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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Well, it’s good to see you all this morning. We’ve been going through some Sunday school lessons and today we’re supposed to talk about the ascension Christ leaving and the promise that is coming back. So it’s an interesting subject. Therefore we’re going to talk about it a little bit. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts chapter 1, the book of Acts chapter 1. That must have been something to have literally been there. And so when Christ was crucified and the hopelessness that the disciples must have had, thinking and believing that he’s going to set up the kingdom and then lo and behold, he’s dead.

The death of a vision was really the birth of a new world, a new life made possible by his death. But they didn’t all seem to get it right away. But it wasn’t long. The Jesus had appeared to them and they had a closed room, locked, disciples, afraid, and then the Lord appears right in the midst of them. Wouldn’t that scare you to death? Remember he was talking to two of those two men walking and I wrote in the Bible says, and he was in another form.

He was there, but he was in another form. They didn’t recognize him. Wouldn’t that be interesting to be able to do? You see, they try to make movies like that. This really happened. This really happened. This was before they knew how to even make a movie or something. But now looking verse one of chapter one, verse one, chapter one of the book of Acts. The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do in the teach.

Now, I was referring back to the book of Luke because Luke had wrote about what Jesus began to do and how he was born and he gave him an accurate account of everything that happened. So the book of Luke is a very precise, very good book detailed about Jesus as a man. birth and so forth. And so by the time you get here, now we’re talking about what Jesus is going to continue to do. We call this the acts of the apostles, but it’s really the acts of the Holy Spirit.

It’s the continuation of what Jesus began to do and teach. Alright? Now what happens? So He says, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day, until the day in which he was taken up. After the heat through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. So now we’re talking about something that’s going to happen after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But before he went up, the Bible says he got his disciples together and he gave him many infallible proofs.

In other words, they were convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt, not just by the resurrection, but other additional proofs because now they were fearless. They were ready to lay down their lives for the Lord. I mean, they were ready to go into all the world. They could withstand all the persecution. But look what he says in verse 3. Verse 3 says, to whom also he showed himself alive. After his passion, that means after the death on the cross and resurrection, by geteth by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Wouldn’t that mean some Bible study? To be able to have the Lord himself telling you what he means. And then he knows whether or not you understood or not. He didn’t have to say, well did you get that? Did you get that? Well I teach college class. I would say, did you do you understand what I’m saying? You understand? And they look at you. So okay I got to go over that again. But get this, for 40 days after the resurrection of Christ, he spent all this time with him convincing them, infallible proofs.

I love to see what some of those were. Now we don’t have anything like that. The Bible says that Jesus made the statement that Thomas says, because you see, you believe. But he says, what about those that believe what I’d ever see him? But look what he says there in chapter 20 of the Gospel of John. Just come up pages to your left. But just look there in the Gospel of John. And he says there in verse 26, because Thomas has some questions.

That’s why we always talk about somebody’s been a doubting Thomas. After eight days, again, his disciples were within. This is John chapter 20 verse 26. And Thomas with them Then came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the mist and says, Peace be unto you. Say what? Peace. You just appeared out of nowhere. Anyway, he says in verse 27, then said he do Thomas, reach head of thy finger and behold my hands and reach head of thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing and Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God.

Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed.” Isn’t that a good statement? So there’s a lot of people, we never saw it, but we believe it. And the signs and miracles that were done, that were written and put into the scriptures. This is why God says the book of John was written. It’s like a modern day heaven track. In the words, when you want to lead somebody to the Lord, gospel of John is usually the best book we use.

On Luke, he said in verse 30, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing You might have life through his name. Just by believing, you can have eternal life. That’s why he did what he did. All right, I go back here to Acts chapter one. Now we’re there in verse four.

In verse four of Acts chapter one, says, and being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem. But wait for the promise of the Father, which says, he, you have heard of me. So he commanded them to go, but he told them to wait until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. Now, if he’s already done show them many infallible proofs for 40 days, that means there was only about 10 days left.

And so, the Holy Spirit was going to come and give them power to be witnesses all over the world. That means they got the personal authority from the God of creation to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We’ve already been given the authority. Just sometimes people say, you can’t do that, you can’t talk. You know, I can’t find one version of the Bible that commends us not to talk to somebody. I haven’t found it about where the God says, you know, now is not the right time.

