Hey friends, welcome back to the Semi -Seminarian.
If you're a regular listener, I want to take
just one second and say thanks for your patience
as we took a week off last week. If you're new
to the podcast, we're certainly glad that you're
here. Here at the Semi -Seminarian, we treat
the Bible as if we're grown -ups. We're trying
to examine the Bible, not like we were perhaps
taught as children or Maybe we grew up and we
were taught the Bible as adults, but we were
taught the Bible by people who were taught the
Bible as children. So we're trying to address
that problem here at the Seminary. So let me
begin tonight by asking you a question. Speaking
of our childhood understanding of God, I wonder
if you're like me. What was one of your first
early prayers, the prayer that goes, Now I lay
me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to
keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the
Lord my soul to take. Did you pray that prayer
as a kid? I did. I'll also tell you, I wonder,
or let me also ask you, were you like me? Did
that scare the dickens out of you? Did it make
you wonder from a very young age that somehow
or another, This relationship thing with God
that I have involves maybe me dying in the night?
I did. It worried me. It scared me forever. As
a matter of fact, as I grew up as a young man,
it scared me so much that I chose to rationalize
not to think about the end of the world, not
to think about the end of my life. As time marches
on, here I find myself wondering about the end
of my life and wondering how important the message
that Scripture has with regard to hope and the
end not only of our own lives, but the end of
the world. This is the first of a three -part
series in which we examine the end times. Tonight's
episode, we are calling Don't Be So Heavenly
Minded. You're no earthly good. Thanks for tuning
in and I'll see you on the other side. So as
I mentioned earlier, buddies, we're going to
divide this up into three parts. We're going
to look tonight at the second coming of Jesus.
What's that mean? When does it mean? How does
it mean? Then we're going to look at actual the
end of time next week. A week after that, we're
going to do a survey of the book of Revelation.
So that week will all be about the prophecy,
John Patmos, about the Revelation. Tonight is,
I don't really have a series for the three parts,
but tonight I'm going to be called, Don't Be
So Heavenly Minded That You Know Earthly Good.
It's a quote from Chief Justice Oliver Wendell
Holmes. Don't be so heavenly minded that you
know earthly good. I hope that you'll see what
I mean tonight, because we're going to spend
the next couple of weeks talking about what it
means when we die, right? Don't lose sight of
the fact that you have a responsibility as a
Christian while you live, right? Don't get so
focused on what happens when you die that you
forget to be a Christian while you're on earth,
all right? So don't be sadly minded to no earthly
good. So I guess you could say this is the beginning
of the end. What we want to do over the next
couple of weeks is talk about something I think
we seem to have a lot of people talking about
in our world today. Honestly, so many questions
about what's going to happen. Is there going
to be an end of the world? Are we in the world
of the now? Are we living in the end times? Right?
Well, I want to go ahead and say this and preface
this. Go ahead and be ready because it is going
to end. If the people are wondering out there.
Does the world end? It does, right? Now, we don't
know how it's going to end. Some people think
that it's going to end with apocalyptic floods.
Other people think that a meteorite or maybe
another planet might hit the earth. Some people
are going to believe that we're seared by the
sun. Some people think aliens might come and
overtake us. I personally believe, me and a small
but reputable group believes, that we're actually
going to be destroyed by an evolving cat that
eventually gets thumbs and takes over the world.
So be on the lookout for the cats. Jesus said,
that's right, you don't have to worry about a
flood. Jesus said, no one knows the day or the
hour. So will it happen? Yes. When will it happen?
No. If you were coming tonight, we don't know.
If you were coming tonight hoping that I was
going to tell you when it was going to happen,
one, this is not a Seventh -day Adventist gig.
Two, I don't know. I only know this, it will.
Now today, I want to start just by building a
foundation of what we're going to build on over
these next couple of weeks. If you have notes
there, if you have your Bible and you'd like
to open it up, we're in 1 Thessalonians 4. 1
Thessalonians, a letter written by Paul. We're
going to build a foundation. And for those of
you, maybe you're the kind of person here, maybe
you're listening on the podcast and you think,
you know, I'm not really a Christian. Maybe I'm
not a Bible person. I'm certainly not religious.
