1 Corinthians 15:50,58 -Death Swallowed Up- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-12-01

Pastor Rick Beaudry explores the profound meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, examining how death will be "swallowed up in victory" through Christ. He unpacks four key themes: our future transformation through resurrection, our ultimate triumph over death through Jesus, the importance of maintaining thankfulness, and how our faith will be tested as we await Christ's return. Drawing from both Old and New Testament scriptures, Pastor Beaudry reminds us that our current struggles are temporary, and our labor for the Lord is never in vain as we look forward to receiving our immortal, glorified bodies.

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Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 50 through 58.

Please stand with me as we read God's holy word together. 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 50 through 58. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality.

So then this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which give us us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord. Father, we're so blessed to know you. Lord, we thank you that we love you because you first loved us.

And, lord, we have so much to cherish, so much to be excited about this morning. Your word is just so rich. And, Lord, we don't wanna just have a cursory kind of understanding of who you are.

Lord, we wanna dig in this morning. We wanna mind the riches of your word. And we pray, Lord, that you give us ears to hear and hearts to receive and apply these truths, that they'd sink down deep within our our whole being, lord.

And it would just have an effect, a characteristic, a change within our hearts, within our demeanor, the way we think, the way that we live, lord, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and savior.

Thank you, Lord, that your son has conquered sin and death and hell. Thank you, Lord, that we don't need to live in condemnation anymore.

And thank you, Lord, that we're looking up knowing that our redemption draws nigh. Thank you so much, Lord, for the time in which we're living, these times, in these last days.

So bless now. Pour out your holy spirit. Be our teacher. Open the scriptures to understanding. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated?

Death swallowed up in victory. Paul's in this chapter, the resurrection chapter, chapter 15, the topic of the resurrection, and and he continues death swallowed up in victory. Number 1, we will be transformed.

He says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. So our natural body won't work in heaven. Our body is corrupt and wearing out.

And so like last week in second Corinthians 5 verse 1, we know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, which is a temporary body and as we're getting older, we talked about last week, our bodies are breaking down.

And as they're breaking down, we we try to do our part by maybe eating better, maybe getting better more sleep or, you know, trying to exercise and do things that we can to kinda, you know, stifle the aging process.

And, and that's the best we can do. But inevitably, no matter how much good food we eat, how much we rest we get, no matter how much we exercise, we are this body is going to wear out. It's going to go back to the dust.

And and that's because we have a sinful natural body because of the fall of the Adamic fall. And so our earthly house, this tabernacle, were dissolved. We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

So our body's temporary. We have an eternal body that the Lord is building for us. For in this, we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.

So Paul said, you know, be asked on the bodies to be present with the Lord. He says, heaven is better. You know, for me to live as Christ, to die is gain.

But it's better for you guys if I stay in this body. You know? Because if I stay in this body longer, then I can minister to you. But really, if it comes down to me, what I want, you know, I'm not afraid of death.

So don't be don't be crying for me. You know? I'm ready to go with all the beatings and the things that he, experienced. And then, you know, a man, whether in the body or out of the body, caught up in the 3rd heaven.

Paul's already tasted it. He's already seen heaven. He knows, you know, to a a degree, far greater degree, than we do, you know, what heaven looks like. And he said words were inadequate.

He couldn't even describe it, of what he'd saw when the lord had let him come up there and take a peek. He says, verse 51, behold, I show you a mystery. So a mystery is a a truth hidden and now revealed.

He says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. And so, again, this mystery is something that's once hidden, now revealed. Paul's gonna try and reveal part of what happens, you know, when we die.

What's his process? What what what is what do we have to look forward to? So the mystery of the rapture and the mystery of the resurrection, he says, we not we shall not all sleep. So not everybody's going to die during the church age.

We're in the church age now. And this church age began, you know, at Pentecost when, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the, the people there in Acts chapter 2 and continues to this day.

And so the church age ends according to Romans 11/25, blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the gentiles be come in come into the church during the church age. And so the church age ends with what?

It ends with the rapture. The tribulation period starts not with the rapture, but with the signing of the Daniel 925 through 27 peace treaty. And so as you're watching the Middle East in an uproar, it means that wars are coming.

Wars and rumors of wars, Jesus said, would be one of the signs that would preempt, his coming. And not his coming, necessarily of the rapture, but, certainly certainly, but also of his second coming.

So if you're seeing the signs of his second coming happening and you believe in a pre trib rapture, the and the antichrist has not emerged, he hasn't come to the place where he needs to sign a peace treaty with the nation of Israel, then be looking up knowing that your redemption draws nigh, that he could come at any moment.

So the imminency, if there's any prophecy that needs to be fulfilled, then, as Jesus said, no man knows the day or the hour, but my father who speaks of imminent.

It's imminent. It could happen at any time. And so Israel's in the land. May 14, 1948, the prophecies are lining up, and, and we're looking up.

We should be looking up. And what problem do you face today, as pastor Barry Stegner would say, that the rapture wouldn't solve? You know? That's why it's a blessed hope.

The blessed hope. It's a good hope. It's, oh, how happy I am, you know, looking for the soon return of Jesus, knowing that I'm not subject unto his wrath, the wrath that he's gonna pour out on a Christ, rejecting world.

And so this section here, Paul is able to, to the church of Corinth, which he spent 18 months planting this church here.

And he's able to describe the hope that he has, that of the rapture. He's looking up. He's he knows that the Lord Jesus had promised. He said, let not your heart be troubled. You know, in my father's house are many mansions.

If it weren't so, I tell you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also.

Location, location, location. Where is Jesus? In Luke 21, Jesus said to pray always that you'd be counted worthy to escape these things and stand before the son of man.

So he's gonna come in the clouds. He's going to take you from the clouds, and he's gonna take you to the father's house.

Right? You've been betrothed. You have the wedding or the engagement ring upon your finger. You have the earnest down payment of his intention in his in his plan to marry you to be the bride of Christ.

And so you have the holy spirit marking you out as belonging unto him. And then comes the fetching. You got Matthew 25, 5 wise and 5 foolish.

You've got the holy spirit within you, marks you out. You're watching. You're looking because he could come at any moment. Then the next part of the Jewish wedding is the marriage ceremony. Where's the marriage ceremony?

It's at the father's house. So he's gonna fetch you, take you to his father's house. You get your new glorified body, the Bema Seat judgment, the reward ceremony, new garments and decked out with jewels and crowns and all these things.

And then what happens next? Next, you come back to, your home, back to the earth for the marriage supper of the lamb.

And the friend of the bridegroom, John the Baptist, the Jews are gonna be there, but the church is both Jew, Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, or free.

Whosoever will, let them come. But that doesn't mean we've replaced Israel. The nation of Israel will be set up.

Jesus would be ruling and reigning for a 1000 years. We'll be ruling and reigning with him as kings and priests. You know? And we'll have our positions within his millennial reign as part of his government.

The Gentiles are gonna repopulate the planet. They're gonna have a 100 years to decide whether they wanna be a Christian or not. And, for a 1000 years, Jesus ruling and reigning with a rod of righteousness, the curse reversed.

And you and I, seeing the blessing of David as his prince and the nation of Israel and the apostles with their thrones that they rule and reign. And, and then we have the eternal state, Revelation 21 and 22.

As Peter described, the whole world's gonna be destroyed by fire eventually. But we'll see the new Jerusalem, the new heaven, the new earth coming down from heaven, and, and we're gonna rule and reign.

We're gonna be with Jesus on into the ages, plural, to come. What age are you in now? Not the new age. You're in the church age.

Right? The church age. And so that's what Paul's describing here is the church age, the age of the church. Now the Jews in the old testament, you know, they didn't understand the church age. That was a mystery once hid, now revealed.

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul talks about this. It was a mystery. What do you mean church age? What do you mean gentiles? The Jew would wake up and pray, you know, each morning that he wasn't a a gentile, a woman or a slave, you know.

The Lord our God is one God. They're very proud of their pedigree of being Jews. And they thought of the gentiles as simply being fuel for the fires of hell.

But God intended in that book of Isaiah that the that the nation of Israel would be a light unto the gentiles, that the first Jew, Abraham, in your seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed.

He's the savior, not of it just Israel, but he's the savior of the whole world. And that's why when we celebrate Christmas, you know, this season, it's so exciting because he's the savior of the whole world.

