Now take your Bible with me a moment ago. Our Scripture reading was in Ezekiel, the 38th chapter. But I want you to take your Bible quickly with me this morning and turn over to the book of 1 Thessalonians. So every year at this time of year, a number of things happen. I hope you made some New Year's resolutions, past money, I made them and I broke them. Well, join the club, now just remake them today. The problem is, you're not a failure until you quit. You're not a failure until you quit. That's true of everything in life. You're not a failure until you quit. So that's one of the things around first of the year, we look at our decisions, we look at ourselves, we should look at ourselves and ask ourselves where we are. Take personal account of our personal life, our marriage, who we are as a person, physically, all those different things, that's a good thing. But a second thing I think about every year is this. The question in my mind, is this the year that Jesus will come? That should be a real question. I'll prove that to you in a moment. Is this the year that Jesus will come? Now, 2023, I asked myself that question. Is this the year that Jesus will come? He did not come in 2023. We're gonna get into detail about this in a moment, but it's not only wise to ask that question, it is thoroughly biblical. Some time ago, I don't know when it was, some time ago I had a chart, and I think, gentlemen, you have that chart? Back there in the sound booth. Hello. Hello. Earth to Mars. Okay. A long time ago. I hope you can put that up. Do they have that, Eric? Oh, there. Boom! There it is, folks. There it is. Okay. That's the old one. Where's the new one? Do we have the new one? Okay, well I'll just work off of the old one. I added some things. I didn't change it all around, I just added some things. The general chart that I'm showing you is a basic chart of what you come up with regarding end time events if you take the Bible literally. Now I know we have folks that are visiting with us today. There's no doubt in my mind that we are living in the end times. In fact, the Bible says that that began on the day of Pentecost. The church age runs concurrent with the end times, up to a certain point. So I'm going to talk about that. But I guess I need to do this, since I don't have the other chart. Let me do this. Let me give you a quick run-through of this, just to bring you up to speed, because there are some people that don't know, and we'll work on the other chart later. Of course, this is a timeline. This is a timeline. That is the cross, when Jesus died. Now, prior to that, over here somewhere, see my nice fancy? Isn't that fancy? See that? Prior to that is the Old Testament age. The Old Testament age. The New Testament age, safely we can say, begins at the time of the crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, then you have 70 A.D. What is 70 A.D.? Well, 70 A.D. was when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, okay? That is very, very important because Jesus talked about that in Matthew 24, and he defined that destruction in Luke chapter 21. So, it's very, very important. Jesus predicted it. It happened in 70 A.D. Now, This period of time right here, and it's not on your chart, this period of time right here is something that we call the Church Age. Okay, Pastor Monty, what is that? In answer to the question of my sermon, where are we? We are currently living in the Church Age. Oh, Pastor Monty, when does that end? I don't know. It ends though at the rapture of the church. Now I'll get into that because I know I have people in the audience who have not a clue what I'm talking about. I'll get into that in a moment. But the church age, this is an unspecified period of time that will end with the rapture of the church. Now, this over here is only seven years. This is not proportional. This over here has been going on for in excess of 2,000 years. This is not proportional. This is just a seven-year time period, oftentimes referred to as the Tribulation Period, okay? The book of Revelation, the bulk of the book of Revelation, deals with details concerning that seven-year time period. At the close of that time period, Jesus will come back and he will establish his millennial kingdom. There will be Israel's national repentance. I've given a lot of related scripture to that. But here's the question. Well, where are we? Where are we? Now, a chart like this has some real benefits. The main benefit is this. It puts, we took all the Scripture and much, much more than I have on that chart. I couldn't fit it. You know, fully one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy. Did you all know that? One-fourth of the Bible is prophecy. So we've taken all the Scripture, pardon me, all the New Testament, we put it all together and kind of come up with this scheme. Okay, and I could talk about this for hours, but I will spare you. Where are we? We are somewhere in here, the Church Age, prior to the Rapture of the Church. Now one of the strengths of a chart like this is it kind of gives you a mental chronology. If you don't worry about memorizing all the details, you kind of know that we have Crucifixion, Church Age, Rapture, Tribulation Period, Second Coming, and the Millennial Kingdom. You can kind of look at that in a big general sense. So that's easy to remember. One of the weaknesses of a chart like this is that it does not show time spaces. Now, this is a time space right here, where we're living right now, the Church Age. I mentioned Jeremiah 30, verse 3, Hosea 3, verse 4. This is a time space where we're living in. But a lot of people have an erroneous interpretation. This gets a little deep, folks. You've got to follow me this morning. A lot of people erroneously believe that immediately after the rapture of the church, the tribulation starts, because the rapture starts the tribulation. No! You hear what I just said? No. Okay, well, Pastor Monty, it looks