May 16, 2024 • 15 mins
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Embark on a stirring exploration of hope and assurance with us as we navigate the profound messages in 1 Thessalonians 4, discussing the anticipation of Christ's second coming. You'll come away with a renewed sense of solace concerning loved ones who have passed and how they're part of the grand reunion promised by Paul. We're not fixated on mapping out the end times, but rather on embracing the joy that comes from knowing Jesus is at the heart of these prophecies, ready to welcome us into eternal fellowship. Through our conversation, you'll discover that the deep-seated peace offered by these scriptures outshines the intricacies often debated in eschatology.
Then, we take a closer look at the fascinating doctrine of the rapture and the various interpretations that have captivated believers for centuries. Whether considering the traditional view of a heavenly gathering before Earth's judgement or the Roman practice of welcoming an emperor, the core message remains—our ultimate reunion with the Lord. We'll remind you of the futility in attempting to pin down the timing of these divine events and instead redirect our focus to the virtues of patience, evangelism, and discipleship. Rest in the knowledge that God's perfect timing orchestrates our future and find inspiration in the call to be heralds of the gospel, diligently working towards the fulfillment of His kingdom.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, andtoday's title is the Future is
Bright.
The future is bright.
I love this chapter.
There's one of the mosthope-filled verses in the entire
New Testament about the secondcoming of Christ, no matter how
(00:21):
you try to interpret it in thischapter today.
So we're going to get to it injust a moment.
But, as always, if you likewhat we're doing here, make sure
you like, share and subscribeto the YouTube channel and to
the podcast.
Give us a five-star review onthe podcast you are always my
favorites Leave us a comment onthe YouTube video, and always we
gather together at the Facebookdiscussion group Bible
Breakdown Discussion.
(00:45):
I can't wait to get into this.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and this is one of those I
would love to hear in thecomments what you have dug out
for yourself.
So, while you're opening up to1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, I
want to revisit with you thefirst thing we said when we
first got into this.
First of all, remember that theoverall theme of 1
Thessalonians is be encouraged.
Jesus is coming, and in everychapter in 1 Thessalonians, paul
(01:09):
talks about the second comingof Christ, and one of the
reasons for this is because he'sdiscovered that there's been
some misunderstanding with whatwas going on, like they were
saying well, what happens ifJesus is coming again?
What happens if he comes backin our lifetime?
What happens if someone diesbefore he comes back?
I mean, they just owe it forthem.
I mean, you've got to rememberhe didn't stay there very long,
(01:29):
so there was still a lot of gapsin their theology that he
wanted to go back and fix.
He wanted to go back and tellthem and so they're like okay,
so if I'm alive when Jesus comesback, what happens If I die?
What happens Wait a minute mygreat uncle's, aunt's nephew he
died.
Does he not see Jesus?
I mean, there's all thesequestions.
(01:49):
So Paul is trying to fill thesegaps in for them because he
didn't want them to not beencouraged, right?
So he's going to start thischapter with talking about
living to please God, and thereason why we live to please God
is because we're so encouragedbecause Christ is coming again.
Now, if you also remember whenI said at the beginning of 1
Thessalonians I personally holdto what I call pantheology,
(02:11):
which means it'll all pan out inthe end, and the reason for
that is is I am not interestedin arguing with anybody over
certain types of eschatology.
Now eschatology, by the way, isthe study of the end time.
So sorry about that.
That's one of those ridiculouswords that helps us try to
encapsulate a whole bunch ofstuff into one word.
But here's the reason whyWhatever you grew up with is
(02:36):
what's normal to you.
There are some people I know whobelieve beyond any shadow of a
doubt.
They believe that one daythere's going to be a rapture of
the church and they think thatthe verse in here holds to that.
It proves there's a rapture.
Rapture is a secret catchingaway of God's people, leaving
everybody else on earth.