And the wise men came from Babylon. They got gifts, myrrh and aloes and frankincense and all that. They're bringing it to worship the king of the Jews, you know, because he's the savior.

He's the savior of the world. And, what a blessing that is as you and I, have some of the pieces of the puzzle coming together. We're we're watching things take place.

We we do not believe in a replacement theology. We know the nation of Israel is significant. That blindness in part has happened under Israel during the church age until the fullness of the gentiles be come in.

So we shall not all sleep. We're not gonna all die. And some will die. And so the the the order of the of the rapture and the resurrection, we'll see that in a second here.

But we shall be changed, which means transformed, recreated. In verse 52, in a moment, this word in the Greek is adamos, which we get our word English word Adam, the splitting of an atom.

So how quickly, this is gonna take place. We're gonna be in a moment, just in a in a moment, you're gonna be changed.

And so here you are in this body, you might be in a hospital bed, and just at a a blink of the eye, twinkle, just as fast as you can fathom, the word here, you know, an atom, the atom of time, you're gonna be changed in a moment.

The smallest conceivable quantity, is what Paul's after here. In the twinkling of an eye. So I can blink my eye, but a twinkle of the eye is to hurl a rapid movement to cast a glance, a flicker of an, of an eyelid.

And so just, you know, faster than you can decide whether or not you want Jesus or not. So make up your mind now. Because when that time comes, that atom of time, that twinkling of time, you're not gonna be fast enough.

You know? My grandsons are starting to play football, and I told Ezra, I said, hey. One of the most important traits you can have and develop, and some are just born with it, is speed.

You know? Speed, you doesn't matter how big or strong a guy is. If you can outrun him, outjuke him. And he got 3 touchdowns yesterday. So he's real slight.

He's not real he's not real big. And he can do a lot of pull ups. You know? His brother can't do as many pull ups, but every single one of us are gifted in different ways. And I always coveted the guys that were fast.

You know? Those guys, man, they're just amazing. Well, this is too fast for you. There's no way you can, you know, set your alarm clock to this and say, well, you know, I think I'll come to the Lord, you know, just before the rapture.

You know? I'll just watch things as things take place, and I can kinda gauge from the prophecies about when it's gonna happen.

In fact, I might write a book. I might write a book about, you know, 81 reasons that rapture is gonna happen in 1981. You know? You're gonna be real foolish, you know, if you do that.

And so many people have done that. So many people have written books trying to describe when the rapture's gonna happen. And, I know when it's gonna happen, but I can't tell you. You know? And, but I'm ready. How do I know I'm ready?

Because I'm one of those virgins who has oil. And it doesn't mean I'm a super Christian now. I just simply have oil, and oil is representative of the holy spirit. So you are ready for the rapture if you have the holy spirit.

That's it. You don't have to be like some of these guys have have tried to write books and teach that, well, you gotta be super, super Christian. They used to have a bumper sticker, get right or get left.

You know? And, they they tried to they tried to teach that Matthew 25, the 10 virgins, like, you know, only the super filled Christians were gonna go. The carnal ones were gonna get left behind. You know? And, that was bad teaching.

You know? Because, it's just simply, are you saved or not? If you're saved, you're gonna you're gonna go. You're gonna be there in time now. Why waste your life in a, you know, as a carnal Christian, as a babe in Christ?

That's that's not what we that's not what we want. We're gonna see in verse 58 the emphasis upon being immovable, always abounding in the work of the lord. I love I love that passage as we're gonna finish up.

But here, this is this is pregnant. There's a lot here. There's a lot to there's a lot to look at here. You could continue to do word studies, and and it it it talks about, you know, when he comes, he I come quickly.

That's a word that we get erasers when you have in your car, you have the tachometer. It's a Greek word that speaks of of, you know, the RPMs are high, and and we're looking and we're looking we're looking on tiptoes.

We're on tiptoes. We you know, it's that quick. It's it's that much of an anticipation up on tiptoe. And, so the atomos, the smallest conceivable quantity in an atom of time to hurl a rapid movement, to cast a glance, flicker an eyelid.

And, so too quick for you to decide then. He said at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound. And so this trump is not the revelation chapter 11, 7th trumpet of the 7 trumpet judgments. Sorry. It's not pre trib or post trib.

This is pre trib. It's not mid or post. Excuse me. So if you wanna be a post toasty, that's fine. But this is, a priest. So this is this is written and the reason this is this is written this this epistle is written in 8059.

Paul's writing this epistle to the church of Corinth in 8059. So their frame of reference of what would the last trump be would be the feast of trumpets, the Jewish feast of trumpets.

The Jewish feast of trumpets would have a succession of trumpets blown. But there's one blast of the trumpet, the last one that's called the taqiyah gudola.

And it's a long, elongated, like, it's that last one. Not the boop, you know, boop. It's that last blast of the trumpet. So he he that's what he that's what he's speaking of here.

The tekia gudola. One long last blast of the trumpet. So the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and this is the end of the church age, Romans 11/25, blindness in part has happened unto Israel.

So we share the gospel to whosoever will. We're amazed that 1,000,000, 100 of 1,000 of Christians are coming forth from Muslim countries right now.

We're watching Iran. Can you see the propaganda the way that before we go to war, you the the propaganda machine has to get you to hate Iranians, to hate Iran.

Or if we wanna go to war with Russia, we've gotta we've gotta get really angry and hate Russians. You know? And if you and I were to go to Russia and meet the Russian people, we're like, what's what's up?

They like meat and potatoes. They're just like me. You know? Nothing weird here. But somehow, you have to lie and cheat and steal and convince people to hate.

You gotta teach them to hate. And, and it's so exciting for me to see that the gospel isn't bound, you know, that the gospel is going forth in the Middle East.

And these these priests that used to have the ability of satellite TV and satellite communication before the Obama administration came in there and wiped everything out in his Arab spring, They planted enough seeds all over the mid east, enough with enough people learning and growing to be evangelists and watching the mosque be empty and the churches, just just thousands, 100 of thousands of Muslims, coming to Christ.

That is so incredibly exciting.

Now is that happening here? No. We hear it's happening in China and other parts of the world, but, very, very exciting to see that the church continues and that the lord's long suffering, not willing that any would perish.

So the blindness apart is happening unto Israel, and we're yearning for that day that the nation of Israel would come to faith.

And during the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble, 2 thirds of the Jews are gonna die. And the rabbis are calling for the Jews all over the world to come back to Israel right now.

So you've got less than 20,000,000 Jews, you know, to come into that little tiny country called Israel, and the whole world seems to wanna divide it and divide Jerusalem and all these different things.

You know, just leave them alone. And they're they're they're so obstinate and stiff neck, by and large, as a people that God has to use the fire of the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble, to purify a believing remnant.

So they're regathered in unbelief, but Zechariah 1389 says that, 2 thirds of them are gonna perish and a 1 third remnant's gonna come through being purified.

They're gonna come to the point where their life is narrowed down to one decision. It's not Jesus and a smorgasbord of options. So too for the tribulation saints. Their life comes down to one decision.

And there's a numerable multitude of people in Revelation 6 and 7 beneath the throne of God, according to Revelation 20 verse 4, that gave up their heads in refusing the mark of the beast on the right hand of their forehead.

Real simple. In many cases, like Chuck Missler would say, in many cases, it's easier to die for the Lord than to live for the Lord.

Because we have so many idols in our life. We have Jesus and all these things, and these things begin to hold us. And pretty soon, they become idols, you know, that limit us in in, in our walk and relationship with the Lord.

So love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life is not of the father but of the world.

And the world perishes unless thereof, but he did do it the will of God is gonna abide forever. So live a life balanced. In fact, live a life of extreme. Not balanced, but extreme toward the lord.

Love the lord thy god extremely with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Love is the fulfillment of the law. And so we are looking. We're here.

We're watching. But the nation of Israel has a love of the world, and the lord has to burn it off. He's gotta burn the dross. When we're studying Ezekiel chapter 22 this week, there's a point there, a section in regard to dross.

Dross is where the refiner would get the metal so molten hot that he would scrape the top. The impurities, that's the draw. Scrape it off. And how do you know it's pure?

When you can see your face, when they can see Jesus. When the Greeks come, sir Philip, we would see Jesus. When people can see Jesus in you and I, we're gonna know even as we are known. Right? We're gonna be a chip off the old block.

