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VISITING PROGRAM TRAINING CLASS
Sixth Class
December 1, 1968
FORMAT:
1. Open with prayer.
2. World news discussion and drill (5-8
minutes).
3. Difficult scripture drill (30 minutes).
4. Sermonettes and evaluations (30
minutes).
5. Recess (10 minutes).
6. Lecture (one hour)
7. Assignments for next class.
DIFFICULT
SCRIPTURES
I. Disprove:
Christians
will go to heaven and be there with Christ forever
(I
Thess. 4:17).
A. Paul is speaking of the resurrection of
Christians at the second
coming of Jesus Christ
(Verse 16). They will rise to meet
Christ
in the air -- the atmosphere
over this earth (Verse 17). Thus they
will be with the Lord.
Then what? Where do they go from there? Since they will be with
Christ the question to ask
is where Christ will be.
B. Christ is coming to this earth. Zechariah 14:4 shows that on the
very day mentioned in I
Thessalonians 4:17, Christ will be standing
on the Mount of Olives which is on this EARTH.
C. He is coming with all glory and with His
angels to judge all nations
(Matt. 25:31-32).
His saints will be given
power to rule the nations with a rod of
iron (Rev. 2:26-27).
They will be kings
and priests with Him and will reign on the earth
(Rev. 5:10).
II.
Disprove:
Christ
said He would return during the lifetime of some of
His
disciples (Matt. 16:28).
A. The next two verses tell when this
occurred. Remember, men have
placed these chapter
divisions. They do not reflect the
original
Greek.
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B. He was referring to His transfiguration
which was soon to occur.
Six days after Christ made
the statement in Matthew 16:28, He took
Peter, James and John up
into a high mountain. They saw Christ
transfigured before their
eyes in all His power and glory (Matt.
17:1-2). He was manifested the way He is now (Rev.
1:14-16) and
the way He will appear at
His second coming to set up the Kingdom
of God on this earth.
Years later Peter
referred to this event. He says in II
Peter 1:16
"For we have not
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
were eyewitnesses of His
majesty."
C. Moses and Elijah appeared with
Christ. They will be co-rulers with
Him in God's Kingdom. Peter knew when this would be fulfilled --
at the time represented by
the Feast of Tabernacles. He wanted to
make tabernacles or
"booths" for the three of them.
D. This was a vision (Verse 9). Christ was not literally glorified
before their eyes. Exodus 33:20-23 shows that no man can look
upon
God and live.
These disciples did
not see Christ come to this earth to set up the
Kingdom
of God. But, they did
see Him "come in His Kingdom" in
vision -- in the vision of
His transfiguration.
III. Disprove: The thief on the cross entered paradise on
the day he was
crucified.
A. Jesus said the crucified thief would be
with Him in paradise. Para-
dise is located in the
presence of God's throne (II Cor. 12:2-4).
B. Christ did not go to paradise that same
day. Christ went to the
grave (Acts 2:31).
Jesus had not yet
ascended unto the Father in heaven (paradise) the
day following the
resurrection (John 20:17).
C. The truth of this scripture lies in the
proper punctuation. A conma
placed before the word
"today" is incorrect. The comma
should
follow it -- "verily I
say unto you today, thou shalt be with me in
paradise."
Remember that
punctuation was not used in the original Greek which
Luke wrote. It was added into the Greek and English
centuries later
by men.
The inspired
original Greek could be read either way.
Since the
punctuation can change the
meaning entirely, we need to let the
remainder of the Bible interpret what
Christ said.
D. By using the word "today,"
Christ was stressing the time he was making
the promise -- not the time
that the thief would be in paradise.
Christ was saying that He
could make this promise today, even as He
hung on the stake. He could see by the attitude of the thief
that
he would repent when he was
resurrected for the Great White Throne
Judgment and that he would
then enter paradise -- God's Kingdom.
GOD' S MASTER PLAN
CARRIED OUT THROUGH
THE THREE RESURRECTIONS
I. HOW GOD IS FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE
A. God Is Preparing A Ruling Family
It is Almighty God's intent
and purpose to add multiple billions of
sons
to the God Family to share with Him the indescribable pleasures
that He and Jesus Christ enjoy and assist them in
recreating and ruling
THE LIMITLESS UNIVERSE.