Those are the things that we use. And sometimes they may not be the right time, but you don’t find anything that holds you back from talking to somebody. You know, where a Lord says, no, that person can’t be saved. So don’t even waste your time. Have you found a verse like that? And so you’re not supposed to waste your time. We’re supposed to rename the time. So there must not be a wrong person to witness to. And there may not even be a wrong time to witness.

And there may not be a wrong place to witness. I guess you can probably do that anywhere you think. So when you read the book of Acts, the Acts of the Holy Spirit, if you wanna find out what Christ meant when he told the disciples what to do, well, look in the book of Acts and find out what did they do? Well, then they understood what he meant. So they went into all the world and preached the gospel everywhere they went.

Well, maybe that’s what he meant. So the book of Acts is a good book. It’s a historical account. It doesn’t really command us to follow everything that they did, but it’s an example of the Mobay and the command. They were given the command in Matthew and so forth and loot and all that. But what they did is recorded in the book of Acts. So the Holy Spirit lead in guiding your life and so forth. Sometimes it brings us into contact with people that otherwise you may never talk to them about it.

But it’s just a good thing to do to witness to people. But now look what he says here in verse 4. been assembled, and they were to wait in verse five. But John truly baptized with water. But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. So he was telling them the Holy Spirit that they had talked about, and John the Baptist had mentioned to them, or they were going to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of water that John did was only a picture of the Holy Spirit baptism. So Jesus Christ came, paid for the sins. Barried, came back from the dead. He’s going to go to heaven and says, I’m sending him the promise of the Father, which was the Holy Spirit was coming. And so he says here in verse 6, when they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

You know, if I had been there and he doesn’t finish talking to me, for today’s pertains you the kingdom of God. I may want to know, okay, when are you going to do this? Wouldn’t that be a good question? When? He never told him when. So it’s like you had to live every day believing that well, anytime now I’m coming back. Well, when? Well, any day, just anytime. Can you sit down here and put down here coming back on April the 16th at 4 o’clock.

Now, when I’ve been in easier, then we would have known. But God evidently sees fit not tell us. He says in the book of Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong unto the Lord. In other words, I guess there’s something God said, you don’t need to know. You just suppose to serve me. You know in the book of John the last couple of chapters, Jesus was talking to Peter and he says, do you love me? He said, yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, He asked him three times.

I’m going to why he asked him three times. Got a clue? He denied him three times. So he gets three times to say, I love you. I love you. I love you. I think that’s so interesting. And he says, no, they’re going to have to carry you and take you where you don’t want to go, signifying what kind of a death he was going to die. So he knew he was going to live long and then they was going to kill him.

Isn’t that wonderful to know that you’re going you’re gonna die. And he’s gonna die before the Lord comes back. And so John said, well, what about him? Talking about John. He says, if I want him to stay until I come, what’s that to you? You do what I told you to do. You say he wouldn’t have told him that. Oh, he did too. He said it. Look at verse 21 of chapter 21 of John. If you had no skull field, it’s just right across the page here.

But look at verse 21. Peter seen himself to Jesus. Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus said unto him, What if I will that he tarried till I come? What is that to thee? Follow thou me? Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die. But if I will that he tarried till I come, what is that to thee? In other words, Peter got it wrong again, started a rumor.

Peter’s always saying things that he shouldn’t say, but anyway, he says, if it is that I want him to stay alive until I come back, what’s that to you? Now he just finished telling Peter he was going to die. So Peter knew that he, the Lord not come back in his lifetime, but he didn’t know when he was going to die. So he didn’t know how long that was going to be. Well, when are you going to set up this kingdom?

That’s a good question. In verse 7 he says of chapter 1, he said unto them, it is not for you to know. Now is that clear enough? It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. In other words, he will reveal it when he wants to reveal it. He will do it when he gets ready to do it. In other words, it’s none of your business. You just do what I tell you to do.

This is why it’s so important that we understand Christ is coming back. But we have to watch that we’re not date setters because your credibility is on the line. Because what if he doesn’t come back on the date you said? Somebody might think you just made that up, and then they may not believe you on something else. So I try my best not to set dates. Or if you get on a hobby horse like on prophecy, which you can do because, oh man, I love to study prophecy.