like that on the chart. Well, we could have, and maybe should have, put a little parenthesis right there. Because we do not know, after the church is gone, how long it will take for the tribulation period to begin. Now, I personally think it'll be fairly quick, not the next day. Well, Pastor Monty, how will we know when that seven-year time clock starts ticking? How do we know? You want to know how to know? The Antichrist will sign a peace treaty with Israel. period. That's how you will know. That presupposes that there has been conflict against Israel on a major scale. We will know that the tribulation period has begun when the Antichrist goes into a peace covenant with the nation of Israel. So not necessarily right after the rapture. My guess would be that it would be fairly close, but not necessarily. Okay? It could be many, many years. You say, Pastor Monty, what are you getting to? The Lord's coming and the rapture, what I talked about in the beginning of the message, the Lord's return for His saints, what we call the rapture of the saints, that is imminent. Imminent. It has been imminent since the first century. Pastor Monty, what do you mean by imminent? In other words, he could come for his saints, the church, at any moment. He could come at any moment. I've already been asked this past week, well, Pastor Monty, do you think that the big earthquake in Japan is a sign of the rapture? No. Do I think it's a sign of the tribulation period? Yes. Now you've got to listen. You have to tune into what I'm saying. There is a difference because the rapture cannot be predicted. No man knows the day nor the hour. The rapture cannot be predicted. That could happen before this sermon is over. And that doesn't mean it's going to be a super long sermon, but that could happen. before the sermon is over. So the Lord could come at any moment. Now watch this, just to help you with your understanding. The Lord could have returned right there. He could have returned right there. He could have returned right there. He could have returned right there. Why? Because it is imminent. The New Testament teaches that every generation of believers should be eagerly anticipating and looking for the return of Christ and the rapture. Your Bible's open to 1 Thessalonians. Look what it says, chapter one. I just want to give you a quick outline on this. I spoke on this some months ago, but I'll refresh your memory. Look at what Paul says, 1 Thessalonians chapter one. The whole book was written because they were confused about this matter of the Lord's return. And he admonishes the church and encourages the church in verse number 10, chapter 1, 1 Thessalonians, note this, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Now what was he expecting? The church at Thessalonica, which no longer is there. It's not there. Pastor Money, how do you know? I was at Thessalonica a couple months ago with a bunch of you all. It's not there. There are other churches there, but the actual church at Thessalonica is no longer there. The first century church is not there. But what did Paul say to them? He said, your job, church, is to wait for the coming of Christ. He did not say, oh, the coming of Christ is over 2,000 years from now, and so just sit back and don't worry about it. No, no, he didn't say that. Because Paul did not know when Jesus would come in the rapture. He didn't understand that. Now, by the way, when I talk about the coming of Christ, look at your chart again, the rapture is the first part of his coming, and then the second coming is the second part, okay? Understand that. There are two different parts to what we call, in general, the second coming, the rapture of the church. So Paul said this, to the church, at Thessalonica. He said, you be waiting. You be waiting. Do you know what we're supposed to do, church? We're supposed to wait. Let me tell you this. I don't know when, but I know Jesus is coming again. Pastor Monty, you're going to answer where we are on the prophetic. I am. I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Hold your horses. You need to see this. It is imminent. Jesus could come at any moment. Look, if you will, at chapter two, please. Chapter two. Verse number 19, the Bible says, for what is our hope or joy? What is our hope or joy? Ah, pass them on in 2024 election, Donald Trump. I love Donald and I'm voting for him. But you know what? That's not my hope or joy. My hope or joy is that in 2024 Jesus will take his church out. That's my hope and joy. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Then he says this, are not ye, speaking to the Thessalonians, are not ye, even ye, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, note the next words, at his coming? No, wait a minute, Pastor Mike, that church is gone. You just said that church is gone. Yeah, it's been gone for a long time. Well, how does this compute? Because at His coming, in the rapture, the first thing that happens is all church-age saints will be resurrected. Paul talked about that. He said, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and we shall all be changed. So what's going to happen? Paul and the rest of the first century saints, they're going to, all the dead saints, they're going to immediately arise when that trumpet sounds. And that could happen at any moment. And so Paul said, our hope and joy of rejoicing is that Jesus is coming again. Okay, look, if you will, at chapter number three, please. Chapter number three. Look at the end of the chapter, verse 13. Chapter 3, verse 13. To this end he may establish your hearts, speaking to the church of Thessalonica, be strengthened in your hearts. To this end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, up there it is again, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Now that has specific reference to his second coming over here. But do you see how in this chapter, in these chapters, there is a continual reference to the coming of Christ, whether it be the rapture of the church or his second coming? And of course, 1 Thessalonians 4, look at chapter 4, verse number 13, please. Everyone looking, chapter 4, verse 13. Paul says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, those who have died. The word asleep is a euphemism for those who have died. I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Now I want every eye up here. Look at me, look at me. The key is what you believe. Do you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? And I'm not just saying you believe it happened up in your head. I want to drill down on this. Do you believe in Christ in your heart? Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins according to the Scriptures? Do you believe that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures? And are you trusting in His death, burial, and resurrection to get you to heaven? Well, Pastor Monty, come on, I'm just doing the best I can. I'm trying to be clean, live a decent life for the most part. That's not going to get you anywhere. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You cannot work your way to heaven. The Bible says that salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done. My works, as good as they might be in the eyes of man, are garbage in the eyes of God. I cannot pull myself up by the bootstraps, clean myself up good enough to be acceptable to a holy God. Pastor Monty, what in the world do I do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When he died on the cross, he died as a sacrifice for our sins. He who knew no sin, scripture says, became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. When Jesus died on the cross, he took all of God's wrath against me and my sin, against you and your sin, and he bore that wrath in the divine judgment of God. And in order to be saved, what makes you a Christian? What makes you a Christian? I pass money, I go to church. Your presence in a building doesn't make you a Christian. No more than my presence in a garage turns me into a mechanic. How many know that's true? Yeah, yeah. I know just enough about auto repair to be a very dangerous man. Coming into a building doesn't make you a Christian. Faith in Christ makes you a Christian. Understand that, please. By the way, we had a baptism this morning, but going under the waters of baptism does not make you a Christian. That's regular well water. No, it's not well water. It's city water. This is city water. It's just normal city water from Hendricks County, okay? You're lucky if you don't get cancer off of that. It's just normal whatever, wherever that comes from, okay? it doesn't cleanse your sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's not water, folks. What makes the difference is your personal faith in Christ. And so Paul says, I would not have you to be ignorant. Verse 13, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep or are dead in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord." Okay, those that are alive and remain. So let's say the Lord was going to come in 10 minutes. Okay, I think most of you are going to survive the next 10 minutes. Those of us who are alive and remain, here's what's going to happen. He says, those of us who are alive and remain under the coming Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. The idea of prevent means to precede them. We're not going to go before them, we're not getting in their way. Verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Everyone look at me. Has that happened yet? No, it has not happened yet. The dead in Christ have not rised first, yet. They one day will. Well, Pastor Monty, you know, I just don't know if I follow all your prophecy ideas. Why don't you follow Paul's? One of the best questions you can ask yourself is this, when you're looking at Bible prophecy, has it happened yet? And if it hasn't happened yet, that means it's going to happen in the future. And Paul says, our hope in Christ is based on the fact that those who have died will not, we won't precede them. Those who are died will be raised. For the Lord himself, verse 16, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Okay, well, what about us? 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. Pastor Monty, what in the world does that mean? That means the dead in Christ are raised first. That means at that same trumpet sound, I am transformed. This body of mortality will fall away. I will be given a glorified body of immortality, and I will meet Jesus in the clouds. You say, wait a minute, Pastor Monty, you mean just poof and we're gone? Yeah. Let's use the words of the Apostle Paul. He said, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, faster than your eye can recognize something, it's even faster than a blink, faster than your eye can recognize something, we'll be gone. Poof! You mean, Pastor Monty, like, if that happened right now, most of us would be gone? I hope so, most of you. I don't think all of us would be gone. pastor walk-in water the plants i don't know what's going to happen i i you know we got it i think someone around for building maintenance and repair and and and don't know but The truth of the matter is, yes, if you've believed on Jesus, if you've trusted Him in a moment, you mean, Pastor, that could happen in 2024? Yes. And you know what? I'm to comfort, look at the last verse of the chapter, wherefore comfort one another with these words. Okay, if this thing is sometime way off in the future, years down in the future, or if I can predict it, that's not a comfort to anybody. But if I can comfort somebody by saying, look, this world is not all there is. Look, there's going to be life beyond this world. Look, there's going to be a moment when everything that we find so crazy and disjointed and wrong and unjust will be settled in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. When every heartache that I right now