Hebrews 2:7-8 -- God
intends to put all -- everything in the universe --
into subjection under man,
but He has not done so -- YET! After
re-
creating the earth, He
created man and gave him dominion over the earth
and the potential -- if he
would yield himself to his Creator, over-
come his human nature and
rule GOD'S WAY -- of qualifying to rule the
universe as a son of God, at
which time he would be given full power,
glory and life forever to
carry out his greater responsibilities.
God's Family is a
KINGDOM -- an organized, ruling Family!
God is
filling up the ranks of His
Government in an organized way. In
short,
God's purpose is to bring
BILLIONS of rulers into His Family, fitting
each one into a position of
authority in His Government to share in the
RULERSHIP OF the UNIVERSE!
B. His Plan
1. Man to Learn by Experience His Way is Wrong
To fulfill this purpose, God formulated a
7,000-year MASTER PLAN
which He is now carrying
out He set aside the first 6,000
years
of this span of time for
man to govern himself and to learn by
experience the lesson of
Proverbs 14:12. He is, in general,
keeping
"hands off"
during this time. Romans 11:8 -- The
world as a whole has
been left in ignorance of
His truth and plan.
II Peter 3:9 --
God wants all to be a part of His ruling Family, but
in His great mercy and
love, he has shut most of mankind up in un-
belief for the present
(Rom. 11:32). He has purposed
to allow
them to go their own way
for a certain period of time, and taste
the fruits of that way,
which will give them much more receptive
minds when they are later
resurrected and taught GOD'S way.
2. God is Dealing with Only a Few First
God has been working with
a few individuals in every era during
this 6,000-year period for
a two-fold purpose.
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a. First, so that the
world would always have a witness, and the
knowledge of His plan
and His laws would be preserved through
all generations.
b. Secondly, Cod has been
calling out a sufficient number of
"FIRSTFRUITS"
to fill specific offices and positions of re-
sponsibility in His
Government to help rule and govern this
earth during the
Millennium. These firstfruits must, of
course,be trained and
prepared in advance of the time that
God begins to deal
directly with all mankind to bring them to
salvation (John 14:203
and Rev. 2:26-27).
II
Corinthians 6:2 -- Today is a day of salvation -- not the
day of salvation -- as
shown in Isaiah 49:8, from which this
verse is quoted. Today is the day of salvation for those
few,
down through the ages,
whom God has been calling as the first-
fruits for a very
important purpose, but it is not for MOST
of the world.
3. All Men Subject to
Death
Hebrews 9:27 -- During the first 6,000 years of God's plan, all
men -- good and bad --
after approximately 70 years of life (Ps. 90:10)
die. Their physical existence comes to an end,
and their physical
bodies perish. This is actually a very merciful part of
God's plan.
For the people
in general, it is a merciful release from sickness,
pain, mental and
emotional anguish, purposelessness, futility and
often oppression and
slavery by others. Death insures
against any
one individual despot
living and perpetrating his special brand of
evil and oppression for
the duration of the 6,000 years.
For the few
righteous men who qualify for sonship, death protects
them from the evil to
come (Isa. 57:1). They quietly and
safely
rest in their graves
until other firstfruits are called and trained,
and it is time for them to take up their
positions of rulership in
God's Government and
Kingdom on this earth at the end of the 6,000
years (I Thess. 4:15 and
Heb. 11:39-40).
Death is a kind
of "staging area" for all
human beings born during
the first 6,000 years of
God's plan to wait, until God is ready to
use them or begin to work
directly with them during the remaining
part of his plan to
qualify them for His ruling Family.
II.
THE FIRST RESURRECTION
I Corinthians 15:21-22
-- Just as through Adam all men are appointed to
death -- through the living
Jesus Christ all men shall be made alive --
Resurrected.' However, there is a definite order and
purpose (Verse 23).
