Latest / Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast / How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless

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How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless · Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast

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Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
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You know all the talk these days about end times
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is a very hot topic. Books, movies, internet
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sites, they all spout this information about
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predictions and the end of the world. Well, what's
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the truth? How do we know what's really going
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to happen? Is there a clear word about prophecy
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in the scripture? Well, you bet there is, and
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stick around. We're going to look at it together.
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Welcome to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
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Whatever your view on prophecy, chances are you
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know somebody who's genuinely anxious about it,
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or somebody who's grieving a loss and wondering
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what comes next. Well, today Chip turns to 1
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Thessalonians chapter 4 to answer questions believers
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have been asking for 2 ,000 years. It's part
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of our series, Building Authentic Community,
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How to Lift Up Those You Love. And remember,
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you can always revisit or share these messages
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by going online to livingontheedge .org. Well,
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now here's Chip with today's message, How to
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Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless.
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From the beginning of mankind right to today,
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we have been fascinated and desperate to know
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about the future. And you say, well, wait a second,
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where do you get that? There's people that would
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never think of making a major decision or never
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think of going throughout their day until they
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read their horoscope in the morning. There's
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other people who regularly will see a... palm
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reader and try and discern, you know, what's
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the future and what's God have for me or what's
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going to happen? You know, we live in a world
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that is really enamored and we long to know what's
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the future going to hold. And the teaching of
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the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, Old Testament,
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it is filled. The core teaching, it's filled
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with prophecy. When the Bible was written, one
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fourth of all Old and New Testament passages,
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Speak to the issue of prophecy. One out of every
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five verses of the Apostle Paul relate to prophecy.
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In this book in 1 Thessalonians, which is one
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of the earliest books, so it's a foundational
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doctrine. How does Paul end chapter one? The
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Lord's return. How does he end chapter two? The
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Lord's return. How does he end chapter three?
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The Lord's return. Now in chapter four, he's
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going to broaden it and really give some teaching
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about the return of the Lord with regard to believers.
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and the return of Christ with regard to how we
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relate to the world around us. And so when you
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bring up the return of Christ and the end of
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the world, you often have a number of what I
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think are predictable responses. If you want
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to pull out your teaching notes, let me highlight
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two or three just by way of remembrance. When
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you bring up the end times, I find there's one
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group that has what I call an unhealthy preoccupation
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with it. They're the fanatics, the date setters,
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the predictors. These are the group of people
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that are so heavenly minded, they're really not
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much earthly good. The second group you have
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is what I call the fearless skeptics. These are
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people that say, hey, the world's never going
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to change. It's been bad. It's been good. Christ
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isn't going to return. It's a myth. Someone made
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it up. This whole idea about Jesus returning,
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about another world, about an afterlife is just
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a crutch that weak people need because the world
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is hard. And they just don't buy. Third group
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is what I call the fearfully confused. They've
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heard words like rapture, tribulation, second
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coming, great white throne. And they just have
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all these things blowing around in their mind.
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And they really don't have a clue of how it all
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works. And so it produces confusion and really
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sometimes some fear. And isn't it interesting
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that really times haven't changed much? The apostle
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Paul, in one of his earliest books, is going
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to write to a group of people, and he addresses
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all three of those groups. Remember the group
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that had an unhealthy preoccupation with the
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Lord's return? In fact, they got so focused on
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the Lord's return, they quit their job, started,
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you know, bumming around, mooching and loafing
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off the church, and that's all they could think
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or talk about, and they were busybodies. The
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apostle Paul said, hey, wait a second. A proper
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understanding of the return of Christ means you
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get a job, You mind your own business. You support
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yourself. And you have a sterling testimony in
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your work for the sake of Christ. Now what he's
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going to do is address the other two groups.
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If you want just a little preview, in chapter
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4, verses 13 to 18, he's going to give hope to
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those that are fearful and confused. And he's
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going to speak to the church. He's going to say,
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you've gotten some bad information about the
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return of Christ. Let me clear up for you. some
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important data with regard to the Lord's return,
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and he will introduce the clearest teaching in
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all of the New Testament on what's called the
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rapture, and we'll look at it. Then he's going
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to shift, and he makes a real break. Chapter
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5, verse 1, he's going to say, but there's some
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other information that I've already taught you
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about, about the Lord's return. You know it from
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the Old Testament. You know it from the teachings
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of Jesus. You know it when I was with you. Remember,
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he's writing this document about 18 to 24 months
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later after he visited with him. And he's going
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to talk about the day of the Lord and prophecy
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in general. And he's going to give us as believers
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a manual, if you will, about how to respond to
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people that we're going to need to warn them
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and to win them in a very winsome way. Let's
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look at how he gives hope to the fearful. 1 Thessalonians
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4, 13 through 17. You may want to open up your
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Bibles and follow along. And really, as you analyze
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and study this passage, there's three major questions
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that come up. And it's going to ask and answer
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them in this passage. The first question they
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have is, what happens to a believer when he or
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she dies? The answer is going to be out of verses
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13 and 14 that the certainty of a believer's
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resurrection is based on the fact of Christ's
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resurrection. See, they got some bad information
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and they're getting a little fearful and they're
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saying, now what happens when someone actually
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dies? Beginning at verse 13, please take a pen
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if you have it and jot down, if you will, the
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word but before the word brothers. The NIV doesn't
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have it, but it's important because he's giving
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a contrast. He says, but brothers, we do not
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want you to be ignorant about those who've fallen
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asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who
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have no hope. And then add the little phrase
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for if, because it's a conditional, it's called
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a first class condition assumed to be true. For
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if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
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then is the idea. We believe that God will bring
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with Jesus or through Jesus those who have fallen
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asleep in him. Now let's analyze these two verses
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just for a minute. He says, okay, brothers, in
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contrast, I just talked to those people with
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that unhealthy preoccupation. I told them to
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get a job, but brothers. With regard to the Lord's
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return, I don't want you to be ignorant or uninformed
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about those who are asleep. You might circle
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the word who've fallen asleep. It's a technical
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term in the New Testament. It is 100 % of the
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time referenced to a Christian who has died.
