Every day out upon the waters deep and wide. But it's all over now. Glory light is on my brow. And my soul is on the winning side. Well, I'm on the winning side. Yes, I'm on the winning side. Out in sin no more will I abide. I've enlisted in the fight for the cause of truth and right. Praise the Lord, I'm on the winning side. ♪ I will never have a fear ♪ For my Lord is ever near ♪ And in Him so often I will abide ♪ He's the keeper of my soul ♪ Since I gave Him full control ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ Well, I am on the winning side ♪ Yes, I'm on the winning side ♪ Out in sin no more will I abide ♪ I've enlisted in the fight ♪ For the cause, the truth, and right ♪ Praise the Lord, I'm on the winning side Amen. All right. Let me get a Bible and get going here. I hope tonight you're on the winning side. Everybody sang the right song tonight, brother. Brother Tom, you sang the right song. Brother Jeff, you sang the right song. Everybody got up tonight, sang the right song. I don't know about you, but I'm on a ship, and I'm gonna take a trip. Amen. Amen. Over there. But take a Bible tonight if you would. I'm probably gonna need that hardware down there in that bottle of water. Let me walk back. Now, I'm an old man, so give me a little break here, a little time. Thank you, Nick. Appreciate that, brother. I know Nick's been running like a wild man to get here tonight, and Nick, I appreciate that. He said he was hurrying. Sounded like he tore up a truck or something. All right, but he's a busy man like everybody here is, and I appreciate your effort to get out, and folks that's got out. Each night, we've had a good time. We've had a good crowd every night. Thank you for that. If you're visiting, we definitely want you to be welcome in our services. And we've had visitors each night. And most of you know around here, I don't preach a lot of meetings in the church for Pastor Jeremiah, Pastor Tom, I have in years gone by. But I do teach the Sunday school hour in the Sunday mornings on Sunday mornings. And we do a verse by verse teaching. We're in the book of 2 Peter now. And if you're interested in that kind of teaching, expository teaching, that's what we do. Now, I don't preach. I try to not get too fired up and preach. I've been known to preach in the Sunday school hours. I will say that. I'll have to watch that. But I've got Stevie Roark to keep a handle on it. Nick sits there, Jeff. No, Jeff eggs me on. Go ahead, brother, preach. So I gotta be careful. But... I enjoy being saved. I enjoy going to church. I love the house of God. I love the people of God. And all of them, I don't mean just a few. I mean, if I don't know you that well, doesn't mean I don't love you just like everybody else. I count you as brothers and sisters in the Lord and a friend. And the Lord has given me, I guess, a heart for the people of God. And I always want to be a help, not a hindrance. And I trust that this week we've said something that would possibly help you and keep you encouraged in the Lord. That's what a revival is about, encouraging the saints. And sometimes you see somebody saved. I think Sunday morning we seen a lady saved. And that happens from time to time. And generally the evangelist, the preacher, doesn't have a lot to do about it. It's nothing he did. It's been the work of the people and the work of other folks that are soul winning and telling others about Christ and doing the job that God has left us here to do. So I thank you for that. And thank you for being a part of that. But tonight we are closing out, obviously. And I wanna preach on, Well, one thing, but we'll cover two things because it's a twofold thing. Let me get my little pointer here. I'm back on this chart because we were preaching on last things for the church and we started with America and laid all that foundation down and showed the connections and so on and so forth and how that in the last days, We've preached along the lines of the antichrist apostasy last night. We talked about the tribulation and I was a little out of sequence. I should have, if I was going to stay in any kind of sync or any kind of order, I would have preached on the rapture last night and preached on the tribulation tonight. But I didn't want everybody left. You know, oh man, the tribulation's coming. Am I gonna take the mark? What's gonna happen? America's sold out. Man, I didn't want you like that going out of here, so I preached that stuff last night, amen? And I'm gonna preach on the rapture tonight, amen? And we were singing about it. I think we're fired up about it. I think we're looking to go out, and I'm looking to go out, so I wanna, and by the way, it's prophetic, it's prophecy. I mean, we kinda, around a Baptist church, an independent Baptist church, let me speak for that, it's kinda old hat to believe in the rapture of the church. But it's not that way in all the churches. I don't know if you know that or not. I got some information on that I'll share with you tonight. And people have always asked me, this is one of the questions, you get asked questions. If you study the Bible, put stuff out, write a few books and do some things like that, people ask you questions. Here's one of the questions I always get asked. Why are there so many denominations? Why can't just everybody get along and we all, and I try to always have an answer for that and tonight. I think after I give you some of this material, you understand everybody that's in a church across this land, and even in our communities in the Midwest here, the conservative Midwest, do not believe the same thing, and they might even all have the same Bible, but they don't rightly divide it, or they don't divide it, they don't see any divisions in it, and they teach different, and you say, what is that? Well, all I know is that's how the devil deceives folks. He'll have you believe in something that isn't even in the Bible, if you're not careful. So we hold pretty strong to the text and to the word of God. And like I said, this week, I didn't want to get all into conspiracy theory stuff. I want to give you more Bible than anything else. And that's what we've done. But tonight, I want you to find your place in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, two verses, two verses of scripture. And they're written on this chart here. Well, one of them is, I've got it over here. The rapture, 1 Thessalonians chapter four, 13 through 18. Tonight we'll use 16 