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How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless, Part 1
October 13, 2026 · 25 min
In this message, Chip gives us a snapshot of what the future holds - and the picture is sobering. But what’s coming and how we can prepare for it, is of great encouragement!
Series Building Authentic Community
Chip Ingram is an American Christian pastor, author, and teacher. He is the founder, teaching pastor and CEO of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry.
October 13, 2026 · 25 min · Building Authentic Community
In this message, Chip gives us a snapshot of what the future holds - and the picture is sobering. But what’s coming and how we can prepare for it, is of great encouragement! ...more Show the full description Show less In this message, Chip gives us a snapshot of what the future holds - and the picture is sobering. But what’s coming and how we can prepare for it, is of great encouragement!
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In this video 0:00 The Importance of Prophecy and Common Responses10:50 Hope for the Fearful: What Happens When Believers Die15:30 The Rapture of the Church24:30 Five Aspects of the Rapture and the Prophetic Timeline24:45 Four Attitudes Toward Prophecy and the Hope of Heaven
The Importance of Prophecy and Common Responses 0:11 Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.0:14 You know all the talk these days about end times is a very hot topic. Books, movies, Internet sites, they all spout this information about predictions and the end of the world. Well, what's the truth?0:26 How do we know what's really gonna happen? Is there a clear word about prophecy in the scripture? Well, you bet there is, and stick around. We're gonna look at it together.0:36 Welcome to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Whatever your view on prophecy, chances are you know somebody who's genuinely anxious about it, or somebody who's grieving a loss and wondering what0:48 comes next. Well, today Chip turns to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 to answer questions believers have been asking for 2000 years. It's part of our series, Building Authentic0:59 Community, How to Lift Up Those You Love. And remember, you can always revisit or share these messages by going online to living on the edge dot org. Well, now here's Chip with today's1:11 message, how to give hope to the fearful and help to the fearless.1:16 From the beginning of mankind right to today, we have been fascinated and desperate to know about the future. And you say, woah, wait a 2nd. Where do you get that? There's people that would never think of making a major1:28 decision or never think of going throughout their day until they read their horoscope in the morning. There's other people who regularly will see a palm reader and try and discern, you know, what's the1:40 future, and what's God have for me, or what's gonna happen. You know, we live in a world that is really enamored, and we long to know what's the future gonna hold. And the teaching
1:52 of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, Old Testament, it is filled. The core teaching, it's filled with prophecy. When the Bible was written, 0.25 of
2:03 all Old and New Testament passages speak to the issue of prophecy. 1 out of every 5 verses of the apostle Paul relate to prophecy. In this book in
2:15 1st Thessalonians, which is 1 of the earliest books, so it's a foundational doctrine, How does Paul end chapter 1, the Lord's return? How does he end chapter 2, the Lord's return? How does he end chapter 3, the Lord's
2:26 return? Now in chapter 4, he's going to broaden it and really give some teaching about the return of the Lord with regard to believers, and the return of Christ with regard to how we relate to the
2:38 world around us. And so when you bring up the return of Christ and the end of the world, you often have a number of what I think are predictable responses. If you want to pull out your, teaching notes,
2:50 let me highlight 2 or 3 just by way of remembrance. When you bring up the end times, I find there's 1 group that has what I call an unhealthy preoccupation
3:02 with it. They're the fanatics, the date setters, the predictors. These are the group of people that are so heavenly minded, they're really not much earthly good. The 2nd group you have is what I call the fearless
3:14 skeptics. These are people that say, hey, the world's never gonna change. It's been bad, it's been good. Christ isn't gonna return. It's a myth. Someone made it up. This whole idea about Jesus returning, about
3:26 another world, about an afterlife, is just a crutch that weak people need because the world is hard, and they just don't buy. 3rd group is what I call the fearfully confused.