I can preach every service about what’s going on in the Middle East and always have… You think I was either Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or some newscat? No, no, no, no. I’d like to teach the Bible and those guys could do all of that they want to do, but they never give you answers. They never tell you what is going to take place because it’s not from a biblical point of view. We know the biblical point of view.

We can tell you that this is what God says is going to take place and it sure looks like things are really stepping up that could happen soon. So we believe Christ is gonna come back, but this is what he said. Now I’ll show you this in just a second, but first of all, look there in verse eight. Verse eight says, But ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of there.

In other words, I’ve given you a job to do. You concentrate upon what I told you to do. Don’t worry about the other, I’ll take care of that. You just do what I told you to do. And what did he tell him to do? Going to all the world and priests, the gospel. In other words, you have been told what to do. And so, not everybody likes to do what God wants him to do, you know, because sometimes God interrupts our schedule.

He wants us to do things that maybe we don’t want to do. Maybe he wants me to go somewhere and I don’t want to go. You’d be surprised sometimes God puts little longings and tuggings in your heart about doing certain things and he wants to lead and guide you. And so he does that sometimes by closing off doors and opening up other doors and just opportunities that you might think you were in charge and yet God may be guiding you to put you where he wants you to be and you just trust the Lord.

Believing verse nine. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now, a lot of times people wonder, is this talking about the rapture, or is this talking about the revelation when Christ comes back again in power and great glory? You’ll notice what he says here, he was taken up a cloud, received him out of their sight. Then he says in verse 10, And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, the whole two men stood by them in white apparel.

Which also said, ye men of Galilean, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in light manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Now we believe that when he went up on the mount here, He’s coming back on the very same mountain. So on the Mount of Olives, I’ve been there a number of times. I think Hankland’s been there about 15, 16 times, something like that.

And so if you’re looking east from the top of the Temple Mount, and you can see the Mount of Olives, then there’s a lot of open sepprecahs and so forth. Well, they’re not open, but they’re sepprecahs all over the side of the hill there. And he says, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven, the same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, so shall come again in like men as you have seen him go into heaven.

It seems like, what are you standing here for? You’ve been given a command, you’ve been told what to do, now you go do what you’re supposed to do. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? In other words, you can go on the mountain top and there’s people that do this and they get up on some top of the roof and they’re just waiting for Jesus to come. But that’s not what he told us to do. He gave us assignment.

You do what you’re supposed to do and let him come when he wants to come. But you try to spend all your time trying to figure that out and that absorbs you and then you never did what God wanted you to do with your life. good to know Jesus is coming. I don’t need to know when. If I knew He was coming back in two years positively, I would not change what I’m doing right now. Because don’t I believe that what I’m doing right now is what God wants me to do right now?

Then that’s what I keep doing. So this is important to keep in mind and to remember. But when he says the same Jesus that’s taken up shall so come again in like manner, that means that he left from the Mount of Olives and he’s coming back and he’s gonna be touching the Mount of Olives. So I would believe that when he’s talking about here, he’s talking to the Jewish people and he’s not talking about the church. As probably he’s talking about when he comes back in power and great glory.

That means at the end of the tribulation period. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 will quit. This turn to you He had left Matthew chapter 24. Now Jesus is talking to His disciples. He’s telling them about what’s going to take place in the end of time. And they came to Him and says, well, what is the sign of your coming? I mean, you’re going to come back. Okay?

How will we know it’s you? Jesus says, well, a lot of people are going to say they’re the Messiah. He says, don’t believe it. He says, when I come back, here’s a sign. He didn’t tell him the day and the hour, but he didn’t tell him a sign. And he says, the sign of the Son of Man coming in heaven is going to be this. See there in verse 27? For the lightening, as the lightening cometh out of the east and shining even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

And he says, this is what’s going to happen. And we’re so over the carcasses there were the eagles begathered. That’s the battle of Armageddon. That’s where all the files of the air come. So he’s talking about at the end of the tribulation period this coming. So then he says in verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, so we’re not talking about him coming at the beginning of the tribulation, but at the end of the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the power of the heaven shall be shaken.

