May 6, 2026 • 58 mins
The Porch concludes its look at Matthew 25 by exploring the biblical teachings regarding the Second Coming of Christ, the Rapture, and related end-time events including the rapture of the Church. These concepts are presented with scriptural proof as well as tangible examples in The Bible.
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Grund. This is when we get back to basics,
the uncompromised red letter basics of the Word of God.
We focus on the Book of Acts Church to see
how they serve the Lord. We believe. When we do
that we find the Church the Lord intended and not
(00:44):
the one Man created. The Porch is a non denominational,
full gospel approach to the Bible. It's based on the
examples from the Book of Acts Church, and it aims
to restore the priesthood of the believer and regain the
world shaking in influence that the early Church had. The
Church age is and over. The Upper Room experience is
(01:05):
as much for today as it was on the day
of Pentecost. It's yours if you want it. We offer
you the Word as the Apostles would have to the
Jewish and gentile believers of their day. We use both
the Yeshua and Jesus when speaking of the Lord. We
prefer to use the term Messiah rather than Christ, as
(01:26):
it more accurately reflects how he was referred to by
those who knew him. Additionally, we provide definitions in Hebrew, Greek,
and Aramaic when necessary. Getting back to basics, it's not
just the motto, it's a mandate from the Lord. Links
to all of our social media and streaming sites can
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(01:50):
dot com. Subscribe to us wherever you listen so that
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There and multiple online ways to support, including a po box.
If you'd like to mail your blessing, Please do not
(02:11):
hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.
Just know that we appreciate you, your support, your prayers, and
your encouragement. Thank you for being a part of the
poorch each week. Contact us if you need prayer. Remember
we care about you. There are people that want to
(02:33):
pray for you. How We start out by praising the
Lord before I do anything, any teaching and he preaching.
I praise Him for my home, for my wife, our family, sons,
daughter in law's grandchildren, furry kids. Everything we have is
because of the Lord. All blessings have come from above.
(02:55):
Praise Him for his protection and provision for the dream
and the visions, for divine health and healing, for his
divine abiding favor, for the continuing revelation of the Holy Spirit,
and for making us a new creation and allowing us
to live in these prophetic times. Let's pray. First of all,
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we're going to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and
they prosper who love you Psalm one twenty two, verse six.
That's what the scripture says, and that's what we shall do.
It's not about politics, it's not about personalities. It's about
praying for the peace of Jerusalem, protection for our Jewish
brothers and sisters. Pray for America, that God would shed
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his grace upon us, that he would protect us, that
he would guide us, and that we would return to
Him with all of our heart. Pray for the people
in Iran, suffering under an oppressive regime. They want to
be free. It doesn't seem like the world really seems
(04:06):
to care about anything but the oil that's there, when
the people are the treasure. So we pray for them,
Pray for their protection, Pray for their freedom and for
all that are involved in doing that. Pray for the
fatherless and the widows, the persecuted and the martyrd the innocence,
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and those who are victims of injustice. Pray against the
slaughter of the innocence, for missing and exploited children, for
the victims of human sex trafficking, for our brothers insists
around the world being persecuted and slaughtered for their faith,
their homes destroyed, the places of worship destroyed. Pray against
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the growing religious persecution of the Church and the anti
Semitism against the Jewish people, which is all a part
of the spirit of the Antichrist rising up, getting stronger
every day, and we as a church who believes needs
to push back. We need to pray against it. Pray
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for divine homeless health and healing in me and you
and everyone that needs it. Getting back to our divine
design in heart, mind, body, soul and spirit, for His
protection and his inspiration, and for the alarm clock to
awaken the remnant, so that those who are called can
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answer the call to go to work, to do kingdom
business in this hour, and the doors for all the
projects and plans for that kingdom business would be open
to us, finances flowing so that we can get the
job done. Setting the captives free, redeeming the land, and
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glorifying the Lord and the Kingdom of God. So, Father
Abbah Papa, we love you, Oh, we love you so much.
You loved us even when we were unlovable, and because
of that you sent you sure, your only begotten son,
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to pay our debts, to shed his blood to set
us free so that we could come home. Lord, Thank you,
Thank you for what you've done, what you're doing, what
you will do in the days ahead, for the cross,
the empty tomb, the upper room, for sending back the
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Holy Spirit to walk with us, to teach us, to
remind us of you and everything you said. This Holy Spirit.
We asked that right now that you would do that,
that you would bring every teaching, every revelation, every wisdom
that is needed to mind the knowledge of the Lord
in fullness, Protect the technology, protect us and all that
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we have. And let your will be done this day
on the porch, and I pray all these things in
your Shoe's name. Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
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Speaker 1 (07:55):
All right, so let's open up those bibles. Let's get ready.
Just to cover today. You may need to download this
and listen to it more than once. We're going to
finish out talking about Matthew twenty five, the Wise and
Foolish Virgins, the Parable of the Talents, and the Parable
(08:16):
of the Sheep and the Goats. In the first parable,
believers are called to keep watch and be ready for
the Lord's return and the marriage supper of the lab
Then the Lord revealed that what he's looking for in
commitment and a return on his investment into each believer,
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and the rewards for obedience and diligence. Finally, he reveals
his examination of the actions of those who know him
and those who don't, and the end result of that examination.
Three different teachings with three different focuses, each bill upon
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the other, and they are all tied to the Lord's
return in one form or another. And I'll clarify that
in a second. But we talked about the second coming,
an important topic that shouldn't be ignored. It refers to
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a future event when the Lord will return to Earth
to complete his work of redemption to judge the living
in the dead and establish his everlasting kingdom. It's the
central theme of eschatology, and there are various scriptures throughout
the New Testament Matthew twenty four, Matthew twenty five, Revelation
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nineteen in others. There are actually eighteen hundred and forty
five biblical references to the second coming of the Lord,
with three hundred of those specifically in the New Testament alone.
The International Standard Bible ENCYCLO this Second Coming of Christ.
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I'll read it as they wrote it. A phrase not
found in the Bible is expressed by the apostles in
the following special terms perusia pa r o u s a.
It's a fairly common Greek word. It meanings presence, especially
a presence after an absence. It means an arrival, and
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it's very particularly applied to the coming of the Lord.
Look at first Corinthians fifteen, Verses twenty through twenty four.
But now Messiah has risen from the dead and has
become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by man, capital m
also came the resurrection of the dead. Where as an
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Adam all die. Even so in Messiah all shall be
made alive, but each one in his own order ms
Siah the first fruits. Afterward those who are messiahs at
his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the
kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end
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to all rule and all authority and power. We see
the thought again in First Thessalonians five twenty three. Now,
may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely, and
may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. But
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during that period of time something must happen, called the
Great Apostasy, mentioned in Second Thessalonians, Chapter two, verses one
through four. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord
Jesus the Messiah and our gathering together to him, we
ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or
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troubled by spirit or by word or by letter, as
if from us, because people were writing letters that were
not from the apostles, that was teaching different things about
the day of the Lord, as though the day of
the Messiah had come. Let no one deceive you by
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any means for that day will not come unless the
falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed,
the son of tradition, who opposes and exalts himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped, so
that he sits as God in the Temple of God,
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showing himself that he is God. Now there are people
that believe the day of the Lord has already come,
and we'll talk about them a little later. But that's
a part of the great apostasy, the great falling away
jumping down a verse seven of Second Thessalonians too, For
the mystery of lawlessness is all ready at work. Only
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he who now restrains he capital h will do so
until he capital h is taken out of the way,
and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the
Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and
destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of
the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,
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with all powers, signs and lying wonders, and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not
receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them a strong
delusion that they should believe the lie. So this is
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where the topic of the Rapture fits in, and that's
what I want to address tonight. Can't have this topic
and not mention it. Cover it all the aspects of it.
There are a lot of videos about it. Everybody has
an opinion. I have my opinion, but it's based on
scripture and I'm gonna could present that to you, and
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it's based upon Hebrew and Greek definitions that were used.
So I am sharing with you what I believe the
scripture says. I'm offering it to you for your consideration.