We're gonna look like Jesus. That's when the Lord says, alright. You've been purified now. That's what it means to be a Christian, to be Christ like. Blindness, in part, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in.

And so the nation of Israel is boxed in at Petra, at Basra, Mount Seir, and Isaiah 63. And Jesus said, you're not gonna see me again till you say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the lord, and they cry out.

That 1 third remnant is preserved. That 1 third remnant is saved out of the tribulation period, and they move on into Jeremiah 31, an unconditional covenant of all of them being born again.

Nicodemus, you must be born again. You and I in the church age, Jew, Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, male, female, all of us come the same way by being born again, to be born of the spirit.

Your body and soul, you must be born again. And if you're born again, you got nothing to worry about.

Everything's everything's planned out for you. God's hasn't make it any excuses. There's nothing he needs to do to change anything. If you're born again, if you have the holy spirit, you got it all. You got it all.

He's he's so excited of what he has for you. He's excited, and we should be too. And so the blindness and part has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Now if you're that last Gentile holding out, come on.

You know? Let's get this show on the road. You know? That last one. And the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So you have the resurrection. The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

There's a metamorphosis taking place. 1st Thessalonians 416, Paul told the church of Thessalonica, for the Lord shall descend from heaven. The Lord Jesus shall descend. Where's he at? He's at the right hand of his father.

He's there and is watching. He's sitting at the right hand of the father until Stephen is martyred. And when Stephen's being martyred, the lord Jesus stands. And Stephen's face is shining like that of a of an angel, like Moses.

You know, his face is glowing. He's looking on up into heaven. And Jesus is standing to give him a standing ovation. He's well pleased with Stephen. Right? And so Jesus is standing.

So the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice. So a shout, a military shout. He's he's in control. He's the general with a shout, a military shout, with the voice of the archangel, Michael, and the trump of God.

Same word here, the tekagidola. For the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, that last long blast. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

A distinction there. Not all the dead. Remember, we talked about the resurrection, Jesus, the first fruits of the resurrection. So by way of review, for us as students, Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection.

And then it speaks of a military, sequential order. The different bands of the military, the different segments of the troops, they move when they're supposed to move. And so that first group is those that are in Christ Jesus.

That means John the Baptist and all the old testament saints have to wait. But you and I, the church age, those that are in Christ if you're in Christ, then you're in the ark. You're in the boat.

You're gonna make it. And so those that are in Christ are gonna rise first. And then we, which are alive and remain during the church age, are gonna be caught up. So some of you, you're around people that are not bible students.

And you're watching YouTube videos and stuff, and they'll tell you the rapture isn't even in the bible. The word rapture is not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible, Jerry. The Bible, you know, Bible. You know? That's idiocy.

You're not that person. You're not that you don't attend a church like that. You're not that kind of Christian. Just tell them, well, it's in the Latin Vulgate. It's a Latin word, rapturis. Do you read Latin? No. I don't read Latin.

Well, it's a it's a language for for intellectuals. It's a language for the upper upper echelon of learning. Very few people understand Latin. So the Catholics would do their mass in Latin, and the people were dummied down.

The people didn't get an understanding of the bible. Because each week, they'd go to mass and only the priests, only the pope can tell you what God's saying.

So if you knew Latin, you would know it's, it's the word rapture there. But if you spoke Koine Greek, which is a common person's vernacular language, like today, the most common language is that of English.

English all over the world. Right? So if you if you speak Koine Greek, not an upper echelon, you know, intellectual Greek, different types of Greek, but Koine Greek.

And over 5,000 manuscripts, extant manuscripts of the Koine Greek, New Testament are available. The Septuagint is the Masoretic text, the Hebrew translated from Alexander, Egypt, with 70 scholars in 70 days.

That says Septuagint. That's what it means, 70. And it's because the people began to transfer from Hebrew to Greek speaking with Alexander the Great, conquering, the Medo Persians.

And, and the children of Israel, in Babylon, they're learning they're learning to speak Greek, so they translate the Hebrew, which again, the Hebrew, like the Latin, was only for the scholars.

And so into into Greek. And so, if you want to learn Latin, you can see rapturist there. But in the Greek, it's harpazo.

So when they tell you, hey, rapture's not even in the bible. Well, in the English bible, here, it's caught up. In the Greek, if you can understand Greek, it's harpazo. In Latin, it's rapturous. So which one do you want?

The truth is still here. The truth is here. You're gonna be caught up, which means snatched by the back of the neck and pulled out very quickly off of this earth, and you're gonna be caught up together in the clouds together with who?

Those that have been raised the dead in Christ.

They've been raised from the grave and they're transformed. This mortal must put on immortality. We shall be changed in a quickness, in the twinkling of an eye. They're changed. And we go together.

The church age goes to the clouds to meet the lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the lord. That's the blessed hope, Titus 2 13. The blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ.

So I'm watching. He told us to watch when you see these things begin to come to pass, to watch, to pray, that you'd be accounted worthy not to suffer these things, but to stand before the Son of Man.

So when you see the tribulation period approaching, that's a marker. That's a that's a a horn going off. Alarm bells going off. Hey, there's a one world government coming.

Daniel 2 is being fulfilled. Daniel 7 is being fulfilled. Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 is being fulfilled. There's a one world religious system that's approaching. The pope's getting together with all the different religions.

They're trying to bring forth a one world religious system. The Abraham house of Abraham. Right? It's it's not active yet, but they're certainly moving that direction. There's also an apostasy taking place. The church is apostasizing.

The professing church is falling away from the faith. They're falling away from the word of god. There's a rebellion that's developed in the professing church, Christian church, falling away from the scripture.

And I believe that's part of this whole rapture thing, is a falling away from the truth. Why would you wanna take away the blessed hope? What do you have to gain to remove the blessed hope from his church?

What? You want them to be preppers through the tribulation period? You want them to be super Christians that, hey. I'm ready to go through the tribulation period, but you guys aren't because you have an easy believism, escapism?

Well, heck heck, yeah. I wanna escape the tribulation period. He said to pray that way. Pray that you'd be able to escape and to stand before the son of man.

That's what he said in Luke 21. So I'm gonna pray that way. And the church of Philadelphia in Revelation chapter 3 verse 10, he said, I'll keep you from the hour to come because you've been keeping his word.

The church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3 verse 10 is a persecuted church. The Laodicean church is a lukewarm church.

And the Laodicean church, he said, you make me sick. I'd rather you're hot or cold. They've kicked Jesus out of the church, the Laodicean church. It's an apostate church. What kind of church do you wanna be?

What kind of Christian do you wanna be? I wanna be a Christian that's watching, that's looking in anticipation of the soon return to Jesus Christ. I wanna occupy till he comes. I wanna be about my father's business.

I wanna get the glorious gospel out, and I wanna be a student of 27% of the bible prophecy. I wanna know as much prophecy as I can because Peter said it's a very powerful evidence that the bible is true and that our God is Jesus Christ.

We were eyewitnesses of him. We handled him. We touched him. We saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration.

But we have the more sure if we're going to go into a court of law, we have the more sure word of prophecy to prove that our God, who's eternal, can tell us what's going to happen before it happens with a 100% accuracy.

If one of them don't come to pass, if the nation of Israel is not regathered from all over the world, according to Ezekiel 36 and 37, and to be born again and brought back in the land, if that doesn't happen, then Jesus isn't God.

He's a liar. It's all a lie.

So if you can prove that God's missed just one prophecy, If you can produce a body that Jesus isn't resurrected from the dead, then you could steal people's hope where you could point out that it's all a charade, it's all a a lie.

And Jesus is not a good man, if that were true.

He's not a good philosopher. He's an evil deceiver, if that were true. But he challenges enemies, destroy this body. In 3 days, I'll raise it up. The very hope, the very heart of our gospel is the resurrection.

And then we have a beautiful, beautiful doctrine that Paul is getting through to the church of Corinth and the church of Thessalonica and to whosoever will at the end of the age.

A beautiful doctrine called the pre trib rapture of the church. Why would you want to destroy that teaching, that doctrine?

Why would you want to steal the hope from Christians that they're gonna be subject under God's wrath, that he's gonna part his wrath upon a Christ rejecting world and not rapture them before that.

Why would you want that? How does that glorify the lord? He's got the tribulation saints, innumerable multitude of people. He's got the 144,000. He's got the 2 witnesses.

