CHRIST OUR PEACE, 09.10.2017

Radioprogram, Christ Our Peace, 09.10.2017

 

Announcer 01: Dear Listeners,

The title of today’s program is Christ Our Peace.

Nothing is written in the Bible by accident; if any situation is described in the Bible, it means you can appear in a similar situation in your own life, and when that happens, you will know what attitude to take. The Bible shows God’s attitude and His answer to such situations.

Announcer 02: For example, in our previous programs we spoke about construction of the Tower of Babel. So how to apply it to our life today?

Announcer 01: A very good example, Anna. The same thing has repeated itself in all generations. If the Bible tells us even a little story, or just hints about something, it is never without a purpose. We Christians must take it into account, as one day a Bible verse or a Bible story can become an answer for us. 

Concerning the construction of the Tower of Babel, it proves people’s rebellion and their willful desire for power. The enemy of mankind always lures people created by God into willful desire for power, although each person is created with an inherent desire to seek and know God their Creator. And whenever this desire is satisfied, people understand and experience joy, light, peace and happiness.

Announcer 02: Mankind is sure to have an enemy; otherwise who makes so much effort to keep people from seeing the Light and having peace and joy? And whenever a person drifts away from the eternal Light inside and focuses on today’s life and their daily cares, sadness and heaviness come.

Announcer 01: And in all centuries, rebellious demons haunt people, mislead them, deceive them and lead them astray from the Truth

Even by using Scriptures, these demons keep people in fear and persuade them to take what is wrong for what is right. Whenever satan uses Scriptures, the presence of the Holy Spirit is not there. That is why we need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, as this very Spirit tells us what is of God and what is of the devil.

Announcer 02: You are right, Suren. The voices of this world have been multiplied. Today it is vital to live with the Holy Spirit. If we are unable to hear His voice, the voices of this world will throw us into confusion and anxiety.

Announcer 01: When this world starts to play its game, it affects your soul, your thoughts and your attitude. You lose your fervor and cancel your own decisions; your enthusiasm is gone, and that is what the devil wants to see in you, - anxieties, worries or even hysterias.

Satan plays his games to get you react negatively, to bring fear into your daily life and then to fill all your life with it. Today the spirit of Babylon raises its voice again, as it was doing in all the ages. It declares that the end has come, - the end to mankind and this world.

Announcer 02: It is already for years that the entire human race fearfully follows the news, changes in the political arena around the world and terrifying natural phenomena.

Announcer 01: These things happened in all the centuries, but with time, they had more and more victims, especially in the centuries following the coming of Christ.

 

Each time when a tyrant tried to conquer the whole world, people thought that the end was near. It was especially true during the World War II, when the whole world was split in two opposite coalitions and 62 or the 73 existing governments of the world were involved in the war.

Announcer 02: Oh yes; all the people were waiting with bated breath whether the 3^rd Reich was going to become the so-called “Ruler of Peace” of this world.

Announcer 01: Everything led to that. Most Christians of that day thought here was the Antichrist, who murdered 5 millions of Jews. So they thought those were the days of coming of Jesus the Messiah and of the end of the age!

Announcer 02: Interestingly, in the days of Jesus, the disciples thought in the same way. They thought it was the end of the cruel and arrogant Roman regime, as their Messiah and Savior finally came. And at first, when they saw their King crucified and dead on the Cross, they were disappointed.

Announcer 01: However, praise God for those priests and teachers who were keenly following the prophecies and understood that it was the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise God for Paul! He studied at the feet of Gamaliel, a renowned teacher of the Old Testament. Paul understood the prophecies very well, and then he was filled with the Holy Spirit, through Whom he came to know the proper succession of events in the Bible.

Paul especially used his Epistles to explain to both Christians and Jews that everything that happened to Jesus Christ was foretold and was confirmed by the Prophets, the Psalms and the Pentateuch.

Announcer 02: And the story repeats itself throughout history. In every generation people were fearful and thought, “The end has come”.