down through verse 18 or something like that. But if you found your place, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 16, and then verse 18, the Bible says this, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. Now, by the way, Paul is writing this. The apostle Paul is writing this. The apostle Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, which makes up the church today. So we're not getting this out of the Old Testament Judaism. We're not getting this out of the law. We're not getting this from John the Baptist, who was an Old Testament prophet, showed up last in the New Testament. We're not getting it from them. We're not getting it from Peter who was the apostle to the Jew, although in Peter's later days agrees with it wholeheartedly. We're getting it from the apostle Paul who is speaking directly to the church. So this is for the church. And I'm making, I'm emphatic about that because so many people out there that teach And you say, how do you know? Well, today we have the internet and I can go find out. I've always been a student of apologetics. I want to know what you believe, why you believe it, and why you're what you say you are. You say, what is that? Well, terms in the Bible is hermeneutics. I don't have time for that level of discussion tonight, but apologetics is what does this group believe? What does that group believe? What does that group, and where do I stand? Well, I wanna stand where the Bible is, and you find me tonight in an independent Baptist church, you say, why? Because they believe in my eyes, in my mind, in my years of experience, as close to the word of God for the church as anybody out there. And we're not the only church. There's hundreds of independent Baptist churches out across the land that believe that some Southern, and I'll talk about that in a minute, and some other churches that don't even have the name Baptist on them. So 1 Thessalonians chapter four, I began to read there, for the Lord himself, yes, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, shall descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of an archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, verse 18, wherefore comfort one another with these words. And I meant for this service to be a comfort to the believer's heart tonight as we give this material, as we talk about this, and we say something about it. But let me, Let me put this notion first. Well, before I give you that, think with me. That little dot up there, and I know you can't see it, I've got a red dot in it, that's representation of the Lord Jesus Christ catching the church out right here and all the dead in Christ rising first and going up and then over, right in here, judgment seat of Christ, right in here, marriage supper of the Lamb, that's in heaven. On the earth at that time is the tribulation. We won't talk too much about that at all tonight, but over here is the Lord coming back from heaven with all the saints of God, and every night this week, me and Teddy have been riding a white horse, so we're coming back with the Lord there on a white horse, and that's called the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. So okay, you got me confused. You mean the Lord comes twice? No, well, yes and no, and that's not an oxymoron. Yes, and the first time he comes in the cloud for the church, and the second time he comes on a horse as king of kings to set up a kingdom. Now, let me give you a couple thoughts before I get into this. Let me lay a proper foundation. What's the difference between the rapture, there we're talking, and the second coming? Because most churches out there just teach one coming of the Lord, not the rapture and the second advent. Now, here's the difference. First Thessalonians chapter four, where we just read, Christ comes for his own. and his own are those that are born again, saved, blood bought, don't have to be a Baptist in this thing, just saved by the grace of God. Number two, Christ appears in the air. He appears in the air, his foot does not hit the earth, he does not descend all the way to the earth at the rapture. Secondly, Christ comes as a loving bridegroom, he's coming as a groom to receive his bride. There's a lot of married folks in here tonight, and when you had a wedding, our attention was always on the bride, because she's very beautiful, and we dress her up, and we march her in, and they just drag the groom in at the last minute and stand him up there. And we've always had that thing backwards. The emphasis has never been on the bride, it's been on the groom. You say, why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the groom, and that's the picture. But you let religion mess with things, they'll turn it around on you every time. Instead of singing, here comes the bride, we should have been singing, here comes the groom. Now, I've really made myself popular tonight. I can see, Brother Kevin, I'm probably not gonna get a brownie, a cup of coffee, nothing. But when the Lord comes, it's gonna be all about him catching up his bride. And it's a Jewish thing, and we're Westerners, so we think a little different. So Christ comes before his own, Christ appears in the air, Christ comes up as a loving bridegroom. Number four, only his own see him. The indication is it's a secret thing, nobody else sees him. Remember last night I gave you the chart, it's still on the wall back there. And I showed you on that pie chart of the whole world, eight billion people, out of eight billion people, saved people, born again people, is only barely a thread in that pie. You can't even notice them. And when the rapture of the church happens, listen, all those other so-called Christians, people that call themselves Christians, never been saved, but they're all Christians, you know how it is today. When you listen to the news, you talk to some, oh, I'm born again, yeah, yeah. And they're smoking on a cigar and drinking a, half pint of bourbon or something else. You know, they're not saved at all. But they want you to think they're saved. Listen, they'll still be here when you go out. And when you go out, they're gonna say, yeah, I knew they weren't real. UFOs got them. Area 51, they turned them loose up there. And that's the kind of stuff they're gonna say. And they're not gonna miss you five minutes. They didn't like you anyway. Amen. So here, it's a time of great joy for the believers and save people and even the dead that rise first. And brother, it's quite a reunion in the air. It doesn't take place on this earth. It takes place in the air, in the clouds. Acts chapter one, as he went up, he comes back in the clouds. And now at number six, it's a secret disappearance. Not everybody's gonna know it. They're not even gonna miss you. You won't even be a blimp on their radar. You say, I thought half the world was saved. No, half the world ain't saved. 