You know? So the first fruits of the resurrection is Jesus, and then those that are in Christ. And then after the after the, tribulation period, we have the resurrection of the old testament saints, the tribulation saints.

And we saw in chapter 11, the resurrection of the 2 witnesses before that. So the sequential order, there and there before the old testament and the and the, new testament or the tribulation saints.

So distinctions. You have to have distinctions. So those that are the dead in Christ your eyes first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, harpazo. So it's real simple. Hey. Well, the word rapture's not there.

How about let me use harpazo in the Greek or just just caught up. Well, what's that mean? Let's define that. It means it's gonna grab you, like, by the back of the neck and just pull you up so quickly, people won't even see it.

And you're gonna be changed. As you're going up, you're gonna be changed. There's a metamorphosis, twinkling of an eye. So quickly, you're in your new glorified body.

This mortal must put on immortality. This corruption must put on incorruption. They're caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air, so shall ever be with the Lord.

He says, verse 53, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So we live in corrupt bodies, sinful bodies. There's no reform for this body.

There's no correction of this body. I thank the Lord for the doctors. I thank the Lord for those that can patch us back together and keep us going, you know, for a little longer, because we don't wanna be separated from our loved ones.

But, you know, that's not a ultimate, you know, solution that the Lord has. He says, no. That dust has to go back to the dust. I've got something better.

I got a whole new model for you. You know? And, just totally engineered to the point that you can the things you're gonna be able to do in that new glorified body, you just wouldn't believe me, you know, if I told you.

No more pain, no more suffering, no more sickness, no more tears, no more death, no more hell. Not for you. You're immortal.

So we're transformed. We're changed. We're immortalized. We return with Jesus in our glorified body. So the picture is the lord betroves himself to you. Your engagement, the engagement is the first aspect of the Jewish wedding.

So he comes to you, and Jesus said, no man can come on to me except the father who has sent me. Draw him. So the father goes, looks for a bride for his son and makes arrangements with the with the bride's, father.

The arrangement, the betrothal. Mary and Joseph were betrothal. They hadn't consummated the marriage. They hadn't but it was binding like a marriage.

And so at a certain point in time, there would be the and nobody knew there would be the fetching. So the groom would come in the middle of the night and and, with his, you know, roommates.

And they would come and and, grab hold of the bride and take her to the father's house, the marriage ceremony, the lavishing of the love upon her, consummating the marriage and all, and then come again.

And so Jude tells us that we're gonna be there in heaven with the Lord, and the Lord's going to return with 10,000 and thousands of his saints.

In Revelation 19, we see the bride of Christ coming in with her clean white garment, returning with Jesus. And when we return with Jesus, he said, the lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints to execute judgment upon all.

So we're there when the lord comes back to Basra. He's not coming back to immediately to the Mount of Olives. Do you understand that? The same Jesus which you've seen shall come in like manner.

So all of you BCF Bible Study Fellowship students or inductive Bible study students, you understand words like like, like, shall come in like manner. What manner did he go in? He ascended. He's gonna come in like manner.

Doesn't say location. Doesn't say there. So the picture is he comes back at Basra because the Jews are concerned about the antichrist and all of his armies leaving Jerusalem because there's been a big war in Babylon.

The city's been destroyed as in a moment. Smoke's billowing out. The antichrist with his armies doesn't move in that direction toward Babylon.

Instead, wants to wipe out the Jews because Jesus can't return and set up the kingdom if there's no Jews. So the devil wants to wipe out all Jews, you know, just genocide them all.

And so they flee, a group of them flees to Basra, which is present southern day Jordan, which in Daniel chapter 11, the Lord says is off limits to the antichrist, the area of ancient Moab.

He's not allowed to go there. So the ancient city of Petra, which some of you have seen pictures thereof, this this remnant flee to this area and they cry out, blessed is he that comes in the name of the lord, and the lord Jesus comes.

Because we're told in Luke or in Matthew 24, except those days be short, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, again, a keyword, the elect, don't interpret the word elect in Matthew 24 as the church or you'll miss it.

You will not interpret properly. There are distinctions. But for the elect's sake or Revelation 12, the woman if we're speaking of the nation of Israel, but for the elect's sake, the lord Jesus returns.

Otherwise, they would be wiped out. And he intervenes. And according to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, he destroys the antichrist and the false prophet with the brightness of his coming, the shekinah glory of his coming.

Because those guys are just men. They aren't even angels. The seed of the serpent, the seed of the devil is who the antichrist is. And an angel grabs hold of them and takes their dead bodies straight to hell to the lake of fire.

Right? Another angel grabs hold of the devil later and takes the devil to the abyss, and where he's gonna be for, a period of time. And, and then he's gonna be loosed during the end of the or a 1000 years.

Then he's gonna be loosed at the end of the millennium and, for a short period of time, and then grabbed hold and put into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are.

So the coming of Jesus is gonna be with the brightness of his coming and the sword of his mouth, gonna destroy the antichrist and the armies.

The blood's gonna be as high as the horse's bridle. A picture of it in Revelation 14 and 16, 4 and a half feet high. The battlefield is gonna be a 200 mile battlefield. And Jesus is gonna destroy his enemies. He's gonna rescue the Jews.

Now he's gonna trek. He's gonna come back from Basra, from Petra, and he's gonna head toward Israel. And that's where he's going to come up, the Mount of Olives, and it cleaves into water comes out down into the Dead Sea.

That's called a triumph. A triumphal entry as a conquering king of kings and lord of lords into the city of Jerusalem.

All of his enemies vanquished and subdued. There's a 75 day interval. Blessed is he that comes at 13 35th day. So the 12 60 days is the midpoint.

Another 12 60 is the end of the 7 year tribulation period. Blessed is he that comes the 13 35th day, a 75 day interval. Matthew 25, he's gonna separate the Gentiles as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Those that survived the tribulation period are gonna be judged of how they treated the nation of Israel, whether good or bad. I was hungry, you gave me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was naked, you clothed me.

I was in the hospital in prison, you visited me. In as much as you've done it under the least of these, my brethren, you've done it under me. Those are the Gentiles in their mortal bodies that are gonna go into the millennium.

They're going to marry, and they're gonna repopulate during that 1000 years. You and I are gonna be our new glorified bodies. Nation of Israel in their new glorified bodies. And Cathy says she might let me marry her in Zion.

I'd like to I'd I I wanna see if Jesus would do that for me. But, she's not sure. She's not sure. I'm still trying to win her over because we're not to be married nor given in marriage, right, in our new glorified bodies.

But but, you know, once you get that knockout, that girl that owns your heart, what are you gonna do? You know? It sure be nice. I mean I mean, I I could sell it. I'm gonna keep trying.

But we're married to Jesus, aren't we? So we're transformed. We're changed. We're immortalized. And we return to Jesus in our glorified body. So we're returning with him, but we're not gonna fight for him or with him.

We're observers. We're watching. And somehow, we were able to be above the ground. We don't even need to go down and get our feet dirty in that blood all over the earth.

You know? We're we're there with him in the clouds, coming with him and, observing and watching. Those new bodies, they can go up to heaven, come back down. They can walk through walls we talked about last week.

They're not limited by, you know, time and space. I mean, speed of thought. And so we're there we're there as his bride. And then when we come back, there's the marriage supper. He's gonna show us off.

Now we're in Luke chapter 12, and he seated us down after that 75 day interval. Now is the marriage supper. Now is the start of the 1000 year rule and reign, the marriage supper, the other last part of the Jewish wedding.

And now he's going to gird himself. He's gonna take his marital garment and bring it up with his sash. He's gonna sit you down and he's gonna serve you.

Imagine that. He's gonna serve you at the marriage supper. Isn't that amazing? And Zephaniah, he's gonna be dancing and singing. Wonder what his voice sounds like. Many waters, probably like me when I sing, the Lord bless thee.

Probably no. Much, much better than that. Some people are gifted. So death swallowed up in victory. We will be transformed. Secondly, I wanna just stay there. I'm having so much fun right there.

There's so much, isn't there? We we don't need to go fast. Secondly, we will be triumphant. Verse 54. So in this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality.

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. So death torments us now. When Britney was sick this week and going to the ER, I I was studying these passages and I I set them aside.

Lord, I I'm feeling really sick right now. I'm feeling really sick, man. What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? And my head is going, what if? And, I don't like the reality of the Lord taking our loved ones from us.