You decide for yourself what you believe and how you
proceed on this topic. So the rapture, God's taking the
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Church out of the world instantaneously. The Latin term raphael,
which means to snatch away or carry off, is the
source of the English word. Tied into this are different
views of the millennium, which is very vital to understand
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on this topic. Look with me at Revelation twenty, starting
verse two says he laid hold of the draft that
serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years, and he being Michael
cast him into the bottless pit and shut him up,
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and set a seal on him, so that he should
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.
But after these things he will be released for a
little while Verse four. And I saw thrones, and they
sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then
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I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Yeshua and for the word of God,
who had not worshiped the beast or his image, those
that are killed during the tribulation period and had not
received His mark on their forehead or their hands. And
they lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years.
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But the rest of the dead did not live again
until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power.
But they shall be priests of our God now Messiah,
and shall reign with him a thousand years. So the
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Church which comes back with him during that period of time,
and the believers that are sacrificed during that period on
the earth, which would be anybody who converts, but pride
to predominantly Messianic Jews who come to completion in Messiah
and are slaughtered by the Antichrist. That's the millennial kingdom
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on Earth a thousand years. Jumping down to verse seven
of Revelation twenty. Now in the thousand years have expired,
Satan will be released from his prison and will go
out to deceive the nation which are in the four
corners of the earth. Gog and Magog to gather them
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together to battle, whose number is as the sand of
the sea. And they went up on the breath of
the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and
the beloved city. What's happened here? Is Satan not learned
his lesson. He gets out of prison, He ferments a rebellion,
He gathers another army, and he goes to attack Jerusalem,
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the Holy City, and the Saints and all that are there.
And fire came down from God out of heaven and
devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and
the false prophet are, And they will be tormented day
and night forever and ever. Now, how are the feasts
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and the false prophet already in there because at the
beginning of the millennium they are cast into the Lake
of Fire. Distinct period of time, two periods of time.
Now there are three different views on this topic. May
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get a little confusing, and that's why you may have
to download it and do your own reading. The three
views are pre millennial, post millennial, and a millennial. Pre
millennialism teaches that the Second Coming will occur before a
literal thousand year reign of Messiah from Jerusalem on the
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Earth and the early church pre millennialism was called Chileism
chili asm, and it's from the Greek term meaning a
thousand word, used six times in Revelation twenty. Postmillennialism sees
the Lord's return after a golden millennial age where Messiah
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rules spiritually from his throne in heaven, a view that
I see no evidence of in scripture. But they do
not believe in a literal second coming. They believe that
he doesn't come back until after the millennial reign, which
he has been ruling from his throne in heaven, which
defies all prophecy. A Millennialism, the worst of the three,
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in my opinion, sees the millennium as a figurative reference
to the current church age. And I know people who
believe that, and I find that one the most flawed
and lacking of all in the book The History of
the Church, a scriptn of book, pre millennialism was the
most widely held view of the earliest centuries of the Church.
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According to Philip Scheff, the most striking point in the
eschatology of the Anti Nicaian age AD. One hundred to
three twenty five is a prominent jileasm millennium viewpoint. It
was a current opinion of distinguished teachers like Barnabas, Papia,
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Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and others of that day. So
that's what the church believed up until the Council at Nicea.
Pre Millennialism began to die due to the Catholic Church
coming into power during the time of Augustine AD three
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fifty four to four point thirty. So the pre millennial
viewpoint was the foundation of what the apostles and their
main students believed, but then it was suppressed. It was
suppressed by the dominant Catholic Church of the day, but
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it survived through various fringe groups amongst believers during the
medieval period. During the Reformation, the Anabaptist and Huguenots, and
those Huguenots settled in North Florida just above Jacksonville, helped
revive pre millennialism, and it was adopted by some of
the Puritans during the post Reformation age. Historic premillennialists reject
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the idea of a pre tribulation rapture and the uniquely
Jewish nature of a dispensationalist millennial kingdom. Historic premillennialists, such
as Calvinists, do not accept the basic tenets of dispensationalism.
What is dispensationalism. It's a Christian theological framework that interprets
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the Bible by dividing history into distinct periods called dispensations.
Each dispensation represents a different way in which God interacts
with humanity. This approach emphasizes a literal interpretation of the
Bible and often highlights a distinction between Israel and the Church.
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What are those dispensations? First, one was the dispensation of
innocence the creation to the fall of Adam. Then is
the dispensation of conscience from the fall to the flood,
the dispensation of human government from Noah to Babel, the
dispensation of promise from Abraham to Moses, the dispensation of
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law from Moses to John the Baptist, the dispensation of
grace which is the current Church age, and then the
dispensation of the kingdom the future millennial reign of Messiah.
Now where this gets a little murky is the separation
of Israel and the Church and how the two shall
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never meet. So the central tenet of dispensationalism is the
clear distinction between Israel and the Church, arguing that God
has separate plans for each. Not completely wrong with Here's
what we have a problem Israel being an ethnic and
national entity while the Church is a new spiritual body
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formed after Messiah's resurrection. That is not what Paul taught.
That's not what Peter taught, That's not what James or
John taught. So the contemporary influence on this concept of
dispensationalism in the American evangelicalism, like under the non denominational
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Bible churches, the Baptists and even some Pentecostals, which contrasts
with the concept of covenant theology, which emphasizes the continuity
between Israel and the Church. And if you've been paying attention,
you know that's where I sit. Classic dispensationalisms like Schofield
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and Chafer are pre tribulationists. They believe the Second Coming
will be into stages separated by a seven year period
called the Tribulation. At the first, he will return in
the air, and he will rescue those who believe in
him in what's called the Rapture. Then following a seven
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year period of suffering in which the Antichrist conquers the
world and kills those who refuse to worship him. At
the end of the seven years, the final witness of
the Kingdom of God will go out before men, and
the Lord and his angels will then return to the earth.
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He will defeat the Antichrist and rescue the Jews who
have accepted him as Messiah during the tribulation period. In
pre millennialism, however, the distinct of the event of the
rapture is emphasized, and that word rapture, as I said,
comes from the Latin repair or rapaio. It was used
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in the Vulgate to translate the Greek word harpozzo, which
means caught up and the main biblical passage for the
harpozzo the rapture of the Church is first Thessalonians four,
starting verse fifteen. For this we say to you by
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the word of the Lord, that we who are alive
and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by
no means precede those who are asleep, For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God,
and the dead and Messiah will rise first. Then we
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who are alive and remain shall be caught up harpozzo,
caught up together with him in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always
be with the Lord. Now think about that. First of all,
Paul says we say this by the word of the Lord.
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It is in his opinion. He's stating very clearly where
he believes this concept comes from those that believe that
there is no rapture. There's nothing separate. They're both together.
So I guess we get caught up in the air
and they come right back down. Is that how it works?
Does that make sense? Doesn't to me? Her? Potso just
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snatch up, catch you away. It's the word used in
Acts eight thirty nine about the spirit of the Lord
in regard to Philip. Says, now when they came up,
the Philip and the eunuch came up out of the water.
Because the eunuch got baptized. The spirit of the Lord
caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more,
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and he went on his way rejoicing. So basically what
happened there. The eunuch get saved, he wants to be baptized.
Philip baptizes him, and as the eunuch comes up out
of the water, Philip's gone. Paul is hard posts so
caught up to paradise. In Sewod Corinthians twelve, verse two,
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I know a man in Messiah who fourteen years ago,
whether in the body I do not know, or whether
out of the body, I do not know. God knows
such a one was caught up to the third Heaven.
Why the third Heaven, that's where the throne room is.
And we saw it in First Thessalonians four seventeen in
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the Rapture of the Saints at the return of the Lord,
and the verb conveys the idea that it is being
done forcefully, and suddenly same words use in Acts twenty
three ten. Now, when there arose a great dissension, the commander,
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fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them
the people that were rioting, commanded the soldiers to go
down and take him up by force from among them
and bring him into the barracks. So is there biblical
evidence to support this concept? Yes, there is, as I
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mentioned in Acts eight with Philip. We'll is read a
small section of it, Acts eight, starting verse thirty eight.
So he commanded the charriot to stand still, and both
Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and
he baptized him. Now, when they came up out of
the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away.