Announcer 01: And this is the subject of today’s program. Dear Christians, go deeper into the Scriptures, follow Christ’s words to see whether everything that is going on corresponds to what He said.

Do not be discouraged, do not lose your peace, as Christ is the Prince of Peace. Call upon His name, be filled with the peace and joy of Christ. The fact we approach to the last days does not mean we must be filled with more anxiety and open doors for different fears.

Announcer 02: And why don’t we come closer to the Author and King of our faith, to our Prince of Peace?

Announcer 01: Yes, because the enemy is acting now. The old spirit, the hostile spirit of Babylon is stirring the whole earth again with its rebellious decisions. He always tries to outrun God’s appointed timing, as he is full of fear thinking that God’s timing will suddenly come upon him and he will be defeated.  

With his willful and rebellious thoughts against God, he plans a new end of the world and appoints a new Ruler of Peace for himself.

He needs new victims. And first of all, this spirit has mobilized all his army only to keep Christians unaware and dormant, so that they do not understand the actions and teachings of the enemy. Oftentimes we Christians take the teachings of the enemy for the teachings of Christ, unaware who is really behind them.

Dear Christians, Babylon has not become silent in the lives of people! This demonic system with its new rules wants to do everything to prove to Christians that the end of the world has come. It wants to say, “Some more years, and the end will come; Christ will come”.

Announcer 02: But at first glance, when you look at the world and today’s chaos, you can say that it corresponds to the conditions that Christ foretold in His parables.

Announcer 01: After the resurrection of Christ, the devil made up false signs of the end a lot of times. And each time it was more loathsome and bloody. Each time there were more victims. So many wanted to be the Christ, the savior of the world themselves, but no one is able acquire this position; it was assigned many centuries ago in Heaven.

Announcer 02: I think the best thing we Christians can do is to follow the Gospel, as in the Gospels, we can see everything that is going to happen in the right order. And year after year we need do delve deeper into the Bible so that we are not deceived by this ancient and at the same time very modern spirit.

Announcer 01: By the way, Matthew 24 gives very correct description of the end times and the royal coming of Christ, so let us read it now:

1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

After this, the disciples asked Him several questions:

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

And now, look how Jesus answered these three questions:

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Notice that it is not the end yet.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,[b] and earthquakes in various places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Now He says it is just the beginning of sorrows, and then passes to the next stage:

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

And now let us read verse 14:

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

So firs the Gospel will be preached to all the nations, and only and only then the end will come!

Announcer 02: So that’s when the end will come. “This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations”. And now we see some organizations that seem to be Christian, some seemingly Christian institutions do everything for the end to come; they want all the people to think that the end is near; some more years and all of it will be over; however, read what is written here, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come”.  

Announcer 01: You know, the devil does not want this part to be fulfilled. He is in haste, as he does not want the Gospel to be preached all over the world, to all the nations. He does not want people to receive a witness that Christ is the King, that He is our Peace and Righteousness.

The devil does not want this to happen. Today many Gentile nations that follow their own religions are displaced from their own countries. Take a close look; which nations have been displaced and are flowing to Christian regions like rivers? These are people from Asia and the Middle East, whose gods have nothing to do with our God, Jesus Christ.

Announcer 02: Exactly. On one hand, you see displaced nations, enmity, wars, and on the other hand, you see a door opened to Christians to testify about Christ the Messiah, the King. Dear Christians, let us pass this call of alertness to one another. A time will come when all these doors will be closed. If you don’t do it and I don’t do it, be sure that stones will do it. But at the close of the time, you and I will face a very sad reality.

Announcer 01: At the same time, we must not panic, be afraid or live in anxiety; we shall do everything peacefully and with a calm heart. The Spirit of the Lord will help us; however, we shall love Christ and have a drive to fulfill His Great Commission. He will give us right words and show us what to do.  

Announcer 02: Of course it is important to correctly present Christ to the Gentiles; many say that we are to learn their religion so that we can duly preach the Gospel to them. It would be good to be learned and to be persuasive with the Gentiles; however, many of us Christians do not have this knowledge and will not even have time to go and study about how to preach to the Gentiles.  