Now all this is talking about doing the tribulation period the last time. And verse 30, then, then shall appear, the sign of the Son of man in heaven. So this is at the end of the tribulation period. Kind of lays it off for you so you can see that. And he says, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see, get it, they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

So this is when he comes back to the earth. And this is according to Zachariah 14. He says that his feet shall touch that day upon the Mount of Olives and it will cleave and mist and so on. So he will come back. They will see him coming as they saw him leave and he’s coming to the very same spot, I believe. But this is not the rapture. The rapture is for the church and we’re not talking about the church yet.

Now take your Bible look in chapter 25. In the book of Matthew chapter 25, you’ll notice in verse 31, just to look at these two verses. In verse 31 says, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory. So when you see words like in His glory, a power, and every eye shall see Him, you know that’s talking at the end of the tribulation period. That’s when Christ comes back before He sets up His Kingdom. But see the Ratcher has already taken place seven years before that.

So if the Lord came back today for us. We won’t see, we may hear a trumpet, and we will just vanish out of here and meet the Lord in the air, not in Mount Olives over in Israel. And we’ll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and we’ll stand at the jubbiness of Christ, and then we’ll go to the marriage, up to the Lamb, and then we’ll come back with Christ with all of his armies, and he’s coming back.

There’s the Battle of Armageddon, and he’s set up his kingdom upon the year. So this has to deal with when he is revealed. That’s why we call the book of Revelation the revealing when they see him coming in power and great glory. When the rapture takes place it’s in the moment the twinkling of an eye. You disappear here and you appear there and so that’s what we are looking for. We’re looking for the blessed hope otherwise we would be looking for the blessed tribulation, I don’t think so.

So anyway… So he says here in verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he set upon the throne of his glory. So that means that this is when he’s going to set. See, when he comes for you and I at the rapture, he’s not going to establish his kingdom at that time. There’s still seven years of tribulation that’s going to take place. But when he comes to the earth in power and great glory, and every eye will see him, then he will set up his throne upon the earth, the kingdom that he talks about.

So he says here, then shall he set up his throne in verse 32, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate one from another. The shepherd will separate as the sheep from the goats. The believers from all the nations who believed on the Lord go to heaven. And those that do not go to hell. And so these saved individuals of all these nations that have come through the tribulation period, if they believed in the Lord, they get to go into the kingdom.

If they don’t, they don’t get to go into the kingdom. So now take your Bible and turn to book of Acts in chapter three. Acts chapter three. There’s an interesting portion of scripture here. I don’t hear it taught very much, but I do want to run it by you. And you’ll notice here in the book of Acts and chapter three. So they had gotten busy doing the things they were supposed to do. And there had been warnings to the people that you have crucified the Lord of glory.

And he told them. So if you’ll notice here, look in verse 13. Verse 13 of chapter three of Book of Acts. the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. Pilate was going to let him go. Pilate wanted to. The Bible says that too. But ye denied the Holy One of the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.”

Now who was this murderer? Barabbas. You know, more people know about Barabbas today, you’d be surprised. I mean, people, they make a move about Barabbas. Well, anyway, but he says, you desired a murder to be granted to you. Now are they letting them off the hook or are they hitting them right between the eyes? They said, this is what God did, and this is what you did. You did this. And then he says here in verse 15, and killed the Prince of life, the Prince of life.

That’s the of eternal life. The only source of eternal life is from the person who has eternal life. He is eternal life. Eternal life isn’t the thing that you can put in a refrigerator and look at everyone in a while. eternal life is the person. Jesus Christ is eternal life. That’s who He is. That’s why He said He that hath the Son hath eternal life. Because when He said I’ll never leave you never, that’s why you can’t lose eternal life, because it’s the person.

Jesus Christ is eternal life. This is the true God and eternal life. First John chapter 5. Have you heard about Bibleline Institute, the online Bible college of Bibleline Ministries? There are 11 different Bible college courses to choose from and for this month we’d like to give you a free enrollment to the class personal evangelism taught by Dr. Arnold. For your gift to Bibleline ministries in any amount, you’ll have full use of the 10-hour course which you can access whenever you like as often as you’d like it’s online.

The classes include video instruction, lecture notes, quizzes and if you’d like to send a quiz, and submitted. Again, it’s all online. When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the class personal evangelism. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your email address or contact information. God bless you and thank you again for supporting Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. \”> Friends, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in theitial. So live today and every day, believe in that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.