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So the eunuch saw him no more, and he went
on his way, rejoicing. Philip was found at Azotis, which
was Ashdod in the Old Testament, and passing through he
preached in all the cities till he came to chest
Area that's thirty four miles away. That didn't happen in
the natural, that was super natural. Is there any other
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evidence of such things? Well, let's go to Luke seventeen.
This is the Lord speaking starting verse twenty six. Now,
as it was in the days of Noah, so will
also be in the days of the Son of Man.
They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given
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in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark
and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as
it was also in the days of Lot, they ate,
they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.
But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom,
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
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Even so will it be in the day when the
Son of Man is revealed. What you're seeing is the
concept of separation. The pattern is seen right away in
Genesis IE. When God separates, he gathers, he transforms. It's
all part of his sovereign process. It's how he does things.
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Genesis one one. In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was on the face of the deep, and
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of
the waters. Then God said, let there be light. And
there was light. And God saw the light that it
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was good and God divided the light from the darkness.
God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
And so the evening and the morning were the first day.
God divided, divided. The Hebrew word badalah It means a separation.
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He separated light and dark. Isn't that the rapture? The
light the church taken out, and the dark left. That
word badal appears three times in Genesis one. He separates,
divides badal the light and darkness, the waters above from
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the waters below, and the day and the night. This
pattern going on here. He separates Badal his people from
the Heathen nations Leviticus twenty verse twenty four. But I
have said to you you shall inherit their land, and
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I will give it to you to possess a land
flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord, your God,
who has separated you from the peoples. His church is separated.
Come out from among them and be separate. Separation is
a part of his divine order. It's not an excuse. Oh,
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I just don't want to be I don't want to suffer,
so I'm gonna leave. No, that's not what this is about.
But when that time comes, we who are alive and remain,
shall be caught up Apozzo together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus
we shall always be with the Lord, separate, separated. The
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days of Noah was a time of rampant sin, debauchery, destruction,
and evil. It was also a time of divine separation
and rescue. Go with me to Genesis seventh, verse eleven.
In the sixth hundred year of Noah's life, six being
the number of men in the second month, the seventeenth
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day of the month. On that day, all the fountains
of the Great Deep were broken up, and the windows
of Heaven were opened. I don't know how anybody can
explain away the fact that they've discovered that in the
center of the Earth are oceans, or an ocean larger
than any ocean on the surface of the earth, the
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fountains of the deep, and the rain was on the
earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day,
Noah and Noah's sons Shemham and Jayphyth, and Noah's wife
and the three wives of his sons with them entered
the Ark. They and every beast after its kind, all
the cattle after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps
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on the earth after its kind, every bird after its kind,
every bird of every sort. So they went into the
Ark to Noah two by two of all flesh, which
is in the breath of life. So that those that entered,
male and female of all flesh went in. They were separated,
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as God commanded him. And then here's the kief part
of verse sixteen. And the Lord shut them in. We continued,
read we know he shut them in seven days before
the waters came. God shuts the door of the Ark,
not Noah. It is a divine act of separation before
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destruction happens. What about the days of Lot the other
time that the Lord quotes there in Luke, time of
sin and perversion and demonic evil, the angels are sent
by God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Go with me,
Genesis nineteen thirty, verse fifteen. The angels have already come.
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Now it's time to get Lot and his family out
of there. When the morning dawned, and the angels urge
Lot to hurry, saying, arise, take your wife and your
two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in
the punishment of the city, and while he lingered, the men,
the angels to old of his hand and his wife's hands,
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and the hands of his two daughters. Now the daughters
were married, but the son in laws mocked them and
laughed and did not go the lord being merciful to him,
and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So basically, the angels, the two angels, have to grab Lot,
his wife and his daughters, buy the hand and get
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them out of the city because they're lingering. So it
came to pass when they had brought them outside that
he said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you,
nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain
lest you be destroyed. Then Lord said to them, please know,
my lords. Indeed, now your servant has found favor in
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your sight, and you have increased your mercy, which you
have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot
escape to the mountains lest some evil overtake me and
I die. See now this city, which is z Ar,
is near enough to flee to. It's a little one.
Please let me escape there and my soul shall live.
(36:12):
And the angel said to him, see, I have favored
you concerning this thing in that I will not overthrow
this city for which you have spoken. Hurry escape there.
Here's the other phrase for I cannot do anything until
you arrive there. While he lingered lot Lingers takes his time,
(36:33):
doesn't do what he's told to do. The man the
angels seized him and his wife and his daughter's by
the hand. This isn't gentle. This is the word kazakh
chaz aq to force fully seize, to be strong, to restrain.
And before the fire fell on Sodom and Gomora, the
(36:56):
angels had to physically grab them and pull them out
of harm's way. And in verse twenty two, the angel says,
I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Judgment is
delayed until separation is complete. Is there any place else
we see that we see in Exodus eight when judgment
(37:19):
of the plagues falls on Egypt Exodus eight twenty three,
Lord it says, I will put a division, a distinction
between my people and your people. Tomorrow. This sign shall
be in evidence God's people were separated from the Egyptians
and on those who judgment would fall. Do we have
(37:40):
any scriptural evidence of humans being snatched out in bodily
form like the rapture describes, yes, we do not one,
but two we have Enoch and Genesis five, Genesis five,
Verses twenty two or twenty fourth. The amplified Enoch walked
(38:05):
in habitual relationship with God three hundred years after the
birth of miss Methuselah, and had other sons and daughters.
So all the days of Enoch, with three hundred and
sixty five years and in reverent fear and obedience, Enoch
walked with God. And he was not found among men
(38:26):
because God took him away to be home with him
physically human form. One minute Enoch is here, the next
he's in heaven with God. What about Elijah and Second
Kings Chapter one, Elijah's taken up into heaven alive and
(38:47):
bodily formed by a charity of fire, bypassing death completely,
and Elijah sees him go. Two witnesses to this claim
a being ached away. God confirms everything he does in
his word. God rescued Noah and Lot from judgment and
(39:09):
took Enoch and Elijah into heaven, just as he'll take
his church to escape the wrath the time of Jacob's
trouble Romans five, p.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Nine.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Amplified Therefore, since we have now been justified, declared free
of guilt, of the guilt of sin by His blood,
how much more certain is it that we will be
saved from the wrath of God through Him, through the Lord.
The wrath of God is a great term about the
(39:44):
outpouring of God's wrath on the rebellious sinners during the
tribulation period. You know, I don't want to pound this
into the ground, but I hope you're seeing it. For
anybody to tell you, oh, the rapture is not in there.
There's no evidence it, there's no indication of it. It's
something a guy made up in the eighteen hundreds. No, no,
(40:06):
it's not one Thessalonians five, starting verse nine. For God
has not destined us to incur his wrath, that is,
He did not select us to condemn us, but to
obtain salvation through our Lord, Jesus, the Messiah, who died
(40:27):
willingly for us, so that whether we are awake, alive
or sleep or dead, at Messiah's appearing, we will live
together with him, sharing eternal life. Therefore, encourage and comfort
one another and build up one another, just as you
are doing. That's what we're doing here. We're encouraging one another.
(40:51):
We're building each other up. So where does the time
of Jacob's trouble come from? Where does that term come from?
Comes from? Jeremiah thirty verse seven, Alas for that day
is great, so that none is like it. It is
even the time of Jacob's trouble. But he shall be
(41:14):
saved out of it. And he's speaking to Israel and Judah.
I believe, and what I've been taught is that the
time of Jacob's trouble corresponds to the seven year Tribulation
at the end of times. See one purpose of the tribulation,
(41:35):
the time of Jacob's trouble is to bring Israel's back
to the Lord. That's why the church is in here.
Church is in here so that the spirit of the
Antichrist and the Antichrist itself can be released on the earth.