I'm not really a churchgoer, those kind of people,
right? You may look at what I'm about to say
and you're going to say, this is kind of weird.
And I want, in all fairness, to say you're right.
This stuff is kind of weird. The Bible has all
of these things called prophecies. In fact, prophetic
students of the Bible claim that about 20 % or
more of the Bible is actually directly or indirectly
related to prophecy. 20 % of the whole Bible.
is about predicting what's going to come in the
future, right? And the events we're talking about
today are weird. Just like Hebrew Testament or
Old Testament prophecies that prophesied that
Jesus would be born of a virgin, right? All these
prophecies about whether you believe Jesus is
Lord or not, whether Jesus is Lord or not, whether
you actually buy into that. And again, I want
to say, I am going to be teaching tonight from
the Christian traditional perspective. From the
Jewish perspective, things I'm saying about prophecy
and what they might particularly have to do with
the historical character we know as Jesus Christ.
They might not subscribe to my interpretation,
and I'm not trying to make this a Judaic interpretation
of prophecy. I'm actually trying to use the Christian
tradition, okay? So please understand that I
am coming from and teaching from the perspective
of the accepted mainstream Christian tradition,
right? And a lot of people might look at those
prophecies and think, there is no way. that those
things could have been fulfilled if it wasn't
for God, right? And that happens to be why I
believe that the things that we see are a pattern.
The things that we see in Hebrew scripture prophesying
about a Messiah as a Christian believer, I believe
that they're in reference to the historical character
named Jesus of Nazareth, okay? So I just want
to go ahead and say that, that this is the perspective.
It's important to point out because I do understand
there are different interpretations of what I'm
saying. What's crazy is there's literally, there
are five times as many prophecies about the second
coming of Jesus as there was about with the first
coming of Jesus. Okay, that's pretty significant
given that the prophecies about the first coming
of Jesus would have been generally contained,
with the exception of John the Baptist, who is
the last Old Testament prophet. Right. Because
he's the last one to come before the new covenant.
So that's pretty interesting. Give the Hebrew
scriptures about two thirds of the Bible. Right.
Two thirds of the Bible. There's a lot of prophecy
in Hebrew scripture. And yet there's five times
more prophecy than what's in the Old Testament
in the New Testament about Jesus second coming.
So what how you interpret those prophecies. And
what that interpretation means to you in your
worldview, those are things that are open to
individual interpretation. But if there's this
much discussion about the second coming of Jesus
in the New Testament as prophecy, as Christians
it seems like it's a smart idea for us to kind
of pay attention and talk about it. And try to
figure out for ourselves what does it mean for
us. That's how we're going to open this conversation
tonight. Not with definitive answers. Not when
is this all going to happen and you are guaranteed
to be saved and you can just go ahead and go
to bed tonight because the pastor said that your
insurance premium for heaven is paid up in full.
I do want to go ahead and tell you that the insurance
premium for your insurance for heaven, it actually
has been paid up, but that doesn't mean that
you don't have work to do, okay? Now, there are
a lot of different interpretations about this
kind of stuff. Some people believe some things.
Some people believe others. I'm simply going
to give you my beliefs and tell you what I believe
about certain things. But there are sincere Christians.
I know it sounds like I'm making a broken record
argument here. But I want to be heard because
this is important. You might very well in 15
minutes disagree with what I'm saying. So I want
to be sure that you hear me say that there are
sincere Christians on all sides of these issues,
right? And nobody knows for sure who's right,
right? But we do know it's talked about, and
so we should be talking about it as well and
examining what this part of the Christian narrative
has to do with our lives. So again, laying a
foundation. Next week, we're going to look at
what happens. After Jesus returns in Scripture,
where do we go as Christians? What's heaven like?
How we're judged versus those who are not Christians.
That's a different judgment. We'll kind of talk
about that tonight. We'll also spend more in
-depth at that last week. We'll look at heaven
and what eternity is like. Then in the third
week, again, we're going to kind of take a survey
of the book of Revelation so that I can do my
best to pick out important verses that deal with
the end times. I'm going to throw a bazillion
scripture verses at you that week. Hopefully
I can answer a bazillion questions as well. Today,
we are going to start, though, in Paul's letter
to the Thessalonians. So let me give you the
context of the time period we're going to study
first. Okay? This is stuff that Paul is writing
in the first century. Not long after Jesus died.
