DEEPER ANSWERS
This page is dedicated to answering questions in more detail than would normally be in my personal notes on the Pastor's corner page. On this page I will give more Scripture and deeper answers to those questions that often come my way and cause me to search and prayer for the truth. If you have a question that you would like answered please drop me an email at
drandyfbc@yahoo.com
the first question I want to deal with is What is Communion/The Lord's Supper?
1. What is communion? (Matthew 26: 20-30)
Communion is a time for reflection and remembering the events of the Last Supper that Jesus had with the disciples before He went to the cross. The night that He broke the bread and shared the cup with them foretelling of what He must do in order to bring salvation to all mankind.
2. What does it mean?
On that night as Jesus spoke to the disciples He was explaining to them what was about to happen. They did not necessarily understand it all, but as the events unfolded it became clearer. Jesus came into the world for one purpose, to save mankind from eternal separation from God by offering all of us salvation through His death, burial and resurrection.
John 3:17 “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
The object of the mission of Jesus was to save. He is the only salvation for the world, there is no other! And this salvation is offered to all who will accept His completed work on the cross.
The Communion table and the taking of the Lord’s supper allows us to reflect on what He did for us on the cross and what really took place there. He gave His life for all of us so that we could live.
Jesus shared two things on that night, the bread and the cup.
3. What do the bread and the cup mean or represent? (Mark 14:22-25)
The bread: though on that night there was actual bread, a consumable food, it was also a representation of the soon to be broken body of Christ. If we are to understand how the using of bread represented what was to take place at the cross we must look at the actions of what the Lord has to do with us in order to bring change or newness to our lives.
First we must be taken, in other words removed from the world and its sinfulness. Next we must be blessed or in other words be prepared to be used. When we ask a blessing upon our food before we eat it we are asking that it be prepared and useful to our bodies as we consume it. Lastly we must be broken. One would think this sounds painful or like an act of violence but that is not the case. When the bread was broken that allowed it to be shared with all who were present. When we are broken for Christ this allows us to be given to others or in other words be able to be represent Him to all who want to understand more about Him. It allows us to be useful to more than one person and be able to provide for the needs of many. As the bread became pieces it allowed for all to have a part of what was being offered and not just one person.
So then we see that the bread as a representative of the body of Christ shows His actions on the cross. He was taken (removed), He was blessed (prepared for service) He was broken (so that others could have a part of what He offered.)
The use of the bread even still today over 2000 years later allows us to reflect on what the Lord did for us all and allows us to give thanks and be grateful of His sacrifice and that He loves us so much.
The word is means represents which in turn means reminder of. In no way does it mean literal. Those who teach that the bread is the literal body of Christ, meaning that you are partaking of human flesh, are teaching falsely and creating great confusion for those who do not understand this blessed and holy observance.
We become one with Christ by asking Him to enter our hearts by faith and believing in His work on the cross as the means of our salvation, not by eating Him!
The cup: it is written “when He had given thanks He gave it to them and they all drank of it.”
The passing of the cup represents the shedding of the Blood of Jesus on the cross and that it brought salvation to all who would receive Jesus as Savior.
Jesus said the drink from the cup was His blood. Again this means represents, not literal. He proclaimed it was shed for the remission of sins, in other words the payment or cost of the sins of all mankind. He also said it represented the New Covenant. The word covenant means promise and in this case promise from God. We are promised by God that our acceptance of the finished and completed work of Christ on the cross is what gives us eternal salvation. This includes His death and resurrection. If we accept this by faith and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives then we have the promise of God that we have eternal salvation.
Observing Communion allows us to reflect on what Jesus did for each of us and not only gives us the opportunity to say thank you, but also to examine our lives and see if we are living in a way that honors and pleases God.
