Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18, 19).

Since the foundation of the world, wicked men have hated and sought to kill the righteous.  Cain murdered his brother Able because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous; thus, we should not marvel that the world hates us today (1 John 3:12, 13).  Joseph’s brothers hated him because of the partiality their father showed him and because of his dreams (Genesis 37:3-8).  When Jehoshaphat refused to believe the counsel of the roughly 400 court prophets who said that Ahab would be successful in battle at Ramothgilead, he asked for a prophet of the Lord (1 Kings 22:6, 7).  Ahab knew of one, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but Ahab hated him because he prophesied evil concerning him (1 Kings 22:8).  Ahab hated Micaiah because he told the truth when others would not.  It was not a defect in Micaiah but rather in Ahab’s character that Ahab was continually setting himself against the Lord’s will.  Similarly, both Ahab and Jezebel hated the prophet Elijah and sought to kill him because he stood for truth (1 Kings 19:2).  When he warned against joining the ranks of sinners, Solomon mentioned those who would lay in wait to kill the innocent (Proverbs 1:10).

The devil seeks to discourage us from living faithful lives.  It is true that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).  We are not alone in suffering.  We must continue to resist being overcome by the evil in the world, knowing our brethren throughout the world suffer tremendous afflictions for the cause of Christ (1 Peter 5:9; cf. Romans 12:21).  So let us not give up the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).  We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).  Remember when the world hates you that, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Suffering in itself is not virtuous, but suffering for the cause of Christ is.  There are many who suffer for the crimes they have chosen to commit.  If Christians suffer for following their Lord, then they are blessed.  “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:15, 16).  Jesus said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12).  How difficult it is to follow the example of the apostles and rejoice when we are counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 5:41).  Let us not shrink back from our allegiance to Christ.  Jesus prayed that his disciples would be delivered from the evil of the world (John 17:15).  He taught us to do the same (Luke 11:4).  But whatever happens, let us live in such a way that we can truly say as Paul did, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

–Mark Day

The end was near. That was what they were saying, that the end was near. News agencies carried headlines to the effect that “Doomsday writer says, based off the Bible and Egyptian pyramids, Planet X will collide with earth on September 23.” Fox News website along with others carried the following:

Doomsday writer says, based off the Bible and Egyptian pyramids, Planet X will collide with earth on September 23. Is the end near? According to Christian writer David Meade, the answer is yes. Meade theorizes a so-called Planet X, AKA Nibiru, will hit the earth on September 23, 2017. Meade believes recent events like the solar eclipse and hurricane Harvey are signs of the coming apocalypse. Through codes in the Bible and a “date marker” in the pyramids of Egypt, Meade was able to pinpoint the date of September 23. NASA has repeatedly said Planet X is a hoax.”

Well guess what…the end didn’t happen on September 23. You are surprised by this fact I am quite sure. What is amazingly amazing is the fact that there are those that will set dates, those that claim there are signs happening now of the end coming, etc. Mr. Meade is not the only person to predict the end of time. The list is long, undistinguished, and unfulfilled, but consider a few of the more popular ones:

William Miller, whose followers were called Millerites, first predicted the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would occur before March 21, 1844. When this date passed a new date was predicted, April 18, 1844. After this failure, the date became known as the Millerites’ Great Disappointment

Jehovah’s Witnesses leader Charles Taze Russell prophesied that Jesus would return and set up His kingdom in 1914. When nothing happened, he decided that the kingdom was set up in Heaven and that Jesus came invisibly. Other failed dates which they predicted as the end: 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975.

Harold Camping, a former evangelist, predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011 with a series of earthquakes After the world was still very much in tact on May 22^nd, Camping changed the date to October 21, 2011. And when the world still wasn’t destroyed then, Camping apologized for his “sinful” statements.

Even David Meade is now saying that September 21^st is just the beginning of the end and October 15^th, “that’s when the action starts”. He then makes references to some doctrines of premillennialism which are found in certain “scholars” imagination but are not founded in the Bible.

So where does that leave us? Oh, make no mistake, the world will end with great noise and fire, 2 Peter 3:10. The Lord Jesus Christ will return (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:7b-10), the material universe will be done away (Hebrews 1:11-12), and eternity will begin (John 5:28-29). This event will be unexpected, Matthew 24:37-39.

It is not a matter of setting dates for the end of time because “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Mark 13:32. What does matter is if the world ended today, is one ready to meet their Maker? Those obedient to Christ will hear “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” and the disobedient will hear “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”. What a person hears on that day is ultimately most important.