The earliest churches. He's writing to the earliest
churches. When Paul founded a church and then
he wrote a letter back to that church, there
was no church before Paul. Brand new beginning
stuff. Now, what might seem like maybe not that
big of a deal to you because we see so many people
in our lives today. Well, let me ask you this.
How many people either believe or know somebody?
That they believe. Sorry. How many of you believe
or you know somebody who believes beyond a shadow
of a doubt that the end of the world will take
place in your lifetime? That you will not die?
Okay. Relatively low number. Less than I was
expecting. Okay? Not like this in the first church.
Why? Because they had literally seen Jesus alive,
die, and then alive again. And when Jesus came
to his followers, what did he tell them? I'm
going to come back for you. Right? And when they
heard Jesus say, I'm going to come back for you,
remember the last time he said he was leaving,
he was only gone three days. Right. So Jesus
said that he's coming back. I mean to say next
Tuesday, Jesus is coming back. But guess what
happens on next Tuesday? Jesus didn't come back.
And then enough Tuesdays go by where finally,
let's say your mom or your dad, rest their souls,
pass on. And you begin to worry. Now, wait a
minute. If they die. Before Jesus actually comes
back, what happens to them? I mean, think about
this. Brand new Christianity hadn't thought through
all this stuff yet. What happens? Because Jesus
said that he was going to come back and was going
to take us with him. But what happens? Mom died,
and that means she can't be taken with Jesus.
Because when they believed Jesus was going to
come back, They believed he was going to come
back literally like they had just seen him come
back. He literally was just there, right? And
is literally going to take us with him. So what
happens if my mom or my dad is down, you know,
asleep? That's actually the word that they'll
use. They were convinced that Jesus was coming
back at any moment. So Paul's writing in 1 Thessalonians,
this is what he's writing about, this specific
issue. Chapter 4, to kind of explain, Paul's
going to explain what happens. So look at a big
chunk of Scripture, and then we're going to break
this portion of Scripture down. 1 Thessalonians
4, verse 13, Scripture says, Brothers and sisters,
Paul says, We don't want you to be ignorant about
those who fall asleep or to grieve. Like the
rest of men or women who have no hope, we believe,
he goes on to say, and this, friends, is in my
opinion, this is a statement Paul makes here
that for me and my personal spiritual belief,
I believe is one of the statements of the essence
of Christianity. These are one of the statements
that has to be, in my opinion, fundamentally,
we have to agree, fundamentally, That this is
true about Christianity. What is it that we have
to agree? This. That Jesus died and rose again.
And so we believe that God will bring Jesus with
those who have fallen asleep in him. Why is that
so important? It means, I confirm as a believer,
Jesus was alive and Jesus died. That Jesus rose
from the dead and that Jesus will return. If
you don't believe any of those four, I think,
fundamental tenets of Christianity. OK, so let
me say them again. Number one, I think to be
a Christian, I don't mean to be a good Christian.
I just mean to be a Christian by definition.
OK, so when I'm saying if you want to be a Christian,
I'm not saying if you want to be a holier than
thou Christian, you need to. No, no. I'm saying
definition wise, you have to believe that Jesus
was alive and died. If Jesus was alive and died
and then he rose again, but you don't believe
that Jesus rose again, now we have a problem
with salvation, don't we? Because there are Christians
who believe that Jesus died and Jesus did not
come back to life. But the story of Jesus' life
is still so great. That maybe it was not that
big of a deal that people made up these stories
about Jesus coming back to life because it allowed
for his teachings to become publicized and become
what they are today. So, no, Jesus didn't really
go to heaven. He died like everybody else. Jesus
was still pretty important. And the things that
he said revolutionized the world. That's what
some people believe. I don't think, again, you
might be a great person. I don't see how you
can square the whole of Scripture and don't believe
that Jesus proved God's power over death. I think
if God's power through Jesus could not be apparent
enough to rescue life from death, then what's
the entire point of any of it? Right? What's
the point? So, I think for you to be a Christian,
I think it's important. I think that's one of
those things that you need to believe. You need
to believe that he died and that he rose again.
Right? But there's something else. That he will
come back. We believe that he will come back.