Some of you have experienced that. Some of you became widows at a very early age in your marriage. Some of you lost your mother at an early age in your adolescence, your father.

And it scars. It hurts. It hurts deep, especially at the holidays. Many of us are blessed to have relatives and people we love, you know, be a part of our lives for 50, 60, you know, 70. Some of them lived to be 90 years old.

And the holidays are marked with the grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all that. That's what it used to be. And then little by little, you're going to funeral, saying goodbye, and that sort of thing.

And it really, really hurts. Death, I would use the word, torments us now. I was tormented with the thought of Brittany going home to be with the Lord and and those 7 grandkids not having a mommy.

That's a tormenting thought. Or a man or a woman going off to war and not coming home. How many of you have loved ones who went and served their country and they didn't come back?

Some of them are even engaged. They're engaged to their sweetheart before they go. Or they get married real quick, and and maybe she's pregnant and has a baby while while he's overseas.

And and the little guy, the little gal never meets their mommy or their daddy. Death torments us now, but will soon give way to defeat. Can you imagine death's gonna be defeated? We have the prelude.

We have the precursor. We have the the the picture of Jesus defeating death. That's why Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. For me to live as Christ to die is gain. To be asked on the bodies to be present with the Lord.

It's a victory expression. Death separates us from loved ones, denies a child, his mother or father, separates a husband and a wife. Death wreaks havoc on humanity. All must face the reality and eventuality of death.

My grandma died a couple months ago, a month ago. All my Christmases, everything were centered around her. My grandpa, you gotta say goodbye. I remember pastor John Corson, he'd lost his first wife in a terrible car accident.

And then, 15, 16 years later, he lost his daughter to the exact same car accident. Then he went on to lose a son to Crohn's disease. And I remember people saying to him, John, I'm so sorry for your loss, when his daughter died.

I'm so sorry for your loss. And he said, she's not lost. I know exactly where she is. And how many of you fathers would love to have your daughter in the same place?

Because our daughters, our sons, as they go through this life, man, they can really get off track. Amen. And if we know they're a believer, and they're in heaven right now, that's a gain.

We lose, we hurt, but we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. It hurts. It hurts. But those who have no hope, they're wailing because they have no hope in the resurrection.

They've lied to themselves their whole life long that it's just annihilation. You just go in the grave. There's nothing. There's nothing there. But in actuality, when it starts to happen around them, they're wailing.

Voltaire's wailing as he's on his deathbed. He's screaming. He's screeching. The person that attended his his hospice care never wanted to be around a guy like that again.

Anton LaVey, same thing, screaming. Can you imagine? Can you see the demons torment them before they die? Saying, we deceived you your whole life.

You idiot. And even on their deathbed, the lord is ready. The lord's ready to save them. Even at their last breath, the lord's ready. I mean, you gotta try really, really hard to get into hell because god doesn't send anybody to hell.

People go to hell by rejecting Jesus Christ. They're gonna be judged at the great white throne judgment. God's gonna ask them, what did you do with my son?

And all the excuses and all the blame game and all that other stuff's gonna come up. He's gonna say, wait a minute. What did you do with my son? Did you receive him, Or did you reject him?

And they could go on to describe why they rejected him, but bottom line is you rejected him. Could you find any fault in him? Well, I had a pastor. He is a really bad dude. I went to church, and they abused me.

My parents were Christians, and they treated me really bad. And he's gonna say, I never told you to believe in your parents. I never told you to believe in a pastor or a priest or a pope. I never told you to believe in a church.

You can't find anything wrong with my son. Why didn't you believe in my son? Why would you reject him? And John 3 tells us why. Because their deeds are evil, and they love darkness rather than light.

They love their sin. They don't wanna give up their sin. They're deceived by the devil. They're blinded by the devil that something they have is better than what God is offering.

And you and I, we know when we got saved, when we became born again, that which we experienced, that which we entered into, that's what we tasted. Everything else paled in comparison.

No alcohol ever tasted that good. No drugs or sin ever you know, never experienced to that degree the abundant life of the spirit. The peace, the joy, the contentment, the love of God which surpasses all understanding.

In Isaiah 25:8, he will swallow up death in victory, and the lord god will wipe away tears from all faces. No more tears. No more sorrow. No more suffering.

The hope of the believer is ultimate triumph. Not just cessation of death. Now think about that. Not just death stopping, not just cessation of death, but restoration of all death has taken from us. You're gonna see your mom again.

You're gonna see your dad. You're gonna see that believer, that son, that daughter that died before the age of accountability, that baby. You're gonna see that baby perfected in their in the prime of their life.

All tears washed away, wiped away. Sometimes you're in a battle with your prodigals, And it just it just breaks your heart year after year, holiday after holiday, the rebellion, the abstinence, the refusal to surrender to Jesus.

But I still hold that that seed of faith is there, that they believe and that that faith is imputed to them for righteousness.

And if they're not in their right minds now, one day they will be, that the lord's gonna complete that work that he's begun in each of them.

And we're gonna we're just gonna be so praising the lord that that which we experienced as impossible to get them to live and walk the Christian life.

That in spite of their own sinfulness, his righteousness is even greater. If Lot can make it in and be described by Peter as in righteous Lot, then there's hope for my prodigal daughter.

There's hope for your prodigal son or daughter. There's hope for your prodigal parents who have expressed, who confessed Jesus Christ as lord.

They believe in their heart that he was buried, that he raised himself from the dead, and that he's seated at the right hand of the father. They have that faith, but they just don't know how to walk the walk or unwilling thereof.

And I know that if it if it comes down to it, in a first Corinthians 5, that he might have to spank them to the point of destroying their body to save their spirit.

Have you ever been able to pray, Lord, whatever it takes? I can't pray that prayer. I'm afraid of that prayer.

I'm still holding out for a season of obedience. A season of let's see, 10 years of you walking with the lord, honey. Let me watch Jesus bless you on this side. Let's see all that those prayers and all that's gone into you.

Let let's see it bear some fruit for his kingdom, for his glory. I don't wanna experience the pain of death. Lord, if you'd had just been here, if it had just got here sooner, Lord, by this time, he stinketh.

Everybody knows so much more than the lord. You know? The hurricane has not just stopped, but stopped and the damage left in its wake restored to perfection. Think of the destructive lives that we once lived.

Think of the destructive hurricane that many of our prodigals are living. Everywhere they go, they just destroy everything, including themselves with drugs and alcohol and illicit activities. Self destructive.

Choosing men, choosing women, choosing people that they just destroy each other. They're bad for each other. They're like 2 sided. One side of them, they get it. One side of them, they can kind of function for a little while.

Then there's the other side of them that just it's hard to understand. Are they really saved? Are they not saved? Lord, save them. The thought of an eternity in hell, that's even worse. That'll keep you up at nights.

Defectual fervent prayer prayer of a righteous man avails much, but lord, I can't get inside of her. I can't get in there and used to be able to dress her the way we wanted. Used to be able to take her to church.

Used to be able to baptize her and do all those things. What happened? Is my mom in heaven? Is my grandma in heaven? Am I gonna see him again? Jesus wept. Life is hard, but eternal bliss awaits the believer.

The unbeliever, the one that's not a part of the church, the one that's not the bride of Christ faces not just physical death, but eternal damnation, the second death. In Ezekiel 3311, we can see the heart of God.

The heart of God, like Peter expressed, God's long suffering, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He doesn't just choose some for heaven and choose others for hell.

His cry goes out to whosoever will, let him come. He says, as I live, sayeth the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways.

For why will you die? Come now. Let us reason together. Let's reason this out. Though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. Though they'd be red like crimson, I'll make them white as wool.

Why do you persist in rebelling against me? Why do you persist in destroying yourselves? God has made a way for you to win. Why lose? Why die? You can live for all eternity.

Oh, death, where is thy sting? Verse 55. Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Paul is singing. He's singing triumphantly. He's quoting out of Hosea, chapter 13, verse 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave.

That word ransom in the Hebrew speaks of power. It's a powerful means of ransom. He's more powerful, the power of the grave. And then he says, I'll purchase. I will redeem or purchase them from death.

So it takes power and it takes the purchasing price of his only begotten son, his precious blood. I'll redeem them from death. Oh death, I will be thy plague. Oh grave, I will be thy destruction. So we win, we win, we win.