And it isn't here because it isn't about them. The
(41:56):
good Zechariah twelve to ten. And I will pour it
out upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace or in merited favor and supplication,
and they shall look earnestly upon me capital m whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as
one mourns for his only son, and shall be in
(42:19):
bitterness for him as one who is in bitterness for
his first born. They're going to see him when he appears,
and they're going to realize what they did. The time
of Jacob's trouble as bad as the sound, demonstrates that
God keeps his promises, He judges sin, and he saves
(42:43):
those who trust in Messiah. In the end times, God
will pour out his judgment on a wicked world. And
this seven year tribulation from Israel's point of view, is
the time of Jacob's trouble, and during it God purges
his chosen people of the wicked and the unbelieving Joel
(43:05):
two thirty two. And it shall come to pass that
those who call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there
shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the
remnant whom the Lord calls Romans ten thirteen. For whoever
(43:27):
calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, remember,
if you know what's going on, you have, you have
the two witnesses, you have. There is evangelizing going on
on the earth, and the ones who do it lose
their life to do it, and there will be Jews
who will accept him as Messiah. Some will survive, some
(43:49):
will not, and the ones who don't will suffer judgment.
Anyone on the earth during the time that does not
resist the Antichrist and the mark of the Beast and
accept the Lord as their savior will suffer horribly. During
this seven year tribulation period, God finishes his discipline of
(44:14):
Israel and his final judgment on the unbelieving world. Let
me ask you, is that a time you want to
be here? To those that believe, all the churches here
the entire time, is that something you think a loving
father would do, Because you won't be able to buy
or sell without the mark of the Beast. This is
(44:37):
not a time the Church wants to be here. And
at the end of it, one it's all said and done,
the Lord will set up his kingdom, a millennial kingdom
for a thousand years. Look at Deuteronomy chapter four, starting
verse thirty. Now, when you are in tribulation and all
(44:58):
these things come upon you the latter days, you will
turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to
his voice. So in the latter days, when the trouble
tribulation comes upon them, they will turn to the Lord
their God and will be obedient to his voice Verse
thirty one. For the Lord your God is a merciful god.
(45:21):
He will not fail you or destroy you, or forget
the covenant of your father's which he swore to them.
Does that sound like he forgets Israel if he made
a perpetual covenant. Does that sound like he suddenly goes, Yeah, now,
I'm not going to keep that. I'm not going to
honor the agreement that I made with Abraham and with Moses. Folks,
(45:45):
don't be so easily swayed by influencers who really don't
know what they're talking about. The Church the called out
once a comprise of all who have trusted in the
person and the work, the redeeming salvation work of the
(46:08):
Lord Jesus. You're sure, and we won't be present during
the tribulation period. The Church will be removed from the
earth and the rapture, because, as I explained, it cannot
be here. If he that which restrains is removed, that
(46:29):
he is the Holy Spirit, then the Church won't be here.
Listen carefully. I tell you a mystery, a secret truth
decreed by God and previously hidden, but is now revealed.
We will not all sleep in death, but we will
(46:50):
all be completely changed, wondrously transformed. In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the
last trumpet, call for a trumpet will sound, and the
dead who believed in Messiah will be raised imperishable, and
we will be completely changed, wondrously transformed. For this perishable
(47:15):
part of us must put on the imperishable nature, and
this mortal part of us that is capable of dying
must put on immortality, which is freedom from death. And
when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal
puts on immortality, then the scripture will be fulfilled that
(47:37):
says death is swallowed up in victory, vanquished forever. The
Church is saved from separated and snatched from the wrath.
To come and being ready, which was a common theme
(47:59):
of the writings of the Apostles, should be our heart's desire.
There should be an anticipation of this, that anticipation, that
feeling of excitement about something that's going to happen, of
(48:19):
the anticipation of preparing for something, looking forward to it.
I believe, as I've stated repeatedly, that's what drove the
early Church. That's what was the fuel in their fire,
(48:40):
the excitement, the anticipation of his return, that he was
coming for them, that they would escape the wrath to come.
I don't see a lot of that now. I do
among my family and the people I speak to, But
(49:02):
in general, everybody's going on about their business, business as usual.
It is not business as usual. It wasn't in the
days of No, it wasn't in the days of Lot. Truly,
it's really never been business as usual, not for the
(49:24):
church anyway, and not for those who have been called
out and separated. So what I'm hoping as we conclude
this look at Matthew twenty five, is that you get
into anticipation of the Lord's return, that it stirs something
(49:46):
up inside of you. Wherever you sit on this rapture equation,
that's up to you. I presented my case using scripture,
using examples. I believe that there's an enough in the
Bible to confirm of its reality, but we should have
(50:14):
an anticipation because you never know at any moment in
the twinkling of an eye, and I read a story.
There was a little girl after church, and what had
been taught in church that day was the return of
the Lord for his church, and the little girl had
paid attention. So she said to him, mother, mommy, do
(50:38):
you believe Jesus will come back? Mother said yes. Little
girl asked could he come this week? Yes? Today? Yes?
Could he come in the next hour, yes, in a
(51:02):
few minutes, yes, dear mommy, would you comb my hair?
Isn't it just like a child out of the mouth
of babes that she knew she wanted to look her best.
She wanted to be ready. I'm not saying you should
(51:24):
look your best, at least not externally spiritually. What I'm
saying is get up each day with an anticipation of
His presence in your life, of the fact that at
any moment he could come for his church. See that's
(51:49):
what the wise and foolish virgins they both were waiting,
but only the wise ones were ready. The remnant should
be ready. You know, all these years I've been teaching
on the remnant and promoting it and encouraging it. We
(52:13):
should be ready, We should be ready to answer the
call to action, But we should be ready for the
return of the king. There should be no excuses. He
didn't make any we should neither. This is a song
(52:37):
by Dennis Jernigan. I wish I could play it for you.
Used to be able to, used to have the verbal
permission to do so. But things have changed with everybody
in all the streaming services, and I think Dennis has
put all of his music under the control of a
management group. But there's a song called There's Coming a Day,
(53:00):
and then it flows into something called separation, and it's
about what we're talking about. But there's a part of
it that I was always ripped my heart out. There's
things about see them in the flames and the fire,
asking you why why didn't you tell me why? And
(53:23):
I know it's not easy. Rejection is always possible, it's
more than likely. But I believe if you do it
in love, they may reject it, they may not accept it,
but you'll plant the thought, you'll plant the seed, you'll
do what you need to do that maybe somewhere along
the line those words will come back to them, that
(53:43):
there's coming a day. And if the church is snatched
out of here, as I believe, and they haven't made
that decision. It'll be hell on earth. The first three
and a half years will be great, but the second
(54:04):
three and a half will literally be hell on earth.
I wouldn't want anybody I loved and cared for have
to go through that. So my prayer, and we're going
to pray here in a second, my prayer is that
these teachings inspire you, maybe to share them, but more
(54:26):
than just talk to people. Find out what they believe,
find out they have any concept of where they're spending eternity.
Father Abbah, Papa Daddy, your words pretty clear. You love
(54:48):
us and you did not ordain us for wrath. Those
that suffer wrath are those that have done this to themselves.
To be ready. Lord, we want to tell others. We
want to help others to be ready. The ones we love,
we don't want them left behind. We don't want them
(55:09):
separated into judgment, into the fire. You send no one
to hell, You send no one into that lake of fire.
They choose where they will spend eternity. How Satan and
his angels and those that served him, they made a choice,
(55:34):
and you honor their choice, and the same thing with humanity,
You honor our choices and gave us a way out
through your sure your only son, that whosoever believes in
him would not perish but have everlasting life. And Lord,
you made it clear that those who are condemned are
(55:55):
condemned because they did not except you and what you
do for them on the cross. That's the condemnation. They
have condemned themselves. The Holy Spirit, help us, help us
as the Church to tell the truth and love, to
(56:23):
shed the light onto the lies of this world and
onto the truth of the Gospel. Help us to do
what we're called to do before the final separation, before
that period comes, while we still have a chance that
(56:46):
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And I would pray right now for us, every one
of us, that we would have the courage and the
cony and the strength and all the provision needed to
go do this. Every day in every way, I pray
(57:12):
for our family members, our lost family members, and our
friends and those that we care about. Right now, Lord,
send an angel, a dream or a vision, soften their
hearts and help us. And I pray all these things,
(57:33):
and you shoe his name. Amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May
the Lord I don't know you shoe a hamoshiak lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
(57:55):
you shall oam. I'm Richard Grund. This has been the
poor on Firefall Duk Radio
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Grund. This is when we get back to basics,
the uncompromised red letter basics of the Word of God.