Now, when Jesus comes back, how Jesus comes back,
What it means when Jesus comes back, if it's
for you. Maybe you're one of these preterists
down here who think that it already happened.
And the second coming, the parrhesia, is it some
future time? It's something that already happened.
When would the parrhesia have been? When actually
is the second coming of Christ? Post -resurrection.
Right? When was Jesus first coming? It's called
Advent. It's called Advent. When he was born.
Right? That's right. Emmanuel. God in the world.
God with us. Right? First coming. Jesus dies.
Right? And is resurrected and then comes back
to teach. Right? So there are Christians that
say the second coming of Jesus has already happened
and this tribulation stuff happened when the
Romans were around. And all of this stuff's already
happened. Here's the thing. You can be a Christian
and believe that, right? But if you believe that
Jesus went to heaven and Jesus is never coming
back or has never come back, well, then you believe
in something, but you don't believe in Christianity.
Paul here lays it out here pretty clear. Jesus
died, rose again. Why? So that we'll believe
that God will bring Jesus those who've fallen
asleep in him. Fallen asleep. Pay attention to
that word. Paul says, According to the Lord's
own world, we tell you that we who are still
alive, we who are left till the coming of the
Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep. There's that word again. For the
Lord himself will come down from heaven with
a loud command, and the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God and the dead
in Christ will rise first. After that, we who
are still alive and are left will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So, we will be with the Lord
forever. Therefore, this is the don't be so heavenly
minded, you're no earthly good. Encourage each
other with these words. We will get more into
that in a second. It's what I want to also do
for you. To encourage you with these words. As
Christians, we have hope. Even though the world
is ending, why would we have hope? The first
one, first point is you should have hope because
Christ is coming again. In fact, Jesus talks
about this in John chapter 14, beginning with
the third verse. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, Jesus says, I will come back. I'll return
and I'll take you to be with me so you also may
be where I am. Jesus said, I will return. I'm
coming back. This is his Arnold Schwarzenegger
moment, right? I'll be back, right? So in the
early church, they were pretty excited by his
words, right? They were really excited. They
were so excited they actually used this greeting
the way that we might today say, hey, what's
up? Or what's happening? What's going on, right?
When they would greet each other, they would
go, they'd greet each other, another Christian,
they'd grab him by the hand, and they would say
with faith in their eyes, Maranatha, Maranatha.
Now that means our Lord is coming. It also could
be, depending on how you, how they, I want to
say define it, translate it, could also be interpreted
as come Lord. Like if you were saying, Maranatha,
come, Lord. Like, please. When you're doing it
as a greeting, it's like our Lord is coming.
We both agree our Lord is coming. They believed
he was coming back while they were alive. We
should be anticipating it, and they did. In fact,
Scripture says those of you that long for the
Lord's returning, there's a crown for you in
heaven. And we're going to talk more about these
crowns in heaven next week. Those of you that
can't wait for him to come back, there is a reward
of a crown for those who are longing for the
Lord's returning. The problem is most of people
in the world might not get that crown because
people are too in love with the world, but they
don't long for the return of Christ. Maranatha,
our Lord is returning. In fact, this is what
Paul says in the Thessalonian text. He said,
we believe that Jesus died and rose again. And
so we believe that God will bring with Jesus,
right, this is his return, those who have fallen
asleep. I mentioned that earlier. Now, what does
that mean? Does that mean that there's a guy
on the third row of church, right, who's bored
and probably worked all night and starts snoring
in the middle of the sermon? No, that's not what
it means. That happens. That's not what it means.
More of a poetic way of saying they're dead,
right? That's what it means, those who have died.
And as Christians, right, we don't technically
die forever because we'll live with God. And
so it's a kind of a poetic way Paul was using
to say that they are asleep in Jesus. In fact,
I think the Greek word is used 14 times or so
in the Bible. In John chapter 11, it's used also
to Lazarus, who had fallen asleep or had died
before Jesus had come to raise him from the dead.
So there's a kind of an example of how that works.
Next verse, verse 16 in the text says, For the
Lord himself will come down from heaven with
a loud command, with the voice of an archangel,
with the trumpet call of God. So let's stop here
for a moment because honestly, right? If you're
a triumphalist, you're going to think this is
great. The Lord himself is coming down. Remember,
God spoke and created the world, right? Now,
there are times when God chooses to whisper.