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So he says, I don't want you to not know about
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brothers and sisters or when you die, what's
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going to happen. Second reasoning, he says, I
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don't want you to hurt and I don't want you to
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grieve like those that don't have any hope. And
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he was writing in a day very much like ours where
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people basically said, hey, you die, you die.
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Dust, dust. There's nothing after this. You lose
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a close friend, you lose a close friend. You
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lose a mom, you lose a dad, you lose a spouse.
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They're gone. And the pagan world had no hope.
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And he says, that's not true. And then notice
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why. Verse 14, he says, here's the basis of teaching.
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about those who die. If in fact or since we believe
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that Jesus died and he rose again, do you get
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his logic? So then we believe that God will bring
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through Christ or with Christ those who have,
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same word, fallen asleep in him. And so he's
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answered the first question and basically it's
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just to arrest their fears. He said, you can
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know with 100 % bank on it accuracy that we know
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Jesus rose from the dead. We have eyewitnesses,
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over 500 of them. The fact that he rose from
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the dead, you can know that when a believer dies,
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that believer, man or woman, will be raised also.
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Second question that pops up. Okay, Paul, we
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got it for us. But what about our loved ones?
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What about the mom, the dad, the child that died
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before us? His answer is going to be that the
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Christian dead will rise first and share in the
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kingdom. And again, there must be there must
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have been some teaching floating around like
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they were fearful that, you know, what about,
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you know, I lost my brother. I lost my mom. I
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lost a close friend. And this general teaching
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about resurrection, the return of Christ, what
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happens to them? Are they going to get to be
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in on this? And there must have been some. Some
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teaching floating around that was casting doubt
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on that because he's very strong in his response.
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Look at verse 15. And by the way, if you want
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to keep adding, and I don't mean this negatively.
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Don't take this negatively at all. The NIV is
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written to be smoothly read. It's not quite as
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literal or wooden a translation as some others.
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And so what they do is sometimes they take the
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for or the but, and you get the clear sense of
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the passage. But I think it's very important
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when you're trying to do real analysis that when
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there is a for or a but or a therefore, those
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things tell us the relationship of what's going
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on. And so before verse 15, there's the word
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for. For, now the reason I can say this, for
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according to the Lord's own word, we tell you
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that we who are still alive, who are left until
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the coming of the Lord when he comes. will certainly
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not precede those who have fallen asleep. And
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so his teaching is going to be, hey, you have
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a mom, dad, brother, sister, friend who's died
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already. You don't have to be uptight and think
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that they're not going to get in on the resurrection.
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In fact, notice who does he appeal to? He says,
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according to the Lord's own word. Either Paul
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got this directly by way of revelation, as we
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know in other places he did from the Lord. Or
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possibly this is something that Jesus taught
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during those 40 days in the book of Acts when
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he was in a resurrected body teaching and he
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got it from the other apostles. But this is a
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verbatim quote. This isn't theory. This isn't
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passed on from our Lord's own mouth. He says,
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we can tell you that we notice he includes himself
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because he doesn't know when he's going to come
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back. That we who happen to be alive will certainly
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not precede or be resurrected before those who
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died before us. In fact, he says it will certainly
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not. It's the strongest negative in the New Testament.
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It's a double negative. It's impossible. Ain't
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no way it's going to happen. That's a very loose
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translation, but you get the idea. He says they
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will not precede those who've fallen asleep.
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Well, then the third question pops up. He's clarified
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the fate of those who've died. He's clarified
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the order of those who've died. But the real
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basic question then pops up, when and how will
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these end time events occur? You know, they're
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trying to, okay, wait a second, Paul, okay, I've
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got it. I feel better about the fact that if
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I'm a believer and I've known Christ, I've accepted
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him as my savior, that, okay, Christ is resurrected,
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I'll be resurrected. I got that. Now I've been
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worried about Uncle Bob and he died before me
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and I've heard some stuff that I don't understand.
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Now I've got, okay, if Uncle Bob died, he goes
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first. And then us. Time out. Hey, Paul, how
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does all this work? I mean, how does it all fit
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together? That's the next question. Notice now
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in verses 16 and 17, the answer is going to be
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the rapture of the church. He's going to teach
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more clearly here than anywhere in the New Testament
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about the rapture of the church. And in about
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five minutes, you'll understand if you're thinking
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the rapture of the church. What's that mean?
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You'll find out. Verse 16. For the Lord himself
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will come down from heaven. It's the return of
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Christ. Notice he doesn't send a messenger boy.
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The Lord himself will come down from heaven.
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Now notice how he does it. There's three characteristics
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of his return. First, with a loud command. Second,
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with the voice of the archangel. And third, with
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the trumpet call of God. And then what will happen?
