Articles

Our collection of blog articles and papers from sermons and guest writers.

Latest Article Posts

Heaven as It Is Now: Cultivating an Eagerness for Heaven

By Steve Swartz
2 years ago
Scripture has a lot to say about Heaven, and what we as Christians can look forward to. Here are just a few things that it says about the immediate comfort that we will enjoy as soon as we enter those gates! Perfection and Peace Heaven as it is right now is the place where “God will wipe away ev...

God with Us and Us with God: Reveling in God’s Presence

By Steve Swartz
2 years ago
Revelation 21:3 describes the greatest aspect of New Earth: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’” We see the entire point of redemptive...

The Mature Christian Anticipates the Return of Christ

By Steve Swartz
2 years ago
Revelation 22:11b says, “[Let] the righteous still do right and the holy still be holy.” The young church at Thessalonica had many questions and concerns about the coming of Christ. Had they missed the rapture? Was there hope for the saved who had died already? They were spiritual infants in their t...

The Mature Christian Hopes for the Rapture

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
Certainly, one of the most debated points of Christian theology is the idea of the rapture of the church—the catching away of God’s people at some future time in miraculous fashion. Great men and women of God have disagreed on this issue. Regardless of where you come down on the rapture issue, you s...

The Mature Christian Anticipates the Resurrection, Part 2

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
In the city of Corinth in the Apostle Paul’s day, some in the church were proclaiming, “There is NO resurrection of the dead.” But Paul had an answer to this claim. Paul, in essence, replied: If there is no resurrection from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised! And if Christ has not been...

The Mature Christian Anticipates the Resurrection, Part 1

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
Paul tells us that we will receive resurrection power through becoming like Him in His death, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil 3:10). We will therefore have the power to live and the power to hope. Paul says...

Citizens of Heaven Standing Firm

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
As Christians we live in a world that is more and more godless and where heinous sins have become the norm for our society. Materialism, post-modernism, and self-centered philosophies have invaded every walk of life and continue to invade the church with startling regularity. However, we are called...

Living in Light of Heaven

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
In Philippians 3, Paul shows a very clear contrast between the believer, who should be heavenly-minded, and the unbeliever who is by nature earthly-minded. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold tr...

How to Understand Christian Death

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
For the unbeliever, death is the gateway to eternal torment and paying the rightful penalty for a life of rejecting Christ. It also has the connotation of rest in the phrase “slept with their fathers,” as in Old Testament ancestors. But the Christian connotation adds an element of understanding that...

Where We Must Start: The Danger of Man-Made Evidence of Heaven

By Steve Swartz
3 years ago
As human beings, we crave information about what we can expect after death. We want to know: Is there a heaven? Will I be there? Will I see loved ones? Will I continue to exist? What will happen to me? One of the biggest ways Christians and non-Christians alike are deceived is in the area of extra-b...

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