This time when Jesus. What's going to happen?
There's going to be a loud command. The voice
of the archangel Michael is going to shout. The
trumpet of God will blare. Why? Because the greatest
victory in the history of the world demands the
greatest shout from God. Right? The trumpet of
God sounds. The archangel cries. The Lord shouts.
And what happens? The Bible says, and the dead
in Christ will rise first. The dead in Christ
will rise first. Who are the dead in Christ?
Remember, Paul's talking to the Thessalonian
believers in the first century. Hey, your loved
ones who were Christians. We all joined this
thing on the ground floor together, right? They've
died, but they're going first. This is where
some people get confused. So I want to slow down
and say also that it appears. Maybe this is the
thing you've been waiting to hear that you didn't
know yet. It appears to be very clear that there
are actually two resurrections. There's the first
resurrection and then there's the second resurrection.
The first resurrection are for those Christians
who will be raised from the dead. The second
resurrection are for those non -Christians. It's
known as the resurrection of the dead. And they
will be judged very differently. Now, we're going
to look more in depth at this judgment, this
different judgment next week. Right. When you
die. That's what the subject matter is going
to be next week. Right. The non -Christians will
be judged at what Scripture calls the great white
throne of judgment. It's my opinion that you'll
not be there if you're a Christian. Only non
-Christians will be there and they will be judged
for their works. Right. Which will be found wanting.
and their name not written in God's book, the
Lamb's book of life. Right? So then that they
are punished, perhaps eternally separated from
God. I say perhaps because I'm not quite sure,
for sure what I believe about the very, very
end part of it yet. But we're here, we're talking
about the first resurrection. The resurrection
of those who are Christians. Okay? In fact, Scripture
talks about it this way in Revelation. It says,
Blessed and holy are those... who have part in
the first resurrection. In Revelation, John says,
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the
first resurrection. If you're dead, that's the
one you want to be in. Blessed and holy are those
who have part in the first resurrection. And
then the Bible says what? The second death has
no power over them. The second death. If you're
a part of the first resurrection, the second
death has no power over you. What does that mean?
Well, someone said it like this, okay? You can
be born once and die twice, or you can be born
twice and only die once. Well, what does that
mean, right? It means you can be born one time,
and all of you have been born one time, right?
Every one of you. What happened? Your mom screamed.
She pushed you out. The doctor spanked you. You're
born once, right? Now, if you're only born one
time, you will die twice. You'll die a physical
death, and then you'll stand before God, and
you'll die an eventual eternal spiritual death.
So you'll die twice. The good news, though, is
that you're born twice, you only die once. Now,
you might say, well, how in the world could one
be born twice? Well, your mama screams, she puts
you out, the doctor spanks you, you're born once.
And then Jesus says to Nicodemus, In John chapter
3, explaining how you can be born that second
time, he said a person can be born again, right?
Through your mother's womb? No. Spiritually.
Spiritually. You had a physical birth. Now you
have a spiritual birth, right? When you call
on Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what happens
is your old life is gone forever, transformed,
completely new. So for those of you who are Christians,
a lot of people, like you know how a lot of people
go around and go, YOLO! You guys know YOLO? Do
you still do YOLO? You only live once, right?
That's what people do before they say something
really stupid. YOLO! Like what I just did there.
But if we're Christians, we could say YODO. You
only die once. So what do we have? We have the
return of Jesus. Christ is coming again. The
second thing in our notes, too, we have the rapture.
Okay, here we go. What is the rapture? The rapture
is when living Christians are taken away. That
is the definition of the rapture. It's when living
Christians are taken away. Let's see what the
text says. After that, the Bible says, we who
are still alive and are left will be what? We'll
be caught up together with them in the clouds.