have as a Christian, when every burden that I right now bear, when every time I get up in the morning and I think to myself, I wish I didn't have to open my eyes today because of what I have to face, when all of that hits me, my hope, my joy is that trumpet might sound. That's what imminency means. It means I can, in a living state, expect the return of the Lord. Now, I don't know if it'll be this year, but that's part of the expectation. Now, drop down to... Chapter 5, drop down to chapter 5, look at verse number 23. Notice how much he talks about the coming of the Lord in this book of the Bible. Chapter 5, verse 23, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless, note the next words, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know, well, Pastor Mahoney, you're just one of those stump-jumping, old-fashioned, Bible-preaching, prophecy-peddling morons that speaks in sensationalism. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm preaching to you the Bible. If you've never heard this before, maybe it's just because you haven't read that. The Apostle Paul based the entire theme of 1 Thessalonians, one of the most significant books, and the earliest book written in our New Testament. He based that entire theme on one thing, that Jesus Christ is coming again. The idea that he's coming again to take up his church, both dead and living, that idea is not some kind of thing that someone formulated some hundred years ago and figured it out. No, no, no. That is something that has been in the pages of that Bible since the moment the oldest book of the New Testament was penned under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. That is something that has been the hope and expectation of the church. That is something that we look to. And you ask yourself the question, has any of this happened yet? And the grand answer is no. We're still here. Could it happen today? The grand answer is yes. But having said that, the question still remains, where are we? Are we here? It's hard to keep this thing still because I've had so much coffee. It's so jittery, it's so jittery. Are we here? Are we here? Now there's 2,000 years has elapsed, you know, 2,000 years plus, but are we here? Are we here? Are we here? Are we here? Are we here? The answer is, I don't know about the rapture of the church, listen carefully, but I do know, and this is where you gotta get this. If you don't get this, you'll get all confused. I do know that the tribulation period, that seven years that follows, we're not sure how long after the rapture, I do know that the tribulation period has certain indicators before it. In other words, the stage never had to be set for the rapture of the church because that's imminent. It could have happened at any time. But before the tribulation period can happen, Certain things had to happen. Not for the rapture. Are you following me? Are you following me really good here? Okay, trail with me, track with me, track with me. Not for the rapture, but for the tribulation period. So what are some of those things? Number one, and I'll go into this in some detail, in Matthew chapter 24, verses six and seven, Jesus talked about there shall be wars and rumors of wars. Nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Now look this way. Well, Pastor Monty, that means every little skirmish indicates the tribulation period is close. No, I don't think so. So in my new Sunday School series, I talked to our class about how we need to look at the Bible from the standpoint of Hebrew idioms. An idiom is a manner of speaking, a form of speech. And it's interesting, when you study that, that a lot of those things are embedded both in our Old and New Testament. And if you don't understand what the idiom was, you don't understand the meaning, and you get all confused about it. As I was studying out this portion of scripture over the past week, one of the scholars that I read prolifically made the observation that when Jesus said he spoke of wars and rumors of wars, a nation shall rise against nation, He said that's actually a Hebrew idiom. He said everyone listening to Jesus would have understood what he meant, that it wasn't just, oh, there's a war here and a war there. He said that phraseology is used twice in the Old Testament, one in relationship to the land of Egypt, where when that phraseology is used, it means a conflict that will encompass the entire land of Egypt. And another time it is used in regard to the Middle East, Palestine being the center, that this conflict will encompass the entire area of the Middle East, or Israel, and beyond the entire area of the Middle East. And he made the interesting remark. He said the words wars and rumors of war have to do with a war that is all-encompassing based upon the context of what Jesus was saying. Well, Matthew 24, the context is worldwide. No question about that. So Jesus was saying that when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. When you hear about that, it's not talking about a localized conflict. It's not just talking about the Ukraine and Russia or Hamas and Israel. It's not just talking about that. What it's talking about is a huge worldwide conflagration that will take place prior to the Tribulation period. Now can I ask you a question? This is not a hard question. This is not a trick question. In history, has there ever been a war or two? Well, that was a hint. You know, when I used to teach Christian school, I just gave kids too many hints. They all got A's and that was my fault. And it wasn't because any of them were smart. Of course, World War I and World War II were the first fully worldwide conflagrations that the world has ever known. Could that be a fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24? I tend to think that it was. In that same prophecy, Jesus talks about earthquakes. You can go look online or do some research. The number of earthquakes that have hit this world on a major