99.9% of the world's lost. You say, but we sure ain't doing our job. No, we're not. We were left here to evangelize the world, that's why we go, that's why we send missions, that's why we pray, that's why we witness, that's why when you get down on the job, there's never a time where there isn't somebody lost around that needs to hear about Christ. Amen. And then, now let me contrast that with the second coming. The second coming's a little different. Let me, I just made a few notes for clarity. The second coming, when he comes on that white horse over there. He's in heaven, marriage supper of the Lamb, judgment seat of Christ. And then that seven year period, he's getting ready to come back. And in this meeting, I did not have time to preach the messages on the wars. Another good question I get is when's the battle of Armageddon? It's on the chart, it's right there. And that battle of Armageddon, they're all marched over there and they're all gathered up over there trying to do their thing. And the Lord comes back. But this time, here's the difference, Christ comes with his own. He isn't coming as a bridegroom this time. Christ comes back to this earth and he comes to a specific place. Christ comes as a vengeful warrior, king of kings. Remember the study we did maybe two nights ago now on kings and kings in the world? And we even talked about the new king over there in England and all that association, all that kind of stuff. Well, and the devil wants to be a king and everybody wants to be a king. I mean, that thing's in the world. You start talking about worldly people, everybody wants to king themselves. Well, you got this guy kinged himself and you got that. That guy doing boxing now, he's the king of the gypsies. Where'd you get that? Back when I was a kid, it was Cassius King. Clay, remember? King. They all want to be king. Everybody, when they want to do something, they king themselves. Why? Well, everybody wants to king themselves, but there's only one king, and that's the Lord of glory. And he's gonna come back as a king, if you please, a warrior king, a vengeful warrior king. Every eye shall see him. That won't be in secret when he splits the eastern sky over there. Now for us, it's a secret thing. The world isn't gonna see it. Russia don't care. They don't know. In any other country, every eye shall see him, time of great fear for unbelievers and lost. It's a public appearance. The first one's a secret or the second one is a public, and they're all wrapped up into one. It's the coming of Christ, we sum it up, but the first part of that thing is the rapture of the church. And the second part of that thing in seven more years is the actual advent or the second, the actual second coming of Christ when he comes back to set up that kingdom. and you have to get that right, or you won't have your Bible right. It's a public appearance, focuses on Israel and his kingdom. And he's coming back, brother, because Israel's been in turmoil. Israel's been in trouble all those years, and the Antichrist has had him on the run. And brother, they're marching against him. And I believe America will be right there with them. You say, why? Remember what we said last night? When the rapture comes, America's gonna be bankrupt of any blessing of God about that time. So that's the difference between the two. And I wanted to present that and say, well, don't everybody believe in the rapture? I mean, everybody knows about the rapture. No, you'd be surprised who don't believe in the rapture. It'd be easier for me to tell you who does believe in the rapture out there in Christendom. But I got a list here for you. It's not exhaustive. Most Christian denominations do not subscribe to rapture theology and have a different interpretation of the aerial gathering described in our text this evening, 1 Thessalonians chapter four. And I've got a list. You say, oh, don't call anybody's name. Why? The Lord did. Why are we so afraid to say anything about the people that don't believe like we believe? Brother Kevin's here tonight. Miss Elaine's here tonight. We go way back. Brother Jack Grigsby was our pastor at one time. Brother Tom's been there. Brother Jeff, some of you other people. Jack used to hold his nose. Where's Miss Wilma? She was there. Hold his nose. He'd say, if you see a skunk, hold your nose and point your finger at it. I don't know if that's good theology or not, but I know this, it sure stuck with me. So I got a list of people that do not believe in the rapture, do not teach the rapture, do not come across it that way at all. They see a general maybe coming of the Lord. They see a setting up of a kingdom. They don't see no wars, no troubles, and all the wars they see on this earth today are just wars, rumors of wars, and so on and so forth. And one of these days, a big kingdom's coming, we'll all be happy, everything will be good. That's not what the Bible says, and here's the list, top of the list, Catholics do not teach the rapture. Eastern Orthodox Lutherans do not teach the rapture. Angolans do not teach the rapture. Episcopalians do not teach the rapture. Orthodox Presbyterians in the United Church of Christ do not preach or teach the rapture. Most Methodist and Reformed Christian Unitarian churches, Mormons, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Jehovah's Witnesses. Brother Samuel, how about the Amish? They don't. And I got them in the list, but I wanted to double check because, man, you got a man here that's ex-Amish. You got a man over here that's ex-Amish. And they said, no, they didn't teach the rapture. So put the Amish in there, the Quakers in there, the Mennonites in there. Do not generally use rapture as a specific theological term, nor do they generally subscribe to the premillennial dispensational view associated with its use. Instead, these groups typically interpret rapture in the sense of the elect gathering with Christ in heaven after his second coming and reject the idea that a large segment of humanity will be left behind on earth or an extended