Skip to content Unstoppable: How Do We Stay Encouraged During Discouraging Times? Mar 5 · 47 min ...more
Unstoppable: How Do We Stay Encouraged During Discouraging Times?
March 5, 2024 · 47 min
Pastor John Mark Caton guides listeners to trust in God's power and the promise of eternal life, urging them to encourage one another in faith until the return of Jesus.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton March 5, 2024 · 47 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark Caton guides listeners to trust in God's power and the promise of eternal life, urging them to encourage one another in faith until the return of Jesus. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark Caton guides listeners to trust in God's power and the promise of eternal life, urging them to encourage one another in faith until the return of Jesus.
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101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
0:00 Amen. How many of you are glad you're in God's house today? Man, I love that song. People get ready. It flows right into what we're gonna be talking about today, which is the idea and the topic of0:11 how to stay encouraged during discour discouraging times. And we have over the last couple of months, if you have been here, we've been studying through the book of first0:23 Thessalonians. And this this church that literally was unstoppable, and we wanna be that kind of church, and we wanna be those kind of Christians that were unstoppable regardless of what comes our way.0:34 And Paul and Silas, on his second missionary journey, went into Thessalonica, planted this church, and then were driven out of town pretty quickly afterwards, and the church was experiencing incredible0:46 persecution. But in the midst of that, they had held firm and they had held strong in their faith and it was kind of a crazy collection of different people from different backgrounds. There0:58 were Jews, were Hellenistic Jews, or Greeks, or Gentiles. There were people from a pagan background. There were people from a Hebrew background. But somehow in God's way, in God's spirit, he took that crazy collection of1:09 people, molded them together into what is referred to as an unstoppable church, and that church was absolutely killing it. Now, we've always in every week, we've gone back to the first couple of verses1:21 to look at the first 3 things that Paul said. And as being as we wanna be an unstoppable church and unstoppable Christian, we always wanna remember these 3 things. Look at first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse1:33 1. It says, Paul, Silas, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, grace and peace to you. He says, we always1:45 thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. And then he gives them 3 thoughts. He says, we always remember before our God and Father, your1:56 work produced by faith, your labor that was always prompted by your love, and the endurance you have that was inspired by the hope you have in our Lord Jesus Christ.2:08 And so as a church, we wanna have those same 3 characteristics. Man, we wanna be a church that is unstoppable. That God looks at us, and Jesus looks at us, and others praise us,2:20 not to pat us on the back, but that we are constantly working, but our work is not salvation. Our work is because of our salvation, not for it. That we have a work2:33 that is prompted by our faith, that we also have a labor that is prompted by our love. Man, when we love God, we can't help but love others. And he says, we're gonna labor together. And then2:45 he says, when you go through hard seasons and hard times, you're gonna have an endurance that is inspired by the hope that you have. Now, we over the last couple of weeks have been looking at2:57 this Thessalonian church, which was an unstoppable church. But when we come to first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13 to 18, the apostle Paul is dealing with some of those things that discourage them. How3:09 many of you get discouraged from time to time? And so did they. And the reality of it is, this was an incredible church filled with incredible believers, a crazy collection of believers that were doing amazing work3:20 in Thessalonica, and Paul said, in Macedonia and Achaia and everybody around, but they still found themselves in moments and seasons of discouragement. And so Paul says, I wanna3:32 write to encourage you. Drop down to first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 18. We're actually gonna be looking at 13 to 18, but I just wanna show you what Paul says. He acknowledges3:44 that they were discouraged and he says some things in verse 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 that are gonna encourage them and then notice what he says to do in verse 18. He says, therefore,3:56 after hearing this, encourage 1 another with these words. So Paul