“The Whole Counsel of the Word of God” – Acts 20:18-24

TRANSCRIPT

Date: May 7, 2023 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

Eschatology is the study of what the Bible says will happen in the end times. Even many Christians treat Eschatology as an area of theology to be ignored or avoided because it seems hard to understand. However, a Christian’s neglect of eschatology will affect how they live their daily lives – i.e., their biblical worldview. The Church’s neglect of this study will affect its ministries to its members, and its mission to get the whole gospel to their neighbors and the nations.  Beloved, if we don’t expect Jesus to come for us in our lifetime, we can just sit back and complain about the rise of sin in our society. Reading his letters to the churches, one can’t help but see that Paul considered eschatology as being essential to one’s spiritual growth. Eschatology was one of the three subjects about which Paul did not want his people to be ignorant. We will explain this further in a new series of sermons on “The Glorious Return of Christ.” In this first sermon, we will see how Paul included eschatology as an important part of “The whole Counsel of God’s Word.”

Eschatology is the study of what the Bible says will happen in the end times. Even many Christians treat Eschatology as an area of theology to be ignored or avoided because it seems hard to understand. However, a Christian’s neglect of eschatology will affect how they live their daily lives – i.e., their biblical worldview. The Church’s neglect of this study will affect its ministries to its members, and its mission to get the whole gospel to their neighbors and the nations.  Beloved, if we don’t expect Jesus to come for us in our lifetime, we can just sit back and complain about the rise of sin in our society.

Reading his letters to the churches, one can’t help but see that Paul considered eschatology as being essential to one’s spiritual growth. Eschatology was one of the three subjects about which Paul did not want his people to be ignorant.

We will explain this further in a new series of sermons on “The Glorious Return of Christ.” In this first sermon, we will see how Paul included eschatology as an important part of “The whole Counsel of God’s Word.”

Download the following translated Sermon guides:

Old Testament Reading –– Daniel 12:1-4 New Testament Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

In his farewell speech to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul told the elders:

What did Paul mean by “the whole counsel of the Word of God?”

Church historians codified “the whole counsel of the Word of God ” in the term “systematic theology,” i.e., what the whole Bible has to say about a given topic.

The Chronology of the Events of the last days of this age:

The Apostle Paul wrote his letters to the church at Thessalonica so they would not be ignorant of eschatological things. However, a recent survey of adults who claimed to be born-again Christians revealed this alarming report:

On average, 98 churches in the United States close their doors each week. While there may be many surface reasons why a church would die, I submit the main reason is that the pastors failed to preach the whole counsel of the Word of God, including eschatology.

Verse 14 – “ Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. Beware lest you fall from your steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

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