tribulation period after the events of first Thessalonians chapter four, verse 17. You say, that's just about everybody. That's everybody that was on that pie chart back there. And you'll have this little group over here and that little group over there. Now, some of your church of God, some of your Pentecostal people, they believe in the rapture. How about that? But a lot of folks don't. People are like, oh, don't say nothing about it. Why? If they're not teaching the truth, man. Get somewhere where they're teaching the truth. When I look for a church, I want a pre-millennial, pre-tribulation type church that believes the King James Bible, amen. And not enough time for that. It's the only saved Bible-believing Christian to believe in the doctrine of the rapture. They are called pre-tribulationists, pre-millennials. and are generally found in independent Baptist churches and a few other churches, Southern Baptist to be exception, that do not use the name Baptist, but are Baptistic in doctrine. And I know some churches, I've preached in them, they don't have the word Baptist on the church, but they're Baptistic in doctrine, they believe in the rapture, say, are they going out? Are they in the bride? Sure they are. Remember when I said last night, preaching on the church, it's not on denominational names and it's not. Now let me say this, I read you that piece of, this is the blessed hope of the church, the rapture. We're encouraged by, he said, comfort one another these words. And so Titus 2, 11 and 3, verse 11, for the grace of God that bring us salvation hath appeared to all men, verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ. You say, what are you doing tonight? I'm looking for his appearing. Matter of fact, there's a crown laid up for those people that'll look for his appearing. Brother, there's too many clear passages of scripture to support the rapture. It's not a theory, it's a doctrine. So tonight, let me say this, number one, the reality of the rapture. Take your Bible and look in Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, verse 20. Paul again writing, and it's in the Pauline Epistles, which is directly to the church. So we need to pay attention. For our conversation in heaven, I'm in verse 20 of Philippians 3. For our conversation is in heaven, for whence also we look for the Savior. Yeah, every believer since the days of Paul and the Philippian people have been looking for the Lord to come back. even when they stood there in Acts when he ascended up and went out of sight after the resurrection. Brother, they said, why stand you here gazing up? For this same Jesus is ascending, shall also descend. He's coming back, man. And so Paul says here, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, thank God for that, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to do all things unto himself. Listen, I'm not selling the Lord short. Brother, when he calls us out, that Bible, the indication there is we're going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Brother, this old carcass is going to lay down. I'm going to get a new body, according to the Word of God in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Brother, I don't want a new body right now. I'm like Pastor Tom. I'd be afraid whose I'd get. Hey, man, I want that one because it's going to be like his. And all those dead in Christ that rise first, according to the Word of God, they get a new body. They get changed. Caught up first. So the reality of the rapture, Acts chapter one, verse nine, I quoted about half of it. I probably should read down through at least verse 11. He says there in verse nine, and when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him up in their sight, verse 10, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by him in white apparel, probably angels, verse 11, And by the, well, we won't go there. Which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And brother, that's directly to save people, directly to the church. And even in the later days of Paul, when he writes to the Philippians, and I read that verse first, it's for us, we're supposed to be looking for that blessed hope. Could I just say this in all reality? Sometimes we get saved, we get to doing everything and traveling, running, preaching, teaching, coming to church, going home, getting back, going to work, and it don't quite have the zip to it that it once had. Then you hear somebody come along, oh, they've been saying that forever, Brother Phil. They say he's coming and the rapture's gonna happen. Well, don't worry about it, buddy. You probably ain't going anyway, so. That's sad, and we don't quite have the zip. But I wanted to say under the reality of the rapture, the promise of his coming. Look, God has promised, and as far as I know, and I've read this Bible backwards and forwards for 45 years and maybe longer, brother, he has never welched on a promise. I want you to see something here, Revelations chapter two, verse five. Revelations chapter two, verse five. I'm preaching about the rapture. And the book of Revelation was written by John to the churches. And we're the last church that he talks about. And brother, it's more pertinent for us today than it's ever been before in our life. Revelations chapter two and verse five, I want you to pick up on something. Remember I said last night when God begins to... repetitiously tell you something, and when he stops on a number like seven, God works by seven, we laid that down in the first message Sunday morning, and brother, when he starts telling you something in sevens, and he says it seven times, brother, it's like a promise written in stone, and brother, it will come to pass. I want you to look at Revelations chapter two, verse five. He says this, remember therefore, for whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works, talking to one of the churches, or else I will come unto thee quickly. You know what? The church has struggled from day one all the way through to keep its nose clean, if you know what I mean. Brother, it's up, it's down, but listen, it's God's. And he says, I will come quickly. And I picked up on that, I said, well, how about that? And I will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Brother, he's kind of threatening them there. I wish he would come quickly, amen? But pick up on this. That's Revelations chapter two, verse five. Look at chapter three, verse 11. Chapter three, verse 11. Chapter three, verse 11. Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. You say, what'd he say? He's coming quickly. And brother, the casual Bible student might not pick that thing up, but if you're a Bible reader and you kind of pick up on little things and you make a little note here and there, and you're just looking for the next nugget God's gonna get you, watch what he says over there in chapter 22, verse seven. Chapter 22, verse seven. I won't give them all to you, but look at that, 22 seven. Behold, I come quickly. He says the same phrase again. Behold, I come quickly. See, what message is he trying to tell you? He's trying to tell you he's coming back, amen, and he's coming quickly. Do you realize that the Bible says if one day is with the Lord, it's 1,000 years and 1,000 years is one day? Now, Brother Jeff, you had some math done the other day. Can you tell me what that math was? Because I want to make a point with that. and I asked a math teacher to figure out the equation, comparing it to what the Lord said, and so she did the math, and really she'd been gone in the Lord's eyes 13 minutes. 13 minutes, now she'd been in our time nine years, with the Lord's equations, one year, the Lord a thousand years, so one day is with the Lord a thousand years, a thousand years, one day, 13 minutes. Now, I'm not gonna do any math for you tonight. My math would be fuzzy, and it wouldn't make a lot of sense, but that mathematician teacher, I'll go with what she said. So what I'm saying, a student of the word of God trying to figure this stuff out. God came and left in Acts 2. He's only been gone about 2,000 years. That's not very long, a couple days. How about that? You say, well, if you tell somebody, hey, I'll see you in a couple of days. Okay, good, good, I'll be looking for you. Now, if he stays gone five, six years, but the Lord's never done that, say, how do you know? Because over there in John, the Lord said, needs be, I go through Samaria. And I'm gonna ad-lib a little bit. And he went over to Samaria. He wasn't supposed to go to Samaria. Brother Jeremiah's been teaching on it. The Jews didn't have anything to do with those Samaritans. They were half-breeds. They didn't believe right. Their father wasn't right and they worshiped in the wrong place. They had everything wrong. But Jesus said, hey, I'm going to go over there to them Samaritans and I'm going to be there two days. And he spent two days. You know, those Samaritans are a picture of the church. They're a picture of Gentiles because they weren't purebred Jews. So they're a picture of a Gentile crossbreed breed Jew. And God had a heart for them. God loved them. That's why he died on the cross of Calvary. and was a picture of him coming for the church. He calls us Gentiles dogs, by the way, if you didn't know that, and he came for us. And he's gonna be gone about two days. Guess what, if one day was the Lord a thousand years, a thousand years is one day, this is 2022. And the calendars are all messed up, and I'm not gonna work that thing out for you. But it's getting close. When he said, I come quickly, I'm looking for him, amen. I'm looking for him to come in the clouds. And I'm looking at the clouds now. I said, man, that's a beautiful sky tonight. Look at the sun. I get up in the morning and I watch the sun come up on a number of occasions. I say, man, this will be a good day for the Lord to come. And then a thunderstorm will blow up and brother, there'll be clouds, there'll be lightning and everything will be going on. The thunder will be clapping and man, it'll be raining. And I'll be sitting there thinking, man, the Lord could come in a thunderstorm. Amen. You say, you really believe that? Yeah, that's 2212, look at 2220. 2220, I won't give them all to you. 2220, and which testify these things saith surely, I come quickly. Same phrase, over and over again. You say, why? Listen, the church ought to get a hold on this. The church ought to take a hold of it. He's coming pretty quick, amen, pretty quick. That's the promise of his coming. There's the power of his coming. Matthew chapter 24, verse 30, he's able. Matthew chapter 24, verse 30, and then shall appear the signs of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Man, anytime Jesus shows up, it's with power. Matthew 24, 27 through 31 gives you a description of the kind of power that he has. Look, he's the creator God. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's not only coming as a promise, he's coming with power. And people say, well, I don't know about the possibilities of him coming. I do. It's quite a possibility. You say, well, you named all those other denominations don't even believe in the rapture of the church. Yeah, I know that. But let me show you something. Take your Bible and go to Romans chapter three. This is not a new problem. In Romans chapter three, Paul dealt with this, with the Romans and these Jewish folks. In Romans chapter three, verse one, he says, what advantage then hath the Jew, question, because of their position, their lack position, their chosen of God, what advantage hath the Jew, or what profit is there in circumcision? In other words, they believed in Abraham's law and the law God gave Abraham in the Old Testament. Verse two, much every way, chiefly, Because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. And by the way, salvation is of the Lord, amen, of the Jews. Says, for what if some, watch this, verse three, he's gonna take care of the people that don't believe it. He says, for what if some did not believe? That's a good question. I've had that before and I've went right to this place to show them what the Bible says about it. He said, well, what if some of them did not believe? Believe what? Anything God said he was going to do. What if they did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Two questions. Now the answer. Verse four, God forbid. In other words, not going to happen. Nah, bubba, nah. Old English. God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. Oh, what? It don't care what you believe. He said it, that settles it. It's gonna come to pass, whether you believe it or not. You say, well, we've believed like this for millions of years. I don't care if you believed on it eight billion years. It isn't gonna change what God said. He's coming back and he's coming quickly. Say, what is that? That's the possibilities. I already read your Revelation chapter 22, verse 20, so I'm not gonna read that thing again. And then you get these people that come along and say, oh, Brother Phil, man, that rapture thing scares me to death. Man, the rapture's coming, man. What are we gonna do? All the kids are gonna be gone, everything. Look, everybody ain't going. What? Are you sure? Well, best I can see it in the scripture. Where's that thing at over here? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter seven. 1 Corinthians chapter seven, and he's teaching these carnal Christians here in a New Testament church, and he's giving some regulations on marriage among Gentiles and believers and kids, kids. And I've been asked this question, well, when the rapture comes, I mean, all the kids all around the globe are going out. No, no, no, they're not all going. Oh, Brother Phil, you mean they're gonna have to stay here and go through the tribulation? Well, that's the way it looks. Somebody's gonna get saved in the tribulation, amen, and some people get saved. A good question somebody asked me last night, I think Brother Woods asked me, are there gonna be people saved in tribulation? I said, absolutely. and they're going to die when they won't take that mark. When they won't take that mark, say, no, I want to trust God. And I don't believe the Antichrist is God. They're not going to call him the Antichrist. They're going to, I don't believe he's God. And they're going to say, well, step over here. Say, what are they going to kill? Shoot him with a .45? No, they're going to decapitate him. because in the book of Revelation we don't have time for a verse-by-verse study tonight, but you've got the souls of those people that die in that thing, and they're crying out under the altar of the Lord, oh, Lord, how long till you avenge us? Say, what did they do? They endured to the end. You know that passage everybody struggled with over there in Matthew chapter 24, and it's for the tribulation people? Yeah, you'll have to endure to the end to get saved there. Now, thank God for the day of grace, that big word up there, grace. We're saved by grace through faith, plus or minus nothing. Now at the end of the day, it's still the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves your soul. Amen. So don't go out of here saying, Phil believes this, believes that. There's a lot going on in my mind and my heart, and I'm trying to make it as clear as I can. But Revelation, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter seven on the kids. Let me give you a light on this. Verse 10, let me skip on down here. Let me just try to pick it up, verse 14. Excuse me, verse 13. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. Excuse me. Sang too much probably, I don't know. And for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. You talk about the power of God working here in a relationship, watch. Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. Say, what's that mean, brother? I believe it's an indication to who's gonna go and who isn't. Let's say you got a husband and a wife, and the husband's lost and the wife's saved, and they have three or four kids. See, what happens? It looks like the kids are sanctified by the saved mother, and when God calls the mother out, the kids are going too, if they're saved and to the age of accountability. Now, if they're to the age of accountability and they're not saved, they're going through the tribulation. Oh, you're scaring me, Brother Phil. And it works both ways. If the husband saved the woman's loss and they have some kids, those kids are sanctified. Do you realize what sanctification is? Do you realize the power in that thing and what God has? Now this is a thought, it's not commonly taught in the Bible schools and the institutions across this land, but I believe it's one of the answers to one of the questions that always gets asked, where are the kids going? Well, that are in saved households under the age of Calamity are going out with the parents, or the parent that's saved, and the lost one will stay here. Brother Phil, that's a shaky thing. That's scary. That's the rapture, and that's the part of it nobody wants. Everybody wants that Kumbaya, Chuck E. Cheese, we're gonna have a big time and usher in the kingdom. Everybody's ushering in the kingdom. Everybody wants the kingdom. You say, why? Because that's what they lost over there. And the devil's got them fooled. They can get it back, but just trotting along with a carrot in front of the horse and everything will be okay. That's not so. So here in 1 Corinthians chapter seven, that's about all I've got on that. You say, well, how do you know? God don't kill kids. Hang on. Sodom and Gomorrah, he burned. At the ark, all those people never got on the ark. What happened to those kids? Oh, God snatched them out to it. Nah, now you're making stuff up. They died. Say, what happened to them? They drowned. If they were under the age of accountability, they went to heaven. If they were and they had enough sense to know the right, the difference between the knowledge of good and evil, they went to hell. Oh, Brother Phil, that's too black and white. That's too hard for me. Take it up with God. He put it down. People just want to sidestep that stuff and act like it's not there, and then wonder why everybody's in apostasy. Remember, I preached tonight one night. Nobody wants to do anything. Nobody wants to get on fire. Nobody wants to tell anybody about the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul's the whole time screaming, therefore knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Say, why did he say that? Because he knew the judgment seat of Christ was coming. And all that idol stuff you've been doing as a child of God, wood, hay, and stubble, you've been laying up, laying up, laying up. When he said there's gold, silver, and precious stone, who in their right mind would trade wood, hay, and stubble for gold, silver, and precious stone? But Christians do it every day. You say, how do you know? Well, they're not zealous for the Lord. They don't win anybody to Christ. They never tell anybody about Christ. They never pass a gospel tract out. Say, Brother Phil, go back to preaching on the rapture. Okay. The resolve of the rapture. Quickly, it's the Lord's timing, not man's timing. Nobody knows the hour, nobody knows, but we know the season. And it's about that season right now. You say, how do you know? Because so much time has passed. And you know, I'm a 72-year-old