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And the dead in Christ will rise first. Who's
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going to be resurrected? Anyone who's ever believed
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in God, does it say that? No. Who's going to
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be resurrected? The dead in Christ. Those people
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who've trusted in Christ from the birth of the
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church, Acts chapter 2, to the present when he's
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speaking, he says something's going to happen.
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The Lord's going to come back. Okay, you got
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that? Got that. How's it going to happen? It's
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going to start out with a shout or a loud command.
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The word in classical Greek gave reference to
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an authority or a general giving a command to
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superiors that must be carried out. God is commanding,
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okay, now it's time. This command is going to
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be announced. Literally, it's an archangel. We
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know that Michael is an archangel. We know there's
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other archangels. So we don't know exactly which
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archangel it is, but it's going to be announced
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by an archangel. Then after the announcement,
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there's going to be a boo, kind of that shofar
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horn. And it's not going to sound anything like
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that. But there's going to be the blowing of
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a trumpet. And when there's this blowing of the
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trumpet, then the action is going to take place.
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And those who died in Christ are going to be
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resurrected. Now, jot down 1 Corinthians chapter
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15, verse 51 through 54, because we're going
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to pick up right there the commentary on this
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event. Listen carefully. The Apostle Paul writes
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about this event. Listen, I tell you a mystery.
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And by the way, anytime the Apostle Paul uses
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the word mystery, it's not a secret, but he uses
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the word mystery to say, I'm giving you information
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that hasn't been revealed before. God's revealed
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it. It's a mystery. In other words, other people
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in times past don't know about this. This is
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a new teaching from God. What's he say? Listen,
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I tell you a mystery. And here's the mystery.
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Not the resurrection. We all knew about that.
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Here's the mystery. We will not all sleep or
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die, but we will all be changed. Ooh. Paul, could
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you run that by us again? Yeah, yeah. We will
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not all sleep. Everyone in the world won't necessarily
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die. It's the same word for sleep, a Christian
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who's died. But we will all be changed or transformed.
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Now listen, and he gives it to us. How? In a
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flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
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trumpet. Now listen to this. For the trumpet
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will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable,
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and we will be changed or transformed. The moment
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a believer dies, their spirit or the immaterial
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part, spirit and soul, is immediately with God.
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That comes with Christ. Believers in Christ are
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resurrected, and then after that, it means immediately,
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following. It's kind of like a race, and those
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of us who may happen to be alive at the rapture
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will lose by a hair. It'll go zoop, zoop, okay?
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Those people who've died, zoop. Those who haven't,
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zoop, we're right behind them. After that, we
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who are still alive and who are left will be
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caught up together with them. Who's them? Those
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resurrected saints. In the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air. Where are we going to go and
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what are we going to do? Well, next line. And
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so we will be with the Lord forever. Now, the
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little word caught up, circle in your notes,
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will you? It literally means to seize, to carry
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off, or to snatch away suddenly. It's reference
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to the transport of a person from one place to
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another. It's used 12 times in the New Testament.
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Let me give you two other examples so you get
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the idea that this rapture. Now, you're thinking
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to yourself, Noah, it says caught up. Where do
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people get this rapture stuff? It means caught
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up, seized, or snatched. When it was translated
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in Latin, the Latin word for this word here is
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rapturo. And so as you know, Latin was a very
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common language. And so the word rapturo came
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into being and people called it the rapture.
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Acts 8. Here's Philip. Use of the word rapture.
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Philip's minding his business. And here's an
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Ethiopian eunuch, right? Guy's in his chariot.
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He's reading out of Isaiah. And he says to himself,
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you know, I don't have any idea what this means.
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So Philip was moved by the Holy Spirit. He said,
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hey, would you? Would you like to understand
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what you're reading? The guy says, I'd love to.
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I just don't know who it's talking about. He
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gets up in the chariot. Remember that? And he
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explains about the Messiah, the person of Christ,
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about how you can have your sins forgiven, about
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how he came and the Messiah's coming, about the
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resurrection. And so they're riding in this chariot
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together, you know. They're going along for a
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while. And then the eunuch's got it. This Ethiopian
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says, I got it. It's faith in Christ. It's grace.
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This is fantastic. And he sees a pool of water.
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He says, hey, you think I could get baptized
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right now? And Philip says, sure, man, loose
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translation again. You know, why not? And so
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he baptizes this guy, this African fella, and
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they go down into the water and they come up.
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But when they come up, it says that Philip was
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snatched, raptured, seized, same word, and he
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lands in Gaza. Now, boy, would that be an experience
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for both of them? You know, you're riding in
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your chariot. You just trust Christ. You get
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baptized and whoo. You know, it makes Star Trek
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look so old -fashioned. Doesn't it? But see,
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that's the meaning of that word. It's the transporting
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of a body from one location to another. The Apostle
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Paul says the same thing. 2 Corinthians 12, remember?
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He's describing this great experience with God.
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He says, I was caught up, raptured, snatched
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to the third heaven. He says, now, whether I
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was in the body or out of the body, I don't know.
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But see, what the Bible clearly teaches... is
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that those of us who may be alive at the time
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of the rapture will not precede those who've
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died in Christ, but they will be resurrected.
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And then after that, we will be right behind
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them. And then we'll have a reunion. And notice
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the reunion as we'll see and recognize one another.