-Jerry D. Sturgill

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas came into Lystra and healed a lame man.  The superstitious people of Lystra started to worship them as Greek gods.  Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and declared themselves to be merely men.  They encouraged the people to turn from idolatry to the true and living God. In Acts 13, Paul appealed to Christ’s fulfillment of the Old Testament as proof for Jews who had yet to become Christians, but these in Lystra were idolatrous Gentiles. How did Paul address them?  Did he simply quote an Old Testament scripture?  No, he didn’t. He knew it would not have much effect.  Paul appealed to creation as a witness to the existence of God.  Does the fact that we cannot see, touch, or feel God mean that we have no witness from God? No.  God’s goodness is shown in the creation through rain and fruitful seasons (Acts 14:17).  Paul declared to those at Lystra that God has not left us in the dark; He has given us a testimony of Himself in nature.

In Acts 17, Paul entered Athens, the intellectual center of the empire where the greatest philosophers had debated for centuries.  Present were two schools of philosophy – Epicureans and Stoics.  The Epicureans were followers of one Epicurus (342 BC) a materialist who believed all that exists is material or physical, and thus, there was no life after death.  The Stoics believed in an impersonal god. In defending the faith against these false philosophies, where did Paul go? Paul said, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24).  He argues that God is the origin of the universe and not originated by man.  Some stoics in earlier generations had taught there was one creator, but the many shrines in Athens to various gods showed the present generation had not embraced this concept. Paul, versed in their writings, then said your own poets have acknowledged this.  There are a couple of Greek poets Paul could have referenced.  Cleanthes, a stoic who lived from 331 to 233 BC, wrote, “O God most glorious, called by many a name, we are thy children, we alone of all.” About 270 BC, Aratus said essentially the same thing.

The Bible does not go into a great deal of detail to prove that God exists; nature shows it to be the case (Psalm 19:1-4).  There is no excuse for a man to say that he does not believe in God (Romans 1:20; Psalm 14).  Romans 1:18-32 is a passage that highlights the pleasures of sin as a major motivation for people denying God’s existence.  In describing the sinfulness of the Gentiles, Paul wrote that the judgment of God is revealed from heaven (Romans 1:18).  Repeated efforts have been made to remove any mention of God from the public sector.  Man cannot be comfortable with sin if he acknowledges God; he must cast God out of his mind to pursue his lusts.  The moral foundations of our society are under attack today.  People question the most foundational truths and involve themselves in some of the grossest immorality because they do not fear the wrath of God whose existence they doubt.  Paul preached the Gospel to Gentiles, who did not even know the true God.  Thus, we must reaffirm very basic foundations with many of our evangelistic contacts.  Even people who claim to believe in God and in the Bible must be reminded to acknowledge God or else their convictions can wane. Sometimes Christians are afraid to even talk to those who do not believe in God and the Bible. There is sufficient proof for God’s existence.  Arm yourself with it and do not hide your light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15).

-Mark Day

Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).  Jesus clearly tells us that many will be lost and few saved.  The road to hell is wide and easy.  The way to heaven is narrow and difficult.

The narrow gate of heaven will require effort on our part to enter.  Jesus said in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”  This does not mean that heaven is attained solely by our own efforts and self-justification, for there would be no way to heaven at all if God had not opened it for us through the death of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:20).  What it means is that we cannot be slothful and look to others to do the diligence required to enter.  The final contrast in the sermon is between those who hear and do and those who hear and do not (Matthew 7:24-27).  Simply coming to church services and hearing will not cause one to enter the narrow gate.  We must examine what we hear and practice what God’s word says.  We ourselves must strive to enter.  The preacher, the elders, our parents, our friends and loved ones may encourage us, but we must make sure that we are truly following the Lord and not men.  In fact, earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ showed that one’s righteousness must exceed the self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).  It requires one to follow true religion from a pure heart rather than false alternatives that may look very similar.  Effort is required to distinguish the two.

Obviously, there are many people in the world who do not profess to be religious whatsoever and are on the broad way. However, perhaps even more people are following a false religion.  This is a subtle device of the devil.  It causes many to think they are on the narrow way which leads to life, but in reality they are headed toward destruction.  The contrasts the Lord gives in this sermon are not between religious people and irreligious, but rather between true and false religion.  In Matthew 6:1-4, the contrast is not between those who gives alms and those who don’t, but rather between those who give to be seen of men and those who give in secret out of a pure motive of love. Likewise, in Matthew 6:5-6, the contrast is not between those who pray and those who do not pray, but rather those who pray to be seen of men and those who pray in secret to seek their heavenly Father.

Immediately following the admonition of the two ways, Jesus warns of false prophets (Matthew 7:15).  Many are led to destruction thinking they are following the right path, but they are sadly following false teaching.  A prime example of this is found in what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”  How many today believe they are going to heaven because they have simply given assent in their mind to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God without obeying Him?  Merely acknowledging the truth of Jesus’ identity is far short of obeying Him.  This is why many will be surprised on the day of judgment (Matthew 7:22-23).

Give diligence to make sure what you practice in religion is from the Lord and not men, and is out of a pure heart and not for show.  Your eternal destiny hangs in the balance.

-Mark Day