We focus on the Book of Acts Church to see
how they serve the Lord. We believe. When we do
that we find the Church the Lord intended and not
(00:44):
the one Man created. The Porch is a non denominational,
full gospel approach to the Bible. It's based on the
examples from the Book of Acts Church, and it aims
to restore the priesthood of the believer and regain the
world shaking in influence that the early Church had. The
Church age is and over. The Upper Room experience is
(01:05):
as much for today as it was on the day
of Pentecost. It's yours if you want it. We offer
you the Word as the Apostles would have to the
Jewish and gentile believers of their day. We use both
the Yeshua and Jesus when speaking of the Lord. We
prefer to use the term Messiah rather than Christ, as
(01:26):
it more accurately reflects how he was referred to by
those who knew him. Additionally, we provide definitions in Hebrew, Greek,
and Aramaic when necessary. Getting back to basics, it's not
just the motto, it's a mandate from the Lord. Links
to all of our social media and streaming sites can
be found on the main page at Firefall talk radio
(01:50):
dot com. Subscribe to us wherever you listen so that
you know a new content is posted. If you'd like
to support us, and we hope that you will, at
the bottom of the main page for Firefall Talk Radio.
There and multiple online ways to support, including a po box.
If you'd like to mail your blessing, Please do not
(02:11):
hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.
Just know that we appreciate you, your support, your prayers, and
your encouragement. Thank you for being a part of the
poorch each week. Contact us if you need prayer. Remember
we care about you. There are people that want to
(02:33):
pray for you. How We start out by praising the
Lord before I do anything, any teaching and he preaching.
I praise Him for my home, for my wife, our family, sons,
daughter in law's grandchildren, furry kids. Everything we have is
because of the Lord. All blessings have come from above.
(02:55):
Praise Him for his protection and provision for the dream
and the visions, for divine health and healing, for his
divine abiding favor, for the continuing revelation of the Holy Spirit,
and for making us a new creation and allowing us
to live in these prophetic times. Let's pray. First of all,
(03:19):
we're going to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and
they prosper who love you Psalm one twenty two, verse six.
That's what the scripture says, and that's what we shall do.
It's not about politics, it's not about personalities. It's about
praying for the peace of Jerusalem, protection for our Jewish
brothers and sisters. Pray for America, that God would shed
(03:44):
his grace upon us, that he would protect us, that
he would guide us, and that we would return to
Him with all of our heart. Pray for the people
in Iran, suffering under an oppressive regime. They want to
be free. It doesn't seem like the world really seems
(04:06):
to care about anything but the oil that's there, when
the people are the treasure. So we pray for them,
Pray for their protection, Pray for their freedom and for
all that are involved in doing that. Pray for the
fatherless and the widows, the persecuted and the martyrd the innocence,
(04:27):
and those who are victims of injustice. Pray against the
slaughter of the innocence, for missing and exploited children, for
the victims of human sex trafficking, for our brothers insists
around the world being persecuted and slaughtered for their faith,
their homes destroyed, the places of worship destroyed. Pray against
(04:50):
the growing religious persecution of the Church and the anti
Semitism against the Jewish people, which is all a part
of the spirit of the Antichrist rising up, getting stronger
every day, and we as a church who believes needs
to push back. We need to pray against it. Pray
(05:12):
for divine homeless health and healing in me and you
and everyone that needs it. Getting back to our divine
design in heart, mind, body, soul and spirit, for His
protection and his inspiration, and for the alarm clock to
awaken the remnant, so that those who are called can
(05:35):
answer the call to go to work, to do kingdom
business in this hour, and the doors for all the
projects and plans for that kingdom business would be open
to us, finances flowing so that we can get the
job done. Setting the captives free, redeeming the land, and
(05:57):
glorifying the Lord and the Kingdom of God. So, Father
Abbah Papa, we love you, Oh, we love you so much.
You loved us even when we were unlovable, and because
of that you sent you sure, your only begotten son,
(06:20):
to pay our debts, to shed his blood to set
us free so that we could come home. Lord, Thank you,
Thank you for what you've done, what you're doing, what
you will do in the days ahead, for the cross,
the empty tomb, the upper room, for sending back the
(06:41):
Holy Spirit to walk with us, to teach us, to
remind us of you and everything you said. This Holy Spirit.
We asked that right now that you would do that,
that you would bring every teaching, every revelation, every wisdom
that is needed to mind the knowledge of the Lord
in fullness, Protect the technology, protect us and all that
(07:06):
we have. And let your will be done this day
on the porch, and I pray all these things in
your Shoe's name. Amen.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
These lessons are proprietary information, except where not of the
information comes from outside sources. Combination of that information. The
manner presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used without permission.
The date of this broadcast serves as the registered date
of the following information.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
All right, so let's open up those bibles. Let's get ready.
Just to cover today. You may need to download this
and listen to it more than once. We're going to
finish out talking about Matthew twenty five, the Wise and
Foolish Virgins, the Parable of the Talents, and the Parable
(08:16):
of the Sheep and the Goats. In the first parable,
believers are called to keep watch and be ready for
the Lord's return and the marriage supper of the lab
Then the Lord revealed that what he's looking for in
commitment and a return on his investment into each believer,
(08:37):
and the rewards for obedience and diligence. Finally, he reveals
his examination of the actions of those who know him
and those who don't, and the end result of that examination.
Three different teachings with three different focuses, each bill upon
(09:00):
the other, and they are all tied to the Lord's
return in one form or another. And I'll clarify that
in a second. But we talked about the second coming,
an important topic that shouldn't be ignored. It refers to
(09:21):
a future event when the Lord will return to Earth
to complete his work of redemption to judge the living
in the dead and establish his everlasting kingdom. It's the
central theme of eschatology, and there are various scriptures throughout
the New Testament Matthew twenty four, Matthew twenty five, Revelation
(09:42):
nineteen in others. There are actually eighteen hundred and forty
five biblical references to the second coming of the Lord,
with three hundred of those specifically in the New Testament alone.
The International Standard Bible ENCYCLO this Second Coming of Christ.
(10:02):
I'll read it as they wrote it. A phrase not
found in the Bible is expressed by the apostles in
the following special terms perusia pa r o u s a.
It's a fairly common Greek word. It meanings presence, especially
a presence after an absence. It means an arrival, and
(10:27):
it's very particularly applied to the coming of the Lord.
Look at first Corinthians fifteen, Verses twenty through twenty four.
But now Messiah has risen from the dead and has
become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by man, capital m
also came the resurrection of the dead. Where as an
(10:51):
Adam all die. Even so in Messiah all shall be
made alive, but each one in his own order ms
Siah the first fruits. Afterward those who are messiahs at
his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the
kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end
(11:11):
to all rule and all authority and power. We see
the thought again in First Thessalonians five twenty three. Now,
may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely, and
may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. But
(11:36):
during that period of time something must happen, called the
Great Apostasy, mentioned in Second Thessalonians, Chapter two, verses one
through four. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord
Jesus the Messiah and our gathering together to him, we
ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or
(11:58):
troubled by spirit or by word or by letter, as
if from us, because people were writing letters that were
not from the apostles, that was teaching different things about
the day of the Lord, as though the day of
the Messiah had come. Let no one deceive you by
(12:18):
any means for that day will not come unless the
falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed,
the son of tradition, who opposes and exalts himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped, so
that he sits as God in the Temple of God,
(12:39):
showing himself that he is God. Now there are people
that believe the day of the Lord has already come,
and we'll talk about them a little later. But that's
a part of the great apostasy, the great falling away
jumping down a verse seven of Second Thessalonians too, For
the mystery of lawlessness is all ready at work. Only
(13:01):
he who now restrains he capital h will do so
until he capital h is taken out of the way,
and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the
Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and
destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of
the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,
(13:24):
with all powers, signs and lying wonders, and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not
receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them a strong
delusion that they should believe the lie. So this is
(13:45):
where the topic of the Rapture fits in, and that's
what I want to address tonight. Can't have this topic
and not mention it. Cover it all the aspects of it.
There are a lot of videos about it. Everybody has
an opinion. I have my opinion, but it's based on
scripture and I'm gonna could present that to you, and
(14:07):
it's based upon Hebrew and Greek definitions that were used.