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And we'll be with the Lord. And then we'll all
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head out to heaven. Charles Ryrie gives a very
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brief, succinct overview of the rapture that
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I found very helpful. And under five aspects
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of the rapture, let me just highlight what he's
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put there and also a chart because some of you
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are just about at the point where, you know,
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I think I got an idea what this passage is talking
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about, but what about the tribulation and what
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about the second coming and how does all this
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fit together? So let me do a brief review, but
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I think I'll put the pieces of the puzzle in
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place. First, the five aspects of the rapture.
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One, you have the return of Jesus for his church.
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That was in verse 16, the first portion. The
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key word to write under that is the word eminent.
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Eminent. The word eminent literally means something
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hanging over your head that could fall at any
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time. The rapture... requires no other prophetic
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event to occur on the calendar of God's timetable.
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It could happen today at 12 .05. It could happen
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tomorrow at 11 .57. It could happen next week,
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next month. Nothing has to happen in Israel.
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Nothing has to happen anywhere. The rapture can
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occur anytime. And when you understand that,
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it will change how you live, how you believe,
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and how you behave. In fact, I was with a missionary
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in South America, in Chile. His name was Brahms.
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Great big guy, really neat, funny guy. And I
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got elected to go with his truck to unload some
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stuff during one of the teams I played on. And
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so we're unloading stuff, and I know very little
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Spanish. I can talk a little bit about food,
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and I can share a little bit about the Lord.
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Very little. But there was an engraven plate
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on his door. And it said, tal vez hoy. And I
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knew that oy meant today, but I didn't know what
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the other word meant. So, you know, you're loading
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boxes in and out, in and out. Every time you
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go in, tal vez oy. Every time you go out, tal
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vez oy. So finally, I said, hey, Brahms, what's
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on your door? He said, oh, it means perhaps today.
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I said, perhaps today what? He said, Chip, perhaps
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today. I said, hey, Brahms, perhaps today what?
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He said, Chip, perhaps today. the Lord will return.
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And then he gave me a little five -minute sermon
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that I don't think I'll ever forget. He said,
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you know, Chip, prophecy and doctrine aren't
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for people to make charts about and argue over.
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He said, properly understood, when you understood
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what God has said in his word about his return,
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he said, when you think as you walk in the door
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at night and before you put your head on the
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pillow, And you ask yourself the question, perhaps
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today, even before I wake, you ask yourself,
22:25
did I live the kind of day that would be pleasing
22:27
if the Lord took us home tonight? And he said
22:31
that when you walk out the door and just before
22:33
you leave the house, you say, perhaps today.
22:35
And if you really believe that maybe at six tonight,
22:38
maybe at noon, maybe at 930, if you believed
22:42
and thought as the scripture teaches. His return
22:45
is imminent, but perhaps today. He said, Chip,
22:48
do you think that would affect your priorities
22:50
for the day if you knew that he was coming like
22:52
at 6 .30 tonight? I said, yeah. He said, do you
22:56
think it would affect how you treat people? I
22:58
said, yeah. He said, do you think it would affect
23:00
the focus of your life and the intentionality
23:03
of what you do and why you do it? I said, hey,
23:05
I got the message. Perhaps today. It's the teaching
23:11
of Scripture. First John tells us that a proper
23:15
study of prophecy causes us to fix our eyes on
23:19
the person of Christ and as we do, it is the
23:22
hope of his return and the lack of awareness
23:26
of when it exactly will be that purifies us because
23:32
we live thinking moment by moment, maybe today.
23:36
Ryrie goes on to say that not only then is there
23:39
return of Christ that is imminent, there's the
23:42
resurrection of the dead. This is the first resurrection.
23:48
It's of the church and we'll talk later and I'll
23:50
give you some information about how you can discover
23:52
the resurrection of Jewish believers and Gentile
23:56
believers. Third, there's the actual rapture
23:59
of the church where we meet Jesus in the air
24:02
and meet our loved ones who've died. Then there's
24:05
the reunion of believers with Christ and with
24:07
each other. What a great thought. People that
24:11
you love, the people that are in Christ. You
24:14
know, death isn't forever for believers. That's
24:16
why he said, I don't want you to be ignorant,
24:18
brethren. I don't want you to grieve like those
24:22
who don't have hope. You grieve, but not like
24:24
those who don't have hope. In fact, notice he
24:26
says there's reassurance, the reassurance of
24:28
hope in the face of death. Can you say that?
24:34
Can you say that for you and can you say that
24:36
for the people you care most about? Finally,
24:41
at the bottom, you see a brief picture that I'm
24:43
just going to allude to because many of you are
24:45
going to get excited and I'm glad. And you're
24:48
going to think, you know what? I've got to start
24:49
reading about prophecy and I want to learn about
24:51
this. And what you're going to do is you're going
24:53
to go home and you're thinking prophecy. Let's
24:54
see. Revelation. I'm going to read Revelation.
24:57
And you're going to get to about chapter 8 and
24:59
then you're going to say, man, this is nuts.
25:00
I don't understand any of this. So let me give
25:02
you the cliff notes. Let me just give you the
25:05
cliff notes of the book of Revelation and prophecy.
25:07
And there's much, much more. But here's the cliff
25:10
notes. You have Christ's death and resurrection.