4. Who should take Communion?
Anyone who is saved, in other words one who has accepted Jesus as their personal Savior and accepts His completed work on the Cross as full payment for their sins and that nothing we have done or can do on our own can earn this wonderful free gift. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
5. Who should not take Communion?
Anyone who is not saved or anyone who is out of God’s will, in other words a saved person who is not living in the way that God has prescribed in His Word as acceptable in His eyes. We are not to be conformed to the world’s ways, but to His ways. The questions we must all ask before partaking of the elements of Communion is “am I pleasing God with my life? Am I in proper fellowship with Him? Do I have anything against another person or am I harboring hate, jealousy or unforgiveness in my heart?”
If any of these are the case we need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive us and make us clean before Him before we take Communion.
6. Why does it matter? ( I Corinthians 11: 27-33)
We, by taking Communion in an unworthy state (in other words not being right with God) face the danger of bringing judgment upon ourselves. It is to be taken seriously. The amount of times a church offers it is not important. It can be once a month, once a week or as often as wanted. The real matter of importance is where each person is at in their personal relationship with Christ. To examine ourselves before we partake is very important. To do it just for so or because everyone else is or because of a ritual or religious tradition is not honored by God.
7. Conclusion:
We are called to observe the Lord’s Table and to partake in the Lord’s Supper. It is an act of obedience and honor to God. It is a time to reflect upon His sacrifice on the cross and a time to draw closer to Him as we express our thanks to Him. It is something we should fully understand before we do it and something we should be fully prepared for as a person before we do it. It is not merely a ritual done because of a religious practice. It is not a ceremony filled with pageantry and idolatry. It is a personal time between the believer and their Lord.
Question 2
What is the Rapture of the Church?
WHAT IS THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH?
There is much controversy around this topic in many churches today and most certainly in the world. I feel a great burden on my heart to try and shed a little light on this matter and help those who are wondering just what is the Rapture of the Church? Is it True? When Will it Happen? and Who is going?
To begin with there is really just one reason this subject is controversial or causes issues among many, it is simply because it is the truth. The enemy, Satan, hates the truth because as Jesus taught so clearly, “the truth will set us free.” Freedom is exactly the opposite of what Satan wants us to have. He wants to see us stay in bondage and hopelessness, but Jesus says we do not have too. Who do you want to listen to? We must each make a choice as it pertains to how we answer that question. Today we are surrounded by fluff and very little truth. I have really started to notice this as of late. I know it has somewhat always been this way, but it surely seems lately it is more prevelant than ever. We are living in chaotic times, we are seeing tragedies on the rise, evil, pure evil, like we have never imagined, we are seeing people give up because they think there is no hope, no reason to keep trying. We are seeing our country here in America be turned upside down because of bad decisions being made by those who were trusted enough to be put in office. More and more people are losing their homes and even more have lost their jobs, and yet still the news headlines and things that get the most attention is what some celebrity is doing today. Whether it is getting divorced, having an affair, getting a new tattoo, driving drunk, getting in a fight or even not wearing underwear or maybe some how they had a private sex tape that just “happened” to get leaked to the internet. Do we think it is a coincidence that this is the kind of stuff that we are constantly bombarded with? Well my friends let me tell you it is not. There is a real reason behind all this nonsense and his name is Satan. He does not want people to stop and realize there is something so much more important. eternity and where one will spend it! As we walk about from day to day few people think about the fact that this could be their last day here on this earth. Now I am not trying to be morbid, but instead realistic. The Bible clearly tells us in both Proverbs and James that tomorrow is not promised and that we do not know for sure what tomorrow holds. Proverbs 27:1 tells us “ Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” James 4: 13-16 tells us “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” So what are these Passages telling us? We know through living that we truly do not know what tomorrow may bring or if it will even come at all, and for many it does not. The death rate is on the rise and taking life and how we live it serious is as if not more important now than ever. This is where this explanation of things takes a turn back toward understanding the importance of the Scriptures and certainly understanding why we are to be cautious of being distracted by the foolishness that surrounds us. The devil loves to trap us and get us to wonder or even better to get us to doubt the truth when it is presented to us. This certainly holds true as it pertains to the Rapture of the Church.