And then there's a secretcatching away of God's people
seven years of tribulation andat the end of it there's a
(02:56):
second coming of Christ where hejudges the living and the dead
and enters into a millennialreign.
Very interesting, right.
I know other people.
They were raised in a faithtradition and they believe
beyond any doubt that there's atribulation that begins and
halfway through it there's arapture of the church, that
secret catching away.
Then there's the second half ofthe tribulation, second coming
(03:19):
of Christ, and then it all goesaway.
Then there's a third group ofpeople, there's a fourth one too
, but there's a third group ofpeople.
They don't believe there's atribulation.
They believe there's a secondcoming of Christ and that the
rapture and the second coming isthe same thing.
And it happens, and then itgoes into that, and then there's
(03:41):
all kinds of other ones.
There's some people that thinkthat none of that's true.
So I'm not interested inarguing that.
Because here's the thing I'venoticed about most people who
like to argue these things theyhaven't really read much of this
right here.
They listen to somebody onYouTube, and someone on YouTube
told them that, or someone on astage told them something.
So I've actually read this,because one of the things I've
learned is I've started to readthis and I've studied
(04:01):
eschatology, end times, a lotover the years.
What I've started to understandabout the Bible is that the
Bible's goal is not to tell usexactly how it all ends.
The Bible's goal is to tell uswho is at the end and that it's
Jesus, and he wants us to bethere with him.
And if you notice, many timesin the Bible people didn't know
(04:23):
what a prophecy meant untilafter it had been fulfilled.
And then they go oh, that'swhat he meant, got it.
Wow, god sure is faithful.
And then move on.
I think a lot of prophecy islike that, because the book of
Revelation according to manypeople, it's all about future
things.
I got a feeling a lot of thesethings we're going to look at
and go oh, so that's what the144,000 meant, or whatever.
(04:44):
I think the same thing withthis particular chapter right
here.
But what's so encouraging is nomatter how it happens.
What we do know for sure isthat Jesus is coming If it's in
a rapture that's separate from asecond coming, no-transcript
and that should fill us withgreat joy.
So we're going to read thistogether, just for the sake of
(05:06):
interest.
I want to share with you twoways to interpret this last
scripture, and I hope we leaveit with a great sense of joy
together.
You ready, here we go.
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1 saysthis Remember it starts off with
this is how we live free andclean.
Finally, dear brothers andsisters, we urge you, in the
name of our Lord Jesus, to livein a way that pleases God.
(05:27):
As we have taught you, you livethis way already and we
encourage you to do so even more, for you remember that we
taught you by the authority ofthe Lord Jesus.
God's will is for you to beholy and to stay away from all
sexual sin.
Then you will control your ownbody and live in holiness and
(05:48):
honor, not with lustful passionlike the pagans who do not know
God and His ways.
Never harm or cheat fellowbelievers in this matter by
violating his wife, for the Lordavenges all such sins.
As we have solemnly warned youbefore, god has called us to
live holy lives, not impurelives.
Therefore, anyone who refusesto live by these rules is not
(06:11):
disobeying human teaching, butis rejecting God, who gives us
his Holy Spirit.
But we don't need to write youabout these important things
about loving each other, for Godhimself has taught you to love
one another.
Indeed, you already show yourlove for all the believers
throughout Macedonia.
Even so, dear brothers andsisters, we urge you to love
(06:32):
them even more.
Make it your goal to live aquiet life, minding your own
business and working with yourhands, just as we have
instructed you before.
Then people who are notbelievers will respect the way
you live and you will not needto depend on others.
Wow, we could just finish thepodcast right there, right?
(06:55):
Because first thing he said isis hey, listen, love each other,
don't sleep around, don't messaround with that man's wife.
Put your hands back.
He's like stop it.
And he's like I know you loveeach other, but love each other
the right way and make sure thatyou're doing the right thing.
And then I love what he saysmake it your goal to be content,
(07:15):
live, live a quiet life,minding your own business,
working with your hands, just aswe instructed you before.