man. I could die of a heart attack today or tomorrow, next year, or five years, and it wouldn't be, we just heard, 13 minutes. Nine years is only 13 minutes. I don't know if I'm going to live nine more years for thanks. If I don't, guess what? Death does the same thing for you that the rapture does. I'll just have to come back and pick up that dead carcass so it can get changed. But the soul and the spirit will step into the presence of God. Amen. Hallelujah. So don't worry about that. People say, well, if I don't go out in the rapture, I won't get a new body. Yes, you will. Anybody's blood bought gets one. First Corinthians chapter 15. So Ephesians six, be watching, be waiting, be working. And that's what this meeting is about, to fire us up, to get us going, to get us to thinking about who can I witness to? Maybe today God will give me a chance to give a tract to somebody and I'll pray over that tract and maybe it'll come full circle or somebody else will come along. I'll at least plant. Maybe I'll water a little bit, and somewhere down the road, God'll give the increase. That's how a Christian ought to think every day. We're going out in the rapture. So I said, Ephesians 6, 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, and watching therein too, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. First Thessalonians 5, 6, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. So there's a lot of Christians asleep tonight, is what Paul's saying. And he's admonishing the church there, don't be asleep like some of them are, sleep on the job, sleep at the wheel. 2 Timothy 4, verse 5, but watch down all things and do a reflection, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of the ministry. And we can capitalize on those words and define those words as our system is when we teach, but tonight we won't take that opportunity, but we want to say it because it's the scriptures. Watch down all things. 1 Peter 4, verse 7, but the end of all things is at hand. And Peter knew this, he was at the end of his days and he wasn't talking about the end of his life, he was talking about the end of the church period. It's coming to a close, but the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Why do you think Paul, when I took my text, said, therefore comfort one another with these words? I'm comforted tonight to know the Lord's coming, coming back for me. So lastly, the reward of the rapture. Yeah, we sing it. We used to sing a song. Did we sing it? I'll see you in the rapture. I'll see you. Boy, I got that too high. In the rapture. I can play it, but I can't think I can sing it. Did we sing that? We did. She's shaking her head, yeah. Yeah, the kids would all sing it, you know. We'd speed it up a little bit and sing it as fast as we could, you know, have a ball with it. The reward of the rapture. First Corinthians 3.14, if any man's works abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. Hallelujah, glory to God. If you're a servant of God, faithful to God, trying to serve God, you're interested in prayer, you're praying daily, and you're seeking the face of the Lord, I'm not saying you have to walk on water, okay? You're a human, I get all that. You work a job, I get that. Some people work two jobs, I get all that, I got all that. But brother, I'm speaking to the heart tonight. I'm speaking to the heart. And that scripture says, if any man's works are by, look, if you have a good work, and you know what I'm talking about, we can do a whole lot of things in this earth, and we sit down and start thinking about that, man, why'd I do that? That's gonna burn. And we know it is, because it didn't glorify God. And if it did help somebody in some way, our motive was wrong, we was looking for the accolade, we was looking for the pat on the back, we was looking for the glory, and that's not necessarily gonna get you any reward. That's your wood, hay, and stubble. Everything you do since you're saved, When you got saved, everything you've done in your life equates to some kind of work. And if it's for the glory of God, you get gold, precious stone for it. If it doesn't work for God, and you've done it for yourself, and you did this, and you've done that, and we've heard the testimonies, we've heard people testify of that, and then you're gonna suffer a loss. Now, you're gonna be there. He said, well, I'll be saved. Thank God I'll be there. I'll be a potato peeler for the house. I don't know about all that. but you'll be there, I'll give you that. You say, what is that? That's a reward. That's a reward for somebody that probably didn't do what they should have done, because he said you'll suffer loss. Let me give you another verse. The reward, Colossians 3, 23, 24, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. Yeah, whatever you do. We were plasters, and our motto in our shop, we had two of them. The carnal ones was, we do it right because we do it twice. No. People come on, we don't want that, we won't accept that. We go, good, no, it fits right in our motto, we're good, we'll do it again, we'll do it again. Guys like Titus, sell us more material, we'll just do it again. Then we had another motto in a little inner circle with my sons. I say, look, we're gonna work as unto the Lord. We're gonna do it like we was doing it for Jesus. You say, well, it's just physical labor. I mean, you're just slapping mud on the wall. What are you talking about? Look, I believe everything that a child of God does, you ought to have God in that equation somehow, somewhere, and give God the glory for the ability and the chance and the challenge to try to be some kind of a witness. So he says in Colossians, whatever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord and not unto men. Verse 24, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ." That's Christian. 