says, listen, after you are encouraged, take what4:08 I said in verse 13 to 17 in first Thessalonians chapter 4 and encourage others with them. You say, okay pastor, if he's encouraging them, what were they discouraged about? A couple of things. Number 1,4:20 they were going through severe persecution. They were being attacked everywhere. There were many being martyred. Remember Paul and Silas were driven out of town. 1 of the reasons that Paul sent Timothy4:32 back to check on this church because he knew in their culture and their society in Thessalonica, it was not an easy thing to be a Christian. So they were discouraged because of the4:43 severe tribulation and trials and persecution they were going through. But they were also discouraged because some of their loved ones were dying. And they wanted to know4:55 what about them. See, Paul in chapter 1, chapter 2 and chapter 3 had always talked to them in Thessalonians. He says, listen, there's gonna come a day when we're gonna meet Jesus. There's gonna come a day when Jesus5:07 will come back. There's gonna come a day when we spend eternity with Jesus, and they begin to ask themselves the question, well, that's great for us who are still alive and remain, but what about those we5:18 love who have fallen asleep? And so Paul says, listen, I want you to know, and we're gonna see this in the Lord, the people who have fallen asleep in the Lord, those who are our loved ones, who we miss so5:30 dearly, and you have them just like I do, you know, my father, my brother, you know those stories. My wife, I have a father-in-law and a mother-in-law that are in heaven. Man, are they missing out? That's what the5:41 Thessalonians wanted to know. Are they missing out on all the good things that God has for them? And ultimately, they were wondering, are those who have fallen asleep going to miss out on Jesus'5:53 return? And Paul says, no, no, no. Now, when we talk about the return of Jesus, let me just kinda go back and set some groundwork for you. Go back to Acts chapter6:04 1. We're gonna start reading in verse 9. And so if you take in the context of biblical history, Jesus says died, been buried, rose again the third day. He taught, 5006:16 witnesses saw him, but there came a time that he was gonna go up into heaven so God could send the Holy Spirit down and the church could get started. So in Acts chapter 1, we're gonna read verse 9, the6:28 very prior verse or the verse prior to that, verse 8, is when Jesus gives us that incredible command. He says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon6:39 you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. Okay? That's what happens in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Now,6:51 look what happens immediately following that verse, Acts chapter 1 verse 9. And after Jesus had said this, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud7:03 hit him from their sight. And they were standing there looking or gazing intently into the sky as he was going up, and when suddenly 2 men dressed in white stood beside7:15 them and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? In other words, why do you stand here and just look it up? Anybody ever heard the phrase that you're so heavenly minded you're no earthly7:26 good? Yeah. That's where it comes from. They come down and say, guys, it's really good to watch Jesus as he goes away, but it's now time to take your eyes off heaven and look at the world. Why? Because what did7:38 the first, the previous verse say? You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth. We can't be witnesses if we're looking up. We've to look out. All right? And so notice,7:50 it says these men of Galilee came by and they said to them, why do you stand here looking in the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you8:01 into heaven will come back. Everybody say, will come back. Will back. That same Jesus that was taken into heaven will come back. No might, no if, no8:13 ands. It's right there in the same way you have seen him go up into heaven. Alright. So, there is something we talk about in religious circles called end times or prophecy8:25 towards the end times. Some of you know this, some of this might be new for you, but let me just give you kind of a history of what scripture says. We'll put it on the screen for you and let me just paint it out for you.8:36 Alright. Notice, if you go back to the resurrection, obviously we could go all the way back to the origin and see how God worked it through the Old Testament sacrifices all pointed to Jesus, but because of time I won't8:46 do that. But now go back just as we look in Old Testament and New Testament alike and you'll notice that Jesus is ultimately, he died, he's buried, he rose again the third day, then ultimately8:58 Acts chapter 1 verse 9 says he ascended into heaven. Then we're in what many people refer to as the church age. That was Acts chapter 1, Jesus went9:10 up. What happened in Acts chapter 2? Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell, the church exploded, thousands were saved. Then you see Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 4,9:21 ultimately, they would say we are kinda still in the book of Acts, alright? Still in the church age. Where are you at today? You're in the church, right? So you can just Others give it different names, but let's just say9:33 it's the church age. Acts chapter 1, Jesus goes up. Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes down. The church explodes. It goes from 1 town to the next town to the next town to the next town. The next thing in the prophecy9:44 timeline is going to be something that bible writers, Old Testament and New Testament, refer to as the great tribulation. Man, remember9:56 the Thessalonians were going through trials. They were going through difficulties. You and I are going through trials and we're gonna go through difficulties but what is referred to in this great 7 year10:07 tribulation is something beyond what our minds can even imagine. Alright? People breaking away from God, persecuting Christians, persecuting everyone. Alright? In that 7 year time10:19 frame that is gonna be a great tribulation, then at the end of that 7 year time frame is what is referred to as second coming. There's no doubt the second coming of Jesus, and this is where sometimes10:31 terminology confuses people, at the beginning of the millennial reign, there will be what is referred to as a second coming of Jesus, where Jesus will bring all the saints back10:42 down and we will dwell on earth a new heaven, Revelation 21, and a new earth. Okay? Go read Revelation 21 if you wanna hear it. There'll be no more, it says in Revelation, no more10:54 crying, no pain, no death, no dying. All It'll all be brand new. So at the second coming, Jesus will bring all of the disciples and all of the Christians down, and we will live in our glorified11:06 bodies. You say, what is that? Hang on. I'll talk to you about it in a bit. For 1000 years. Okay, that is kind of the biblical timeline that is not debated. Okay? Everybody sees that.11:17 1 thing that is debated is something called the rapture. How many of you heard the rapture? Alright. This is something that is consistently debated. When is it gonna happen? What is it? Who does11:29 it include? Is it a full rapture, a partial rapture? Is it before or after? When is it? And and a lot of people have questions about the rapture. And so here's what I want you to know. As11:41 you think about the rapture, there are actually even some people that deny the rapture, if you didn't know. They they will just deny it and they say, you know what? I don't believe in the rapture because it's not in the11:51 bible. You say, pastor, what's your answer to that? You got the wrong bible. Alright? You've got the wrong bible. So, if you go straight12:03 from Greek into English, you will not translate the word rapture. Why? Because the word rapture, rapio, it is a12:14 Latin word. Who in here has their Latin Vulgate? It's a dead language. But there was a time when Latin was the preferred12:26 translation of the western church. Does that make sense? How many of you ever been to a a Catholic mass that is still in Latin? You just kind of sit there and go, I'm not sure what that was.12:37 Right? Because it's it's a dead language. No 1 uses it. But there's an ecclesiastical Latin that held on. You say, how did that happen? If you go all the way back, a lot of us, we are very familiar here in the western12:49 world with the Protestant Reformation. How many of us understand that? That's when a lot of Protestant churches broke away from the Catholic church. We understand. But before that, there was something in church history13:00 called the Great Schism. Alright? So as the church developed after the time of Jesus, you had Rome eventually became the head of the church. Rome was considered13:12 the western church, but remember you had all of those Christians and all of those believers over in Israel and Jerusalem and to the east of that who they all, if they ever wanted to come to a big13:24 meeting of all the all the popes and bishops, they would have to make the journey to Rome. So they always kind of had a little feeling of why do we have to go to Rome? Why don't we come to Jerusalem? Why don't13:35 we have to go to Rome? Why don't we all come to Jerusalem? And so what happened, there was always this undercurrent that was going on. Alright? Well, it finally came to head in the tenth and eleventh century.13:47 Alright? That what happened is the people over in the east said, you know what? We don't even know why we come to Rome anymore because every time we come to Rome, we get outvoted and y'all send us home. So there was what13:57 was referred to as a great schism. There was a big divide in the church