3:38 They've heard words like rapture, tribulation, 2nd coming, great white throne, and they just have all these things blowing around in their mind, and they really don't have a clue of how it all works. And so
3:50 it produces confusion and really sometimes some fear. And isn't it interesting that really times haven't changed much? The apostle Paul, in 1 of his earliest books, is going to write to a group
4:02 of people, and he addresses all 3 of those groups. Remember the group that had an unhealthy preoccupation with the Lord's return? In fact, they got so focused on the Lord's return, they quit their job, started, you know,
4:14 bumming around, mooching and loafing off the church, and that's all they could think or talk about, and they were busybodies. The apostle Paul said, hey, wait a 2nd. A proper understanding of the return of Christ means
4:25 you get a job, you mind your own business, you support yourself, and you have a sterling testimony in your work for the sake of Christ. Now what he's going to do
4:37 is address the other 2 groups. If you want just a little preview, in chapter 4 verses 13 to 18, he's going to give hope to those that are fearful and confused, and he's going to speak to the church.
4:50 He's going to say, you've gotten some bad information about the return of Christ. Let me clear up for you some important data with regard to the Lord's return, and he will introduce
5:02 the clearest teaching in all of the New Testament on what's called the rapture, and we'll look at it. Then he's going to shift, and he makes a real break. Chapter 5 verse 1, he's
5:14 going to say, but there's some other information that I've already taught you about about the Lord's return. You know it from the old testament. You know it from the teachings of Jesus. You know it when I was with you.
5:26 Remember? He's writing this document about 18 to 24 months later after he visited with him, and he's going to talk about the day of the Lord and prophecy in general. And he's going to give us as believers
5:38 a manual, if you will, about how to respond to people, that we're going to need to warn them and to win them in a very winsome way. Let's look at how he gives hope to the fearful.
5:50 1st Thessalonians 4 13 through 17, you may want to open up your bibles and follow along. And really as you analyze and study this passage, there's 3 major questions that come up, and he's going to ask and answer them
6:02 in this passage. The 1st question they have is, what happens to a believer when he or she dies? The answer is going to be out of verses 13 and 14, that the
6:14 certainty of a believer's resurrection is based on the fact of Christ's resurrection. See, they they got some bad information and they're and they're getting a little fearful, and they're saying, now now what happens
6:25 when someone actually dies? Beginning at verse 13, please take a pen if you have it and jot down if you will the word but before the word brothers. The NIV doesn't have it, but it's important
6:37 because he's giving a contrast. He says, but brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who've fallen asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.
6:50 And then add the little phrase for if, because it's a it's a conditional, it's called a 1st class condition assumed to be true. For if we believe that Jesus died and
7:02 rose again, then is the idea, we believe that God will bring with Jesus or through Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. And so he's answered the 1st
7:13 question, and basically it's just to arrest their fears. He said, you can know with 100 percent bank on it accuracy, that we know Jesus rose from the dead. We have eyewitnesses, over 500 of
7:25 them. The fact that he rose from the dead, you can know that when a believer dies, that believer, man or woman, will be raised also. 2nd question that pops up. Okay, Paul. We got it for
7:37 us. But what about our loved ones? What about the mom, the dad, the child that died before us? His answer is going to be that the Christian
7:49 dead will rise 1st and share in the kingdom. Look at verse 15. For according to the Lord's own word, we tell you that
8:01 we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord when he comes, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. And so his teaching is going to be, hey,
8:13 you have a mom, dad, brother, sister, friend who's died already? You don't have to be uptight and think that they're not going to get in on the resurrection. Well then the 3rd question pops up. Notice now in
8:25 verses 16 and 17, the answer's going to be the rapture of the church. He's going to teach more clearly here than anywhere in the New Testament about the rapture of the church. In in about 5 minutes,
8:36 you'll understand if you're thinking the rapture of the church. What's that mean? You'll find out. Verse 16. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven. It's the return
8:48 of Christ. Notice he doesn't send a messenger boy. The Lord himself will come down from heaven. Now notice how he does it. There's 3 characteristics of his return. 1st, with
9:00 a loud command. 2nd, with the voice of the archangel. And 3rd, with the trumpet call of God. And then what will happen? And the dead in Christ will rise
9:12 1st. Who's going to be resurrected? Anyone who's ever believed in God? Does it say that? No. Who's going to be resurrected? The dead in Christ. Those people who've trusted in Christ. From the birth of the church, Acts
9:24 chapter 2, to the present when he's speaking, he says, something's going to happen. The Lord's going to come back. Okay. You got that? Got that. How's it going to happen? It's going to start out with a shout or a loud
9:34 command. The word in classical Greek gave reference to an authority or a general giving a command to superiors that must be carried out. God is commanding, okay,
9:46 now it's time. This command is going to be announced. Literally, it's an archangel. We know that Michael is an archangel. We know there's other archangels. So we don't know exactly which
9:58 archangel it is, but it's going to be announced by an archangel. Then after the announcement, there's going to be a boo. Kind of that shofar horn. And it's not going to
10:10 sound anything like that. But there's going to be the blowing of a trumpet, and when there's this blowing of the trumpet, then the action is going to take place, and those who died in Christ are going
10:21 to be resurrected.