The Bible is filled with Prophecies most of which have been fulfilled which in and of itself tells us that something mighty is on the horizon, in others word something big is about to happen!!!! Well Praise God, it is and the next great event that is on the verge of taking place is the Rapture of the Church. Now just who is the Church? is it the buildings all over the have steeples and crosses on the roof tops? no! it is those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and are awaiting His promised return. John 14: 1-6 records the promise of Jesus to one day come and get those who are His. This passages reads:
“1Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4And where I go you know, and the way you know.
5Thomas said unto Him, Lord, we know not where You go; and how can we know the way?
6Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me.”
We see here in verse 3 that Jesus promises that He will come again for those who are His. This is the church, those who have truly accepted Him, repented of their sins and received His free gift of salvation, have accepted His grace and mercy and been made whole and been made new. These are the ones He is coming to “receive unto Himself.” This event has become know as the Rapture of the Church. For many this is confused with the Second coming of the Lord, but these are two separate events, one before the Tribulation and one after. This is the return of Jesus into the atmosphere (the clouds if you will) and calling up those who are His to take them to be with Him forever in the glory of the place He has prepared for us. There are many today who will argue this and some who will even tell you it is not true. Sadly many of these come from within the church. I was personally told by a retired Pastor that the Rapture is something Baptists came up with to scare people into getting saved. There are others in the mininstry, some even on television, who do not teach about the Rapture or when asked about it they make a smart remark or stand on the idea that it is not in the Bible because of the word Rapture not actually being present. Indeed this word is not in any translation but the meaning of this word is certainly present and very cleary defined. The word Rapture comes from the Greek word Harpazo which when defined means (to seize, carry off by force to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly,to snatch out or away).
I Thessalonians 4:14-18 says:
“14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
This without question is one of the most exciting events that will ever take place. One might wonder, why do we not here more about this? or why are there preachers who do not teach this or even worse tell us this is not true? As I said earlier, Satan does not want us to know the truth. He would rather us live a life filled with doubt and discouragement, failure and hopelessness. He does not want us to be filled with joy or the anticipation that there is something better than what we have here, there is hope and His name is Jesus. The Rapture is the next great event that will take place and my friends it could be at any minute. There is nothing preventing it beyond the fact that there is more people who need to get saved and hear the Gospel of Christ. Jesus when asked about His return often replied, “no man knows the hour nor the day, only the Father.” Many have predicted dates and times and this clearly goes against the Scriptures and then there are those who teach that this teaching is false when in fact them not teaching their people this wonderful truth is shameful. We are to be prepared at all times as it pertains to our souls. Whether we meet our end by death or by the Rapture we must accept the fact that “after this the judgment” is a very real reality. We will stand before the Lord one day. The question is are you ready for that appointment? Many are not and it is simply because they are not hearing the whole truth, only bits and pieces. As Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 4:15 (For this we say to you by the word of the Lord) he was letting all know, this is not my opinion, this indeed is the Word of the Lord. Seeing this we then should look at this teaching very closely and realize that Jesus promised to come and gather all those who are His. Jesus never made a promise that He did not keep and is not going to start now.