25:12
That was prophesied. And then we have the church
25:15
time where we are here. And then what we've just
25:18
talked about. Jesus will come. There'll be the
25:20
rapture. Notice he doesn't come to the earth.
25:22
We meet him in the clouds. And then immediately
25:25
after the rapture, a series of events will happen
25:29
very quickly. There will be a peace accord signed
25:33
in the Middle East that will blow people's mind.
25:35
The emergence of the Antichrist will come, and
25:37
there'll be such chaos, he'll promise hope and
25:39
peace, and people will say, hey, let's give this
25:41
guy the ball. He'll have supernatural powers,
25:44
and for the first three and a half years of the
25:46
tribulation, it'll be like, hey, this is great.
25:49
The church will have been raptured out, and that
25:51
won't be done in a secret or in a corner. People
25:54
will make up all kinds of bizarre stories to
25:55
talk about what happened to those people and
25:57
why. Many people, We'll be like people, maybe
26:01
even some of you in this room who understand
26:03
the story, who said, I'll wait till later and
26:06
the rapture will occur and they will go through
26:09
the tribulation and they will trust in Christ
26:11
during that time. God says he will send 144 ,000
26:14
evangelists, Jewish evangelists, because he's
26:16
going to go after his people and love them and
26:18
draw them back. And then the second half of this
26:20
three and a half years will be chaos, judgment,
26:22
wrath, like you cannot imagine. So in the little
26:26
section where there's the tribulation between
26:28
the rapture and Christ's return, write Revelation,
26:31
R -E -V, period, 6 through 18. And as you read
26:35
through that, you'll know, oh, that's what's
26:36
occurring here. Then Christ's return, that's
26:39
chapter 19. That's the battle, literally, it's
26:42
a war of Armageddon. And then chapter 20 will
26:46
talk about the literal. Thousand year reign,
26:49
well Christ is coming back and he will fulfill
26:52
every promise that he made to the nation of Israel.
26:55
At the end of that time there will be one last
26:57
sort of hoopla and you can read about that and
27:00
there will be final judgment and then there will
27:02
be a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 20
27:05
tells you about that thousand year reign and
27:07
then eternity, the new heaven, new earth is described
27:10
in chapter 21 and 22. So you've got the cliff
27:14
notes and so as you read through, That'll give
27:17
you some understanding. Now, you'll still find
27:19
significant confusion, but this little book,
27:22
one, I like it because it's thin. There's a high
27:26
correlation between thin books and what gets
27:29
read. Second, it's very brief and clear. It's
27:32
called Come Quickly, Lord Jesus, What You Should
27:34
Know About the Rapture by Dr. Charles Ryrie.
27:37
Now, those of you that have been around the block.
27:40
Questions have popped up in your mind. Don't
27:42
some people believe differently about the rapture
27:43
and mid and post? Absolutely. All those are covered
27:47
here. I can't cover all that. They're covered
27:49
clearly, fairly. Well, what about the millennial
27:52
kingdom and how's that populated? Covered here.
27:54
What about that passage in Revelation 3? Covered
27:56
here. So that's the overview. Now, fasten your
28:01
safety belt and let's turn the page and we want
28:05
to look at the final portion of Paul's teaching.
28:09
Notice, Very importantly, that in the NIV, the
28:14
first verse says now. That's okay. Good translation.
28:18
It's not quite as hard. The word there is but.
28:22
He's making a contrast. He says now, you know,
28:25
if you hear it as now, it's a great word. If
28:27
it's but, see, he's talked about the church.
28:30
He's talked about the rapture. He's talked about
28:32
the coming. But now he's going to shift gears
28:35
and he says, I want to talk about the end times
28:38
in general. And in verses 1 through 3, he's going
28:41
to teach us as believers, we need to warn. We
28:44
need to warn the people in our relational network.
28:47
And we need to do it by speaking the truth in
28:49
love. And then in verses 4 through 11, he's going
28:52
to come back and say, we need to not just warn
28:54
them, we need to win them by literally living
28:58
the truth out in everyday life. So let's look
29:03
at these three verses and see what he says about...
29:06
Not just the rapture. What he's going to do is
29:08
talk about the day of the Lord. And the day of
29:10
the Lord was prophesied in the Old Testament,
29:12
so they should know about it. Isaiah 2, Isaiah
29:15
4, Isaiah 12, Joel 1, Amos 5, Zephaniah 1 and
29:19
3. The day of the Lord was, I mean, they knew
29:23
about the day of the Lord. And the day of the
29:25
Lord then was also taught by who? Christ. His
29:28
disciples ask him about it. You know, Mark 13,
29:30
Matthew 24, Matthew 25. He clearly, they knew
29:34
and the apostle Paul taught them when he was
29:36
with them about the day of the Lord. And the
29:38
day of the Lord is this time where historically
29:42
there's going to be great judgment followed by
29:46
great blessing. And the day of the Lord in the
29:49
New Testament is always used in reference to
29:52
not the church, but the judgment of the nations.
29:55
So with that sort of planted in the back of your
29:58
mind, let's look at the first three verses where
30:00
we need to warn others. It says, but are now,
30:04
brothers, about times and dates, literally about
30:07
kind of the durations and the characteristics
30:08
of this whole end time scenario, about the times
30:13
and the dates, we don't need to write you. Why?
30:16
For you know very well that the day of the Lord
30:20
will come like a thief in the night. They know
30:22
very well. Why? Old Testament teaching, teaching
30:25
of Paul, teaching of Christ. So what he's talking
30:27
about now is not any mystery, not any new information.