to meet the Lord in the air. After the dead in
Christ rise first, if that happens in our lifetimes,
and you're a believer and you're a follower of
Jesus, we who are still alive will be caught
up. Now this word caught up, it comes from the
Greek word harpazo, harpazo. And harpazo means
to be seized, to be snatched, but it also means
to grab something as if to rescue it. Like your
kid falls into the water. Snatch him out of the
harpazo. In fact, there are four different beliefs
about the rapture. People debate this back and
forth. So there's what's known as pre -trib,
mid -trib, post -trib, and pan -trib. Pre -tribulation,
pre -trib. would be those Christians who believe
that we will be rescued before the tribulation,
the period of evil and darkness on the earth,
before things get bad, how you define that. Then
there's mid -trib that say that the tribulation
will begin, but at some point after the tribulation
has begun, Christians will be rescued in the
middle of the seventh year of the tribulation,
before the second half of the tribulation when
it gets really bad. Then there's post -trib who
believe that they'll be rescued after the tribulation,
that you'll have to survive through the tribulation
and then be rescued. And then there's pan -trib,
and honestly, pan -trib, they don't really know,
believe that it's all going to pan out in the
end. And I know that sounds funny, but it's serious.
There are people who believe, I don't know how
this thing works out, but I know that it works
out in the end. My personal belief is I'm pre
-trib. I'm pre -tribulation. Much because of
this verse that God, in his goodness, our Pazo,
he rescues us. He takes us away, snatches us
from danger because he's that good. So that makes
me. So pre -trib, let's talk about pre -tribulation.
Let's talk about premillennialism and all of
that very quickly. So let me go back over here
to my timeline here. We're going to pretty much
call these people who believe that it already
happened nuts. That didn't happen. So let's go
back here. So our next spot would be you here
in 2021. When does Jesus come back? Now, the
millennium is a thousand year reign in which
the devil is cast and locked into the pits of
hell and cannot do his work on earth. There's
a thousand year reign of God's justice on the
earth. But that only happens after the tribulation
period. Right? If you are a premillennialist,
pre -tribulationalist, what you believe is that
Jesus will come back, things will get bad, tribulation,
and then at some other point, Jesus will institute
a thousand year reign on the earth in which we
all will be participants. We have not as Christians.
The judgment has not taken place yet. That's
at the end of times. We'll be talking about that
next week. So when do all of these things happen?
When does Jesus come back and what does that
have to do with this thousand year reign? And
eventually, what does that have to do with when
Jesus comes back? When does the world end? OK,
so I am a. Pre -tribulation, which I believe
Jesus is going to snatch us out before things
get bad. But I also believe that those events
will take place before the thousand -year reign.
Some people will say that we're in the tribulation
now, but they are called post -millennialists.
When does Jesus come back? And what they think
is that the tribulation stuff you read about
in Revelation, It's happening right now. Now,
a lot of you premillennialists are going to be
saying, that's just like me, but you're going
to find that they think about the world differently.
They think, we pre -tribulationists think that
things are going to get so bad that in the end,
God has to put an end to the wickedness and the
sin. God has to interact in the world again.
I believe that, okay? So the coming of the golden
age and the end of time starts when things get
so bad God can't take it anymore. So God comes
back. Jesus, through God, comes back to perfect
the world. Postmillennialists will say we're
in the tribulation now, but Jesus won't come
back until we have perfected the world. Right?
So the church has got to grow. The church has
got to take over. If you want Jesus to come back,
you want social justice in the streets. You want
equality for everybody. You want, you know what
I'm saying? No oppression. You want to bring
in God's justice and God's righteousness on our
streets. And once we actually get it done, then
God will come back. My problem with that. eschatology
is it seems like it puts all the power in our
hands and if we could go ahead and perfect the
world why in the world haven't we already done
it yet right so if god's gonna come back it doesn't
seem like he's god's not waiting around for us
to finally get it right seems like through all
66 of the books of the bible god said you know
what you've never got it right i still love you
i'm still going to save you but you guys haven't
got it right once why in the world whatever why
would he say oh but i know in the very end you'll
turn it around and you'll get it right that just
doesn't make sense to me it doesn't it doesn't
follow from my personal theology god the nature
of god through uh the whole christian scripture
okay so uh you can have your beliefs on post
-millennialism post -tribulation pre -tribulation
right jesus describes it this way Pretty intense,
Matthew 24, verse 39. Pay careful attention to
this because this is how Jesus, not Jim, this
is how Jesus says it will happen. This is how
it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Okay,
ready for this? He says two men will be in the
field and one will be taken and the other left.
He goes on to say two will be grinding with a
hand mill, one will be taken and the other left.