Death loses. The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. So the law condemns us. Not because the law is bad, but because we're bad. The law is good. The law is holy. The law shows me my need of a savior, my need of Jesus.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3 23. All. All means all. All have sinned. There's none righteous. No, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the lord has laid on him the inequity of us all.

The wages of sin, what we deserve. You want justice? You want what you deserve? You're a good guy? You tithe, you go to church. I'm a good person. I'm not a criminal.

I'm not a bad guy. The wages of sin is death. Death is eternal separation from God. But the gift, in contrast, which you deserve, in contrast to what you deserve, but the gift of God, salvation is a gift by grace through faith alone.

But the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because of Jesus, we're no longer under the law, condemned by the law. We're now under the grace of God, clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. We put on Christ.

Death swallowed up in victory, we will be transformed. We'll be triumphant. Thirdly, we should be thankful. At this Thanksgiving season, are you thankful? When it went around the room and hey, what are you thankful for?

What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for my new truck. I'm thankful for this. I'm thankful for that. We know how to play it out. Are you thankful for your salvation? It's the greatest thing you've ever received, your salvation.

When the devil comes along and says, what's your price? What's your price? What price will you sell Jesus out for? What is it you want? What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Or what would a man give in exchange for his life, Jesus said? What value do you place upon the cross? What value do you place upon the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf?

And so many of us, we sell Jesus out so cheaply. That which we received in exchange for him is like nothing in comparison. You want 3 score in 10 years of popularity? You want 70 years, maybe 10 more, 80 years of being a billionaire?

You're willing to sell your soul for what? Flying over, you know, the country and acting like your little god and playing god, you know? You're gonna die, Rockefeller. You're gonna die, Henry Kissinger.

You're dead, Henry Kissinger. You're dead, Rockefeller. Bill Gates, you're gonna die. Soros, you're gonna die. You're like a dead man walking already. Where are you gonna spend eternity? You're not gonna be able to buy your way in.

You're not gonna be able to work or negotiate your way in. We all come the same way. We come through Jesus Christ. We should be thankful. But thanks be the God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you thankful?

Jesus took the sting of death so that we could live. The sting of death. So you're driving along in your car. It's spring. The bees, the birds, everybody's singing. Dad's in the front. Mom's next to dad in the front seat.

Got a little boy, little girl riding along in the back. Windows are down, and there's a bumblebee that comes into the car, starts buzzing. This is before the EpiPen. You've got a little daughter that it could be lethal.

If she gets stung by this bee, her throat could swell up like Christie's did, and it's very serious, and she could die. Screaming in the car, the bees screaming, everybody's screaming, buzzing all around.

And the dad reaches forth his hand and capsulates the bee. The bee stings his hand, opens his hand up and shows little daughter the stinger there. Nothing to worry about. That's what Jesus did for you and I.

He took the sting of death. He took it away. There's no longer any fearing of death. Thanks be unto god, 2nd Corinthians 9 15, for his unspeakable gift. God gave it all for you. A thankful heart is a triumphing heart.

An unthankful heart is a defeated heart. You wanna live with defeat because of your past? Keep meditating and think about the past. You wanna live triumphantly? Live thankfully. Thank the Lord for this day.

Thank him. Look around. There's always things to be thankful for. Isn't there? We don't know what we have many times till it's till it's taken, till it's not there anymore. Thank God for the little things, the smallest things.

Thank for the privilege of prayer. Thank him for your bible. Thank him for your family. Go down the list. Don't let the devil steal your joy by causing you to fixate and think of yourself as a victim looking in the past.

There's a lot of things that's happened in our lives. There's no way we can comprehend or understand. And we have to put them in that file that pastor Chuck described as.

It's that file that says, until I receive more information. And when you see Jesus and you see his scars, you're not even gonna have to open up that file. It's a question that doesn't need it even need to be asked anymore.

You're gonna know even as you were known. The question you're gonna have is, why me? Why did you save me? Not why did you allow this? You can be scratching your head going, how did I get in here? These people are really holy.

Death swallowed up in victory. We will be transformed. We'll be triumphant. We will we should be thankful. And fourthly, we are tested. Verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, therefore, pointing back to all that's preceded.

Just like when we were in the book of Romans, where he gave the theme, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

For therein is the right of God revealed from faith to faith, as written, the just shall live by faith.

And then he goes for 8 chapters describing the gospel. And then he gets into chapter 9, and he lets all those replacement theology people know that chapter 9 is Israel's past election.

Chapter 10 is Israel's present rejection. Chapter 11 is Israel's future restoration. And now he comes after the doctrinal section, now he comes to the application.

All of us should be asking, well, what does this mean for me today? How should I then live my life? Should I live a life of thankfulness? Should I be thankful for eternal life? Should I be thankful, you know, for the gospel?

Should I relook at the rapture and evaluate the rapture, the hope of the rapture, and evaluate it as, is it truly a blessed hope? You have to apply the doctrinal part, the intellectual part.

You have to apply it to your life. So Paul says, I beseech you therefore, chapter 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore, the therefore pointing back, to all that I've just taught you.

Here's your reaction. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him, which is your reasonable act of worship.

It's your reasonable service. It's reasonable that you would do this, that you would live this way.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may be able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god.

That's the application. And here, he has some application for us. In light of the death, the burial, the resurrection, the rapture, conquering death, oh death, where's I sting?

Alright. Now it comes down to me. How should I respond? He says, therefore, my beloved brethren who are you? You're his beloved brethren. You're brethren. You're not unbelievers. You're not headed to hell.

You're a fellow believer, a beloved believer, a beloved brethren. You're in the family of God. So in response to God's grace, the triumph over death, he says, be steadfast. So be seated, be settled, firmly situated.

Don't be as unstable as water. It's crucial that you get grounded in your faith. If you're a new believer here, get grounded in your faith. Don't be as unstable as water. Don't be listening to all the con jobs out there.

Just simply read your bible. I I can't emphasize it enough. All these different voices and all these different pretenders and, I just wanna groan. I wanna groan. It's just such such idiocy out there.

So much deception. God didn't make it complicated. He made it simple. It's a love relationship with Jesus, and that love for him is expressed in obedience and faith that he produces in your heart as you read his word.

You just trust him. Except you become as a child, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God.

You come with a childlike faith, knowing that he's strong, that he's smart, that he's got it all in control. And it's a walk of love. It's a walk of faith. We walk by faith, not by sight.

Get grounded. I again, I I I'll tell you this. Been a Christian for over 40 years. In January 1980, I was 20 years old, and I got saved. And I immediately began to go to church, bought a bible, and began to study the bible.

And I had a lot of teachers, a lot of great people that I've I've invested in my life tremendously. And I've never reached a place in my walk with the Lord where I don't need to study, where I don't need to spend time in God's word.

I've never reached that place. If I veer or drift, as the writer of Hebrews says, this drifting, you can start to drift away, man, I come back to square 1. Hey, let's get into the word. Let's pray. I don't wanna drift.

I don't wanna drift too far. Those attitudes are wrong. Those thoughts are wrong. How'd those get in there? Why aren't those being washed away? Why would I cultivate that thought? Am I gonna go back to being the old Rick?

Really? After all this time? That old rick's there to take me down. The devil's patient. He's patient with David to take David down. A time when kings go out to battle, David's thinking he's all that.

David, the psalmist, where's your time with the Lord? Are you writing any new Psalms? No. Well, you're gonna. You're gonna write Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51, and there's Psalms of penitence.

There's Psalms of repentance that everybody's gonna glean and learn from because you took your eye off the ball, dude. David's David heard Nathan, you're the man. No, not that man. That other man. The murdering man.

The adulteress man. The unfaithful man. But isn't it great when we get to Hebrews 11, it's all edited out? It's all edited out. It's all about faith. By faith, by faith, by faith, they please God. He came back to faith.

He came back to square 1. He cried out to God. We need to be grounded. And so this week, when I'm at the gym, I'm I'm putting in pastor Chuck, and I'm listening to chapters of the bible, just going through the bible.

If I need it, how much more all of us need it, especially a new believer. You've been walking with the Lord a year, 2 years, 3 years? You're like a roller coaster.

You're, like, tossed all over. Get grounded in the word. Be grounded. Don't be all loosey goosey all over the place with every wind of doctrine, and every voice, and every, I think so, and I think so, and I think so.