10:25 You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue today's message in just a moment. Quick reminder, do you have the Chip Ingram app on your phone yet? It puts Chip's daily teaching along
10:36 with years of past series, daily guided bible studies, and tons of other faith building tools right in your pocket. It's completely free, and it only takes a minute to download. Wherever you get your
10:48 apps, check it out today. Now back to our message.
Hope for the Fearful: What Happens When Believers Die
10:52 Now jot down 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51 through 54 because we're gonna pick up right there the commentary
11:04 on this event. Listen carefully. The apostle Paul writes about this event. Listen, I tell you a mystery. And by the way, anytime the apostle Paul uses the word mystery, it's not a
11:15 secret, but he uses the word mystery to say, I'm giving you information that hasn't been revealed before. God's revealed it. It's a mystery. In other words, other people in times past don't
11:27 know about this. This is a new teaching from god. What's he say? Listen, I tell you a mystery. And here's the mystery. Not the resurrection. We all knew about that. Here's the mystery. We
11:39 will not all sleep or die, but we will all be changed. Oh. But Paul, could you run that by us again? Yeah. Yeah.
11:51 We will not all sleep. Everyone in the world won't necessarily die. It's the same word for sleep, a Christian who's died. But we will all be changed or transformed. Now
12:03 listen, and he gives it to us. How? In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Now listen to this. For the
12:15 trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed or transformed. The moment a believer
12:27 dies, their spirit or the immaterial part, spirit and soul, is immediately with God. That comes with Christ. Those believers in Christ are resurrected, and then
12:39 after that, it means immediately following. It's kind of like a race, and those of us who may happen to be alive at the rapture will lose by hair. It'll go zoop zoop. Okay? Those
12:51 people who've died, zoop. Those who haven't, zoop. We're right behind them. After that, we who are still alive and who are left will be caught up together with them. Who's
13:02 them? Those resurrected saints. In the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Where are we going to go and what are we going to do? Well, next line. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Now,
13:14 the little word caught up circle in your notes, will you? It literally means to seize, to carry off, or to snatch away suddenly. It's reference to the transport of
13:26 a person from 1 place to another. It's used 12 times in the new testament. Let me give you 2 other examples so you get the idea that this rapture Now you're thinking to yourself, you know what? It says
13:38 caught up. Where where do people get this rapture stuff? It means caught up, seized, or snatched. When it was translated in Latin, the Latin word for this word here is
13:49 rapturo. And so as you know, Latin was a very common language, and so the word rapturo came into being and people called it the rapture. But see, what the Bible clearly
14:01 teaches is that those of us who may be alive at the time of the rapture will not precede those who've died in Christ, but they will be resurrected and then after
14:13 that, we will be right behind them. And then we'll have a reunion, and notice the reunion is we'll see and recognize 1 another, and we'll be with the Lord, and then we'll all head out to heaven.
14:25 Charles Ryrie gives a very brief, succinct overview of the rapture that I found very helpful. And under 5 aspects of the rapture, let me just highlight what he's put there and
14:37 also a chart, because some of you are just about at the point where, you know, I think I got an idea what this passage is talking about, but what about the tribulation and what about the 2nd coming and how does all this
14:48 fit together? So let me do a brief review that I think will put the pieces of the puzzle in place. 1st, the 5 aspects of the rapture. 1, you have the return of Jesus for his church. That was
15:00 in verse 16, the 1st portion. The key word to write under that is the word imminent. Eminent. The word imminent literally means something hanging over your head that could
15:12 fall at any time. The rapture requires no other prophetic event to occur on the calendar of God's timetable. It could happen today at 12 o
15:23 5. It could happen tomorrow at 11 57. It could happen next week, next month. Nothing has to happen in Israel. Nothing has to happen anywhere. The rapture can occur anytime.
