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Pastor Don Carpenter \/ General<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uncomfortable: The Awkward and\nEssential Challenge of Christian Community \/ Marriage of the Lamb; Bride of\nChrist; Victory \/ Revelation 19:4\u20139<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A young boy\nwas waiting after church for his family. The pastor saw him standing around and\nstruck up a conversation. Since the boy had just come from Sunday school, the\npastor decided to ask him some questions to determine just how much the\nchildren were learning there. He said, \u201cYoung man, if you can tell me something\nthat God can do, I\u2019ll give you a big shiny apple.\u201d Thoughtfully the boy\nreplied, \u201cSir, if you can tell me something God can\u2019t do, I\u2019ll give you a whole\nbox of apples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael P.\nGreen, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker\nBooks, 2000), 170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we conclude\nour series entitled Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of the\nChristian Community, we must cast our eyes on the end game. We serve an Almighty God! We serve a victorious God! We serve on the winning side! Yes we fight the world, the flesh , and the devil\nevery day, but one day the trumpet will sound, our Savior will split the\nEastern sky, we who are saved will be changed, and Jesus our Savior will\nultimately claim the throne that is rightfully His. The ground lost at the garden of Eden will be\nreclaimed, the Devil will be banished and we will reign with our Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus tells\nthat His relationship with the universal church, which will have her charter\nmeeting in the clouds at the rapture, is like the relationship between the\ngroom and the Bride. After the rapture\nas as the Kingdom is established, there will be a wedding\u2026 the long awaited\nunion between the Church and her Husband, Jesus Christ. As we fight through the sadness and setbacks\nin this world, let us keep our minds on\nthat blessed day when we will be a part of the long awaited Wedding between\nJesus and the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Revelation 19:4 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down\nand worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 19:5 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God,\nall ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 19:6 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as\nthe voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying,\nAlleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 This is after the greatest\npersecution believers have ever endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 This is after the Beast made\nmost of mankind doubt God\u2019s goodness and strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 This is after Babylon the Great\nfell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 This is as the Beast and the\nDevil were about to fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 This is just before the Kingdom\nis ushered in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ???????????<\/strong>, ???? <\/strong>m<\/em> (a title for\nGod, literally \u2018all powerful\u2019)\u2014\u2018the Almighty, the One who has all power.\u2019 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n ????????b: …\nto be in control in an absolute manner\u2014\u2018to reign, to control completely. – Louw\/ Nida<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johannes P.\nLouw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based\non Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 473.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 11:15 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in\nheaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms<\/em> of\nour Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 19:7 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the\nmarriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philippians 1:6 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun\na good work in you will perform it<\/em> until the day of Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever the\nBride becomes, Jesus made her that way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ephesians 5:25 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the\nchurch, and gave himself for it;<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ephesians 5:26 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of\nwater by the word,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ephesians 5:27 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not\nhaving spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and\nwithout blemish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joni Eareckson Tada, who since a diving\naccident as a teenager has lived from a wheelchair, wrote about the day of her\nwedding: \u201cI felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body\ninto a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave\nme a good shape. The dress just didn\u2019t fit. Then, as I was wheeling into the\nchurch, I glanced down and noticed that I\u2019d accidentally run over the hem of\nthe dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn\u2019t hold the\nbouquet of daisies that lay off center on my lap. And my chair, though\ndecorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts,\ngears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn\u2019t feel like the picture perfect\nbride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a\nglimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal\nattire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My\nface flushed, and I suddenly couldn\u2019t wait to be with him. I had seen my\nbeloved. The love in Ken\u2019s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness.\nI was his \u2018radiant\u2019 bride. How easy for us to think that we\u2019re utterly\nunlovely- especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But he loves us with the\nbright eyes of a Bridegroom\u2019s love and cannot wait for the day we are united\nwith him forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 19:8 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine\nlinen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelation 19:9 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are<\/em> they which\nare called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These\nare the true sayings of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After all the\nstruggles, stumbles, and even falls, the Bride is Holy complete and\nspotless. Just as we were destined to\nbe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 8:29 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be<\/em>\nconformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many\nbrethren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 6:9 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the\nkingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor\nadulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 6:10 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor\nextortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are\nsanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the\nSpirit of our God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Holy Bride\nis the result of God\u2019s Handiwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philippians 2:13 KJV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his<\/em>\ngood pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We struggle,\nfight and sometimes fail now, but keep your eyes of faith pealed on the Sky\u2026\nsomeday our Groom will come! \nSomeday We will be changed,\nsinless and glorified. Someday believers\non this side of Calvary will be in that Long Awaited wedding. Are you prepared?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles Spurgeon said, “Climb ye up to\nheaven, and behold the snow-white host, glittering like the sun in spotless\npurity. I ask them whence came they? The reply is that they have washed their\nrobes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is most true that Jesus\nsaves his people from their sins–earth knows it, hell howls at it, and heaven\nchants it; time has seen it, and eternity shall reveal it. There is none like\nto Jesus in saving power. All glory be to him! When he shall come from heaven\nwith a shout, and all his hosts shall be with him, when the day of the supper\nof the Lamb shall come, and the bride hath made herself ready, and she that is\nthe queen all glorious within, wearing her raiment of wrought gold, shall sit\ndown at the table of God with her glorious husband then shall it be seen that\nhe has saved his church, his people, from their sins.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pastor Don Carpenter \/ General Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community \/ Marriage of the Lamb; Bride of Christ; Victory \/ Revelation 19:4\u20139 A young boy was waiting after church for his family. The pastor saw him standing around and struck up a conversation. Since the boy had just come from Sunday … Continue reading The Long Awaited Wedding<\/span> The Lord God Omnipotent Reigns!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
We Will See that the Bride Made Herself Ready!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
We Will See the Bride Has Been Given A Beautiful White Dress<\/h1>\n\n\n\n