30:30
He's giving them the big picture. You know, the
30:33
day of the Lord, when Jesus comes in final judgment,
30:37
it's going to come like a thief in the night.
30:39
Verse three, why people are saying peace and
30:42
safety, destruction will come on them suddenly.
30:45
And then notice the simile. As labor pains on
30:49
a pregnant woman and they will not escape. That
30:53
same little double negative strongest in the
30:55
New Testament, it's here. They in no way ever
30:58
will escape. It's very strong. Now let's make
31:01
three quick observations about those verses.
31:04
Observation number one, Jesus' return is certain.
31:10
He's saying, you know, Old Testament. I don't
31:13
have to warn you. I don't have to tell you. It's
31:15
going to be like a thief in the night, but it
31:16
is absolutely certain. The little picture he
31:19
gives, you know, a woman who's five, six months
31:21
pregnant, she may not know the day the baby's
31:23
coming, but she's real sure something's coming,
31:25
right? What she doesn't know, she's always semi
31:29
unexpected about the specific day. And so that's
31:34
how the picture plays out. He says, guys, we
31:38
need to warn people. Jesus is coming back. Secondly,
31:42
Jesus' return will be unexpected. People will
31:47
be saying things like, oh, yeah, I know there's
31:49
a crisis in the Middle East, but they've always
31:50
had problems. Oh, I know there's this devastating
31:53
disease called AIDS, but people have always had
31:55
that. Oh, sure, there's a few wars and lots more
31:57
earthquakes. And I know there's three or four
32:00
major third world countries that their economy
32:02
could sink everything. And I understand that,
32:04
you know, Iraq may have nuclear arms and North
32:06
Korea and the whole world could go up in smoke.
32:09
But see, I try not to think of those things.
32:10
Besides, the stock market's going up. And my
32:13
own personal private little world seems to be
32:15
okay. Peace, peace, safety. A thinking person
32:21
who would study world history would find the
32:25
level of devastation, earthquakes, wars, rumors
32:29
and wars, plagues. in our day are at an unparalleled
32:35
level. And only a person in denial, only a person
32:39
who sticks their head in the sand, only a person
32:42
who is so defensive about reality that they want
32:45
to keep God at a distance can push all that information
32:48
and all that truth away. A thinking person says,
32:51
the world's got major problems and it could go
32:53
up in smoke. There are idiots and terrorists
32:56
stealing plutonium. There are countries now with...
33:00
atomic power that we wouldn't let our children
33:02
play with, let alone let run a country. And he's
33:06
saying, Jesus is coming back. It's not peace
33:10
and safety. And when he comes back, he's going
33:12
to surprise a lot of people. And some of those
33:15
people are your friends. Some of those people
33:17
are your family members. And dare I say, probably
33:20
in a group this size, some of those people are
33:22
you. God brought some of you today to have a
33:26
divine appointment. You don't know Christ as
33:29
your Savior. You might be a great person, a moral
33:32
person, a great worker, a good mom, a good dad,
33:34
a great single person. I'm not saying you're
33:36
a bad person. I mean, you're just one of us.
33:38
But you don't know Christ. You haven't accepted
33:41
the Lord Jesus as His sacrificial payment for
33:44
your sin. And when the rapture occurs, those
33:47
who know Him go, and those who don't, don't.
33:50
And it is unkind, unloving, and cruel to keep
33:53
that to yourself. And the warning is, would you
33:57
please tell people that? These are the claims
34:00
of Christ. I'm going to be your friend whether
34:02
you accept them. I'm going to be your friend
34:04
whether you reject them. But I have a moral responsibility
34:06
to tell you, he's coming. It's certain. He's
34:10
coming unexpectedly. And finally, when he comes,
34:13
it will not be to bless. It will be to judge.
34:16
And you can either allow him to be your judge
34:18
now and let him judge your sin and place it all
34:22
on Christ so you come as a son or a daughter,
34:24
or you can wait and stiff arm God and he will
34:27
be your judge later and every knee will bow,
34:30
every tongue will confess, and you'll suffer
34:34
irreparable damage. We are told by our Lord to
34:39
warn those in this situation. We're not only
34:43
to warn them, but we're to win them. There's
34:45
one major point I want you to get from verse
34:47
4 through 11. Simply put, you win them by living
34:52
a significantly pure life where you live out
34:57
what you say you believe. Notice verse 4. But
35:01
you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this
35:04
day should surprise you like a thief. In other
35:06
words, hey, there's going to be no surprise for
35:07
you. You are sons of light and sons of the day.
35:11
We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
35:13
Now listen to this. Here's the application. So
35:15
then, let us not be like others who are asleep.
35:19
This is a different word for asleep. This means
35:21
moral and spiritual lethargy. It means indifference
35:25
to spiritual things. So let's not be like them
35:27
who are asleep, but let us be alert and self
35:30
-controlled. Alert means to be mentally sharp,
35:33
spiritually alert, calm, sober -minded. Gives
35:36
multiple reference to an attitude of prayer.
35:39
So be alert and self -controlled. That word means
35:41
moral purity. Be stable. Live a life of holiness
35:45
in view of the Lord's return. For those who sleep,
35:50
verse 7, sleep at night, and those who get drunk,
35:53
get drunk at night. Contrast. But since we belong
35:56
to the day, let us be, notice the repetition,
36:00
self -controlled. Live out this life. This time
36:04
it's in the present tense. Continually be self
36:07
-controlled. At home, be self -controlled. How?