As we watch all the chaos around us we begin to realize something is going on. The world is changing, things are not the same. We indeed will not know the hour nor the day. We will not be given a call to let us know He is on the way, no just one day He will show up and call those who are His to “come up” or “come hither” and all those who are His will be gone from this world and will have entered into His glory. When will this take place? Again we will not know, but we can know the signs, we can see the signs. The new hunger that is arising world wide is a great sign. As we grow closer to the end there will be one last great revival or outpouring of the Holy Spirit. People are searching for the truth. After decades and decades of lies and falsehoods people are beginning to realize there is more and they are looking. As a pastor myself I see this as we have more and more visitors many of whom ask questions or let it be known they are looking for answers. This move of the Holy Spirit is certainly by design as it is God’s desire for all to be saved. This is not to say that all will because we still have free will, but the offer will be made so that all have a chance. Paul spoke of a great falling away. This falling away is within the church. So many false teachings have crept into the church and from behind the pulpits that people have started to doubt or question what is real and what is not. They are not hearing the whole counsel of God any more. They are hearing opinions and self help motivaiton. What they need to hear is about the Cross and what Jesus did for all of us there and the mercy and grace He extends to all of us who will accept Him. This great falling away is another great sign of things to come. Again this is merely Satan doing all he can to keep people from the truth. Passages that tell us to be sober, alert, viligant are not to be ignored because when we are not then we can certainly expect to be caught by surprise one day with something we did not see coming. Jesus coming back for those that are His, the Rapture of the Church is such an incident. Israel and its treatment is another great sign that things are happening and about to happen even more. Those who are great scholars of Prophecy are trying to tell everyone that Israel is getting ready for something. Things are certainly abuzz over there and it can be seen they understand something is on the horizon. We hear little or none of this in the mainstream media because they are to busy speaking about the latest celebrity problem or where the President is vactioning. If asked about such matters that truly matter they either ignore it or make a joke about it. One day all the laughing will be over as those who refused the Lord will be looking for all of us who did not.
Who will go when this blessed event takes place? All who have accepted Christ and truly been saved. I do not mean a mere acknowledgment that Jesus is real, but a true personal relationship with Him and a evident changed life.
The question then is are you ready? If the Rapture took place today would you be called to come up? Have you settled things with the Lord? have you asked for forgiveness and received His wonderful gift of salvation and been made new? He knows the answer and is preparing for this wonderful day. Make sure you know and have no doubts. I promise you that Satan will do all he can to make you wonder but I am encouraging you to fully trust the Lord and He will make it clear to you.
It is going to happen. When? I do not know so I cannot tell you how long we have to wait or how long you have to wait before making a choice to follow Jesus or not, so the best advice I can give you is just be ready and then you do not have to be concerned with that. It could happen before you finish reading this, we just do not know, but indeed one day the trumpet will sound and with the shout of an archangel we will be called up to meet the Lord in the air and oh my what a day that will be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With all my heart I pray to see you there.
Question 3
Religion vs. Relationship
We have looked at several words so far and what they really mean. In this chapter, I want us to look at two words that are very often confused in today's world. Many people associate the word “religion” with going to church. When the word “religion” is defined, it sheds a different light on things. One definition of this word states it to be a set of beliefs or values. Other definitions go on to define religion as a practice based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. Religion has been defined as a cause, a principle or activity pursued with devotion. All of these have one common theme: religion could mean anything. Christianity has long been thrown into the mix with the religions of the world. There are many offered, and seemingly a new one comes up every few months. It is said that there are over 900 religions just here in the United States alone. If we look at how the word is defined, then we see why. When something is just a set of beliefs, it is something anyone could have come up with. A spiritual leader could be anyone who has an idea. A cause or principle or activity could be anything that someone holds special to themselves. All of these things may indeed offer some type of personal peace or sanctity, but none of them offer relationship.
What is the difference between being a Christian and being religious? It is very simple. The teachings of Jesus are not just the teachings of some spiritual leader; they are the Words of God. The life He lived was not only one of example for all to live by but also to die by. If we are not prepared to die, then we are absolutely not prepared to live. Only the words of the Bible can give us clear instructions on how to live, how to act, how to treat others and how to prepare for life after death. Many religions teach all kinds of things. Some teach that you just become a floating spirit after you die. Some teach that you come back as something else like a cow, for example. Others believe that the dead are just dead, and of course we have those who teach of an afterlife filled with never ending pleasures of sexual desires and alcohol.