2 John 1, 8. I love the epistles of 1, 2, and 3. John, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. In other words, you mean I could mess this thing up trying to live for God? Well, if you get to living for yourself more than you're living for God, Yeah, yeah, you can mess it up. Yeah, you won't get what you should've got. And I don't have time tonight to go into the parables. Over there is those people that were dealt out, the talents and the man that hid the, I don't have time. But all of that plays into what happens and how God rewards those that will serve him here on this earth. Lastly, Revelation 22, 12. And behold, I come quickly. I give that to you earlier. And my reward is with me. Hallelujah. You see, I'm done. We go out, rapture, dead in Christ, all through the church age that we're in Christ. And then when we're up here, and I've been talking to you a little about 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 13 through verse 15, judgment seat of Christ. But that's where the rewards are. And all the rewards and everything going on over there. And right at that time, that judgment transpires up in the clouds, in the heavens. You got the multitudes and all the angels back there. And then the marriage supper of the Lamb, the marriage is consummated. The bride, the church, becomes the wife of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's totally completed at that time. And we have the marriage supper of the Lamb. And Revelation chapter 19, verse 7 through 10. And we won't take the time tonight. You say, man, marriage supper, what are we going to eat? Me and Nick was laughing last night and I'll tell you what, Lester Roloff would be rolling over the grave. He wouldn't eat pork, guys. if the Lord served him a pork chop when we got, nah, I'm just saying, that wouldn't be right. I don't see the Lord doing that, amen? Say, what are we going to, I'm thinking back to the marriage supper of the lamb. I'd have to go back to when the Lord ate the last supper and they had bread and they broke the bread, just like we do in the communion service here. And he said, I won't drink this fruit of the vine. And it was a new fruit of the vine until I drink it afresh in my father's house. Brother, you're going to a supper. get together in just a moment and drink some pop and some coffee and some water and some tea. But brother, it don't even hold a candle to what's going to happen over there at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Man, you talk about a wedding party. We're going to have one. So I think we're going to have bread. We're going to have new wine. And I don't know what all is going to be on that menu, but I can only imagine as those kids sing that song. Amen? So tonight, let me say this. I haven't showed you but one picture, but we've done just about everything to that thing. If I get this thing to go the right way, that'd be the wrong way. I want to say this. Thank you to all the folks that made this happen. Now, I didn't even get to Daniel, and that's an original chalk draw that I did years ago for another service that I thought I might could use in this service. That's another one, and let me go through. That's the one I did for preaching on the broad way and the narrow way. You heard me reference the other day, and I wanted to reference it just about every night or every other night. You say, why? It's that important. If you're on the wrong road, you need to stop tonight. The Broadway leads to destruction. Remember I told you I wrote real small. You can't even, oh boy, that was cute. I don't know what I turned off. We'll go back. Now, there's a word right there. I said it the other night. You can see this one. You can see that one, heaven. And I'm telling you to stop on this fast road here Take the detour, because the detour is a little narrow road that runs right past the cross and through the blood. That'll get you saved. And when you die, you're going to heaven. If you stay on this road and you've never been saved, you're going to hell. That's how important it is. So tonight, in closing, If you're not saved here tonight, I would like you to come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Phil, how do I do that? Well, you call on the name of the Lord. You realize you're a sinner, you need to be saved. The Bible says that you can call, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we live in the age of grace, and so it says, for by grace are we saved through faith. Look, that's how simple it is, as Brother Jeremiah has said oft times. We talked about that, we won't talk about that, I didn't have time. There's my cross scene. I'm just gonna leave it big like that. And that middle cross, you say, what happened there? Christ died for you. Christ died for you, that you might get saved, and he left you his word on it. And brother, that word is a contract. It's a legal binding contract. It's God's Word. It's the Holy Word. That's why we call it the Holy Bible. And we believe it and we live by it. And we said when we started this meeting, 2 John 2 was going to be our theme verse. Why are you having a meeting? What are you doing that for? For the truth's sake. All we've tried to do this week is put out a little truth. Stir things up a little bit with the Word of God. There's stuff in this book I'll never get out, but man, I love digging. I told my wife today, I said, man, I just had another thought. I gotta go back down to the study and I could hear her giggling. She goes, oh yeah, there he goes again. Downstairs I went, I flipped the lights on, me and the cat, man, cat laying there looking at me like I'm crazy and I'm trying to run a thought down. Say, why? Man, I just love it, man. I love the teaching, the preaching, and the doing for Christ. Let's stand. Give you an opportunity tonight if you need to pray, you better come. We'll sing a song as they come and sing at least a verse or two before I turn it over to the pastor. Now, we've had some movement to the altar. That's good. We haven't had anybody saved this week, but we could tonight. What will the number be, Brother Jeff? 270 if you want to find it in your song book. But look, if you're not a member of a church any place and you want to be a member of a church, you need a good, solid Bible teaching, preaching church. This is one of those churches. We extend a hand of welcome to you if you're looking for a church. Pray about that. Now, if you're lost and you're not saved, we truly want you to be saved. So we'll give you this opportunity to say, how do I do that? Well, if you need a little help, come forward and then I'll know you're serious Now, you can be serious right where you're at, but there's plenty of people around here that'd be glad to take a Bible and spend some time. If you're embarrassed to do that, catch one of us after we pray. Catch one of us in the fellowship hall in a few minutes. We'll take all the time it takes to tell you how to be saved. Don't go away lost tonight. As we sing, if you need to come, please come. If you need to pray, you come and pray tonight as we sing.