between the western church which included Rome and the eastern church which included Jerusalem and all the eastern church.14:09 Anybody ever heard of the Eastern Orthodox Church? That's why you have this church. And what they said is, we're not gonna speak Latin. We're gonna speak Greek. We're gonna speak Hebrew. We're gonna speak our language.14:22 Responded by saying, okay, good, go away, and Rome said, Latin is now the official language of the church. And that's where you get the word rapture, and we're gonna see the exact Greek14:34 word that is used 13 times in scripture that means to be snatched up, to be caught up, and that's why it's translated caught up or snatched up in our bible because it comes straight from Greek14:46 ultimately into our English. Now, if we were to go to take this same word and translate it into Latin, it would be rapio or rapture. Alright? So14:58 don't let someone say, well, I I don't believe in the rapture because the word's not in the Bible. Just look at them and say, you got the wrong Bible. Alright? Here's the deal. That's where the word rapture came in. And15:08 so you go all the way back, the history of the church, great schism. Eastern Orthodox, Western Eastern Orthodox, Western Church. And so then the question becomes is when? When does the Rapture take place? Let me give you15:19 3 views. Put it up there. There we go. Alright. There are 3 views as it relates to the Rapture. Some people believe that Jesus is gonna come back and Rapture us15:30 up at the beginning of the tribulation, right before the tribulation, and they will come in and they will give you bible verses. They will say, well, here's why we don't church doesn't go through the day of wrath. We15:41 don't go through the great tribulation. There are some people who can come to some Bible verses, go look at Matthew 24, 25, and they will say, you know what, this really kind of seems to say, we're gonna go halfway15:51 through the tribulation, and then there are others who say, no, no, no, no. I think we're gonna go all the way through the tribulation before the rapture. Alright? So let me just kind of16:04 paint those pictures for you. Let's let's start by going with the post tribulational rapture, alright? Let's get We have a Hopefully, have a So these are people who can go to a couple of verses, whether it's in Daniel or16:15 Matthew, and they can say, you know what? It seems like the church and Christians are gonna go through the hard times and go through the tribulation, and then there's ultimately gonna be the rapture where16:27 Jesus takes us up and then turns around at his second coming and then brings us right back down. Some people will refer to this as the elevator rapture. You get on the elevator, you go to the top16:38 floor, immediately Jesus pushes the down button, you go down because the next thing that's supposed to happen is we spend 1000 years here on earth with Jesus. Does that make sense? There are some people who believe this.16:51 There are others who would go to other verses and they would say, no, no, no, There's no way that the church can go through all the tribulation because of the prophecies about the church not going through the greatest17:02 part of their tribulation and great great day of wrath for God. And so they believe that we're gonna get out halfway through the tribulation. Tribulation is a difficult 7 year period, but the first 3 and a half years17:14 are not as bad as the last 3 and a half years. And so there are some good and godly people who believe, yeah, we're gonna go 3 years, then we're gonna go up. 3 and a half years later, we're gonna come down for the second17:24 coming, then spend 1000 years. There are others on the other end of the spectrum, and I will just be honest with you as I talk through it. This is where I am. This isn't where you have to be. That I believe that we are17:36 gonna be taken out before the tribulation takes place. Now, and you say, why are gonna do that? I said, I don't like pain. Just sign me up for the first plane out.17:48 Right? If things are going to get worse, I don't wanna be here. Right? Okay. But here's the deal. Put all 3 back up. Put all 3 back up. When I first run-in the ministry in seminary, I'm like18:00 drinking I'm drinking from a from a water hose and I I can remember that I'm sitting there and I'm I've got 1 of my seminary professors that loves God and he is post tribulational rapture.18:12 And he could sit there and talk about it in class and18:14 I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I'm that.18:16 And then I'd go to another class and had another seminary, same semester and he was mid trib, and every once in while we'd get to dialogue in the lunch room or whatever and he'd give me a few verses, I'd18:26 go, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think18:27 I'm that. And then there would be another seminary professor, he