The faithful few God has
handpicked and prepared throughout the 6,000-year
period of spiritual darkness for
positions of responsibility in His
Government will be resurrected
to immortal life at the time Christ returns
and sets up His Kingdom on this
earth (I Thess. 4:13-17;
Rev. 20:4-5).
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A.
Firstfruits to Fill KEY Positions in God's Government
Christ came first as the
"pioneer" of our salvation (Heb. 2:10), and
those of us in the first
resurrection precede the others for a definite
purpose as well.
1.
Our Calling as Firstfruits
Revelation 20:6 --
Most of us don't deeply understand and fully
APPRECIATE the almost
incomprehensible BLESSING of being called to
the first resurrection! We lack the vision to realize that we
are being given the
opportunity to get in on the "ground floor" of
God's Kingdom and be given
KEY positions in His Government for ALL
ETERNITY
These key positions
of rulership must be filled before Christ sets
up His Kingdom to govern the
earth during the Millennium. Christ
Himself has qualified for the
top job under God the Father, and
down through the centuries,
men like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David
and the twelve apostles have
been called, trained and qualified
for the next highest
positions under Him. But all of us
have been
called to fill key positions
as well!
Just as the men in
the first few graduating classes of Ambassador
College are the ones filling
most of the top positions of responsi-
bility in the Work of God
today, the firstfruits in God's Kingdom
will be used in most of the
key positions of responsibility and service
there. Then those who enter the Family of God
during the Millennium
will be used to assist and
fill out each governmental echelon of
authority, and those in the
Great White Throne Judgment will add
multiple billions to an
organized, efficient, powerful, Family of
God. It will then be ready to RECREATE and RULE
the entire universe
at last!
It is like a giant
governmental pyramid, with Jesus Christ as the
Chief Cornerstone at the top,
then the firstfruits in the key positions
of authority and responsibility
under Him, then those during the
Millennium and finally those
added to the Kingdom after the 100-year
period. By the time this last group is added to the
ruling Family
of God, if you are in the
first resurrection, you will have had
1,100 years experience in
God's Government as a spirit being.
2. Our Reward as Members of the Philadelphia Era
Revelation 3:12 -- In addition to the blessing of being called to be in
the first resurrection, we in
the Philadelphia Era of God's Church
have been called to be the
"pillars" (strong supports -- mainstays,
counselors) at Headquarters
in the Temple of God for ALL ETERNITY!
In I Kings 22:19-20, we read
that even God seeks counsel! If we
qualify to be in the first
resurrection as a member of the Philadelphia
Era of God's Church, we will
be in on every major decision made by
the God Family for all
eternity! This will be our
responsibility
FOREVER:
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Do you see why we
must earnestly study Cod's Word and seek the mind
of God in everything we
do? Can you understand why competition
among ourselves is so
ludicrous in view of what God has in store
for us? We tend to foolishly compare ourselves with
each other
(II Cor. 10:12), fearing that someone else will be recognized and
"exalted" above
us.
John 14:1-2 -- There
are many "chambers" or offices of rulership
in God's Kingdom. We don't have to compete and strive among
ourselves. Our reward does not depend on someone
else. It depends
on us and us alone.'
II Timothy 4:7-8 --
Just as Paul knew he had a "crown of righteous-
ness "laid up for him,
we can know that God has a crown FOR us:
(Revelation 3:11 --'Let no man take your crown.") This is a
position no one else can
take from us unless we disqualify ourselves.
Paul knew he had
qualified. He knew he had "kept
the faith" and
was thus assured of
receiving his crown. We, too, must
fight a
good fight to the end to
qualify.
III.
THE SECOND RESURRECTION
Revelation 20:5 --
After the 1,000-year rule of God's Kingdom on this
earth - - after the millions of
human beings born during the Millennium
have qualified for and been
changed to become a part of the ruling
Family of God -- all those who
have lived and died without the knowledge
of God prior to the time of
Christ's return, will be resurrected.
Just as the first class
of students who attended Ambassador College --
a grand total of four -- were
trained and graduated to teach others,
who in turn overcame and
qualified to teach others, etc., God's Family --
His Government -- will be
augmented by those previously trained by it,
and they in turn will help
train others.