What would it look like in ourlives if we made one of our
highest goals not to see howmany followers we could get on
Facebook or Instagram or TikTokor whatever?
But what if we made one of ourhighest goals to live a quiet
(07:37):
life?
Hey, I am content.
I'd be glad to have more, but Iam content because God is
enough in me.
Why am I content?
Because I'm encouraged aboutwhat comes next.
Here's the part we're going toread and we're going to finish
up for today and now, dearbrothers and sisters, we want
you to know what will happen tothe believers who have died, so
you will not grieve like peoplewho have no hope, for since we
(08:00):
believe that Jesus died and wasraised to life again.
We also believe that when Jesusreturns, god will bring back
with him the believers who havedied.
We will tell you this directlyfrom the Lord.
So we're saying this is whatGod told me.
So I'm telling you, we who arestill living, when the Lord
returns, will not meet him aheadof those who have died, for the
(08:21):
Lord himself shall come downfrom heaven with a commanding
shout and with the voice of thearchangel and with the trumpet
call of God.
First the believers who havedied will rise from their graves
.
Then, together with him, we whoare still alive and remain on
the earth will be caught up inthe clouds to meet the Lord in
(08:42):
the air.
Then we will be with the Lordforever.
So encourage each other withthese words.
Well, first of all, we get theword rapture from this verse in
verse 17, caught up.
The word is harpezzo, harpezzo,not saying that really right,
but it is a form of where weeventually get the word rapture
(09:03):
raptured, caught up to be withthe Lord.
And so what Paul is saying isbecause, remember, they have
been taught this aberranttheology that said well, if you
die, I guess you're going tomiss getting to see Jesus, and
they were terrified by this.
And so Paul is saying no, no,no, don't worry about those who
have died.
It's not about being alive ordead, whether or not you get to
be with Christ.
(09:23):
So, actually, when Christreturns remember, because Christ
is returning, no matter how youdivide that up when Christ
returns, the dead will risefirst, and then we who are alive
and remain will be caught up tobe with the Lord in the air.
Now, there's two ways of lookingat this.
I'm sure there's a thousandother ways, but two main ways to
look at this scripture One whatPaul could be saying is the
(09:47):
rapture of the church is that wewill be here, occupying until
the Lord comes and then, whenthe time is right, the archangel
Gabriel will stand at the edgeof heaven, blow the shofar and
when he blows the shofar it willbe a spiritual signal and that
there will be a rapture, acatching away of the Lord's
people, and the dead will risefirst, and then in the air,
(10:09):
those who are alive and remainwill meet them in the air and go
be with Jesus, and then Godwill judge the earth.
And he's saying be encouraged,because that day is coming, and
whether you're alive or you'redead, you get to see that and
that's the rapture of the church.
That's one way of looking at it.
The second way of looking at itis just as awesome, and that is
that during the Roman times,when the Roman emperor would
(10:31):
come and visit a city, what hewould do is, as he was
approaching the city, a heraldwould go ahead of him and shout
out the call the emperor iscoming, the king is coming.
And what would happen is thatall of the city would come out
to meet him at the city gatesand, as they would meet him,
they would usher him into thecenter of the city, set up a
(10:53):
throne for him and he wouldbegin to rule, cast judgments,
give accolades and rule together.
And what an amazing picture,and it fits this picture as well
.
They go out and they meet himand they bring him.
Either one is awesome, eitherway you look at that.
(11:14):
If we are raptured out and goaway for seven years, or if
we're raptured out to come withJesus and come right back, then
again, be encouraged.
Jesus is coming again.
And if you die before ithappens and there's been many
people over the past 2,000 yearswho have died they did not die
in vain.
One day they are going to seeChrist.
(11:35):
Their bodies, their spirits arealready with the Lord, but
their bodies will rise, will becaught up together with the Lord
.
