UNFOLDING THE WORD With Dr. Gary Kuhne

The second church being measured by God was the church at Smyrna. Smyrna was a port city located some 35 miles from Ephesus and was the center of the enforcement of emperor worship. The church family at Smyrna, refusing to publicly bow before the emperor’s mandate, was facing severe opposition and trials. In fact the were facing tribulation, poverty and slander because they refused to “conform to the world” around them. God’s message to them was one of encouragement and not rebuke. He called for them to continue to not give in to fear, to rest n the fact that nothing happened to them outside of God permission, and that remaining faithful despite opposition was important. He also turned their minds to the eternal promise that they had avoided the “second death” due to their repentance and faith in the Gospel. Keeping eternity in view helps a church family to balance out discouragement over current suffering.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is taken from the Book of Ephesians. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

WEDNESDAY’S IN THE WORD: A WEEKLY VIDEO UNFOLDING GOD’S WORD. Video Bible Teaching On Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. Today’s Teaching Is On Revelation ________

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is taken from the Book of Ephesians. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

In chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation, God provides us a way to understand how He evaluates the spiritual health of a church. God uses the context of addressing the conditions of 7 specific churches in a region that is located in an area that today is western Turkey.  While certainly written to those churches, the message is applicable to all churches during the Church age, in the same way the various New Testament Epistles, while written to specific groups, are applicable to all the churches in this current era. One thing we discover is that God evaluates church in ways somewhat different from how we tend to see a church. Underlying all of the messages to the church is the sobering reality that a church can cease to be a church in God’s eyes, even though it may continue to exist on a human level, with buildings and programs. A church is maintained by God only when a church continues to provide the light of the Word to a lost world.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is taken from the Book of Ephesians. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

After the prophecies finished, Chapter 12 contains a number of additional lessons for Daniel (and all of us). First, the prophecies in Daniel are sealed, meaning they will definitely come about. Second, there is no place to turn apart from God’s Word to find absolute truth. Third, God won’t answer all our questions about the future and He calls for us to be content with what He saw fit to reveal. Fourth, the truth about fallen mankind is revealed in the 70^th Week tribulations because most people refuse to repent and believe despite the disaster. Fifth, each us can rest in the promise of our coming resurrection.

“SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is taken from the Book of Galatians. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.

In 11:36-12:3 we are focused on the 70^th week and the time of the Anti-Christ who will be a dominating dictator over the whole world and ultimately be answerable to no one. He will seemingly prosper in all that he does. And he will focus his blasphemy on God and his anger on Gods people. We also discover that eventually he will turn on all leaders (political or religious) who tried to help him in order to be the sole ruler/dictator of the world. Half way through the 70^th week, he will turn against the Jews and take control of the Holy Land. God reveals in Daniel that despite the Anti-Christ’s period of success, God will eventually defeat him. As this time of defeat approaches, the Jewish people themselves will repent and turn to Christ as their Messiah. After Christ returns, the Anti-Christ is defeated and judged, and the Lord begins the Millennial Kingdom. After the period of the Millenium, Satan deceives people once again and a final judgement of Satan and fallen mankind will take place.

SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS” are extended weekly Bible teaching times in which I go through a Book of Bible verse by verse. My current exposition is taken from the Book of Galatians. The SUNDAY EXPOSITIONS are posted on Sunday each week.