Clearwater. Welcome to Bibleline. Hi there. Hello. I was wondering, even when you’re saved and you know you’re saved, is it abnormal for even when you’re praying and talking to the Lord that the devil or evil can throw doubt a little bit of doubt into your mind like. Absolutely, that’s perfectly normal. But don’t stay in your doubts.

You know, the Bible says faith comes by hearing. Romans 10 17. Faith comes by the Word of God. and faith isn’t right here, you can hear Him by the Word of God. And the opposite of faith is doubt. So as we stay in the Scriptures, our trust in God’s Word grows and our faith therefore grows and we can get those doubts resolved. And we go back to maybe passages that we haven’t looked at in a long time and we’re reminded of God’s love and of His promises.

And so we don’t have to live in our doubts. He’s so wonderful about that. You can go to read the Bible and he’ll reassure you of something. You’ve heard that day or something you’ve been wondering about. He’ll just answer it right there. Amen. That’s what it’s all about. So you’re absolutely normal. Everybody that’s a believer I think, if they’re honest, will have doubts from time to time. But don’t stay with the doubts. Goputer back and be reassured, as you just said, from God’s Word.

my only doubt is just I have other questions, but this is the only one that applies to your subject. Well, we’re not limited to a particular topic, so if you want to ask one more question, we’ll let you do it right now. Okay, I was baptized at a church, it’s a church of God, and it was a beach baptism, and one of the people that came to the house and kept coming. He and his wife wonderful people. Well, I asked him to baptize me.

And then when I finally got my baptism certificate, as I said it was in the Gulf, and he baptized me in the name of the Father and of the Son and up the Holy Spirit. The preacher didn’t baptize me and I haven’t ever heard him preach because I’m disabled and it’s difficult for me to get anywhere, not that anyone has and how offered help. But I’m just wondering, could that have been a true baptism? Absolutely, because it’s really about you giving testimony that you were cleansed of your sin by the blood of Christ.

Obviously the water doesn’t take away your sin and it was you expressing your faith through your sin. baptism as Christ asked the believer to do. So it doesn’t save us. And give testimony. That’s what I did to the people. Right. But that is the baptism is a testimony. It’s a picture of the death, the burial and resurrection of Christ and that you have identified yourself with Christ in his death as the means of your salvation. I’m reassuring myself when I’m praying that Lord, I am dead to myself now.

I belong completely to you. And I just, it’s such a reassuring thing. And the other thing that’s bothered me that no one has been able to answer the phone on, I can’t get through. We’re almost out of time. So give me that question quick. If you’re disabled, taking a lot of medicine and you can’t think straight, does God take that into consideration if you can’t function and do all the things that you should do? Absolutely. He certainly does. God bless you.

Alright, thank you for that call today. Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye. And certainly God understands our limitations, our weaknesses, our infirmities, our problems, and He wants us to call upon Him for help and He’ll do that. That wraps up today’s question and answer segment. As believers in Jesus, there is no other topic that is more important to us than the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s mission to spread the gospel. Through your prayers and ongoing financial support for Bibleline, you too can help spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world and reach others with the message of salvation through Jesus.

Please, prayerfully consider supporting Bibleline by visiting our website at BibleLineMinistries.org getting copies of any of our resources, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on, the books of John or Hebrews, plus many others. Join us now as we continue today’s teaching series from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty. So here is the Lord God Himself declaring that He is the one who begins things, the one who ends things.

He’s the first, He’s the last, He’s the A and the Z, the Alpha and Omega. Verse 9, John says here, I John, who am also your brother. Can you imagine how he could say that? But every believer is related to every other believer by the blood of Christ. And so we’re brothers and sisters in Christ. And John, who is the great apostle, says, I am your brother. Did you know that John the apostle was your brother? As a believer, he’s our brother in Christ.

We’re going to be with him in heaven, along with all the other believers, and isn’t that exciting? And also he says, I’m your companion in tribulation. He’s not talking about the tribulation period, but at that time in history Christians were being persecuted and John himself, as you’ll see in just a moment, was an exile on the island of Patmos off the coast of Turkey because of his witness for Christ. And it was there on that island that he received this revelation as Jesus Christ appears to John and he tells him to write down what he sees as John is caught into the future to see the events that would take place.

So here he was a companion. With all those others, he was writing to at that time who were suffering persecution as Christians, and that persecution continued upon Christians right up until the fourth century. And then we know that Constantine declared the world to be Christian, and the persecution upon Christians was taken away. But of course, perhaps the persecution was better because when it was popular to be a Christian then compromise and false doctrine and everything else crept into the church.