And we will be with the Lordforever, ever, whether he takes
us on or we usher him into hisearthly kingdom.
Either way, we're going to bewith him.
And the reason why that's soimportant is because in this
world we will have trouble, butthe future is bright, whether it
(11:59):
happens in our lifetime or ifit doesn't.
I've had people who try to givedates for when the Lord is going
to come back.
And can I tell you, for 2,000years people have been trying to
give dates and Jesus has saidnot yet, not yet, not yet, not
yet.
It is the kindness of the Lordthat causes him to be so
long-suffering, because hedoesn't want anybody to perish,
anyone to die.
(12:19):
So every single day the Lorddoesn't come back.
It's not because he's mad atyou, it's because he's thinking
about your neighbor.
He's distracted by those whowere lost.
So can I tell you do you wantto hasten?
Do you want to hurry up thecoming of the kingdom?
Be part of sharing the gospelwith as many people as you can,
when you help them find Christ,disciple them so then they can
(12:43):
go be gospel spreaders toeverybody else, because
spiritual warfare is spreadingthe kingdom, because the more
people that come to Christ, thecloser we are to the second
coming of Christ.
And I'll be honest with you, Idon't know.
I don't know if he's going tocome back in my lifetime, your
lifetime, or not.
I hope so.
I think it would be really coolto see.
But here's the thing I trustthe Lord and whenever he comes,
(13:07):
he will come and it will be theperfect time.
And if I'm dead, my body isgoing to rise up and I'm going
to meet, maybe you, maybe ourgreat grandkids in the air.
If we're alive, we're going tomeet them in the air.
Jesus is coming again.
So be so very encouraged.
(13:27):
The future is bright.
Let's pray, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you that our future isbright.
And, lord, I'll be honest, justlike John in the book of
Revelation, he says even so,come, lord, jesus, lord, I want
everybody to hear the gospel.
I have friends and I havefamily that don't know you, that
have turned from you.
They've never known you.
I want them to know.
But, god, I can't wait for thatheavenly kingdom.
(13:49):
I pray for that joy and thatencouragement to flow in us
today.
The more we know you, the morewe want to know you.
We celebrate you today InJesus' name.
We pray, amen, amen.
What God's word says in 1Thessalonians 5, verse 16,
always be joyful, never stoppraying, be thankful in all
circumstances, for this is God'swill for you who belong to
(14:13):
Christ.
God's will for you is to alwayshave joy, never give up and
always be thankful.
Jesus is coming again.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow at 1Thessalonians, chapter 5.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, andtoday's title is the Future is
Bright.
The future is bright.
I love this chapter.
There's one of the mosthope-filled verses in the entire
New Testament about the secondcoming of Christ, no matter how
(00:21):
you try to interpret it in thischapter today.
So we're going to get to it injust a moment.
But, as always, if you likewhat we're doing here, make sure
you like, share and subscribeto the YouTube channel and to
the podcast.
Give us a five-star review onthe podcast you are always my
favorites Leave us a comment onthe YouTube video, and always we
gather together at the Facebookdiscussion group Bible
Breakdown Discussion.
(00:45):
I can't wait to get into this.
The more we dig, the more wefind, and this is one of those I
would love to hear in thecomments what you have dug out
for yourself.
So, while you're opening up to1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, I
want to revisit with you thefirst thing we said when we
first got into this.
First of all, remember that theoverall theme of 1
Thessalonians is be encouraged.
Jesus is coming, and in everychapter in 1 Thessalonians, paul
(01:09):
talks about the second comingof Christ, and one of the
reasons for this is because he'sdiscovered that there's been
some misunderstanding with whatwas going on, like they were
saying well, what happens ifJesus is coming again?
What happens if he comes backin our lifetime?
What happens if someone diesbefore he comes back?
I mean, they just owe it forthem.
I mean, you've got to rememberhe didn't stay there very long,
(01:29):
so there was still a lot of gapsin their theology that he
wanted to go back and fix.