The Rapture of the Church
15:35 And and when you understand that, it will change how you live, how you believe, and how you behave. 1st John tells us that, a proper study of prophecy causes
15:47 us to fix our eyes on the person of Christ, and as we do, it is the hope of his return and the lack of awareness of when it exactly will be that purifies
15:59 us. Because we live thinking moment by moment, maybe today. Ryrie goes on to say that not only then is the return of Christ that is imminent, there's
16:11 the resurrection of the dead. This is the 1st resurrection. It's of the church, and we'll talk later, and I'll give you some information about how you can discover, the resurrection of, Jewish believers and
16:22 Gentile believers. 3rd, there's the actual rapture of the church, where we meet Jesus in the air and meet our loved ones who've died. Then there's the reunion of believers with Christ and with each
16:34 other. What what a great thought. People that you love, the people that are in Christ. You know, death isn't forever for believers. That's why he said, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. I don't want you to
16:45 grieve like those who don't have hope. You grieve, but not like those who don't have hope. In fact, notice he says there's reassurance, the reassurance of hope in the face of death.
16:57 Can you say that? Can you say that for you, and can you say that for the people you care most about? Finally, at the bottom, you see a brief picture that I'm just going to allude to because
17:09 many of you are going to get excited, and I'm glad. And you're going to think, you know what? I've got to start reading about prophecy, and I want to learn about this. And what you're going to do is you're going to go
17:18 home and you're thinking prophecy. Let's see. Revelation. I'm going to read Revelation. And you're going to get to about chapter 8, and then you're going to say, man, this is nuts. I don't understand any of this. So let
17:27 me give you the cliff notes. Let me just give you the cliff notes of the book of Revelation and prophecy. And there's much much more. But here's the cliff notes. You have Christ's death and resurrection, that was
17:37 prophesied. And then we have the church time where we are here, and then what we've just talked about. Jesus will come, there'll be the rapture. Notice he doesn't come to the Earth. We meet him in the clouds.
17:49 And then immediately after the rapture, a series of events will happen very quickly. There will be a peace accord signed in the Middle East that will blow people's mind. The emergence of the
18:00 Antichrist will come, and there'll be such chaos, he'll promise hope and peace, and people will say, hey, you know, let's give this guy the ball. He'll he'll have supernatural powers, and for the 3 1st 3.5 years of the
18:11 tribulation, it'll be like, hey, this is great. The church will have been raptured out, and that won't be done in a secret or in a corner. People will make up all kind of bizarre stories to talk about what happened to
18:21 those people and why. Many people will be like people, maybe even some of you in this room, who understand the story, who said I'll wait till later, and the rapture will occur, and they will
18:33 go through the tribulation, and they will trust in Christ during that time. God says he will send 144000 evangelists, Jewish evangelists, because he's gonna go after his people and love them and draw them back. And then
18:44 the 2nd 0.5 of this 3.5 years will be chaos, judgment, wrath, like you cannot imagine. So in the little section where there's the tribulation between the rapture and Christ's return, write Revelation, r
18:55 e v, period, 6 through 18. And as you read through that, you'll know, oh, that's what's occurring here. Then Christ's return, that's chapter 19. That's the battle Literally, it's a war of Armageddon.
19:08 And then chapter 20 will talk about the literal thousand year reign, where Christ is coming back, and he will fulfill every promise that he made to the nation of Israel. At the end of that
19:20 time, there will be 1 last sort of hoopla and you can read about that and there'll be final judgment and then there'll be a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 20 tells you about that thousand year reign and then
19:31 eternity, the new heaven, new earth is described in chapter 21 and 22. So you've got the cliff notes, and so as you read through, that'll give you some understanding. Now you'll still find
19:43 significant confusion, but this little book, 1, I like it because it's thin. There's a high correlation between thin books and how and what gets read. 2nd, it's very
19:55 brief and clear. It's called Come Quickly, Lord Jesus, What You Should Know About the Rapture by doctor Charles Ryrie. Now those of you that have been around the block, questions have popped up in your mind. Don't some
20:06 people believe differently about the rapture in mid mid and post absolutely. All those are covered here. I can't cover all that. They're covered clearly, fairly. Well, what about the millennial kingdom, and how's that
20:17 populated? Covered here. What about that passage in Revelation 3? Covered here. So that's the cliff notes.