So it says here I am your companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. So we know that as believers that we will all one day experience that Kingdom that He describes here where Christ will rule on this earth and will be companions there with Him. It says I was in the island, which is called Patness. I got close, I didn’t get to go. I was scheduled to go, but it is a Greek island, although it is far from Greece and very close to the Turkish coast.

Most people visited from Turkey and I was scheduled because of bad relations between the Turks and the Greeks, which is nothing new. My trip got canceled from Turkey to the island and generally people don’t visit it from Greece because it’s such a distance to go from Athens or Greece, the main body of Greece, over to Patness most people visit from Turkey. I didn’t go I was close. I wanted to get there very bad But that’s where John was when he received this revelation of the book of revelation He was their wife for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ He was persecuted because of his faith because of his witness and he apparently was the pastor of the church at Ephesus Which is just straight across over there on the Turkish coast.

I have visited Ephesus and for of the Revelation churches and that was a special treat. And I believe that John was a pastor there at the church at Ephesus when he was exiled. First 10, he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. What is this talking about? It could refer to Sunday because we often call that the Lord’s Day. Every time we worship on the first day of the week, we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ again from the dead.

So it could refer to the fact this occurred on a Sunday, but probably it means this. It could be translated the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is the thousand year day called the millennium. It is a thousand years called the day of the Lord throughout scripture. And in its technical meaning, it is just a thousand years that Christ will rule, a thousand year day. But in the broader sense, it includes the tribulation period which prepares the way for Christ to rule during that thousand years.

And oftentimes, when you see the phrase, Day of the Lord, in the major prophets, the minor prophets, and even in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and we’ll cover that in the Rapture class, the Day of the Lord extends right to the moment of the Rapture and then the Day of the Lord is underway. It includes the seven years of tribulation which prepare the way for Christ to establish the kingdom. So we find here that it’s more likely that it means that.

And what happens here is that John was transported into the future, into the day of the Lord, into the tribulation period, into the millennium, and he records for us what he sees, not what he hears, but what he sees. So John is an eyewitness and observes the tribulation period unfold and writes down what he sees. And that’s what this is saying. He hears behind him a loud voice, a great voice, as of a trumpet. And he hears the voice, and the voice says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.

Now this turns out to be Jesus Christ. And before we demonstrate that, we notice that the Father claims that He’s the Alpha and the Omega in verse 8. And now Jesus Christ claims that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. So we know that clearly as the claim is made very plain throughout Scripture, Jesus Christ is God who took on human flesh. Notice that phrase there, the first and the last, which is what often Omega would mean.

And I want you to go to Isaiah chapter 44 for just a moment. This is very powerful when those Jehovah’s Witnesses come knocking to your door. They deny the deity of Christ. You might want to use this. Jesus claims that He is the alpha and omega the first and the last. Look at what it says in Isaiah 44 page 752 where Jehovah or Yahweh says that He is the first and the last. And what does that mean? That they are both the same God or we have to throw out Jesus Christ as being a liar and a posture of fraud and light a match to our Bible and walk away.

In Isaiah 44 verse 6 it says, Thus saith the Lord. Lord in all capitals is from God’s personal name, which is YHWH pronounced by some as Jehovah, others by Yahweh. I won’t get into all the details of that, but it says, Thus saith Yahweh or Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Host, I am what? The first, and I am the last, and beside me there is what? No God. Ho, ho, ho. So there is only one, therefore, that is the first and the last.

And here it is Jehovah, and notice Jesus claims deity and claims that he is the first and the last. And obviously his name is also Yahweh or Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit’s name is also Yahweh or Jehovah. As the father’s name is Yahweh or Jehovah, and all three are the first and the last. All three are the one and same God. And so a powerful verse on the deity of Christ. And you’ll see that phrase several more times now in the book of Revelation.

So get ready to mark first and the last whenever you see it. And Jesus says to John in verse 11, what thou seeest right in a book? Wow. Couldn’t get a better description of how this book came about. John is the B&I witness. He’s caught into the future, into the day of the Lord. What he sees, he’s supposed to write down. And so John is an eyewitness. And he’s not merely transcribing. He’s witnessing and writing down the things that he sees.

What thou seeest right in a book? to the seven churches which are in Asia. And here are the seven churches that we talked about earlier. The first at Ephesus, where I believe John himself was the pastor before his exile to the island of Patmos, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, unto Thyra-Cure, unto Sardis, unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Those were the seven churches we’ll talk more about those in chapters two and three. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.

