Amazing Facts – session 18

http://www.bibleuniversity.com/Video/CourseID2/NR18.asx

• The ram represents Medo-Persia
• The male goat represents Greece
• "Little horn" in Daniel is Rome
• Sprung out of one of the four divisions of Alexander the Great’s empire
• The Word must be the foundation for the Christian – not a pastor, not a church, etc
• The truth has been ‘cast to the ground’ – baptism, Sabbath, mediation through the pope rather than Jesus, idolatry (bowing to symbols or pictures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, etc)
• There is NO EVIDENCE in the Bible that justifies the doctrine of detaching the 70th week of Daniel from the rest of the 70 weeks.  The ideas that are commonly attributed to the anti-Christ are actually qualities and accomplishments of Christ himself.  Satan is the great deceiver.

Amazing Facts – session 17

Seven temples:

1. Moses temple (portable tabernacle)
2. Solomon’s temple (one of the seven wonders of the world)
3. Rebuilt Solomon’s temple
4. Your body (according to Paul)
5. Collective church body (living stones)
6. Jesus’ body
7. Temple of God in Heaven

• 3 parts of salvation – corresponding to the 3 main areas of the temple – outside, inside, holy of holies
• Justification – Jesus dies for you, then you get baptized
• The Ark of the Covenant is a box  – it holds the most priceless treasure (the ten commandments)
• The 10 commandments are at the foundation of His throne
• There are really only three temptations
• The lust of the flesh
• The lust of the eyes
• The pride of life
• You can stand still and backslide
• There’s only one road of life, the question is which way are you facing?  Toward God, or away from Him?  
• If you take up your cross and follow Jesus, where do you think you’re going?  To your crucifixion
•  Die daily

Amazing Facts – session 16

Mark of the Beast

•  I don’t see in Rev it saying anything about the right hand, it just says hand
• Deut 6: 4-8 talks about the ten commandments – "and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes
• Deut 11: 18 also speaks similarly
• Also Ex 13:9 and Ex 13:16 speaks similarly
• In the hand means activity
• In the forehead means thoughts
• We are choosing our sign of the hand and head right now 
• We either have the law of the Lord or the law of the beast
• We are to have the faith of Jesus, not in Jesus
• Biblical truth may never be popular
• Real Christianity centers around relationships – real relationships require time
• The average father spends 37 seconds a day with his child and hours in front of the TV

Amazing Facts – Session 15

www.bibleuniversity.com/Video/CourseID2/NR15.asx

• All that live godly will suffer persecution
• If you’re not under persecution, you’re probably not much of a threat to the devil.
• The more persecution the church endures, the more pure it becomes because the ungodly are removed because they are not able to withstand the persecution.
• Christianity started, and Satan tried plan A (kill them all).  Then he had to resort to plan B – if you can’t kill them on the outside, kill them from the inside.
• A ‘day’ in prophecy is a year in time
• The 3.5 yr tribulation was from 538 to 1798 (Napoleon took the pope captive and Roman Catholic Church lost control of the Christian community)
• The pope claims infallibility
• RCC teaches that Mary was sinless and was a mediator between God and man, sacrifices Jesus every mass, bows and prays in front of images and statues, saints and priests are only special castes in the RCC community, all Christians cannot and should not know they have eternal life, calls priests ‘father’, teaches purgatory (no where in scripture), forbade Christians to read the Bible during the dark ages
• The first man to state that the RCC was the antichrist was a pope, pope Gregory

Session 14 – Obedience

http://www.bibleuniversity.com/Video/CourseID2/NR14.asx

• No one gets to Heaven because of what they know
  • Knowing what the mark of the beast is doesn’t get you into Heaven
• People get into Heaven because of their personal surrender to the Lord
• To whom much is given, much is required
• Recommended book: Practicing the Presence of God (very old book)
• God judges us according to what we know
• Hebrews 10:26 – “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
• God is aware of and intensely interested in each of us personally (He’s aware of every conceivable thing in existence)
  • He wants a personal relationship (personal surrender) with each of us (He wants our love, like a loving father wants his child’s love)
  • Jesus wants to know each of us – and the word ‘know’ in the Bible is very very personal in nature (Adam knew Eve)
  • He wants to be married to each of us
  • He’s desperate to save / redeem as many of us as He can
• God doesn’t force us to do anything – our disobedience has their own consequences
  • He won’t ask you to give up anything that’s truly good
  • He will only take the things that will hurt you
• Those who persist in rebelling against God would not be safe in Heaven
  • They would bring their rebellious attitudes there
• Sin is like the bubonic plague – in order to be cured, you need a transfusion from a person who was exposed but did not succumb
• While justification is a moment, sanctification is a process –
  • Like building a house – one nail /brick at a time
  • Don’t worry about changing all at once
  • Follow what He presents to you
  • As you focus on obedience, ask God to help you
• Every commandment you obey has a blessing that comes with it
  • Tithing > prosperity
  • Honor father and mother > long life
  • Obey the Sabbath > find rest in Jesus
• God doesn’t hold a person accountable for lack of knowledge, but He does hold people accountable for rejecting knowledge (Hosea 4:6).  So you can’t say ‘I just won’t learn any more of His commandments, so I won’t be bound by them’
• Even the ‘little things’ count – in fact, there are no ‘little things’
• Obedience will never be convenient
• Deny yourself daily
• Following Jesus is the opposite of following the devil
  • Satan gives you the pleasure now and the penalty later (buy now, pay later)
  • Jesus says that there will be trouble in initially following, but the blessing follows immediately after. (pay now, and then be free)
    • Sometimes the initial decision is a tremendous battle
• God / Christ is able to keep us from falling
  • A Christian is a person who loves God so much, they would rather die than knowingly hurt Him
  • Most of us do not have that experience because we are not able to let go and let God have control
• Surrender is the only battle you win by giving up
  • Analogy: monkey trap – rice placed inside coconuts so that the monkeys can reach inside but can’t get their hand back out without letting go of the rice.  Poachers can simply walk up and grab the monkey.
• Your love for God is demonstrated by obedience (you obey because you love)
  • Saying you love God is not enough.  Jesus said that ‘if you love me then keep my commandments and I’ll pray the Father and He’ll send you the Holy Spirit.
  • How do you think Jesus feels when He died to save us from sin, and we say ‘thanks, Lord’ and run back to our sins?
• Trust – you don’t have to understand why God is commanding something
• Satan has an excuse or rationalization for every sin