So I am sharing with you what I believe the
scripture says. I'm offering it to you for your consideration.
You decide for yourself what you believe and how you
proceed on this topic. So the rapture, God's taking the
(14:29):
Church out of the world instantaneously. The Latin term raphael,
which means to snatch away or carry off, is the
source of the English word. Tied into this are different
views of the millennium, which is very vital to understand
(14:50):
on this topic. Look with me at Revelation twenty, starting
verse two says he laid hold of the draft that
serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years, and he being Michael
cast him into the bottless pit and shut him up,
(15:12):
and set a seal on him, so that he should
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.
But after these things he will be released for a
little while Verse four. And I saw thrones, and they
sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then
(15:33):
I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Yeshua and for the word of God,
who had not worshiped the beast or his image, those
that are killed during the tribulation period and had not
received His mark on their forehead or their hands. And
they lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years.
(15:57):
But the rest of the dead did not live again
until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power.
But they shall be priests of our God now Messiah,
and shall reign with him a thousand years. So the
(16:20):
Church which comes back with him during that period of time,
and the believers that are sacrificed during that period on
the earth, which would be anybody who converts, but pride
to predominantly Messianic Jews who come to completion in Messiah
and are slaughtered by the Antichrist. That's the millennial kingdom
(16:44):
on Earth a thousand years. Jumping down to verse seven
of Revelation twenty. Now in the thousand years have expired,
Satan will be released from his prison and will go
out to deceive the nation which are in the four
corners of the earth. Gog and Magog to gather them
(17:05):
together to battle, whose number is as the sand of
the sea. And they went up on the breath of
the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and
the beloved city. What's happened here? Is Satan not learned
his lesson. He gets out of prison, He ferments a rebellion,
He gathers another army, and he goes to attack Jerusalem,
(17:27):
the Holy City, and the Saints and all that are there.
And fire came down from God out of heaven and
devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and
the false prophet are, And they will be tormented day
and night forever and ever. Now, how are the feasts
(17:49):
and the false prophet already in there because at the
beginning of the millennium they are cast into the Lake
of Fire. Distinct period of time, two periods of time.
Now there are three different views on this topic. May
(18:10):
get a little confusing, and that's why you may have
to download it and do your own reading. The three
views are pre millennial, post millennial, and a millennial. Pre
millennialism teaches that the Second Coming will occur before a
literal thousand year reign of Messiah from Jerusalem on the
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Earth and the early church pre millennialism was called Chileism
chili asm, and it's from the Greek term meaning a
thousand word, used six times in Revelation twenty. Postmillennialism sees
the Lord's return after a golden millennial age where Messiah
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rules spiritually from his throne in heaven, a view that
I see no evidence of in scripture. But they do
not believe in a literal second coming. They believe that
he doesn't come back until after the millennial reign, which
he has been ruling from his throne in heaven, which
defies all prophecy. A Millennialism, the worst of the three,
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in my opinion, sees the millennium as a figurative reference
to the current church age. And I know people who
believe that, and I find that one the most flawed
and lacking of all in the book The History of
the Church, a scriptn of book, pre millennialism was the
most widely held view of the earliest centuries of the Church.
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According to Philip Scheff, the most striking point in the
eschatology of the Anti Nicaian age AD. One hundred to
three twenty five is a prominent jileasm millennium viewpoint. It
was a current opinion of distinguished teachers like Barnabas, Papia,
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Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and others of that day. So
that's what the church believed up until the Council at Nicea.
Pre Millennialism began to die due to the Catholic Church
coming into power during the time of Augustine AD three
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fifty four to four point thirty. So the pre millennial
viewpoint was the foundation of what the apostles and their
main students believed, but then it was suppressed. It was
suppressed by the dominant Catholic Church of the day, but
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it survived through various fringe groups amongst believers during the
medieval period. During the Reformation, the Anabaptist and Huguenots, and
those Huguenots settled in North Florida just above Jacksonville, helped
revive pre millennialism, and it was adopted by some of
the Puritans during the post Reformation age. Historic premillennialists reject
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the idea of a pre tribulation rapture and the uniquely
Jewish nature of a dispensationalist millennial kingdom. Historic premillennialists, such
as Calvinists, do not accept the basic tenets of dispensationalism.
What is dispensationalism. It's a Christian theological framework that interprets
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the Bible by dividing history into distinct periods called dispensations.
Each dispensation represents a different way in which God interacts
with humanity. This approach emphasizes a literal interpretation of the
Bible and often highlights a distinction between Israel and the Church.
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What are those dispensations? First, one was the dispensation of
innocence the creation to the fall of Adam. Then is
the dispensation of conscience from the fall to the flood,
the dispensation of human government from Noah to Babel, the
dispensation of promise from Abraham to Moses, the dispensation of
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law from Moses to John the Baptist, the dispensation of
grace which is the current Church age, and then the
dispensation of the kingdom the future millennial reign of Messiah.
Now where this gets a little murky is the separation
of Israel and the Church and how the two shall
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never meet. So the central tenet of dispensationalism is the
clear distinction between Israel and the Church, arguing that God
has separate plans for each. Not completely wrong with Here's
what we have a problem Israel being an ethnic and
national entity while the Church is a new spiritual body
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formed after Messiah's resurrection. That is not what Paul taught.
That's not what Peter taught, That's not what James or
John taught. So the contemporary influence on this concept of
dispensationalism in the American evangelicalism, like under the non denominational
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Bible churches, the Baptists and even some Pentecostals, which contrasts
with the concept of covenant theology, which emphasizes the continuity
between Israel and the Church. And if you've been paying attention,
you know that's where I sit. Classic dispensationalisms like Schofield
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and Chafer are pre tribulationists. They believe the Second Coming
will be into stages separated by a seven year period
called the Tribulation. At the first, he will return in
the air, and he will rescue those who believe in
him in what's called the Rapture. Then following a seven
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year period of suffering in which the Antichrist conquers the
world and kills those who refuse to worship him. At
the end of the seven years, the final witness of
the Kingdom of God will go out before men, and
the Lord and his angels will then return to the earth.
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He will defeat the Antichrist and rescue the Jews who
have accepted him as Messiah during the tribulation period. In
pre millennialism, however, the distinct of the event of the
rapture is emphasized, and that word rapture, as I said,
comes from the Latin repair or rapaio. It was used
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in the Vulgate to translate the Greek word harpozzo, which
means caught up and the main biblical passage for the
harpozzo the rapture of the Church is first Thessalonians four,
starting verse fifteen. For this we say to you by
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the word of the Lord, that we who are alive
and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by
no means precede those who are asleep, For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God,
and the dead and Messiah will rise first. Then we
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who are alive and remain shall be caught up harpozzo,
caught up together with him in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always
be with the Lord. Now think about that. First of all,
Paul says we say this by the word of the Lord.
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It is in his opinion. He's stating very clearly where
he believes this concept comes from those that believe that
there is no rapture. There's nothing separate. They're both together.
So I guess we get caught up in the air
and they come right back down. Is that how it works?
Does that make sense? Doesn't to me? Her? Potso just
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snatch up, catch you away. It's the word used in
Acts eight thirty nine about the spirit of the Lord
in regard to Philip. Says, now when they came up,
the Philip and the eunuch came up out of the water.
Because the eunuch got baptized. The spirit of the Lord
caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more,
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and he went on his way rejoicing. So basically what
happened there. The eunuch get saved, he wants to be baptized.
Philip baptizes him, and as the eunuch comes up out
of the water, Philip's gone. Paul is hard posts so
caught up to paradise. In Sewod Corinthians twelve, verse two,
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I know a man in Messiah who fourteen years ago,
whether in the body I do not know, or whether
out of the body, I do not know. God knows
such a one was caught up to the third Heaven.
Why the third Heaven, that's where the throne room is.
And we saw it in First Thessalonians four seventeen in
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the Rapture of the Saints at the return of the Lord,
and the verb conveys the idea that it is being
done forcefully, and suddenly same words use in Acts twenty
three ten. Now, when there arose a great dissension, the commander,
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fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them
the people that were rioting, commanded the soldiers to go
down and take him up by force from among them
and bring him into the barracks. So is there biblical
evidence to support this concept? Yes, there is, as I
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mentioned in Acts eight with Philip. We'll is read a
small section of it, Acts eight, starting verse thirty eight.