goes, no, no, no, I'm pre trib. And they did me a great favor, me and the other seminary students. There18:39 was a day we walked into chapel, they had all 3 of those guys on the stage. And they literally let them bare knuckle fight in front of us. Okay? With Bible verse after Bible verse after18:51 Bible verse after Bible verse, and they were picking on each other. Well, you need to go through the tribulation. You could use a little burning off. Right? And I'm so godly, God doesn't need much grace from me, and they19:03 are getting after it. And they're sitting there looking at each other. Well, how do you deal with Daniel 9 verse 25? And he goes, well, how do you deal with Isaiah chapter whatever? And how do you deal with And I'm19:14 sitting there going, I just can't deal with this at all. Right? But here was the whole point. There are certain things about our faith that they're core19:26 essentials of the faith. Does that make sense? The doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ, the fact that salvation is through, is by grace through faith in Jesus19:38 Christ, don't add works. There are certain core essentials of the faith that if we disagree over that, we don't have fellowship. However, there are so19:50 some things that are non essential, and when we are dealing with non essentials, then we have charity and grace with each other. The rapture, rapture, not the end times, not the fact that we're in20:02 the church age and there's gonna be a tribulation and there's gonna be a millennial reign, that's clear that there's a second coming of Jesus. But there are times like on the rapture that there might be some20:13 people in here that you believe in a post tribulational rapture. If you have a Catholic background, you're probably gonna lean towards being post trib. All right? You're just gonna lean that way because that's what's20:24 been talked about. So here's the deal. They taught us in a very real sense, make sure before you go divide the brethren or the cistern, make sure it's a core essential of the faith. Does that make sense? If we, you know,20:36 there are so many churches, they fight over the color of the carpet or the kind of songs that they sing, right? He goes, I got an idea. Let's dial in on the core essential. And it was so fun and I so benefited20:48 from those men standing up there getting after it with each other with a smile on their face and then at the end saying part of what we want you to see is there are times that we can have disagreements21:00 over non core essential things of the faith. Does that make sense? So then the question becomes if Paul said in verse 18, therefore encourage 1 another with these words,21:12 how do we stay encouraged during discouraging times? The 2 things that the Thessalonians struggled with are the exact same things you21:24 and I struggle with. Trials and difficulties have a tendency to discourage us, and when we lose a loved 1, we have a tendency to get discouraged, don't we? Alright. So let me give you a couple of thoughts as we journey21:36 through here. How to stay encouraged. Alright? Here's thought number 1. Don't ever lose hope. Everybody say that. Don't ever lose hope. So here's what Paul says. Look at it. First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse21:47 13. He says, brothers and sisters, he's talking about Christians. Alright? We do not want you to be uninformed. Your translation may well say ignorant. That doesn't mean the way the way we use it today. It means you just21:59 lack understanding. He says, do not be uninformed about those who have fallen asleep. Alright? What is he saying? He's saying those who have died. And we're gonna see in a couple other passages that we read those22:11 who have fallen asleep. It's not uncommon in the biblical setting for death to be referred to as sleep just because they lay in the repose, And so we need to understand that just because it's sleep, he22:23 defines it sleep in death, alright? If you go to John chapter 11, Jesus is talking to the disciples, said hey, we need to make our journey down to Lazarus. Lazarus has fallen asleep. Go read22:34 what Thomas said. What did Thomas say? Hey, if he's falling asleep, he'll wake back up. Jesus looked at him and go, what am I gonna do with you, Thomas? He goes, no, Thomas, he's dead. I gotta go wake him22:46 up. Oh, 0, dead. Yeah. Okay. He's not gonna wake up. Alright. If you look at Stephen, the first martyr in the church in Acts chapter 7 verse 8, it says Stephen was stoned. He looked up into heaven and fell22:58 asleep. Alright. So it's not uncommon for the Bible to talk about death as sleep. So he says listen, we don't want you to be unformed about those who have fallen asleep so that you do not23:09 grieve, listen to what he says, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope.23:22 If you are here today folks, listen, I want you to know grief is real. Grieving is