Amazing Facts – session 13

• The secret to happiness is J.O.Y. – Jesus, Others, You
• Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – how do you honor that?  Alcohol?  Unclean meat?  Or fresh foods – beans, rice, fruit, vegetables?
• Rules
• Eat on a regular schedule
• Don’t eat too much
• Don’t harbor grudges
• Cheerful disposition
• Put full trust in the Lord
• Have a balance in work, exercise, sleep, etc
• Keep clean – water inside and outside
• Avoid harmful stimulants – soda, coffee
• Sugar can fit the definition of a drug
• Be temperate in all things
• Help those who are in need
• There is sin in the world today because of something that someone ate – food matters
• God grants power to be sons of God if we ‘receive’ Him – to overcome

Amazing Facts – session 12

• Four categories at Christ’s 2nd coming:
• Alive saved – caught up
• Dead saved – first resurrection
• Alive condemned – destroyed
• Dead condemned – nothing
• If God did not veil His divinity with humanity, we would not have been able to bear the sight

Amazing Facts – Session 11 (death and afterlife)

• Satan is a master at painting the Lord with his own paintbrush (his own characteristics)
• The dead are in their graves, not in hell, until the Day of Judgment
• The penalty of sin is death – not everlasting life (even if it is in torment)
• There is a lake of fire – for the second death of the unsaved
• Born once, die twice – born twice, die once (or not at all)
• Hell is for those who make a bad ending

Amazing Facts – Bible Study session 9 (Baptism)

• It represents changing teams – you’ve changed masters and kingdoms
• It’s the marriage ceremony between you and Jesus
• The gift of the Holy Spirit is received by baptism
• It’s essential
• It is not what ‘washes away sin’
• Jesus was baptized to ‘fill all righteousness’ – to give credit to those who cannot or know not
• Emersion is the only Biblical method of baptism
• If you take away the true nature of the symbols of the Bible, you lose the meaning they represent
• You want your old nature buried
• God does not judge us for our ignorance
• Before you marry the Lord, you have to stop dating the devil
• Must be willing to walk in a new life – should not serve sin – no longer a slave to sin
• You want to know what you’re getting into, but not wait until you know everything, because you never will
• God judges babies by their innocence
• When your child is old enough to be lost, they’re old enough to be saved – if they can have their own relationship (prayer, Bible study, etc), then baptism is relevant for them
• Baptism means responsibility to the body of Christ (the church)
• Everything that Christ experienced at His baptism, God wants you to experience (Matthew 3:16)
• Heavens were opened – granted access to heaven
• Saw the Spirit of God – claim it by faith
• Peace enters into your life
• Hear a voice in heaven – God’s voice will become more clear
• Now adopted as a son of God
• God is well pleased with you
• Began a life of ministry and started a journey to the cross
• Devil tempted Him – now a threat to him
• Baptism doesn’t:
• Change the heart
• Make you feel better – faith comes first
• Remove temptation
• Guarantee salvation
• Reasons for re-baptism:
• Not baptized Biblically (by immersion)
• Back-sliding
• Person comes into a whole new understanding of Christ

Amazing Facts – Study #7

• Great video on Sabbath
• God will judge based upon the light available to the person
• Whenever in doubt – Do What Jesus Did (DWJD) – Sabbath
• The commandment about the Sabbath begins with the word ‘remember’ – maybe God knew people would forget…
• Jesus wants a love relationship with us.  In order to have a love relationship, you need quality time
• “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God;” – Exodus 20:10
• It’s not the Sabbath of Israel, not the Sabbath of the Jews, it’s the Sabbath of the LORD thy God
• You can’t keep the spirit of a law, but break the letter of a law
• It’s the seventh day, not a seventh day
• God gave us baptism to remember the resurrection – it never says He changed the Sabbath day to Sunday to remember the resurrection
• Am I going to follow Jesus, or am I going to follow what’s popular?
• His elect will be sealed in the last days.
• A seal represents three things: territory, title and position
• The characteristic of who God really is, is in the Sabbath commandment: in six days, the Lord (position), created (title: creator) the heavens and the earth (territory)
• By recognizing the Sabbath, God will bless you through the observance of His day.