And when he turned, what did he see? I saw seven golden candlesticks. It’s better translated seven golden lamp stands because a lamp stand continues to burn as long as it has oil. And the candle is consumed of itself and will go out. But this is a picture of these churches being the light of God’s Word to the people of that time and each one prophetically, a picture of God’s witness to the world through these different churches. We’ll talk more about that in just a minute.

It says, in the midst of the seven lamp stands, one like another son of man. Obviously, this is talking about Jesus. Cowed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. So here it talks about Jesus, but at the same time we see him now in all of his glory and all of his power and as deity.

And the white hair speaks of his age. He’s ageless and his wisdom as the wisdom of age. And here his eyes are like a flame of fire speaking about nothing escapes his view. Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching, but we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it. If you missed any part of today’s program or if you’d like to hear it again, please visit our website at bibilineministries.org.

you can either listen to today’s program again or if you prefer you can get the entire teaching series through our online store. If you have any questions or comments about today’s program please call us at 1-800-576-3771 or you can write us at Bibleline ministries 4811 George Road Tampa, Florida 33634. It was Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry to spread the gospel of salvation by telling all who would listen about the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to pay the sin debt that we all owe but cannot pay for ourselves.

If you have not yet trusted Jesus as your Savior, we encourage you to do so. Just visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and watch Dr. Lindstrom’s seven minute video that will greet you there. If you have already trusted Jesus as your Savior, then we encourage you to develop and strengthen the foundation of your Christian life by spending time reading your Bible and learning with us about God’s Word by listening to Bibleline. We’d like to say thank you to our audio team for their work on today’s program.

Until next time, this has been Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. We invite you to join us again for another edition of Bibleline and as Dr. Lynchroom would say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

For more information on the Bible, visit BibleLineOnline and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Christ will return and they will be raised up and live in this site. We’re at the end of the 2000 years right now. Can you imagine after 2000 years the Jewish people would be revived they would be raised up and live in this site for a third thousand years which is the millennium. I’m Dr.

Englund and this is Bibleline and I hope you’re a believer because if you’re not a believer, you’re in trouble. You’ll be left behind for the darkest hours of human history which are about to happen here on this earth and we can see it coming as you read the headlines every day. I’m leaving at the Rapture and if you are a believer, you’ll be leaving at the Rapture also and we’ll meet in the air. I’ll be glad to give you a high five on the way up.

I’m looking forward to it. And it could be, and I’m not a date center, but it could be he would come this year. Wouldn’t that be something? The Lord could snatch us out. And as soon as that happens, the church age will have ended, which began at Pentecost and ends at the Rapture. And then the seven years of tribulation that the Bible talks about in so many portions of the Bible will then be underway. And during that time, the Antichrist will rise to power, and Jesus will come back at the end of the seven years and defeat him and set up his kingdom and rule and reign here on this planet.

We have a number of wonderful things in our Resource Center here. Let me just say that I recommend the strong concordance, and we have that available here, and we can chip it out to you. That’s fatter than a phone book, but it has every word, every the thou and and but and shout that it’s in the Bible and it will buy a number code system Give you the original Greek or Hebrew word depending whether it’s the older New Testament and it’s a wonderful way to do some Real study in your Bible if you know one word in a verse you can Look up that one word and it in the strongest in accordance will quote every verse in the Bible where that word occurs, a part of the verse.

So you’ll be able to find a verse you’ve been looking for real quickly and then it’ll give you by a number code system and you’ll have access to the scholarship of 200 Hebrew Greek scholars but you’ll be able to look up the actual Hebrew or Greek word and what it meant and how it is translated throughout the Bible. Wonderful tool, we We also have the Vines expository Bible Dictionary which gives you more of the root meanings of the words and really helps you understand Bible passages by going back to the original language.

If you go to your regular English Dictionary, you will not find that you will get necessarily the meaning that comes from the original words into our English Bible. But you don’t have to know any Hebrew Greek to figure this one out. It’s a wonderful tool. We have that. And also we have the Schofield Bible. The Old Schofield is becoming more and more scarce. If you go to your bookstore, they generally don’t carry it. We have it in stock here.

And that’s the only one. In fact, we recommend the Old Schofield Reference Bible. We have that available. We have it in a soft, hardback, leather, and large print. You might want to call and talk to our operators about that. We have the two commentaries that I love so much. Jameson Fossett Brown, three volume underbridge commentary, has a comment on every scripture. you really got it made with that. Plus we have the J. Vernon McGee coming in five volumes. It’s a wonderful set.

Retail’s about 200. We have it for a gift of 100. And that has something on every chapter in the Bible. So J. Vernon McGee will get you launched in the right direction. And usually you can move forward from there with that. God bless. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming and we believe he’s coming soonCENT. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet.

Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.