So he commanded the charriot to stand still, and both
Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and
he baptized him. Now, when they came up out of
the water, the spirit of the Lord caught Philip away.
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So the eunuch saw him no more, and he went
on his way, rejoicing. Philip was found at Azotis, which
was Ashdod in the Old Testament, and passing through he
preached in all the cities till he came to chest
Area that's thirty four miles away. That didn't happen in
the natural, that was super natural. Is there any other
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evidence of such things? Well, let's go to Luke seventeen.
This is the Lord speaking starting verse twenty six. Now,
as it was in the days of Noah, so will
also be in the days of the Son of Man.
They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given
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in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark
and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as
it was also in the days of Lot, they ate,
they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.
But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom,
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
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Even so will it be in the day when the
Son of Man is revealed. What you're seeing is the
concept of separation. The pattern is seen right away in
Genesis IE. When God separates, he gathers, he transforms. It's
all part of his sovereign process. It's how he does things.
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Genesis one one. In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was on the face of the deep, and
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of
the waters. Then God said, let there be light. And
there was light. And God saw the light that it
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was good and God divided the light from the darkness.
God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
And so the evening and the morning were the first day.
God divided, divided. The Hebrew word badalah It means a separation.
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He separated light and dark. Isn't that the rapture? The
light the church taken out, and the dark left. That
word badal appears three times in Genesis one. He separates,
divides badal the light and darkness, the waters above from
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the waters below, and the day and the night. This
pattern going on here. He separates Badal his people from
the Heathen nations Leviticus twenty verse twenty four. But I
have said to you you shall inherit their land, and
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I will give it to you to possess a land
flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord, your God,
who has separated you from the peoples. His church is separated.
Come out from among them and be separate. Separation is
a part of his divine order. It's not an excuse. Oh,
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I just don't want to be I don't want to suffer,
so I'm gonna leave. No, that's not what this is about.
But when that time comes, we who are alive and remain,
shall be caught up Apozzo together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus
we shall always be with the Lord, separate, separated. The
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days of Noah was a time of rampant sin, debauchery, destruction,
and evil. It was also a time of divine separation
and rescue. Go with me to Genesis seventh, verse eleven.
In the sixth hundred year of Noah's life, six being
the number of men in the second month, the seventeenth
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day of the month. On that day, all the fountains
of the Great Deep were broken up, and the windows
of Heaven were opened. I don't know how anybody can
explain away the fact that they've discovered that in the
center of the Earth are oceans, or an ocean larger
than any ocean on the surface of the earth, the
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fountains of the deep, and the rain was on the
earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day,
Noah and Noah's sons Shemham and Jayphyth, and Noah's wife
and the three wives of his sons with them entered
the Ark. They and every beast after its kind, all
the cattle after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps
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on the earth after its kind, every bird after its kind,
every bird of every sort. So they went into the
Ark to Noah two by two of all flesh, which
is in the breath of life. So that those that entered,
male and female of all flesh went in. They were separated,
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as God commanded him. And then here's the kief part
of verse sixteen. And the Lord shut them in. We continued,
read we know he shut them in seven days before
the waters came. God shuts the door of the Ark,
not Noah. It is a divine act of separation before
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destruction happens. What about the days of Lot the other
time that the Lord quotes there in Luke, time of
sin and perversion and demonic evil, the angels are sent
by God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Go with me,
Genesis nineteen thirty, verse fifteen. The angels have already come.
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Now it's time to get Lot and his family out
of there. When the morning dawned, and the angels urge
Lot to hurry, saying, arise, take your wife and your
two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in
the punishment of the city, and while he lingered, the men,
the angels to old of his hand and his wife's hands,
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and the hands of his two daughters. Now the daughters
were married, but the son in laws mocked them and
laughed and did not go the lord being merciful to him,
and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So basically, the angels, the two angels, have to grab Lot,
his wife and his daughters, buy the hand and get
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them out of the city because they're lingering. So it
came to pass when they had brought them outside that
he said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you,
nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain
lest you be destroyed. Then Lord said to them, please know,
my lords. Indeed, now your servant has found favor in
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your sight, and you have increased your mercy, which you
have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot
escape to the mountains lest some evil overtake me and
I die. See now this city, which is z Ar,
is near enough to flee to. It's a little one.
Please let me escape there and my soul shall live.
(36:12):
And the angel said to him, see, I have favored
you concerning this thing in that I will not overthrow
this city for which you have spoken. Hurry escape there.
Here's the other phrase for I cannot do anything until
you arrive there. While he lingered lot Lingers takes his time,
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doesn't do what he's told to do. The man the
angels seized him and his wife and his daughter's by
the hand. This isn't gentle. This is the word kazakh
chaz aq to force fully seize, to be strong, to restrain.
And before the fire fell on Sodom and Gomora, the
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angels had to physically grab them and pull them out
of harm's way. And in verse twenty two, the angel says,
I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Judgment is
delayed until separation is complete. Is there any place else
we see that we see in Exodus eight when judgment
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of the plagues falls on Egypt Exodus eight twenty three,
Lord it says, I will put a division, a distinction
between my people and your people. Tomorrow. This sign shall
be in evidence God's people were separated from the Egyptians
and on those who judgment would fall. Do we have
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any scriptural evidence of humans being snatched out in bodily
form like the rapture describes, yes, we do not one,
but two we have Enoch and Genesis five, Genesis five,
Verses twenty two or twenty fourth. The amplified Enoch walked
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in habitual relationship with God three hundred years after the
birth of miss Methuselah, and had other sons and daughters.
So all the days of Enoch, with three hundred and
sixty five years and in reverent fear and obedience, Enoch
walked with God. And he was not found among men
(38:26):
because God took him away to be home with him
physically human form. One minute Enoch is here, the next
he's in heaven with God. What about Elijah and Second
Kings Chapter one, Elijah's taken up into heaven alive and
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bodily formed by a charity of fire, bypassing death completely,
and Elijah sees him go. Two witnesses to this claim
a being ached away. God confirms everything he does in
his word. God rescued Noah and Lot from judgment and
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took Enoch and Elijah into heaven, just as he'll take
his church to escape the wrath the time of Jacob's
trouble Romans five, p.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Nine.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Amplified Therefore, since we have now been justified, declared free
of guilt, of the guilt of sin by His blood,
how much more certain is it that we will be
saved from the wrath of God through Him, through the Lord.
The wrath of God is a great term about the
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outpouring of God's wrath on the rebellious sinners during the
tribulation period. You know, I don't want to pound this
into the ground, but I hope you're seeing it. For
anybody to tell you, oh, the rapture is not in there.
There's no evidence it, there's no indication of it. It's
something a guy made up in the eighteen hundreds. No, no,
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it's not one Thessalonians five, starting verse nine. For God
has not destined us to incur his wrath, that is,
He did not select us to condemn us, but to
obtain salvation through our Lord, Jesus, the Messiah, who died
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willingly for us, so that whether we are awake, alive
or sleep or dead, at Messiah's appearing, we will live
together with him, sharing eternal life. Therefore, encourage and comfort
one another and build up one another, just as you
are doing. That's what we're doing here. We're encouraging one another.
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We're building each other up. So where does the time
of Jacob's trouble come from? Where does that term come from?
Comes from? Jeremiah thirty verse seven, Alas for that day
is great, so that none is like it. It is
even the time of Jacob's trouble. But he shall be
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saved out of it. And he's speaking to Israel and Judah.
I believe, and what I've been taught is that the
time of Jacob's trouble corresponds to the seven year Tribulation
at the end of times. See one purpose of the tribulation,
(41:35):
the time of Jacob's trouble is to bring Israel's back
to the Lord. That's why the church is in here.
Church is in here so that the spirit of the
Antichrist and the Antichrist itself can be released on the earth.
