It should have been easier during the First Century A.D. to persuade the unconvinced of the Gospel plan of salvation. This was the Age of Miracles when works of signs and wonders accompanied the preaching and teaching of Jesus' apostles (Acts 5:12) and other disciples who had the apostles' hands laid upon them (Acts 8:14-19).

God's word does encourage every Bible-believer, Christian or otherwise, to "Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you are disqualified."

God is spirit (John 4:24) and without physical form, being invisible,- to humankind, at least,- (Deuteronomy 4:12; John 5:37; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; 1 John 4:12). If any human "saw" God, he or she would expect to die (Exodus 24:10-11; 33:18-23).

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court proceedings, criminal convictions and consequential executions carried out in colonial Massachusetts, America, from February 1692 to May 1693.

If you scour the internet for articles on the American artist Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), you will find more harsh criticism than praise for his works. If you search deeper for his artwork, you will find very many realistic depictions of a variety of unidentifiable landscapes.

Upon reflection, the death rituals of the Torajan testify to the fact that humans have the God-given intuitive awareness of eternity in our hearts even though we are unsure of how our Maker and Sustainer will work it out for us (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

To recapitulate, although the 66 books of the Bible are the product of some 40 authors writing under Divine inspiration across almost 1500 years, their contents contain very many cross-references among them. Numerous references in the form of prophecies, antitypes, quotations and allusions to Old Testament (OT) content are contained in New Testament (NT) books.

To demonstrate fulfilled prophecies, and foreshadows, about Jesus Christ, the books of the New Testament cite about 300 QUOTATIONS from the Old Testament with reference mainly to His life and death. In writing and speech, a "quotation" or "quote" is the exact repetition of a sentence, phrase or passage from a speech or text that someone else has said or written. Often, the original speaker or writer of the quotation is identified (or "cited") by name by way of attribution.

Each year, on May 1, a Labour Day public holiday in Malaysia if it falls during work days, the Subang Jaya church of Christ brings together evangelists and missionaries toiling in God's kingdom as far away from our shores as the African continent to remind us of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)

A CHRISTOPHANY recorded in Old Testament scripture is an actual, but momentary, appearence to humans of Him who would much later become Jesus Chrìst at His incarnation in Mary' womb.

To identify references to Christ in all of the scriptures of the Old Testament as Jesus Himself instructs us (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47), as did His apostles (Acts 3:18-24), we have to know what to look out for in the Old Testament. To begin with, we must consider inspired records of the actual appearence of Christ to people BEFORE He took human form by being born of a woman, Mary (Galatians 4:4-5).

Three books in the originally-Hebrew Old Testament identify themselves as having been primarily compiled and written by Solomon, the son of King David and the ruler of Israel after his father (Proverbs 1:1; Ecclesiastes 1, 12; Song of Solomon (Song of Sol.1:1).

Even among many non-Christians Jesus Christ has been, and continues to be, regarded as a great teacher,- an educator. Like His disciples, Jesus' mainly-Jewish audience called Jesus "Teacher" (eg. Mark 4:38, or "Rabbi" or "Rabboni" in their native language, John 20:16).

The critical and basic error of A.D.70 proponents is their presumption that almost every mention of Jesus Christ's "coming" after His incarnation through the virgin Mary refers to His "second coming" as they define it. The fact of the matter is that the scriptures mean many things when Jesus' "coming" is referenced. Brother W. Terry Varner has listed 11 separate "comings" of our Lord in the New Testament ("THE GREAT JUDGMENT - Discussion Forum No.II" in Studies In The Revelation; The Third Annual Denton Lectures, November 11-15, 1984; Dub McClish, Editor; (Valid Publications, Inc., Denton, Texas, USA; p.514).

John the Baptist preached the urgent need for all men to repent because they prophesied that the "kingdom of heaven (as Matthew's account of the gospel has it, Matthew 3:1-2) is at hand."

Matthew 24:1-35, the first part of our Lord's Mount of Olives Discourse in Matthew 24:1 to 25:46, is the only scriptural prophetic reference to the collapse of the Jerusalem (Second) Temple which actually happened at 70 AD.

One of the many tribulations Christians face (John 16:33) is the occasional issue or conflict that erupts within the church of Christ.

It so happens that the A.D.70 historical event,- the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple built by the returning Jews under orders of King Cyrus of Persia (Ezra 1:1-2; 6:14-15),- was the subject of Jesus' prophetic teaching some 4 decades before.

What happened in Jerusalem in A.D.70 that marked the year as especially important to a segment of Bible-believers today that they actually do not mind if they are identified as "A.D.70 theorists"?

A necessary beginning point in our attempt to refute any doctrine (i.e. "teaching") is the two-fold step of (a) determining the current supossedly-different doctrine from what we currently believe about the Bible's teaching on a matter, and (b) ascertaining again with scriptural support that what we believe about tbe matter is correct and the different doctrine about it is wrong.

To "refute" is to prove that a statement or theory is incorrect or false through sound reasoning and evidence. It is our verbal or written response to a view expressed by others that we do not agree with, hoping to change their mind about that view.

Although the Law of Moses no longer applies in our Christian Age, having been fulfilled by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His subsequent resurrection and ascension (Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 24:44-47). these incidents teach us some important lessons concerning the work of religious restoration in our time.

Restoration work must not leave any aspect of the thing restored unaltered to reflect its original pattern. Whether the item to be restored is a thing (eg. a temple), an act (eg. worship of Deity) or a relationship (eg. between husband and wife), perhaps the hardest to put right is a relationship, particularly when it has to be undone.

The pre-Babylonian exile efforts of King Hezekiah of Judah and his great-grandson, King Josiah, to restore the worship of God as commanded by the Divinely-inspired Law of Moses were not continued beyond their respective reigns partly because they were top-down in implementation.

But, more important than physical restoration of the Jerusalem temple (and the defensive walls of Jerusalem city by Nehemiah the governor later) was the restoring of the mind and heart of the Jews who had returned from the exile in Babylon.

Introduction To Subang Jaya Church's Sunday Sermon Series, 1st Quarter 2026

SUBANG JAYA CHURCH SUNDAY SERMON SERIES January to March 2026

Within only 57 years of the death of King Hezekiah, who restored worship and service to God in Jerusalem according to Moses' law, his great-grandson, Josiah, had to undertake all over again the work of religious restoration in Judah.

The work of restoring service to,- and worship of,- our Father is a seriously difficult task to begin and carry through completion

We call Bible things by Bible names and we do Bible things the Bible way