Who are you to say you think so? What's the Lord What's the word of God have to say about the topic? What's the Bible say? Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Earnestly contend for the faith.

It's a fight. We're fighting for truth. I hate being lied to. I won't be lied to. I I can't I can't handle it anymore. I can't live that way. Be steadfast to be seated, settled, firmly situated. Don't be unstable as water.

Get grounded. And then he says, unmovable. So totally immovable, which is more intense, motionless. You've gotta have that stubbornness of being a lighthouse. The wind and the waves and everything beating against you.

And there's a story, you guys are Navy navigators. There's a story of a destroyer, whatever your biggest ships are out there. And he's looking at the radar and communicating to what he thinks is another ship.

Tell him to move. No. You move. Move. No. You move. And they're going through the jockeying of who's the bigger, who's the baddest. And then the lighthouse guy says, well, I'm a lighthouse. You better move, you know?

Those lighthouses don't move. And that's the way we need to be. We need to be so incredibly stubborn. Stubborn. You will not compromise the truth. Lighthouse stubbornness. And you don't wanna compromise the truth in your life.

In the negative, not being moved out of God's will for your life. Don't miss out. Surrender. Exercise humility every day. Every day, exercise humility. Don't allow someone else's opinion of you take you out of your ministry.

You continue to minister to those whom God brings. You can't do anything about the ones that don't like you, that leave and all that. But you stay in your ministry. You stay where God's planted you. You remain that wife.

You remain that husband. You remain that brother, that friend. You continue to do what God's called you to do and allow God to work out the rest. You can't do it for the other person. They gotta apply it to themselves.

They gotta apply it in their lives. They gotta apply it in the marriage. And it's not a mystery. It's not a mystery. You don't need all these counselors with psychology. It's not a mystery. The problem's you.

The problem's selfishness. The problem's not horizontal. It's not that wife he gave you. The problem's vertical. The problem's in your walk with the Lord. Get right with the Lord. You get right. And watch what God does.

Quit blaming. Quit playing the victim. Quit whining and looking for some man or some woman to give you some new truth that's nothing new. And you've been there. You've been you've been in these churches. It's just psychobabble.

It's therapeutic, and it's like eating cotton candy. It doesn't minister to your spirit. There's nothing there. You can't sink your teeth into it. You can't fight a fight with that kind of nutrition. We're in a battle.

You need to be equipped. And part of it's your will, that indomitable will. I think it's Mike Tyson said, everybody's got a plan till they get hit. When you get hit, that's when we find out what your commitment to Jesus is really like.

If you're gonna get up off the ground and keep fighting, While in his will, we are to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. That that's one of the most therapeutic, if I can use that word.

One of the most therapeutic, one of the most healing, one of the best ways for me to get through a heartbreaking afternoon or a heartbreaking day or 2, is to just get back to work.

Get back to work. Do what God's called me to do. You just whooped on 450 prophets of Baal and now some Jezebel woman is threatening to kill you.

And you're gonna run for 15 miles to try and get away from her, and now you're all physiologically, you're tired. Emotionally, you're spent. Spiritually, you're spent.

And you're gonna let her take you out of your game. You're gonna let her so threaten you, this demon woman, that that you're gonna quit Elijah. And the lord and his love for you sends ravens to give you some carrots.

No. He doesn't do that. He loves you more than that. He gives you some meat because he knows you're a carnivore. Right? So you get some meat, and then lets you sleep.

Get some good rest. Physiologically, you need some good deep sleep because sleep deprivation makes you crazy. You imagine things. And then he comes and he gives you some water from the brook and he says, what you doing, Elijah?

Why are you just sitting here? Time to get back to work. Man, I'm the most zealous guy you got, man. I've been really zealous for you. Haven't you seen me?

Everyone's gone. It's only me now. He says, I got 7,000 haven't bowed their knee to the prophet Baal. Get back to work. And when we get back to work, when we do what God's called us to do, man, it's amazing how God ministers to us.

And you know what I've discovered? Is when he puts that person in front of you that you get to share the gospel with, that had you not continued, you wouldn't get to, it's so amazing, isn't it?

It's just for 1. You just whooped on 450 of them, but all he needs is just 1. You just need one little one little person, lord, that comes to Christ knowing that there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents.

The small church pastor just needs 1. I I just need 1 every now and then, lord. I need 1.

And he does that, doesn't he? And he says, Rick, just just be faithful. Kathy, be faithful. What do you want me to do, lord? I want you to be faithful. Be faithful what I've called you to do. Always abounding in the work of the lord.

Don't quit. Always too soon to quit, Warren Wiersbe said. In the positive, exceeding the requirements, overflowing, overdoing. Same word used of God in lavishing His love and grace upon us in Ephesians 1 verse 7.

In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. I love that word in the book of Ephesians.

It's the Greek word plutas, plutocrats. You and I are plutocrats. The riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. Wherein he is abounded, So always abounding on the work of the Lord. He is abounded toward us and all wisdom and prudence.

I must first receive before I can give, before I can serve. Without me, you can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Are you responding to God's love by always abounding in the work of the Lord?

Some of you people, you get hammered when you go to work. You get hammered when you go out there. It's a war out there. And the devil's designed it. You get hammered by your own children. Your own children trying to get in your head.

Some of the meanest people we deal with is the spoiled brats we raised. Sorry, Britney and Jessica. I didn't mean that. That was somebody else's father. But A lot of them, they have no idea how we grew up.

They don't have a clue what it's like being raised in an alcoholic home, 7 divorces and all that. They don't have a clue. And they come along, and, boy, they're gonna tell us, aren't they?

And that's so funny as they get a little older, and then they have kids. Oh, it's just hilarious. It's just hilarious, man. They got teenagers now. Oh, god. I hope I hope her blood pressure goes down. Yeah. But it's hard, isn't it?

We love them so much. But don't don't allow them to get you to quit. The devil did some very unjust and evil things to, my family since we've been in the ministry. And there's always that thought of, I didn't sign up for this.

I can do better than this. I know I can do better than this. You know? And so now I'm pastor loser, and I'm daddy loser and husband loser and all that kinda loser stuff. But the lord says, no.

Keep abounding on the work of the Lord. Let let me let me calculate it at the end, Rick. I'll calculate it at the end. And and, you still might hear well done, thou good and faithful servant, if you continue to walk by faith.

But don't quit. God initiates. Will we respond in love? You remember Simon in chapter 21? He he thought he was rocky. He thought that he was it. That hey. I'm the Italian Stallion, man.

Jewish, whatever. And, you said I'm little stone and you're the big rock. Well, and upon this rock, you're gonna build your church and all. Though everybody is going to be offended of you this night, not me.

And Jesus said, before this cock crows, before the end of this night, you're gonna deny me on 3 different occasions. That's incomprehensible to Peter. He's a big strong man. And then the Lord uses little maidens.

These MMA girls kicked him upside the face and and he, he didn't even see it coming, you know. I know you're a Galilean. Your voice deceives you, you know. I don't know the man. Pretty soon, by the third time, he's actually cussing.

He must have saw Hillary or something. I mean, that'd make you cuss. And so he's so dejected. He's so ashamed of himself that after the resurrection and all, he still wants to go back to fishing.

He doesn't wanna do this anymore. He's so failed the Lord. And in chapter 21, the boys are fishing. Like, 7 of them went with him. He's very influential. They're all ready to go back to fishing. Jesus said, I'd make you fishers of men.

3 and a half years earlier, they set their nets down. Now they're fishing all night. They caught no fish. And children, you caught any fish? Put your net on the other side. It's like a deja vu when they first met him.

They can't see him in his new glorified body. They can't identify who he is just yet. Like the 2 on the road to Emmaus, it's kinda like, what what what's going on here? And their nets are full of fishes, bursting, breaking.

And John says, it's the Lord. And Peter jumps in the water. They're coming to the shore and it's breaking the nets. Children, come and dine. You caught any fish? Come and dine. He's again, he's a carnivore.

He's a great chef. He's fixing them fish there. And they come to the shore and broil fish. And he can eat. It's not a ghost. He's in that new body, flesh and bone, no blood, able to go through walls, able to eat.

So do some eating at that marriage supper. Do some eating in these new bodies as we feast together. And then he says to Peter, Peter, do you love me more than these?