36:10
By the grace of God. At work, be self -controlled.
36:12
Specifically, how do you do it? He tells us,
36:14
putting on faith and love as a breastplate and
36:17
the hope of salvation as a helmet. That's in
36:21
a tense of the verb that means do it once and
36:23
for all. Put on a breastplate of faith. Trust
36:27
God. Accept his love and be loving toward others
36:31
and have the security of your life, the helmet
36:33
you're thinking by the hope of salvation. And
36:36
it's of a soldier. It means be not like a soldier
36:40
asleep. Be alert. Be strong. Be ready. Go into
36:45
your world and your relational network and exhibit
36:47
faith and love and hope in such a way where people
36:51
say, hey, man, how in the world do you do it?
36:54
You got three kids. You're under such pressure.
36:56
How does your life work? Your wife walked out
36:59
on you. Your husband walked out on you. That
37:00
boss treats you terrible. I don't know how you
37:02
make it on what you live on. There's something
37:04
different about you. Yeah, it's Christ. See,
37:09
we're to win the world by living a winsome, God
37:13
-empowered, grace -oriented life. He gives the
37:17
reason, for God did not appoint us to suffer
37:19
wrath. God's will isn't that we're involved when
37:23
the wrath occurs, but to receive salvation through
37:26
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice verse
37:29
10, what a line. He died for us. The little word
37:34
for means on our behalf and in our place. He
37:39
died for us. Just let it sink in, okay? He died
37:43
for, you put your name in it. He died for you.
37:46
He died for me. And this idea isn't just, Some
37:51
man, fully God, fully man, died somewhere historically.
37:55
The idea is every sin, every shameful thing,
38:01
everything in your closet and mine, he died in
38:04
your place. God judged that sin when Jesus died
38:08
on the cross. And all that you've done, all that
38:11
I've done, all that anyone has done was poured
38:14
out on Christ and he is our sin substitute. He
38:18
died for us. in our place. He's the Lamb of God
38:22
who took away the sins of the world. You know
38:24
what your responsibility is? To receive him,
38:27
to turn to him, to lift the empty hands of faith
38:30
and say, God, I need you. Now notice why he died
38:34
for you. This is so great. So that whether we
38:38
are awake, alive, or asleep, dead, we may live
38:41
together with him. I don't know your background.
38:44
My background in church was so terrible. I never
38:47
had any idea that God wanted a relationship with
38:49
me. Jesus died on the cross isn't some little
38:51
thing to sing. He died on the cross because you
38:53
matter. He loves you. He understands your hurt.
38:56
He understands your pain. He understands where
38:58
you've been. He understands your baggage. You
39:01
know what he's saying? Come to me. Come to me
39:03
today. Let me love you. Let me forgive you. Join
39:06
my family. Let me cleanse you. Let me take the
39:11
deepest wounds and hurts. I'll be the dad you
39:12
never had. I'll be the mom you never had. I'll
39:15
be the mate that left you. I'll be the person
39:17
you've been searching for. Whatever you think
39:20
success or money or anything's going to get you,
39:22
I'll be that. I am God and you matter to me.
39:26
I died for you because I want a relationship.
39:30
He doesn't want to give you a list of do's and
39:32
don'ts and duties and how many things you're
39:33
supposed to go to. He wants to bring you into
39:36
a loving relationship with him and your service
39:38
to him will flow out of gratitude and life and
39:41
love. And then he tells us, therefore, encourage
39:45
one another and build up each other just as in
39:50
fact you are. I'd like you to ask a couple questions
39:53
before we go home. The first being, would you
39:55
characterize your response to Christ's return
39:58
as a? a fearless skeptic, B, fearfully confused,
40:06
or C, joyfully anticipating? What would you mark
40:11
down if you had to? Are you certain that you
40:15
are ready for the Lord's return? If Jesus, if
40:17
you knew 1 .55 today, the Lord was coming back,
40:23
are you with absolute confidence sure that you
40:26
would be a part of that event called the caught
40:29
up, or the rapture. Not because you're a good
40:32
person, not because you go to church, not because
40:34
you give the United Way, not because you read
40:35
the Bible now and then, but solely because you
40:38
are related rightly to God through the person
40:41
of Christ and his work on the cross, and by faith,
40:44
you've accepted that free gift. Are you ready?
40:50
Third question I would ask is, is there someone
40:53
you need to warn and to win before Christ returns?
40:57
Did some names come to your mind as I was talking?
40:59
Aunt, uncle, friend, co -worker, family member,
41:03
an ex, a child, a mom, a dad. Who is it and when
41:09
will you start that game plan? The first place
41:11
is to pray. As we close today, I want to tell
41:16
you very up frontly that today is the day of
41:18
salvation. God brought some of you here today
41:22
and you'll never hear the gospel as clearly,
41:24
not because of the guy who's preaching. but because
41:26
of the Spirit that's working. You may never hear
41:29
it as clearly as you have it right now, and that
41:32
your response today is not, I'll think about
41:34
it. Your response today is, Lord Jesus, I get
41:38
it. Yes, I'm a strong -willed person. Yes, I
41:41
want my own way, but I've been stiff -arming
41:43
you long enough, and I want to put down the hands
41:46
of resistance, and I want to ask you today to
41:48
forgive me, to cleanse me, to come into my life
41:53
and make me a new person. It's called being born
41:55
again or born from above. I want to pray a prayer
41:59
and not by some rote, but if it really reflects
42:02
where you're at and you want to respond to Christ,
42:05
do it today, will you? You may never hear his
42:09
voice as clearly as you hear it today. Lord Jesus,
42:12
you said that no one comes to you unless they're
42:16
drawn by the Father. And that's not mystical.