Christ worked with and
trained personally Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah
and the prophets. He then called and trained the Apostles and
set them
over the seven eras of His
Church to teach and train them. This
relatively small group of
firstfruits will be resurrected first and
used to teach and train those born
during the Millennium. At the end
of the Millennium this much
larger God Family is trained and ready to
help bring into God's Family
the greater number in the 100-year Great
White Throne Judgment.
The vast majority of all people
who have ever lived will come up at
this time in a resurrection to
physical life (Ezek. 37). Most of the
kings, all of the presidents of
the United
States,
the millions of men
who have died on battlefields, and even
some of our own children, parents
and relatives will be
there. The inhabitants of all the
cities of
yesteryear will be there (Matt.
11:21-27). All of
ancient and modern
Israel will be there (Ezek. 37:7-13).
They will be given 100
years to learn and practice Cod's way on a
beautiful, productive, peaceful
earth in sharp contrast to the earth
they remember before they died,
and no children will be born during
this time (Isa. 65:19-21).
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Revelation
20:11-12 -- At this time, they will be judged according to
their works, based on "the
books" -- the Word of God.
At the end of the
100-year period, all who have qualified -- many
billions -- will be born into
God's Family as spirit beings, be given
eternal life, and receive the
power they need to carry out their re-
sponsibilities of rulership
along with those who had already been given
power as resurrected sons of
God!
IV.
THE THIRD RESURRECTION
A very few people out of all the
population of the earth through
7,000 years will fail in God's
plan. These are those who have known
God's way and willfully rejected
it (Heb. 10:26-27). It includes
those
who refuse to repent and obey,
as well as those who did repent, were
baptized and began to obey
God but then gave up, quit, or turned
aside
through bitterness, rebellion,
or some other willful searing of their
consciences. In refusing to submit to the Government of
God in their
lives, they have disqualified
themselves from being given the power
and eternal life to rule forever
in God's Kingdom.
Although God has no
pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:31-32),
these sinful people must be put
out of the way. They must not be
allowed to make themselves and
others unhappy throughout eternity by
the misuse of the power and
eternal life.
All who have totally
rejected God's way and have died in their sins will
be raised to physical life. This is the resurrection of damnation, or
destruction, spoken of by John
5:29. They will all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ to
receive their reward -- to suffer final
extinction in the lake of
fire. For them, this is the second
death!
They will never be resurrected
again (Rev. 20:14-15; 21:8). The lake
of fire will consume them, their
wicked deeds, and ultimately the
entire surface of the world that
God will have finished using as
a testing area in His master
plan (II Pet. 3:10-12).
V.
WE NEED TO BE CHANGED
We need to be looking
forward to and striving to qualify for our crown - -
our specific position of
responsibility God has called us to fill.
But
even more we need to see and
feel the need for the resurrection to
change us!
This is what the world
just does not understand. They want to
rule the
entire universe, but they want
to do it without ever qualifying to rule
and as physical human
beings. Therefore, they make elaborate
plans
and spend multiple billions of
dollars to design and build elaborate
spaceships and develop all the
accoutrements necessary for man to
travel into space and carry
his physical envirorment with
him. They
totally reject: God and His way
and try to seize control and rulership
of the universe apart: from
Him. If they only knew and understood
that
this is precisely what God has
promised them ultimately, but: only after
they have qual ified by yielding
and obeying God and learning to rule
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His way, and only after God
has resurrected them to immortal life,
released them from the confinements
of the air, the food, the water,
the atmosphere of this earth, and
given them the power and the
righteousness to govern God's way.
Need To Be
Freed From Human Nature
Romans 7:14-25 -- We must come to
the place where we really yearn
to get rid of this body of death
-- this human nature - - where we
are sick and tired of it (Rom.
7:24; 8:10)! Romans 7:15, 18 --
Paul knew and deeply understood
that in this flesh dwells NO GOOD
thing. He understood that God has subjected us to
a body and
mind, apart from His Spirit, that
is bent on self-destruction
~
8:20 23) and he groaned within
himself waiting to shed this
evil flesh with all its lustful,
vain, self-satisfying goals and
put on a new, powerful, spirit
body and freedom!