scale since 1800. has increased so dramatically that people are now, geologists are now saying, we're living in a very active earthquake time. More than at any other time recorded in history. Pestilence. Pastor Monty, what's a pestilence? A communicable disease. You get the idea? I mean, we just went through a worldwide pandemic. Okay, plandemic, pandemic, pardon me. You figure that out. What are you saying? Those things, listen carefully, they're not predictors of the rapture. But they are predictors of the end times in which we're living. So those are some events. What's another event? Israel. The nation of Israel. The nation of Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. Everything the Bible teaches about prophecy is Israel and specifically Jerusalem-centric. In other words, when the Bible talks about the events of the book of Revelation, Israel has to be a nation again. You can't have a literal fulfillment without a literal Israel. It has to be a nation again. Everything, Old and New Testament, assumes in future events of Bible prophecy, it is all assumptive that the nation of Israel exists again, and Israel exists again. Now, Pastor Monty, you're saying Jesus couldn't come in the rapture of the church before Israel was a nation. I didn't say that at all. He could've come. and then Israel becomes a nation, and then a number of things happen, and then the Tribulation period. Are you tracking with me, church? I know this is bending some of your minds. Are you tracking with me? Track with me for a minute, okay? Sure, Jesus could have come at any moment, but prior to the Tribulation period, for sure, Israel has to be a nation. Why? Because Israel is center stage for the activity of the Tribulation that is described in the book of Revelation. It's center stage for that. So we know that happened, May 14th, 1948. What else happened? Has to happen. According to the Bible, Jerusalem has to be under Jewish control. Oh, that happened on May 14th, 1948. No, it didn't. No, it didn't. So that was their war of independence. They didn't gain control of the old city of Jerusalem until 1967. But that happened. They control the old city. Well, Pastor Marty, do you believe that there is a prediction that Israel will be gathered together in unbelief? Yes. The Jewish people are in unbelief. They've rejected their Messiah, but they've been gathered together in that land in unbelief. I could give you five passages from the Old Testament that predict a gathering together of unbelief, one of them being the passage I read a moment ago in Ezekiel chapter 38. But then there's another event. And don't worry, this'll be part two tonight. Pasquimani, you haven't gone to Ezekiel. I'll have to do it tonight. Because World War I and World War II, worldwide event, wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, that's fulfilled. Pestilence, earthquake activity, that's fulfilled. The nation of Israel reestablished, May 14th, 1948, that is fulfilled. Jerusalem under Jewish control again, that is fulfilled. Pastor Monty, what else? Tonight we'll hit it. A chapter. that most of you who've been in church for decades have never heard touched, Ezekiel 38. Tonight we're going to deal with the Gog and Magog conflict. And let me give you a little teaser. I personally believe that that conflict will take place prior to the Tribulation. I have reasons for believing that. Have you ever thought about this? For a while, after World War II and the Holocaust, everybody was like, yeah, six million Jews died. We better love the Jewish people. The United Nations, which wouldn't give them a penny today, gave them a country back in 1948. But what's the world's attitude toward Israel now? It stinks. It stinks. What about the Russians? Can't stand Israel. What about the nations of the former Soviet Republic? They can't stand Israel. What about the nations of the world? What about Europe? They can't stand Israel. And there is an increasing anti-Semitism. Listen carefully. that could very well lead to or be an excuse for the conflict described in Ezekiel 38. Pastor Motti, could that happen before the Lord returns and the rapture of the church? It sure could, sure could. Could it happen afterwards? It sure could. Because I don't know when this is happening, but I think tonight I'm going to point out that we are right on the precipice of worldwide, at least a coalition-wide movement against the nation of Israel. Where are we? Where are we? If I had to guess, note the word I used. If I had to guess, oh, where are we? If I had to guess, we're pretty close. I don't know for sure. That's a total gas on my part. But the stage has never been better set. Tonight we'll dig into what is this Gog Magog thing? What in the world does that mean? And I think you'll be amazed at the clarity that the prophet brings. But Pastor Mighty, how does this apply to my life? I can tell you how. I can tell you how. Get on God's side. If you're not a Christian, I want you to become a Christian. I'm not asking you to become a Baptist. I'm just saying get saved, become a Christian. Get on God's side because to not be on God's side would be a horrible and perilous place to be as every word of that Bible is unfolded in the coming days. Father, I pray you'll take the word of God. Help us, Lord, to Look, as you have said in the Word, for the coming of Christ and the rapture of the Church. That is our blessed hope. We pray with the Apostle John, even so come Lord Jesus. And now I pray, Father, that if there's anyone here that does not know you as Savior, what a great way to start the year. giving their life to Christ. Maybe there's someone here who needs to recommit their life to Christ, get some things right with God, and take it all more seriously in their life. Then what a great decision that would be. Father, please work in a way that only you can. Speak to hearts through your Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. Let's stand