Don't miss the application of this. So you also
must. What? Whoa, Jesus. I must what? Be ready
because the Son of Man will come in an hour.
But you do not expect him. If you're a believer
in Jesus Christ, again, like I was saying in
the pregame, right? This is really serious stuff.
He is returning, turning, turning. That trumpet
will sound. You must be ready because it could
happen at any time. I am not trying to scare
anybody to Jesus. Right? This is not about your
eternal soul right now. This is for you to think
for yourself. I'm not trying to scare anybody
in here tonight to say, you know what, I'm not
convinced yet that Jesus truly loves me, but,
Jim, you scared me so much tonight that I want
to convert just in case. Right? This is not,
I'm not an insurance agent for God. That's not
how any of this works. But to not treat it with
the seriousness that Scripture treats it, I think
is a disservice to all of us. Right? So be prepared.
Two people sitting at a computer, typing away,
right? One's gone, one's left. It could be literally
at a church right now. Two people are sitting
side by side, one's taken. And the other left.
Don't be pointing at your neighbor. You're going
to be the one. So be ready. Be prepared. Be doing
the work of the Lord. Don't be so heavenly minded
you're no earthly good. Be doing the work of
God. Be prepared. Do not be half -hearted, lukewarm
Christians. Be ready. Friends, Maranatha. Maranatha.
Our Lord is coming. Be ready. And for those of
you that are nudies, you need to be forewarned.
Okay, what's a nudie? Okay, this is the Bible
for grown -ups, right? There are two types of
people and only two types of people in this world.
There are clothies and there are nudies. You
know what I'm talking about. You go to bed at
night, right? You're either one of two people.
There's clothies and there's nudies. If you are
a nudie, what you just need to know is you better
keep some clothes by. No judgment, no judgment.
And you might be saying, what are you talking
about? Okay, nudies. This isn't me. These are
the words of Jesus, your Lord and Savior, right?
This is what Jesus said in Revelation 16 and
15. Jesus said, and it's read in your Bible if
you want to take a look at it, right? Behold,
I come like a thief. Blessed is he who stays
awake and does what? Read it aloud, somebody.
Keeps his clothes with him. So that you may not
go naked and be shamefully exposed. Okay, nudies?
Now, I am certain, right? Completely no chance
whatsoever that he was not speaking, he was speaking
more metaphorically. That there is a spiritual
application to that story. But just in case,
you better keep your bras and boxers close by.
And your teeth. That's right. I might be joking,
but be ready. Be ready. Be ready. Yes. Yes. I
think, and I, and here's the thing. I think that
it does. Whenever Jesus tells us, be ready, be
awake. Okay. Is he saying, be aware that as things
go on, the world's going to get more and more
evil. And what happens with evil? Evil learns.
Evil is like a virus. Evil mutates, right? And
if you're not aware what used to be evil, things
that you were aware of, if you stop taking, if
you take your eye off the ball, that evil starts
to mutate and maybe turn into something that
sounds like a good idea. Right? And that, I think,
is what Jesus is talking about. I'm not saying
that Jesus is saying we should sit up all night
looking out our window going, if I should die
before I wake, pray for someone to hold me awake.
I'm not saying that be vigilant, like just be
looking up at the sky for Jesus to come down.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
I think what Jesus is saying, two things. One,
don't worry about when I come back. Worry about
your life right now. Be a Christian right now.
And be aware because as time goes on, this world
will become more and more wicked. Does that answer?
Return of Jesus, the rapture. The third thing,
you know, I think this is the exciting part of
eschatology, the reunion. What's going to happen
at the reunion? The Bible teaches us a principle
that Christians will be with God for how long?
Forever. The reunion. Let's see what the text
says. Scripture says 1 Thessalonians, our target
text, 4, 17, and 18. Reading this again. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up together with them in the clouds.
And what are we going to do there? The Bible
says we are going to meet the Lord in the air.
Can you imagine? I mean, seriously, that face
-to -face meeting with the Lord who gave his
life for the sins of the world, right? And so
we will be what? With the Lord forever. I want
to come back to this. So I want to let this sink
in. When this happens, you'll be with the Lord.
How long? Forever. Now we're going to talk more
about this time period. Or lack of time period.
Whichever perspective you're thinking of. Right?