He wanted to go back and tellthem and so they're like okay,
so if I'm alive when Jesus comesback, what happens If I die?
What happens Wait a minute mygreat uncle's, aunt's nephew he
died.
Does he not see Jesus?
I mean, there's all thesequestions.
(01:49):
So Paul is trying to fill thesegaps in for them because he
didn't want them to not beencouraged, right?
So he's going to start thischapter with talking about
living to please God, and thereason why we live to please God
is because we're so encouragedbecause Christ is coming again.
Now, if you also remember whenI said at the beginning of 1
Thessalonians I personally holdto what I call pantheology,
(02:11):
which means it'll all pan out inthe end, and the reason for
that is is I am not interestedin arguing with anybody over
certain types of eschatology.
Now eschatology, by the way, isthe study of the end time.
So sorry about that.
That's one of those ridiculouswords that helps us try to
encapsulate a whole bunch ofstuff into one word.
But here's the reason whyWhatever you grew up with is
(02:36):
what's normal to you.
There are some people I know whobelieve beyond any shadow of a
doubt.
They believe that one daythere's going to be a rapture of
the church and they think thatthe verse in here holds to that.
It proves there's a rapture.
Rapture is a secret catchingaway of God's people, leaving
everybody else on earth.
And then there's a secretcatching away of God's people
seven years of tribulation andat the end of it there's a
(02:56):
second coming of Christ where hejudges the living and the dead
and enters into a millennialreign.
Very interesting, right.
I know other people.
They were raised in a faithtradition and they believe
beyond any doubt that there's atribulation that begins and
halfway through it there's arapture of the church, that
secret catching away.
Then there's the second half ofthe tribulation, second coming
(03:19):
of Christ, and then it all goesaway.
Then there's a third group ofpeople, there's a fourth one too
, but there's a third group ofpeople.
They don't believe there's atribulation.
They believe there's a secondcoming of Christ and that the
rapture and the second coming isthe same thing.
And it happens, and then itgoes into that, and then there's
(03:41):
all kinds of other ones.
There's some people that thinkthat none of that's true.
So I'm not interested inarguing that.
Because here's the thing I'venoticed about most people who
like to argue these things theyhaven't really read much of this
right here.
They listen to somebody onYouTube, and someone on YouTube
told them that, or someone on astage told them something.
So I've actually read this,because one of the things I've
learned is I've started to readthis and I've studied
(04:01):
eschatology, end times, a lotover the years.
What I've started to understandabout the Bible is that the
Bible's goal is not to tell usexactly how it all ends.
The Bible's goal is to tell uswho is at the end and that it's
Jesus, and he wants us to bethere with him.
And if you notice, many timesin the Bible people didn't know
(04:23):
what a prophecy meant untilafter it had been fulfilled.
And then they go oh, that'swhat he meant, got it.
Wow, god sure is faithful.
And then move on.
I think a lot of prophecy islike that, because the book of
Revelation according to manypeople, it's all about future
things.
I got a feeling a lot of thesethings we're going to look at
and go oh, so that's what the144,000 meant, or whatever.
(04:44):
I think the same thing withthis particular chapter right
here.
But what's so encouraging is nomatter how it happens.
What we do know for sure isthat Jesus is coming If it's in
a rapture that's separate from asecond coming, no-transcript
and that should fill us withgreat joy.
So we're going to read thistogether, just for the sake of
(05:06):
interest.
I want to share with you twoways to interpret this last
scripture, and I hope we leaveit with a great sense of joy
together.
You ready, here we go.
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1 saysthis Remember it starts off with
this is how we live free andclean.
Finally, dear brothers andsisters, we urge you, in the
name of our Lord Jesus, to livein a way that pleases God.
(05:27):
As we have taught you, you livethis way already and we
encourage you to do so even more, for you remember that we
taught you by the authority ofthe Lord Jesus.