Do you ever feel like
Paul did? Are you able to see how this
flesh
defeats you and hurts you at
every turn? Have you made elaborate
plans to overcome or accomplish
or do good time after time only to
succumb to lethargy,
self-satisfaction, and gratification, and a
lust of the flesh? Paul did!
Meditate on Romans 7 and try to
grasp and apply what Paul is
saying to yourself. He didn't break
the commandments in the letter,
of course. But he constantly
fought jealousy, envy, pride.
How about you!
Romans 7:17 -- Paul
didn't cover up for himself. It was
the "old
man," the corpse he was
carrying around that he had buried at baptism --
but which won't stay dead until
we are changed -- which was the
culprit. He was not the real Paul, and is not the
real you, if
you have really repented. Verse 25 -- the real Paul served and
obeyed God's law -- the old man
kept pulling the other way. And
so it is with us. We are stuck
with this rotten human nature and
all its carnal pulls until death
or the resurrection frees us.
The central doctrine of
God's Church, as shown all the way through
the New Testament, is the
RESURRECTION.' This should be the
motivating
force that drives us to set our
affections on things above rather
than on this life here
below. This hope is the helmet of
salvation
referred to as a basic part of
our Christian armor in many places
in the Bible.
We cannot fulfill any
position of authority in the Government of
God with this rotten nature. We are seeking to qualify, but we
can never qualify fully until
this nature has been removed!
We Need To Be Freed From
This Physical Body
Corinthians 15:50 -- Flesh
and blood CANNOT INHERIT God's Kingdom.
We cannot live forever and rule
in God's Family unless we are
changed -- and even if we could,
we wouldn't have the POWER to carry
out any responsibility we might
be given. Just as we urgently need
to be freed from our human
nature, God has to unshackle us from the
limitations of this physical
flesh!
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II Corinthians 5:1-2 --
Paul looked forward to his spirit body and
yearned for it. Verse 4 -- He didn't want to just die, but
he
didn't want to live forever as he
was. He wanted a spirit body,
eternal life -- a permanency that
will last. He felt Burdend --
with carnal nature sickness,
weakness, infirmities. He felt
shackled,
restricted, thwarted by this
flesh. This physical life held nothing
for the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3:8, 10-14 -- Therefore he set
the resurrection as his primary
goal. Romans 11:14 -- He forsook
the physical and material
accoutrements of this life and set him-
self to strive for all he was worth
to attain to the fantastic
calling of becoming a spirit-born
son in the ruling Family of God
(I John 3:1-3). He was willing to give up anything -- even
his
own life to attain this end!
We must be of the same
mind! We must be sick and tired of our
rotten human nature, human
frailties, and weaknesses and desperately
long for the resurrection to become
spirit beings in God's Kingdom.
Are you at the point where you
fervently cry out for Cod's Kingdom
to come, and the resurrection to
deliver you from this body of death?
If so, at Christ's return
very soon now, you will be changed --
made POWERFUL, RIGHTEOUS, the
shackles thrown off, GLORIFIED,
PERMANENT for all eternity. There will be no more pain, no more
sickness and weakness, no more
crying nor sorrow, nor death (Rev.
21:4), no more vanity, envy, wrong
thoughts to fight -- YOU WILL
BE FREE! The old man will be gone forever. Philippians 3:21 --
Jesus Christ will change your vile
body to be like His! Blazing,
surging with power, real life and
crackling energy (Rev. 1:13-16).
You will have fulfilled your purpose
for being, and qualified
to be given the power, glory,
eternal life to take on your new
responsibilities of rulership in the
Kingdom of God!
ASSIGNMENTS FOR NEXT class
1. "Ending Your Financial
Worries," booklet by
Mr. Herbert W.
Armstrong.
2. "A Balanced Budget from the
Bible," by Mr. John
Portune, GOOD NEWS, January
1965.
3. "Finances in Your Life," by Mr.
Albert Portune,
GOOD ~ February 1
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