20:25 You're listening to Living on the Edge with a message titled, how to give hope to the fearful and help to the fearless, part of our series, building authentic community. If you've lost someone
20:37 you love who trusted in Christ, or if you simply needed reassurance about what's ahead, I hope today gave you some real hope. You can revisit this teaching or catch up on the rest of the series
20:49 anytime at living on the edge dot org. The hope Chip described today, the confidence that death doesn't have the final word for those who trust in Christ, is really just 1 more
21:01 expression of god's own love for us. A love Chip unpacks fully in his book, I Choose Love. Chip shows that this agape love isn't a feeling you wait around for. It's a decision to
21:13 give, serve, and put somebody else's best interest ahead of your own. Get your copy of I Choose Love at a special price today at living on the edge dot org slash offers.
21:25 You know, none of this reaches anyone without listeners who believe it's worth funding. As 1 listener, David, wrote to us recently, Chip has been there to encourage me for so many years. When fear is stalking
21:37 at our door during these scary times, I turn to Biblical teaching that I know is sound. Praying for Chip and the ministry. Please keep teaching and speaking truth. Well, if today's teaching gave
21:49 you that same kind of hope, we invite you to become a monthly partner and help this ministry keep going strong. Just go online to living on the edge dot org or sign up over the phone by dialing
22:01 triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3. You can also send a donation by mail to Living on the Edge, PO box 3007, Suwanee, Georgia 3 0 0
22:13 2 4. Well, now here's Chip Ingram.
22:15 When you think about prophecy, what comes to your mind? I think there's about 4 major responses in our day, and I'd like to walk through them very briefly. And I'd like to ask you as I'm speaking,
22:28 kind of put a check mark next to the 1 that most honestly reflects your attitude. The 1st attitude is an unhealthy preoccupation. There are some people that it is all they think about and this is
22:40 obviously an unbiblical attitude. The 2nd 1 is the other extreme, what I would call fearless skepticism. This is like, you know what, people been talking about the end of the world forever and Jesus and coming back. I
22:51 don't buy any of that stuff. I just don't buy in at all. That really neglects about 0.2 of the biblical teaching which revolves around the prophetic word. The 3rd attitude
23:03 is what I call fearful confusion. People hear about Armageddon, they hear about the rapture, they hear about, oh, this and that and they go, oh, gosh, I don't know what's gonna happen and I'm afraid and and I read the
23:12 Bible and I'm all confused and this teacher says that and this teacher says that and that teacher says this and this book says this 1 thing and you get the idea. And instead of it being something very positive and
23:21 hopeful, it becomes a source of alarm. The 4th attitude I think is biblical. In fact, it's what the Bible says we should have. Prophecy is the blessed hope. It's the
23:33 reality of heaven. There are certainly some different views and we're gonna walk through the specifics of some of those things in our next broadcast. But the reality is Jesus is coming back. The reality is there is a
23:44 heaven. The reality is there's a day when there's gonna be peace. I want to ask you a very specific question. What is your view of the afterlife and what measure does that play in
23:56 your everyday thinking? When is the last time you seriously thought about heaven? See the early biblical writers thought a lot about heaven because if you don't you start living for now. I
24:07 remember just recently, doing a burial of a man who had a a year with multiple sclerosis and then died. And he read a book in about the last 6 months of his life on heaven. And he read and
24:19 read and read. In fact, his daughter came once a week and she would read to him. And it was an amazing thing to see how his perspective changed. He was a believer. He loved God. But he told me, you know, Chip, I've never
Five Aspects of the Rapture and the Prophetic Timeline
24:31 done much thinking about Heaven. And he said, you know something? It's the anchor of my soul. There is more to life than right now. So let me encourage you. Join us on our next broadcast when we
24:43 examine what the Bible says about the return of Christ.
Four Attitudes Toward Prophecy and the Hope of Heaven
24:47 I'm Dave Drewey. We'll see you next time right here on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.
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