real for the Christian and the non Christian alike. Did Paul say,23:34 do not grieve because you're a Christian? That is not what he says. He says, do not grieve as does the rest of mankind that has no23:46 hope. Did you get that? There's a He says, listen, grief is real. Man, I was just reading this week about grief and some of the things that we go through in grief. We'll put it up on the screen for you. Man, it's real.23:57 Go to WebMD and talk about What what do you have if you're grieving? It's kind of a cause and effect. Someone dies at your life. Sadness, depression, anger, might be guilt. Sometimes we isolate24:08 ourselves in our guilt. We get in our in our in our in our grieving. We get bitter, bitter at them, bitter at the world, bitter at others. So I want you to know, if you have24:20 lost a loved 1 and you grieve and you weep and you cry, you are just like the rest of us. We all experience grief, some at differing levels, some at24:32 deaf desperate levels, but here's what we understand. Paul is reminding us that the Thessalonians, this amazingly unstoppable church was grieving over the loss of their loved ones.24:45 And Paul says, listen, that's the same experience you and I are gonna have here at Cottonwood Creek. If you just go look at it, what causes the most grief? Death of a loved 1.24:59 Beyond that, death of a child. Death of a close friend or extended family member. And so I want you to know what does Paul say?25:11 Grieving is an experience that is common to all of us, those inside the church and those outside the church. What is the difference in our grieving? We grieve25:23 as those who actually have hope. You say how do we do it? Well first of all Paul says man we grieve with hope by being25:35 informed about the state or what takes place when someone who is a Christian dies. We just wanna be informed. That's what we're gonna talk about today. And I want you to also know what the Thessalonians25:46 were wondering. When someone dies, is that referring to the body and the spirit or just the body? Let me just answer the question. When someone dies throughout scripture, it is never talking25:58 about their spirit. Their spirit just transitioned. It is always talking about the bible, about the body. Beyond that, he gives them encouragement that we will see them26:10 again, alright? We will see them again someday. If you have a lost loved 1, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a son, or a daughter, and they're a Christian, they've died, you will see them again and don't26:21 think just because they're dead that they're missing out. You say, pastor, who has it better? Someone who has died in Christ or me who is here? Both. Both. You say, what does26:33 that mean? Well, we're gonna read it here in a few seconds. So jump over to second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 8. Let me walk you through this idea of hope a little more and the fact that what happens to the believer who26:43 dies. Here's what Paul says. He says, we are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body. What is Paul saying? You know what? Remember Paul had a thorn in the flesh. How many of you remember that? He had26:55 some hurts and some difficulty. Paul said, I would rather be away from the body. Wait, what? Well, why? And at home with the Lord. Paul says for the believer, the27:07 moment we are away from the body, we are at home with the Lord. In other words, my last breath here on this earth immediately precedes my first breath in heaven. Does that make sense?27:18 So he says, listen, we would actually prefer to be away from this body that is beaten and broken and hurting and struggling, these difficulty, and at home with the Lord. Look at verse 9. He says, so we27:30 make it our goal to please him whether we are at home in the body or away from it. So here's what Paul is saying. Man, we don't grieve as the rest who have no hope. Here's what27:42 we understand. We have confidence in our grieving that the death that has been spoken of, that death of a loved 1, a death of a Christian immediately preceded that27:53 Christian being in heaven with absent from the body is to be present with Christ. Now, for us that remain, what does Paul say there? That your goal and my goal is28:05 whatever time I have left, whether I have a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, 20 decades, that would be a long time, but a lot,28:17 whatever time I remain, I want to please God in everything that I do. So Paul gives them 2 goals. He says, listen, it's always good to prefer to be absent28:29 from the body and to be present with Christ, but he goes, if you're not absent from the body and present with Christ, that means you're with the body, not quite present with Christ, then you make it your goal to please28:38 him all the time. But he's also telling us in this is there's no such thing, something that the Thessalonians