And it isn't here because it isn't about them. The
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good Zechariah twelve to ten. And I will pour it
out upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace or in merited favor and supplication,
and they shall look earnestly upon me capital m whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as
one mourns for his only son, and shall be in
(42:19):
bitterness for him as one who is in bitterness for
his first born. They're going to see him when he appears,
and they're going to realize what they did. The time
of Jacob's trouble as bad as the sound, demonstrates that
God keeps his promises, He judges sin, and he saves
(42:43):
those who trust in Messiah. In the end times, God
will pour out his judgment on a wicked world. And
this seven year tribulation from Israel's point of view, is
the time of Jacob's trouble, and during it God purges
his chosen people of the wicked and the unbelieving Joel
(43:05):
two thirty two. And it shall come to pass that
those who call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there
shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the
remnant whom the Lord calls Romans ten thirteen. For whoever
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calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, remember,
if you know what's going on, you have, you have
the two witnesses, you have. There is evangelizing going on
on the earth, and the ones who do it lose
their life to do it, and there will be Jews
who will accept him as Messiah. Some will survive, some
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will not, and the ones who don't will suffer judgment.
Anyone on the earth during the time that does not
resist the Antichrist and the mark of the Beast and
accept the Lord as their savior will suffer horribly. During
this seven year tribulation period, God finishes his discipline of
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Israel and his final judgment on the unbelieving world. Let
me ask you, is that a time you want to
be here? To those that believe, all the churches here
the entire time, is that something you think a loving
father would do, Because you won't be able to buy
or sell without the mark of the Beast. This is
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not a time the Church wants to be here. And
at the end of it, one it's all said and done,
the Lord will set up his kingdom, a millennial kingdom
for a thousand years. Look at Deuteronomy chapter four, starting
verse thirty. Now, when you are in tribulation and all
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these things come upon you the latter days, you will
turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to
his voice. So in the latter days, when the trouble
tribulation comes upon them, they will turn to the Lord
their God and will be obedient to his voice Verse
thirty one. For the Lord your God is a merciful god.
(45:21):
He will not fail you or destroy you, or forget
the covenant of your father's which he swore to them.
Does that sound like he forgets Israel if he made
a perpetual covenant. Does that sound like he suddenly goes, Yeah, now,
I'm not going to keep that. I'm not going to
honor the agreement that I made with Abraham and with Moses. Folks,
(45:45):
don't be so easily swayed by influencers who really don't
know what they're talking about. The Church the called out
once a comprise of all who have trusted in the
person and the work, the redeeming salvation work of the
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Lord Jesus. You're sure, and we won't be present during
the tribulation period. The Church will be removed from the
earth and the rapture, because, as I explained, it cannot
be here. If he that which restrains is removed, that
(46:29):
he is the Holy Spirit, then the Church won't be here.
Listen carefully. I tell you a mystery, a secret truth
decreed by God and previously hidden, but is now revealed.
We will not all sleep in death, but we will
(46:50):
all be completely changed, wondrously transformed. In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the
last trumpet, call for a trumpet will sound, and the
dead who believed in Messiah will be raised imperishable, and
we will be completely changed, wondrously transformed. For this perishable
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part of us must put on the imperishable nature, and
this mortal part of us that is capable of dying
must put on immortality, which is freedom from death. And
when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal
puts on immortality, then the scripture will be fulfilled that
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says death is swallowed up in victory, vanquished forever. The
Church is saved from separated and snatched from the wrath.
To come and being ready, which was a common theme
(47:59):
of the writings of the Apostles, should be our heart's desire.
There should be an anticipation of this, that anticipation, that
feeling of excitement about something that's going to happen, of
(48:19):
the anticipation of preparing for something, looking forward to it.
I believe, as I've stated repeatedly, that's what drove the
early Church. That's what was the fuel in their fire,
(48:40):
the excitement, the anticipation of his return, that he was
coming for them, that they would escape the wrath to come.
I don't see a lot of that now. I do
among my family and the people I speak to, But
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in general, everybody's going on about their business, business as usual.
It is not business as usual. It wasn't in the
days of No, it wasn't in the days of Lot. Truly,
it's really never been business as usual, not for the
(49:24):
church anyway, and not for those who have been called
out and separated. So what I'm hoping as we conclude
this look at Matthew twenty five, is that you get
into anticipation of the Lord's return, that it stirs something
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up inside of you. Wherever you sit on this rapture equation,
that's up to you. I presented my case using scripture,
using examples. I believe that there's an enough in the
Bible to confirm of its reality, but we should have
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an anticipation because you never know at any moment in
the twinkling of an eye, and I read a story.
There was a little girl after church, and what had
been taught in church that day was the return of
the Lord for his church, and the little girl had
paid attention. So she said to him, mother, mommy, do
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you believe Jesus will come back? Mother said yes. Little
girl asked could he come this week? Yes? Today? Yes?
Could he come in the next hour, yes, in a
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few minutes, yes, dear mommy, would you comb my hair?
Isn't it just like a child out of the mouth
of babes that she knew she wanted to look her best.
She wanted to be ready. I'm not saying you should
(51:24):
look your best, at least not externally spiritually. What I'm
saying is get up each day with an anticipation of
His presence in your life, of the fact that at
any moment he could come for his church. See that's
(51:49):
what the wise and foolish virgins they both were waiting,
but only the wise ones were ready. The remnant should
be ready. You know, all these years I've been teaching
on the remnant and promoting it and encouraging it. We
(52:13):
should be ready, We should be ready to answer the
call to action, But we should be ready for the
return of the king. There should be no excuses. He
didn't make any we should neither. This is a song
(52:37):
by Dennis Jernigan. I wish I could play it for you.
Used to be able to, used to have the verbal
permission to do so. But things have changed with everybody
in all the streaming services, and I think Dennis has
put all of his music under the control of a
management group. But there's a song called There's Coming a Day,
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and then it flows into something called separation, and it's
about what we're talking about. But there's a part of
it that I was always ripped my heart out. There's
things about see them in the flames and the fire,
asking you why why didn't you tell me why? And
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I know it's not easy. Rejection is always possible, it's
more than likely. But I believe if you do it
in love, they may reject it, they may not accept it,
but you'll plant the thought, you'll plant the seed, you'll
do what you need to do that maybe somewhere along
the line those words will come back to them, that
(53:43):
there's coming a day. And if the church is snatched
out of here, as I believe, and they haven't made
that decision. It'll be hell on earth. The first three
and a half years will be great, but the second
(54:04):
three and a half will literally be hell on earth.
I wouldn't want anybody I loved and cared for have
to go through that. So my prayer, and we're going
to pray here in a second, my prayer is that
these teachings inspire you, maybe to share them, but more
(54:26):
than just talk to people. Find out what they believe,
find out they have any concept of where they're spending eternity.
Father Abbah, Papa Daddy, your words pretty clear. You love
(54:48):
us and you did not ordain us for wrath. Those
that suffer wrath are those that have done this to themselves.
To be ready. Lord, we want to tell others. We
want to help others to be ready. The ones we love,
we don't want them left behind. We don't want them
(55:09):
separated into judgment, into the fire. You send no one
to hell, You send no one into that lake of fire.
They choose where they will spend eternity. How Satan and
his angels and those that served him, they made a choice,
(55:34):
and you honor their choice, and the same thing with humanity,
You honor our choices and gave us a way out
through your sure your only son, that whosoever believes in
him would not perish but have everlasting life. And Lord,
you made it clear that those who are condemned are
(55:55):
condemned because they did not except you and what you
do for them on the cross. That's the condemnation. They
have condemned themselves. The Holy Spirit, help us, help us
as the Church to tell the truth and love, to
(56:23):
shed the light onto the lies of this world and
onto the truth of the Gospel. Help us to do
what we're called to do before the final separation, before
that period comes, while we still have a chance that
(56:46):
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And I would pray right now for us, every one
of us, that we would have the courage and the
cony and the strength and all the provision needed to
go do this. Every day in every way, I pray
(57:12):
for our family members, our lost family members, and our
friends and those that we care about. Right now, Lord,
send an angel, a dream or a vision, soften their
hearts and help us. And I pray all these things,
(57:33):
and you shoe his name. Amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May
the Lord I don't know you shoe a hamoshiak lift
up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Give
(57:55):
you shall oam. I'm Richard Grund. This has been the
poor on Firefall Duk Radio
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