CCF Weekly Services Podcast

The nature and tactics of the enemy are deception, destruction, and ultimately separation from us and God. The response is and only ever will be further and deeper dependence on Jesus to answer every spiritual threat.

1. If the unexamined life isn't worth living, the unexamined faith isn't worth having.
2. Satan's name means adversary or accuser. It's as much who he is and it is how he relates to us.
3. Jesus is our sole response to Spiritual warfare.

Jesus prepared for the greatest trial of His earthly ministry as a demonstration for how we are to prepare for our own trials. He first reminded them of His faithfulness to them in the past. This put His faithfulness to them in the future into perspective. He then pursued prayer with the Father in response to an incredible amount of stress. And finally He focused on the well being of His disciples rather than Himself.

1. Thankfulness calls to mind God's faithfulness in the past to prepare us for the future.
2. Prayer reminds us of God's presence in our lives regardless of how our circumstances may make us feel.
3. Focusing on the needs of others gets our minds off of ourselves.

In a heavily symbolic section of scripture, we are told that Israel will produce the Messiah. The enemy will try to destroy the Messiah but will fail. God will then protect His people for the remainder of the Tribulation as we're reading about them now. The reason we come to these conclusions is a combination of three things. Reading the whole text, recognizing quotes from previous texts, and allowing what we do know to sort out what we don't.

1. If something hasn't been explained before in the Bible, it's about to be.
2. If you haven't read the first 65 books of the Bible, the 66th isn't going to make a lot of sense to you.
3. A sign is something that is meant to point you to something else.

When correcting His disciples from yet another dispute over their greatness, The Apostle Peter is directly addressed with the greatest failure of his life being prophesied by His Lord. The trial was not one he would survive, but that wouldn't ultimately destroy the work God had yet to do in his life. In this we see the difference between a trial and temptation. The enemy wanted to destroy Peter through seeing just how weak he was. But Jesus personally restored him after every failure as well as equipped him for every victory. The same is true for us in every trial.

1. The difference between a trial and a temptation is their source. God gives us trials. The enemy tempts us.
2. The difference between a trial and a temptation is their purpose. God wants you to succeed. The enemy doesn't.
3. The purpose of a trial is to give us another opportunity to see God restore and prove Himself faithful to us.

The Seventh Trumpet Judgment ushers in the third and final woe of the Tribulation. While the world is horrified at the dramatic display of power and wrath, Heaven is worshiping. They acknowledge God for who He is, what He's done, and why He's doing it. With numerous quotations from the Old Testament, the significance is self-explanatory. The significance of it on our lives today is just as plain. The world will continue to be the world. And God will continue to be God. Those who have rejected His mercy will continue to do so. But God will see those who have safely home come hell or high water.

1. Heaven rejoices in response to what the world tries to delay.
2. Faith is at its fullest when you know God's character enough to consider a promise worth celebrating as if it's already happened.
3. To enter the presence of God is to invite judgment on yourself. That judgment will either be mercy or wrath.

Easter is a celebration and remembrance of the Resurrection. We don't believe it because it is something we say as Christians. It's not something we believe because it makes us popular or live easier lives. We believe it because it can be verified historically beyond a reasonable doubt. With 500 documented eyewitnesses seeing Him alive after a publicly verified death, we can know that there is a God. And even more importantly, we can know what He's done for us personally to make a relationship with Him possible. Living in light of those truths is the Christian life.

1. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is grounded in verifiable history.
2. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is verified by 500 documented eyewitnesses.
3. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ provides clarity regarding every issue we experience in the Christian life.

Good Friday is a confusing time for some because the celebration of the death of someone we believe is God doesn't sound like something worth celebrating. However, the reason we don't mourn Him is because we understand He was taking our place and experiencing the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to. If any emotion should accompany Good Friday, it should be thankfulness for the mercy we've been shown.

1. Jesus death was something done deliberately to redeem us back to God and predicted centuries in advance.
2. The Bible does not believe man is basically good. Jesus had to die because there was no other way to save us.
3. No one got into Heaven by being good enough. It is only through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

The Two Witnesses are introduced and explained to be the fulfillments of various Old Testament prophecies as well as the means by which the 144,000 heard the gospel to begin with. Their ministry will end at the halfway point of the Tribulation, but all attempts to silence them before God's timing will fail as totally as the world's attempts to silence us today. The key is to follow their example. Disciple or die. Trust in God to protect you where He wants you to be. And understand that the worst the world can do to you ultimately accomplishes nothing against you.

Jesus reminds His disciples once again about what's most important in the kingdom of God. Their view is the same as everyone else. Who is going to get rewarded the most? Jesus reminds them how He will reward them in the first place. The world rewards on the basis of who has done the most. God rewards on the basis of just hanging in there. The people who stick around in the Christian life will be surprised how much God did through them as they continue to just show up.

The Two Witnesses are introduced and explained to be the fulfillments of various Old Testament prophecies as well as the means by which the 144,000 heard the gospel to begin with. Their ministry will end at the halfway point of the Tribulation, but all attempts to silence them before God's timing will fail as totally as the world's attempts to silence us today. The key is to follow their example. Disciple or die. Trust in God to protect you where He wants you to be. And understand that the worst the world can do to you ultimately accomplishes nothing against you.

1. More information is always better than less when coming to conclusions.
2. If you haven't read the first 65 books of the Bible, the 66th isn't going to make a lot of sense to you.
3. The man of God is indestructible until the Lord calls him home.