42:20
It means they hear the gospel. It means that
42:22
They're in a place like today and they hear clearly
42:24
that you love them, that they can in no way by
42:28
any works or effort of their own get good enough,
42:31
but they need to humble themselves and they need
42:35
to trust that Jesus died in their place to pay
42:38
for their sin and that you rose again to give
42:41
them new life. If you're in that boat today,
42:44
I encourage you to take a courageous step of
42:48
faith and entrust yourself to the Savior. And
42:52
if you don't know how, just follow along. You
42:54
can pray in your mind, but pray along with me.
42:57
Dear Jesus, please forgive me. I'm sorry for
43:04
the things that I've done that I know are wrong.
43:07
I'm sorry for the people that I've hurt and the
43:11
promises I've broken. I can't do it anymore.
43:19
Please forgive me and come into my life right
43:22
now. I trust that your death paid for my sin
43:28
and your resurrection will give me new life.
43:31
Make me the man, the woman, the student that
43:34
you want me to be. You're listening to Living
43:39
on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message titled,
43:43
How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the
43:45
Fearless. You can revisit today's lesson and
43:48
find more from our current series called Building
43:51
Authentic Community by going online to livingontheedge
43:54
.org. If somebody came to mind today, send them
43:59
this episode from the Living on the Edge podcast.
44:02
Sometimes a shared link is all it takes to initiate
44:05
a great conversation. And if you'd like more
44:07
encouragement throughout the week, follow Living
44:10
on the Edge on Facebook and Instagram. Warning
44:13
someone you love and winning them for Christ
44:16
is one of the clearest ways to love them. which
44:19
is exactly what Chip's book, I Choose Love, is
44:22
all about. Chip makes the case that real biblical
44:25
love, what the Bible calls agape love, was never
44:28
meant to be a feeling you wait around for. It's
44:31
a decision to sacrifice, to serve, to put somebody
44:35
else's best interest ahead of your own comfort.
44:37
It's a practical read that'll equip you for exactly
44:40
the kind of conversation Chip described today.
44:43
Get your copy of I Choose Love at a special price
44:46
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44:53
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44:56
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online at livingontheedge .org or call us at
45:13
888 -333 -6003. You can also give through the
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mail by writing to us at Living on the Edge,
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P .O. Box 3007, Suwannee, Georgia 30024. Well,
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now here's Chip Ingram. As you probably have
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noticed, this message today on the rapture and
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on prophecy in general is anything but irrelevant
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and esoteric. This is a message that gets right
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down to where we live with huge implications.
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And this passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 is the
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classic passage on the rapture and end times.
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And you'll hear this taught many times. But I
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think it's interesting that today we walk through
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chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, where the Apostle
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Paul takes the truth about prophecy and he says,
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this is the important application. We must warn
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people. that there is an end coming and we want
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them to be ready. And there's only two ways to
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warn them. One, we have to warn them by how we
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live so that it makes sense that what we say
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is true. And then we have to warn them with our
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words and tell them and explain in a nonjudgmental
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way, hey, the end is coming. In this passage,
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we learn that Jesus' return is certain. It's
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not a maybe. It's as certain as the promise that
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the Messiah would come one day. He came. Biblical
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passages for over 700 years prior to the time
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predicted his first arrival. And Jesus, the last
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words he told us was, I will be back. When he
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ascended, the angels looking down on that crowd
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said, why are you looking up as though something
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strange is happening? The one you see ascending
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is going to return. Jesus is coming back. And
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when he returns, it will be an... unexpected
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event. He's not going to send you a letter and
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say, by the way, if you've been waiting to kind
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of get your life right, if you've decided to
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kind of sow some wild oats and wait a little
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bit later, you don't get that opportunity. You'll
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never know when it is. And when he comes, it
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means judgment. We need to understand and we
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need to tell others that everyone will stand
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before God and you will be judged. Let me ask
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you, are you ready? I didn't ask if you went
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to church. I didn't ask if you were religious.
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I didn't ask if you were moral. Are you ready
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for the Lord's return? If he returned three minutes
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from the end of this program, would you know
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that you'd spend eternity with him in heaven?
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If not, can I suggest that today is the day of
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salvation? Today's the day for you to ask Jesus
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to come into your life, to say, I believe you're
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the Savior. I believe you died for me. I believe
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you rose from the dead, and I know you're coming
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back. And turn from your sin and receive Christ
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as your Savior. Now, one more question before
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we close. Do you know someone that needs to be
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warned, fellow believer? Is there someone that
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you really care for, but you just haven't got
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around to telling them? We never know when he's
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going to come back. Today's the day. Write a
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letter, jot a note, set aside a lunch, tell him
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in a loving way he loves them, and simply share
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the gospel. Next time, Chip begins a lesson on
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what it takes to become the kind of person who
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leaves people better than you found them. That's
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next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program
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is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.