worried about, is they believed in something called soul sleep. They believed that when someone28:50 died, the body and the soul went into that grave, and the soul and the body was dormant until the resurrection. Matter of fact, still to this day, Jehovah's Witness believe this,29:02 Seventh day Adventists believe this, they believe if you go back in time, that if someone died, their soul is asleep and they are basically missing out on everything that is going on right29:14 now, but then there will come a day when there is the rapture, there is a resurrection, where all of a sudden God will wake that soul up. What does Paul say about that? Paul says, no, no, no, no. He says, when29:25 I'm absent from the body, I am present with Christ, they're not missing out, folks. Those who you loved or died, yes, their body might be in a place29:37 that you place them, but their spirit as a believer is with Christ right now. So thought number 1, how do I stay encouraged in discouraging time is I'm never gonna lose hope.29:49 Number 2, I'm never gonna lose faith. Now remember Paul says encourage 1 another with these words. He says, don't be an informed brother about those who fall asleep. That's what he said first, verse 13. He says, we don't30:01 grieve, we do grieve, but we don't grieve as the rest who have no hope. Now look at faith. Pick it up in verse 14. He says, for we believe, that's faith. Everybody say faith. Faith.30:13 That's the action or the verb form of the noun faith. He says, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have30:25 fallen asleep. There's that word. Right? Death is often called sleep. And so for us, death is is like a nap. Right? Because there's gonna come a day. And when I was30:37 a kid, I don't know about you, when I was a kid, I always saw naps as punishment. How many remember that? As I age, that's a reward. Right? Give me 15 minutes. Right? He says, listen.30:48 It's just a nap for us, for our body, but our soul immediately goes to heaven. He says, that god will bring with him all those who have fallen asleep according to the lord's word. We tell31:00 you, we who are alive and remain are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will cur will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. So what is he saying? Who's got it31:12 better? Those who are already there or those who are gonna show up? Both. We get the opportunity folks in a hard and difficult world and discouraging time to please God. How many of you want to31:24 please God? I do. I want you to know I do. So let me tell you what, it is a great day that I get this day and maybe the next day and maybe the next day to try once again to please God31:36 in everything I say and everything I do, and I'll also promise you, you know this as your pastor, I don't do it perfectly, but I got another shot. I got another shot, and as long as I have a shot to please God, let me do31:47 it better today than I did yesterday, let me do it better tomorrow than I did today. Right? But listen, those who have fallen asleep, they're already there. You say, well, how can I guarantee myself31:59 a place in heaven? Let me You wanna know the qualifications? Here it is. First, you have to be a sinner. How many of you are a sinner? You all qualify. I just went through the church roll32:11 last night and I said, they all qualify. Every last Some of you, you qualified early, earlier than most people. Right? Alright. But here's the second qualification to get in32:23 heaven. You have to be a sinner. You all qualify. But listen, you have to be a saved sinner. You have to give God a hand on that. And that's not about you being32:35 good enough to work off that, all of your sin. None of us can. That's where faith comes in. So here, remember what I said? I said, hope don't ever lose hope, but I'm starting now with don't ever lose faith.32:47 Listen, salvation comes by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That faith in Jesus Christ gives us forgiveness of all of our sins. That forgiveness of sins is what32:59 allows us to walk with hope. Amen? See, that's the whole process. You qualify for heaven as a sinner, you, Jesus. But you don't make it to heaven until you take that next33:11 step of receiving god's grace and having faith in Jesus Christ. That faith in Jesus Christ brings you forgiveness, then you and I can walk in hope. Go all the way back to Jesus. You say, what about this33:23 second coming a little more? We're getting there. Just hang in there. Now, what about this? All the way back in John chapter 13, Jesus is getting ready to leave his disciples. He washes their feet. He he leads them33:33 through the lord's supper. He teaches them about some amazing things but then he looks at them and remember all of these disciples have left everything to follow him. And he says, now it's time for me to go away.33:46 How would you feel if all of a sudden someone you