Josh1Eight

 “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Jesus sent out the twelve disciples with His power and authority to heal, perform miracles, to preach his coming kingdom, and to cast out  demons. Of all who ever lived they not only experienced Jesus Christ first hand and saw God in  the flesh  but received his direct power and blessing to exercise supernatural authority in His name. Only a select few an earth would ever get such a privilege to personally experience God in the way the 12 did. It's hard not to envy those men who literally walked with Jesus and witnessed things we never will. Yet consider that Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve who not only witnessed the power of God through Jesus of Nazareth, was filled with His supernatural power to perform miracles, and yet despite years of ministry experience still m...

"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27–28 (ESV) There are only a few guarantees in life and only one of them is permanent - death.  Of all the promises found in the Bible, death is the most certain one. It's an inescapable reality each of us must face.  But then what?   This verse here is pretty explicit about what’s next- we each face God's judgment. The good news is that Christ has fully dealt with sin and is offering an exemption to judgment for all who will turn from their sin to embrace His mercy. That’s a guarantee you can stake your entire eternity on. But not everyone has right standing before God- in fact most do not, only because they have refused to surrender to Jesus Christ (as of today His offer still stands). History is conclusive- there is n...