Now what's the these? How would you interpret that? Do you love me more than these? Is it the fish? Peter, a fisherman? I could have the best fish restaurants all over the Galilee. I could be a very successful businessman.

That's what I did before he called me. I could have a house on the water. I could have filet of Peter fish sandwiches everywhere. Do you love me more than these, more than being successful at your business endeavor?

Do you love me more than the disciples whom you boasted about? Are you the one that loves me the most? What is the these in your life? What is the these in my life? What what is it that would take me to quit if the lord took it away?

If the lord takes Isaac away from Abraham, is he gonna quit? If that knife comes down to Isaac, is Abraham gonna quit Abraham, father of many? It's a test, isn't it? You're gonna be tested.

I'm gonna be tested. If you're getting dreams in Genesis 37 like Joseph, you're 17 years old, you're a virgin, you've you've said, I'm gonna serve the lord with my whole heart. I'm not gonna be like all these kids in the youth groups.

I'm gonna be that kid in the youth group that's serious about my walk with Jesus. I'm gonna be like Daniel. I'm gonna be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I'm not gonna waver.

And then you're tested. Your brothers sell you out to a Midianidist group heading to Egypt. Now you spend the next years in prison as a slave, and it's not until you're 30 years old that your life begins to make sense again.

You passed the test. And now, your second command to that of only pharaoh and that which you guys have meant for evil, you're able to say to your brothers, God meant for good to save many people this day.

You passed the test. You're tested, but you but you passed the test. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord. Why am I doing this? Paul says, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the lord, not unto men.

Men are fickle. We minister to one another as as an instrument that the lord's flowing through us to minister to one another, but, ultimately, you don't decide my fate.

You don't decide whether I'm gonna be here next week or the week after. My ministry's under the lord. That's who I'm ministering to. So my ministry better be with my whole heart.

He doesn't want half hearted service. And if my whole heart is is not your cup of tea, then you might find a pastor where it is. But for me, in my house, we're gonna be here. We've been here 30 years.

And it hurts. It hurts. It's it's difficult, but it's also very, very rewarding to know that you're in god's will, to know you're human frailty, to know that you can't please everybody. Only god can. Only he can.

And he's got a myriad of different guys out there and gals and missionaries and people, different styles of ministry, but you can't base your ministry on a political poll. You can't make decisions based upon a political poll.

We're gonna take a poll. No. The pastor needs to be a shepherd. He needs to hear from the lord. He needs to do what God's telling him to do. He needs to stay with the word. If he doesn't stay with the word, then pounce on him.

But as long as he's staying with the word, let him alone. Pray for him. Let him do what god's called him to do. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord. How do I know it's not in vain?

How do I know God's still watching, that he's still involved? In Hebrews, the Lord says, God doesn't forget. He doesn't forget the work you're doing, the work that people don't appreciate, don't see, or forgotten about.

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, Hebrews 6:10. And labor of love, which ye have showed towards his name, and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. God hasn't God hasn't forgotten your labor.

He sees your labor. He sees the mother, the father, the family man you are, the investment you've made in your family, in your kid, in your community. Just as important as any pastor up in front. Your faithfulness. God will sustain us.

How are we gonna pay the bills? How are we gonna cover things, you know, if we serve the Lord? Always abounding in the work of the Lord, not quitting, being steadfast and immovable, always abound. How are how are we gonna pay the bills?

Let us not be weary in well doing, Galatians 69. For in due season, you shall reap if you faint not. So many times you wanna quit. You wanna quit, man. They're I'm tired of this. And then the lord provides. The lord makes a way.

We've had miracle after miracle in 30 years of ministry where the lord has provided for us to continue. I felt like when we left downtown after we lost everything, lost our house and people in our lives that we love dying all around.

Everybody's dying. And I heard Cathy cry so deep. It it it's a cry you never wanna hear. And it was bewildering as you would use a word that Job would use.

Bewildering. No means of how how we gonna do this? How we how can this make sense? And I remember this time of year, we watched the movie, it's a wonderful life. And I remember George Bailey getting the bank closed with $1 left.

They were still in business. And that's how I picture this church. After all that happened, we still had enough to go another day, to go another week. God provided a place to meet. He provided this place to meet, and it was affordable.

And we just humbled ourself, and these people have been so incredibly nice to us, kind to us. I thank the lord for them. So don't be weary in well doing, for in due season, you shall reap if you faint not.

If we were to quit, if we were to try to fix it, if we thought houses and money and security was our right, and we went into real estate, we're offered a little bit of real estate to go into.

Even recently, I was offered, a business opportunity if I wanted it. There's always opportunities.

There's always ways the devil tries to get you to the grass is greener on the other side. What makes you so you don't quit? This is where god's called me. He's gonna provide. But if I quit, I'll never get to see the miracle.

I'll never get to see what god's doing within my heart, within my wife's heart. God will reward us. He will reward us. Revelation 2212, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his work shall be.

I'm the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end, the first and the last. He knows it all from beginning to end. Your life's not an accident. It's all planned out. You just stay in God's will.

What's God's will for your life? Humble yourself each and every day. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the lord, for you know that your labor's not in vain. Everything you do for yourself is gonna pass.

Only what you do for Jesus Christ is gonna last. And, again, I think one of the greatest callings is that of a mother. Our world does not value the calling of a mother. You gotta add money to it. And some of you are superhuman.

You can have a career and be a great mother, grandmother, father, husband. That's what makes the body of Christ. We wanna look for celebrities. We wanna look for Christian celebrities to live our lives through.

Let them live it. Oh, yeah. He's one of ours. There's Jack. There's Greg. Oh, there's Chuck. God wants you to be the celebrity. God wants you to be the big man in your home, the big woman in your home.

God wants you to be the mighty man of faith and woman of faith that weathers the storms and gets through difficulties and emulates and teaches your children how to trust in Jesus.

He's no respecter of persons. There's only one hero, and that's Jesus. One celebrity, that's Jesus.

Death is swallowed up. We are transformed. We will be triumphant. We should be thankful. And we will be tested. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the lord.

For you know, because of the resurrection, because of the rapture, because Jesus is coming for you, because he's called you to do what he's called you to do, you know that you know that you know that your labor is not in vain.

It's not in vain in the Lord because death is swallowed up. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Let's pray. Father, thank you once again.

Lord, I pray that these truths would sink down deep, that these would be foundational in our Christian life that no matter what adversity, no matter what we face, Lord, that, lord, we come back to the very root of our faith, your death, your burial, your resurrection, your conquering sin and death and hell, the hope that is ours out of heaven, that this life is but a vapor soon over.

And this light affliction, it's just light. It's just a light affliction. It's but for a moment. It's working a far more eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which you're seeing, for the things which you're seeing are temporal. But, lord, we're looking for the things that are eternal. This is just a moment, this suffering.

It's working a far more eternal weight of glory. We're looking for the things which are not seen, lord. We're looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. We're just pilgrim and sojourners passing through.

Lord, make us men and women of faith that can navigate these times we're in. These uncertain times when when leadership is fainting, when leadership is failing human leadership in the church, in government, in the community.

Lord, evermore causes to look at your sovereignty, your leadership, yours your prophecy, the word of God.

Everything's coming into place. Everything's working according to plan. Help us find our place within the body, the place within the body where we function, where you bring glory and honor unto you, lord.

We want you to be glorified. Thank you how this body works together. Thank you for the potlucks. Thank you for the prayer time, the fellowship time, the lunches, the servanthood, the different kind of ways people serve one another.

Thank you for the the joy and the blessing of singing, the study of your word, and phone calls, and the interaction on the Internet and Facebook, and all the different ways that we as a body are able to function, lord.

Lord, we pray that you'd be glorified. And as Paul says that I might know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.

Help us, Lord. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed as you continue to pray, maybe there's one here today.

Maybe the Lord sent one that at this holiday season that doesn't know the savior. You don't know Jesus. Christianity is a relationship.

God wants you to know him. Anyone here this morning, you don't know Jesus, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. We wanna to as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.

You this morning have an opportunity to receive Christ. Anyone here this morning? This is your moment. Father, thank you once again. Thank you for the assurance. Thank you that we're grounded in you.

Lord, I just pray that evermore those that are watching on Facebook or whatever, watch the tape, watch the video, that this would be encouraging to them that that they too would have an opportunity to come to Christ.

Surrender their heart and life unto you even now. In Jesus' name, amen.