desperately said, hey, it's been good to be with you but you know what, I'm gonna go now. You'd be discouraged. So let's go to John chapter 14. Let me show it to33:58 you. Jesus is talking to them right up through the upper room. The next thing that happens right after John chapter 14, he's delivered into the hands of sinful men. He is beaten, he is spat upon, he's nailed to a cross,34:09 he dies, he's buried in a tomb, rise again the third day. But he says, listen guys, do not let your heart be troubled. Remember what's today? How to stay encouraged in discouraging times? He says, do not let your hearts34:20 be troubled. You believe, there's that word, believe. You believe in God, believe also in me, Jesus. What does he say? God's grace, faith in me. Believe in me. He says,34:32 in my father's house are many rooms, that's heaven. If it were not so, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you. I love that plural. He's going to, I'm going to prepare a place for you. If you've34:44 got a lot loved 1 you've lost lost in Christ, there was a place for them. But more importantly, there's a place for you. Now look at verse 3. He says, and if I go and prepare a place for you,34:56 I will come back. What did Jesus say? If I go, what did Acts chapter 9 1 verse 9 say? He ascended into heaven. He says, I will come back. That's the35:08 rapture. That's the second coming. Alright? And take you to be with me. Notice that word take rapture. Catch up. Bring it up. And the dead, and listen to this, take you35:19 to be with me that you may also be where I am. Grace of God, faith in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins,35:31 heaven for eternity. Alright? So thought number 1, don't ever ever ever lose hope. Number 2, don't ever lose faith. Here's number 3, this is where it gets fun folks. Don't ever stop listening.35:43 Don't ever stop listening. You say, what am I listening for? Well, let's just read it. Verse 16, he says, for the Lord himself We're back in Paul. He's writing. He's What did he say? Don't be uninformed. We don't grieve35:55 as the rest who have no hope for we believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus is gonna bring it back. But notice, he says, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven. What does it say? Acts 1, he's going to heaven.36:08 John 14, I'll come back. Here's what Paul says, he's going to come back. He says, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud voice, listen, notice, the voice of an archangel36:20 and the trumpet of God. If you wanna underline this, if you're ever asked what's the loudest verse in the Bible, it's this 1. There's a loud command. There's the voice of the archangel. You said, which 1? Well, we know36:31 in scripture, there's Michael and there's Gabriel. What's 1 of those 2 or if there's another 1 that we don't know about? Man, but it's gonna be loud. And the trumpet of God, how many of you ever played a trumpet? Your36:41 trumpet's not gonna compare to God's. It's gonna be loud. In other words, we are not gonna miss it. It's gonna be the loudest thing you've ever heard. And the dead, listen to this, in Christ will rise first. What is he36:53 talking about? He's talking about their body. He's talking about their body. And so it's gone. After that, we who are alive and remain and are left are caught up. If you have your Bible open, that's the word right37:05 there underlined. That's rapio. That means to snatch, to seize, to gather up, to pick it up. We will be caught up. They go first together with them in the clouds. We'll notice37:16 we will meet there. Meeting the Lord in the air, and also we will be with the Lord forever and ever again. So now if you go back to your tribulation views, if the rapture comes at the end of37:28 the tribulation, literally, we're all gonna go up, we're gonna meet everybody, we're gonna come right back down. If you do it at the beginning, we're all going to go up, we're going to go through the tribulation, but37:36 we'll be in heaven with God. Then we will come down for the millennial. Halfway through, you do it halfway through. The question for people is, when does that caught up happen? Before the tribulation, in the middle of37:48 the tribulation, at the end of the tribulation, whatever it is, I'm not sure. Godly people, good people believe it's at the beginning, the middle, or the end. If I get a choice, get me38:00 out early. Alright? That's just the way I'll be. I'll just be that honest. And he says, listen, God's gonna come down. The voice of the archangel is gonna be loud. Jump over. Let me show you another passage. First38:10 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51. This is also talking about the rapture. Remember, they the dead in Christ will rise, then we who are alive and remain will be changed. Pick this up. This is what PaulShow more
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