As we have been learning in our series in Mark 13, we are now living in the period Jesus calls "the beginning of birth pains." This period began with the birth of the church and will continue until the days of great distress, also known as the Great Tribulation. (See my blog entry below.) If you want to read more about the other 1.8 billion Christians living in the world today who are undergoing persecution, check out the links listed at www.persecutedchurch.org.
Also, a couple of popular books on modern day martyrdom have been published by DC Talk, "Jesus Freaks: The Voice of the Martyrs" and Jars of Clay, "The Narrow Road."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Like many who grew up in the evangelical tradition, I too grew up just accepting the idea of a pre-trib rapture, but like you commented, it always seemed a bit forced when I did my studies, no matter how pleasant it is to the ear. It is so good to hear the scriptures taught verse by verse as opposed to a topical study where the speaker might introduce his own personal bias putting a “spin” on the subject matter. The Rubik’s cube analogy is a good one.
Two Sundays ago you mentioned that you plan to explain how God has promised to protect His church during the tribulation. (Thank goodness for the audio sermons on the website since we were on vacation the first two Sundaysof the series; what a great tool!) I would like to hear about this since I now know that we will still be around for this tribulation period...unless the Lord tarries.
Also, I am anxious to here your comments on Jesus’ statement is verse 30 where he says, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Obviously he wasn’t referring to a real generation or 40 years. If he meant the nation of Israel, generation seems a funny turn of phrase to make that point. Care to clear this up?
Thanks for addressing so many questions, the teaching has been great! I’ll bet you are getting all kinds of comments and questions on this series. I hope you can address them all by next week because I am not sure you will get permission a second time to expand the sermon series. I hear that the senior pastor is a tough guy with which to negotiate!
Post a Comment