Let's look at this from a common sense standpoint. The floating spirit view just makes no sense simply because there is no destination. To think of just floating around and never serving any purpose but yet still being able to see all the heartache and pain of our loved ones and not being able to help them is a very unpleasant thought. Would God, who created us, simply allow us to live a life and then just die and there be nothing more? That just does not seem likely either. To simply return in another body or even as an animal does not add up either. Why, after living in this hate filled, evil world, would we want to come back, and why would a God who loves us send us back? He wouldn't, and He doesn't. The idea of going to a place filled with lust and desire may seem enticing to some, but the reality of it seems a little short. There are more who dies than just men. What about the children who die each day? What about the women who die each day? Do they just disappear, just vanish or no longer exist anywhere because they don't count? Of course not! This is why only find the real truth when we turn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is not about religion. As we can clearly see, religion can be anything to anybody in any form. Although Christianity is presented as just one of many religions of the world, it indeed stands out and shines brightly when it is seen through the truth that it gives us. We do not need religion to survive this life and prepare for the next; instead, we need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Everyone in the world needs a personal, one on one relationship with the only One who can save our souls. The Bible teaches that the only name by which one can be saved is Jesus.
(28) Acts 4:12: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Commentary:
(Many teachers around our world try to give different views of eternity, and some teach other views about whom to worship. Here we see another very direct Scripture that gives us only one answer: Jesus is the only name by which we can obtain salvation, period.)
The word saved here means just that, saved from an eternity separated from God in an awful place called Hell. The Bible clearly teaches that we do not have to go there, and indeed God never wanted us to and He is saddened when people choose to go. I realize not all understand this, but it is a choice. There is not one person that is in or will be in hell that did get there on their own, they made a choice. The title of this book Hell is Full of Good People had a purpose—to get your attention. I simply want you to know you do not have to go to Hell. Sure, there are many reasons that people do not go to church. Indeed, it is quite often because of things they have heard or even because of some who do go. The whole point is that there is still a need to address eternal security.
Disregarding church, acting as if it is not important and thinking you don't need it is just a deception brought your way be Satan himself. When he was in the Garden of Eden he in essence told Eve, "Go ahead, eat the fruit. It will be okay; no one will know but just me and you. God only wants to keep you from knowing some things, so go ahead; He won't mind." She believed this lie, and life has never been the same again. Every day that goes by and every day that people continue to have the feeling of "I will worry about dying later, or I will deal with all that when I get older," they continue to show that many continue to fall for the lies of the devil himself.
We are not promised tomorrow. Not only does the Bible teach that, we see it for a fact.
(29) James 4:13-16: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit” whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
Commentary:
(We have been taught, and hopefully have learned through our life, that tomorrow is not a guarantee. The Bible tells us here that “we do know what will happen tomorrow.” The true lesson from this Scripture is that we must be ready all the time because you never know when God can take you out of this world. If you leave and are not prepared, then your eternity is not in a good place. Make it right while you still have the chance. Life is but a vapor; it goes by so fast, and before you know it life has passed you by. Be ready when it comes to an end.)
I was a police officer for many, many years before I became a pastor and death was a daily fact. As I stated earlier, it has been shown that over 6000 people die every day just here in America. Tomorrow is not a guarantee, and religion does not prepare you for what is next. Only a personal relationship with Christ can do that. Before this book comes to an end, I will give readers the opportunity to ask Christ into their hearts and prepare themselves for eternity. I can tell you there is no greater comfort you will ever have than to know that you know it will all be okay no matter what happens here on this earth. Are all religious people ready for that day? No! In fact, probably over half or more are just as lost as those have never entered a church door. The wonderful old hymn "Amazing Grace" states "I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see." Being lost is being in a state of not knowing where you are, but how much worse is it to not only not know where you are, but not know where you are going? This is what religion offers: no clear direction of where you are going. Only a personal relationship with Christ leads you to the final destination that God intended for us at creation and that is in Heaven with Him.
