I was wondering why in the Gospel of Mark, generally characterized by using the word “immediately”, the fig tree cursed by the Lord did not appear to have withered until the following day whereas in Matthew, not necessarily a book of “speed”, the fig tree withered immediately.

I enjoy your answers to many questions as they are word and wisdom based. In Leviticus the Lord gave the Israelites various feasts to observe. There is the first feast which a lamb is offered. Second feast is a wave offering of first fruits,then the feast of Pentecost 40 days later and so on.

What I would like say is I believe Christ has fulfilled some of these feasts exactly and the next feast is to be observed is to be celebrated with the blowing of trumpets,which I think is sometime in September.

We don’t know which September but could I be correct in my theory?

First I want to say I love this site! I am a newer Christian and A friend just sent this site to me to help me answer some of my questions and I check it now all the time. My question is this…I have loved ones that are very close to my heart daily who say and have said they believe in the Lord, I’m not sure if they actually were born again? They don’t live the life to Glorify him in ANY way. Of course I pray for them but I can’t seem to get it off my mind and continue to walk in faith about it. Please help me see this God’s way!

The bible says that we are to confess our sins one-by-one and ask for forgiveness-and God will forgive us. I also understand from the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” that in both cases we ask God to forgive us. If someone has done wrong to me -why should I forgive them if they don’t ask forgiveness from me-when I have to ask God to forgive me of MY sins. And if I fail to ask forgiveness for an overlooked sin, will I still be permitted to enter eternity with Christ?

I wonder what you might think about the Jubilee. Since the Jubilee year starts on a Day of Atonement and since the Day of Atonement is a fall feast that Jesus will fulfill, it seems logical that Jesus will fulfill the year of Jubilee, too.

In your post about the Fall feasts, you quoted the following statement from Jesus, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” My question is, what age was being referred to here?

Since we’re living in the End Times, there are times I wonder if the things I’m doing matter at all. I know I should be a good steward of the gifts and blessings God has given me, but sometimes I get discouraged. I’m a 20-year-old college student, and when I think that the rapture is going to happen soon, I sometimes wonder if the things I’m doing for the future even matter at all if they never come to fruition. Honestly, the sooner we go to Heaven, the better it is. But I also feel sad at times when I think that I won’t receive any rewards at the Bema Seat. I haven’t lived life out as long as others nor do I feel like I have done much for God’s Kingdom.

Should a Christian choose to have something like a chorionic villus sampling test even when they know that they will keep the baby whatever happens? I ask this because it has a risk of miscarriage, and who am I to bring this on if God has other things planned. I don’t know where in the Bible that is says not to but I know I’m to trust in God. However, being prepared for the worst case scenario will help emotionally and we’ll have a specific problem to pray about.

My question is concerning Matthew 14:28. I understand why the disciples were terrified out on a boat during a storm and why they would not be expecting Jesus to come walking by and thought it was a spirit. Peter showed tremendous faith by stepping out of the boat to go to Jesus. The scripture is “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water”. Why did Peter say IF it be thou? Would he not have been 100% sure before taking that first step?

Not too long ago I sat under some teaching about the Bema Seat judgment. The teacher said that if we weren’t “redeeming the time” we won’t lose our salvation, but we would not receive any rewards. He said that according to Hebrews 10:31, it was a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and that is exactly what we will be doing if we aren’t redeeming the time. He also said that the Lord won’t wipe every tear from our eyes until after the 1,000 year reign of Christ. So until then we will feel sorrow for lost loved ones and friends we fell short on preaching the gospel to. That is our punishment for not redeeming the time like we should have. Is this teaching true?