However, we have the Holy Spirit, Who makes us alert and wise in all situations. The most important thing is to have the Spirit of Christ in us. When we have the Spirit of Christ, we will be able to duly present the Good News to the person who seeks Christ.  

Announcer 01: Will our education be able to accomplish more than the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us?

Dear Christians, please do not think that we are against education; knowledge is very important for each Christian. However, let us remember that we live in critical times; and by now, only about 30% of Christians have some sort of theological education. Shall we say that only they are to go and preach the Gospel and the 70% shall just sit back and watch them? Surely no!

Christ has given us the Holy, Almighty and Powerful Spirit, Who crushed the chains that bound Peter’s hands and took him out of prison, Who transported Philip from one city to another in a moment, Who resurrected Dorcas to life in the Acts of Apostles. And finally, Who was with our Lord Jesus Christ during His life and brought Him back to life after His crucifixion and death. He still has so much in store for us Christians! He will be with us during the difficulties that we saw in Matthew 24. It is very important for us to always have the Spirit of Christ in us and in our lives.

Yes, dear Christian, preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Gentiles! He will be with you; He will help you. Do it for Christ! Do not allow the demonic world bypass this period of preaching the Gospel. We need to bear witness about our King. The world speaks about its kings and idols all the time, spreading and instilling fear. And are we ashamed or afraid to speak about Christ our Peace and Righteousness?

Announcer 02: When we read Matthew 24 to the end, we see that difficult times are approaching, but at the same time we need to remember that God gives a way out in trials. We should not alarm other believers, but be encouraged and become closer to one another; pastors and churches need to have more love and unity between each other. The devil’s strategy is to sow enmity between churches and to stir pastors and ministers against one another.

The enemy wants Christians to look down upon one another; he wants them to be full of pride and secretly criticize each other. However, the truth is each of them met Jesus, wept in His presence, felt His love and joy inside and understood His love. All of them know very well that He is the coming King Who will reign forever, but for some reason they cannot overcome criticism and enmity toward one another.

Rivalry between Christian Confessions and self-advertising of Christian Leaders has become the new vision of the Church. They strive to have more money and open new ministries. But why all this, if you have no spiritual weight, if everything is just a showoff and does not bring people to salvation? So sad.

Announcer 01: In the Proverbs it is written, that it is better to have little but with peace…

Announcer 02: Yes, it is better to have little but with the anointing, with the Spirit of Christ.

Announcer 01: We are sons of the Light, we belong to Christ, and our light must shine in the darkness; we must not receive people coming from darkness and send them away more confused and darkened.

Announcer 02: Christians of the older generation have so much to pass to the coming generation of believers.

Announcer 01: Yes, and first of all the warrior Spirit of Christ, which cannot be stopped by fearful scenes, by confusing news or by delusions. Instead, with the full armor of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and with the Good and Peaceful News of the Gospel, such Christians fight in prayers and capture the territories occupied by the enemy.

Announcer 02: Let us fight to take back our children, our parents and our loved ones from the enemy. Finally, let us fight to take back the nations from the enemy and fill them with the light of the Gospel of Peace.

During our next program, we will continue to discuss Matthew 24 and 25.

Announcer 01: It is very important for us to read the Gospels exhaustively, studying and analyzing each verse, so that we are not confused by the storms in this world.

The Bible teaches us that God has a special plan for each period in history, for each nation and for each person.

Finally, the Kingdom of Christ will be established by His coming. God will erase all lawlessness and deception.

Each Christian knows where they have come from, why they are here and where they are going. The One Who reigns in each Christian is Peace Itself.

Announcer 02: I remembered these words from Billy Graham’s book called Peace with God. I always have them with me. It will be good for me to read it as an epilogue.

“The storm was raging. The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing, but the little bird was asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head serenely under it wing, sound asleep. That is peace: to be able to rest serenely in the storm!

In Christ we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of the confusions, bewilderments and perplexities of this life. The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest. We have found peace – at last!”