Hi, I am Claude and welcome to Acts.net.

This topics "Past Present Future Snip" has 4 chapters that we will be walking through together.

Acts, Matthew 24:42-44, Revelation 14:12, Hebrews 10:19-31

How do we think that the past can fix the future or the present can alter the future? Can we prove that the past and the present will definitively change the future? Yes, we can. The bible will show us how this will happen.

First, we need a few stones to be aligned. This alignment comes from one solid person, Jesus. When you read Matthew 1:1-17, you will see the genealogy of the ancestors of Jesus. Or you can say that from Adam, there is one lineage that goes down to Jesus. Either way, you can not modify that line.

We are not here to prove where or when the universe started. Just the part of God's Son on Earth. Why the planet has been divided into so many religions, and every one of them believes in God. Would you get confused if you were from another planet and come to Earth and ask those questions? You see that everything is based on one God, but everyone had a different meaning? I know I would be. But now I am not confused.

I was born Catholic, and now I was reborn as a Christian. So I could say they are two different Gods in my life. Both are the same God. Even Muslims believe in God. Their god does not include Jesus. The Catholic and most Protestants believe in Jesus being the son of God. Here is another difference, Catholics believe that God the Father and Jesus plus their virgin Mary are the only ones who can save you. The Protestant belief is that you must repent and believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Once that is done, then you are born again, and then Jesus will write your name in the Book of Life; the only book that God the Father will look into when judgment day comes.

Now we need to know why God has put in place a series of hints in the Bible. If we look at Zephaniah 1:1-18, there is a great prophecy that will happen if men do not change. That came to the past with Noah. Now there is another great prophecy given by Jesus. This one tells of forty-two months of birth pain and forty-two months of Tribulation. Jesus gave this prophecy when he was on Earth, and later, he showed John, his servant. He showed him what was going to happen if we do not change. The reason why we have so much problem understanding this book is because of John. John would be around 62 years old, and he was on the island of Patmos.

Imagine this, John is 62, and he sees things that could happen in the year 2032. He would not know what a helicopter is. He would certainly not know what a missile is. What about the nuclear bomb, nope, or what about submarines or huge ships, or planes of different shapes: none of the above he would understand. But he wrote what he saw and brought it all back to his time. Can we decipher the book of Revelation? Yes, we can. There is a huge 'but' on that decipher. See, God has given us all the clues we need. Especially the one about salvation. As for the return of Jesus Christ on Earth, only God knows, but he has given us many clues in the Bible. Here is the thing. If you are a born-again Christian, then the Holy Spirit show you things. If you are not a born again Christian, then you will not need to know your future except that you're headed for the lake of fire!

The signs are all in the bible. Some signs are meant to stay hidden until we are close enough to see what is going on around us and make the Bible's connection. If those interpretations are good, then you might be on something. Remember that God has a plan for all of us. It is a simple plan. Keep your lamps filled with oil, keep your eye on the prize and keep your focus on God.

When Abraham was asked to start the circumcision by God, it was for having a covenant with the Almighty. A covenant is a bnding contract between two people. In this case, it was God and the Jewish nation led by Abraham. This went on for many centuries. Then Jesus came and now the covenant was no longer done through circumcision but through baptism after receiving the Holy Spirit.

Before Jesus, the Jewish nation was under the law. After Jesus, it was under grace. When Jesus comes back, it will be the Millennium. After that, it will be an eternity with God. You can see that everything works with Jesus from the beginning of time until the end of time. We are also talking earthly time, not God's time.

This is what Christians are looking for; Revelation 21:4, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." That is what we are working for. Our Master is in Heaven, and we are in Earth's realm. Soon we will be with Him.

Hebrews 10:19-31, These verses will hit your heart, and you will have to decide one more thing. You will have to decide in which camp you would like to be in. First, listen to these verses from Hebrews, then I will read you something from a Special guest, Pastor John Piper.
"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have the confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. Let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the Day drawing near.
For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies. Someone who rejected Moses's law was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

This passage is very confronting because we have Paul, who says something really great about where we are going then. He changes and makes a statement that if we keep doing sins after coming to Jesus, we could be in real trouble. Here is Pastor John Piper:

"The Calvinist says, 'The decisive cause of my Faith was God,' and the Arminian says, 'The decisive cause of my faith was myself.'"

For more information go to: Watershed Differences Between Calvinists and Arminians - Desiring God