God's will is for you to beholy and to stay away from all
sexual sin.
Then you will control your ownbody and live in holiness and
(05:48):
honor, not with lustful passionlike the pagans who do not know
God and His ways.
Never harm or cheat fellowbelievers in this matter by
violating his wife, for the Lordavenges all such sins.
As we have solemnly warned youbefore, god has called us to
live holy lives, not impurelives.
Therefore, anyone who refusesto live by these rules is not
(06:11):
disobeying human teaching, butis rejecting God, who gives us
his Holy Spirit.
But we don't need to write youabout these important things
about loving each other, for Godhimself has taught you to love
one another.
Indeed, you already show yourlove for all the believers
throughout Macedonia.
Even so, dear brothers andsisters, we urge you to love
(06:32):
them even more.
Make it your goal to live aquiet life, minding your own
business and working with yourhands, just as we have
instructed you before.
Then people who are notbelievers will respect the way
you live and you will not needto depend on others.
Wow, we could just finish thepodcast right there, right?
(06:55):
Because first thing he said isis hey, listen, love each other,
don't sleep around, don't messaround with that man's wife.
Put your hands back.
He's like stop it.
And he's like I know you loveeach other, but love each other
the right way and make sure thatyou're doing the right thing.
And then I love what he saysmake it your goal to be content,
(07:15):
live, live a quiet life,minding your own business,
working with your hands, just aswe instructed you before.
What would it look like in ourlives if we made one of our
highest goals not to see howmany followers we could get on
Facebook or Instagram or TikTokor whatever?
But what if we made one of ourhighest goals to live a quiet
(07:37):
life?
Hey, I am content.
I'd be glad to have more, but Iam content because God is
enough in me.
Why am I content?
Because I'm encouraged aboutwhat comes next.
Here's the part we're going toread and we're going to finish
up for today and now, dearbrothers and sisters, we want
you to know what will happen tothe believers who have died, so
you will not grieve like peoplewho have no hope, for since we
(08:00):
believe that Jesus died and wasraised to life again.
We also believe that when Jesusreturns, god will bring back
with him the believers who havedied.
We will tell you this directlyfrom the Lord.
So we're saying this is whatGod told me.
So I'm telling you, we who arestill living, when the Lord
returns, will not meet him aheadof those who have died, for the
(08:21):
Lord himself shall come downfrom heaven with a commanding
shout and with the voice of thearchangel and with the trumpet
call of God.
First the believers who havedied will rise from their graves
.
Then, together with him, we whoare still alive and remain on
the earth will be caught up inthe clouds to meet the Lord in
(08:42):
the air.
Then we will be with the Lordforever.
So encourage each other withthese words.
Well, first of all, we get theword rapture from this verse in
verse 17, caught up.
The word is harpezzo, harpezzo,not saying that really right,
but it is a form of where weeventually get the word rapture
(09:03):
raptured, caught up to be withthe Lord.
And so what Paul is saying isbecause, remember, they have
been taught this aberranttheology that said well, if you
die, I guess you're going tomiss getting to see Jesus, and
they were terrified by this.
And so Paul is saying no, no,no, don't worry about those who
have died.
It's not about being alive ordead, whether or not you get to
be with Christ.
(09:23):
So, actually, when Christreturns remember, because Christ
is returning, no matter how youdivide that up when Christ
returns, the dead will risefirst, and then we who are alive
and remain will be caught up tobe with the Lord in the air.
Now, there's two ways of lookingat this.
I'm sure there's a thousandother ways, but two main ways to
look at this scripture One whatPaul could be saying is the
(09:47):
rapture of the church is that wewill be here, occupying until
the Lord comes and then, whenthe time is right, the archangel
Gabriel will stand at the edgeof heaven, blow the shofar and
when he blows the shofar it willbe a spiritual signal and that
there will be a rapture, acatching away of the Lord's
people, and the dead will risefirst, and then in the air,
(10:09):
those who are alive and remainwill meet them in the air and go
be with Jesus, and then Godwill judge the earth.