We're going to talk about this more next week.
But I want you to think about what this means.
You'll be with the Lord forever. No more pain.
Sin. No more heartache. No more brokenness or
disease, sickness, poverty, starving children.
No more divorce. No more loneliness. No more
cancer. No more DHS. That's right. We will be
talking about being with the Lord forever. Maranatha.
Friends, comfort each other with these words.
So what should we do if we are living in the
end times? I'll tell you what we should do. As
Christians, I think the most responsible and
Christian thing that we can do is dig bunkers,
stockpile food, and hoard weapons. Why? So that
things do, in fact, get bad like we're talking
about. Someone comes to our house, we can then
shoot them in the eyes in the name of Jesus and
for the glory of God. No. That's not what we
do. We should be encouraging each other with
these words. He's coming back. Jesus is coming
back. He's coming to take us away. We should
live our lives with urgency given this good news.
So what's the application? What do we do with
this? Okay, if you're a Christian, if you're
a Christian, what do we do? Because we still
got to pay the bills. We still have our kids
get sick. We still have activities. What do we
do with all of this? Well, let me close out with
a big chunk of scripture from 1 Corinthians.
Again, Paul writing to one of these First generation
churches. 1 Corinthians 15, this is what Paul
said. Different context, same story. He says,
listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all
sleep, but we all, but we'll all be changed.
How fast will this transformation take place?
Paul says, in a flash, in the twinkling of an
eye, the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound
and the dead will be raised imperishable and
will be changed. He goes on to say, for the perishable
must clothe itself with the imperishable and
the mortal with immortality. In other words,
when Jesus returns, our physical bodies are going
to be transformed into eternal bodies. You may
believe that statement to be true and I believe
that statement to be true and how that plays
out might be a difference of interpretation.
But we both agree that when Jesus comes back,
we don't, I mean, we shed the mortal coil, right?
The clay pot goes away. That's what we know to
be true. He goes on to say, the saying that is
written will come true. Death has been swallowed
up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is thy sting? Then here's where
it turns. Paul turns this thought to actually
now do something about it. But thanks be to God.
He's saying you too should be having thanks to
God. Why? Because he says about himself and he
says about you, he has given us victory. Not
through our own religious efforts, not through
our own good works, not for us trying to be good
and stop doing the bad, but he gives victory
through whom? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's all about Him. It's all for His glories.
Again, the application here. What do we do with
this? Paul says to us, Therefore, my dear brothers
and sisters, what do you do? Stand firm. Let
nothing move you. Always give yourself fully
to the work of the Lord. And what is the work
of the Lord? To serve Him. To praise Him. To
worship Him. To give in His name. To share His
love and compassion and grace with others. To
live with intensity. If Jesus is coming back
next Tuesday, how would your life be different
today? Then that's how you should live. Not for
the lower things of the world, but for the things
that matter most. Maranatha, what would you do?
If you knew when he was coming back, you'd worship
him. You would live righteously. You'd share
your faith. You'd be serious about your commitment
to Christ. But because we don't know for sure
and we have to put faith in faith, what we end
up with often is a bunch of lukewarm, apathetic,
worldly, church -going people because we've forgotten
the good news, friends. Maranatha. Our Lord is
coming. Therefore, we should work for the Lord
because you know that your labor for the Lord
is not in vain. You can live a life that won't
count in eternity or you can live a life today
and bring great glory to him. Friends, be encouraged.
Maranatha, our Lord is coming. Any questions?
You know, it's interesting as I listen back to
the lesson this week, and I think back to the
way that I began the podcast by asking you about
that childhood prayer, and it is kind of interesting
if you modify that just a bit and wonder, if
I was lucky enough to wake up tomorrow morning,
but I knew that that would be my last day, how
would my day be different? If I knew that this
was my last day, that I was going to be with
God in heaven forever, what would that last day
be like? How much worship and thanksgiving would
there be? And what does that say perhaps about
how much I value Being with God forever. Would
I be distracted with last meals and goodbyes?
Or would my entire time be filled with worship
and thanksgiving? How about you? Something to
think about. Join us next week as we continue
our discussion on the end times by looking at
what happens. after the rapture. Thanks for tuning
in, buddies. Have a blessed week.