And he's saying be encouraged,because that day is coming, and
whether you're alive or you'redead, you get to see that and
that's the rapture of the church.
That's one way of looking at it.
The second way of looking at itis just as awesome, and that is
that during the Roman times,when the Roman emperor would
(10:31):
come and visit a city, what hewould do is, as he was
approaching the city, a heraldwould go ahead of him and shout
out the call the emperor iscoming, the king is coming.
And what would happen is thatall of the city would come out
to meet him at the city gatesand, as they would meet him,
they would usher him into thecenter of the city, set up a
(10:53):
throne for him and he wouldbegin to rule, cast judgments,
give accolades and rule together.
And what an amazing picture,and it fits this picture as well
.
They go out and they meet himand they bring him.
Either one is awesome, eitherway you look at that.
(11:14):
If we are raptured out and goaway for seven years, or if
we're raptured out to come withJesus and come right back, then
again, be encouraged.
Jesus is coming again.
And if you die before ithappens and there's been many
people over the past 2,000 yearswho have died they did not die
in vain.
One day they are going to seeChrist.
(11:35):
Their bodies, their spirits arealready with the Lord, but
their bodies will rise, will becaught up together with the Lord
.
And we will be with the Lordforever, ever, whether he takes
us on or we usher him into hisearthly kingdom.
Either way, we're going to bewith him.
And the reason why that's soimportant is because in this
world we will have trouble, butthe future is bright, whether it
(11:59):
happens in our lifetime or ifit doesn't.
I've had people who try to givedates for when the Lord is going
to come back.
And can I tell you, for 2,000years people have been trying to
give dates and Jesus has saidnot yet, not yet, not yet, not
yet.
It is the kindness of the Lordthat causes him to be so
long-suffering, because hedoesn't want anybody to perish,
anyone to die.
(12:19):
So every single day the Lorddoesn't come back.
It's not because he's mad atyou, it's because he's thinking
about your neighbor.
He's distracted by those whowere lost.
So can I tell you do you wantto hasten?
Do you want to hurry up thecoming of the kingdom?
Be part of sharing the gospelwith as many people as you can,
when you help them find Christ,disciple them so then they can
(12:43):
go be gospel spreaders toeverybody else, because
spiritual warfare is spreadingthe kingdom, because the more
people that come to Christ, thecloser we are to the second
coming of Christ.
And I'll be honest with you, Idon't know.
I don't know if he's going tocome back in my lifetime, your
lifetime, or not.
I hope so.
I think it would be really coolto see.
But here's the thing I trustthe Lord and whenever he comes,
(13:07):
he will come and it will be theperfect time.
And if I'm dead, my body isgoing to rise up and I'm going
to meet, maybe you, maybe ourgreat grandkids in the air.
If we're alive, we're going tomeet them in the air.
Jesus is coming again.
So be so very encouraged.
(13:27):
The future is bright.
Let's pray, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you that our future isbright.
And, lord, I'll be honest, justlike John in the book of
Revelation, he says even so,come, lord, jesus, lord, I want
everybody to hear the gospel.
I have friends and I havefamily that don't know you, that
have turned from you.
They've never known you.
I want them to know.
But, god, I can't wait for thatheavenly kingdom.
(13:49):
I pray for that joy and thatencouragement to flow in us
today.
The more we know you, the morewe want to know you.
We celebrate you today InJesus' name.
We pray, amen, amen.
What God's word says in 1Thessalonians 5, verse 16,
always be joyful, never stoppraying, be thankful in all
circumstances, for this is God'swill for you who belong to
(14:13):
Christ.
God's will for you is to alwayshave joy, never give up and
always be thankful.
Jesus is coming again.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow at 1Thessalonians, chapter 5.
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