Welcome to Bible Believers Fellowship. I'm Pastor Greg and I'm glad you've chosen to join us for this study of the imminent rapture. Bible-believing Christians have always believed that Jesus could appear at any moment and rapture believers out of this earth before pouring out his wrath on a wicked, unbelieving, and rebellious world that had joined with the Antichrist and received his mark. That phrase, any moment, is really the simple definition to the word imminent. Thus we speak of the imminent rapture when we talk about the pre-tribulation rapture of believers. In this study we will see that the Bible clearly teaches an imminent rapture. We must be ready to leave this world at any moment. and we must not allow in time scoffers to talk us out of our biblical belief in this important fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith. Bible believers believe in the imminent pre-tribulation rapture of the church. This will give you a little introduction that the word imminent means any moment. That's what the word means, any moment. The issue is that all Christians have always believed in the imminent rapture, and I'm talking about Bible-believing Christians. Only those who reject the authority of Scripture have rejected this doctrine of the imminent rapture. There are only two views within Bible-believing Christianity, and I use that term a little loosely here, because only two views that hold to this doctrine called the imminent rapture. One is the view that we hold, which is this pre-trib rapture view, that at any moment Jesus is going to rapture the church out, and then will come a time of great tribulation, And there's a little bit of time between the rapture and the tribulation starting, because the rapture doesn't trigger the Great Tribulation. The rapture happens, and then at some point after that, the Antichrist establishes or confirms the covenant. for one week, which is seven years. Then after that, you could start the seven-year countdown. And at the end of that seven years, Jesus then returns, this time not to rescue anybody, this time He comes in judgment and He kills billions. There's a huge difference between the rapture and the return. And we have a message on that. Now, we believe that he comes back to kill those who have rejected him and are in rebellion against him. And he establishes his kingdom in Jerusalem, and he sits on a throne for a thousand years. And then at the end of that thousand years, the devil has been cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years. And at the end of that thousand years, he loses Satan one more time. Why? So that all those who hate him will have one last chance to die. That's it. And those people are killed, they then stand before a great white throne with all the unsaved throughout time, and they are judged according to their works, which will show that all their works are as filthy rags, and they will be cast into an everlasting lake of fire. Now the other view is what's called amillennialism. Amillennialism teaches that there is no millennium. That it's all figurative, spiritualize it. They'll read a passage and say that one sentence is literal because it talks about its first coming and then read the part about its second coming and then spiritualize it. It makes no sense whatsoever, but that's what they hold. That, though, is the only other view that teaches the imminent rapture, because they believe that at any moment, it's over. There's no Antichrist, Great Tribulation, no Millennium, any of that. They spiritualize it all. But they do believe at any moment, Jesus comes back. Now, throughout the centuries, the only people who have not believed the premillennial coming of Christ and his kingdom are those who follow the Pope. It's that simple. And if the Pope is your God, then reject the Millennium, and reject this, what you're going to hear this morning. But if the Bible is your authority, the Bible says, and we're going to see over and over and over, the Bible says He could come at any moment. So you have to ask yourself a question. Do I believe the Bible? That shouldn't be a difficult question. to find an answer to. And if you believe the Bible, then you really have two choices then. Do I believe it literally, or do I make everything figurative? And if I believe it literally, the only option is that Jesus is going to come at any moment before the tribulation, which is what we call the pre-trib rapture. Now, this headline, I believe very well could be the kind of headline you see the day after the rapture. But notice it says millions, not billions. There are seven and a half billion people on this planet. There'll be a few million disappear. A lot of churches, they won't notice. And so they'll say, well, this couldn't have been the rapture. We're Christians. Why didn't we go? So then they'll start saying it was spirit guides and the aliens and abductions and all that weird stuff. And that's why Hollywood put so much effort into getting that stuff in your head. So that if you're one of those left behind, you'll be ready for the delusion. Amen. Now if you want to turn there, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 is where we're going to start. Now, I've got a lot of scripture to cover, and I'm not going to be able to sit and wait for everybody to turn all these, so please take notes. And if I move too quickly, it's always on the screen. Take notes, look it up later on. You should always do that. The Bereans check everything. Everything I say, get that book out, go home, check me out. And we're going to look at 1 Thessalonians 1, beginning in verse 9. And I'm going to read verse 9, then you can join me in the next verse. It says, For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. You turn from idols. That means you turn from all false religion. You're not a Buddhist Christian, or a Muslim Christian, or a New Age Christian, or a gay Christian, or anything. You're a Christian. You turn from idols to serve the living and true God. Then it says in verse 10, read that with me. And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. We're going to look at two phrases in that verse, but I want you to look real close. That's supposed to describe you right now. You are supposed to be waiting for His Son from heaven. Not seven plus years from now. Now! Not three and a half years. Now! Not at the end, but right before He pours out. Now! You're supposed to wait for His Son from heaven. That's what it means to believe in the imminent rapture. That you're looking at any moment for Him to come from heaven. And there are people who try to deny it, but that's unreasonable and ridiculous to look at that passage and deny that it teaches imminency. It says you are right now supposed to be waiting for Him. That's what imminency is. And there's only way you can be looking for Him to come right now, and that is if the rapture happens at any moment before the tribulation. There's no other explanation to it. And folks, I have to tell you, I talk to people, I get emails and phone calls and letters and everything from people, they never deal with the issues. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to lay it out there, I'm just putting it out there for everybody to understand this, that the majority of people that I know either have never been taught, and I'm not going to play games, we've got some folks here now, we've had folks in the past who have never been taught this. Don't feel bad if you're not able to answer every question, you don't know everything about it. But, look at the scripture, believe what it says. Forget what some guy on the internet said in some video. Forget what some preacher might have told you. If the Bible says this, then that's what we are to believe. And I have found that the majority of people, I'm not saying everybody, because like I said, a lot of people have never been taught, but there are a lot of people who know this doctrine better than most any of us in this room and they reject it. And they do so because of unbelief. We had somebody post on our Facebook page this week and said, are you ready to endure in case Jesus doesn't rapture us out? I said, that's like saying, are you ready to burn in hell when you find out Jesus didn't pay for your sins? It's the same statement of unbelief. Jesus died for your sins, paid for your sins. If you're saved, you're going to heaven. Don't get prepared to burn in hell, just in case. Now look at the last part of this passage. Let me come back to that in a second. Hold on. Look what it says. Which delivered us, past tense, from the wrath to come. That's the great tribulation. That's not hell. You are delivered. If you believe you're saved, are you saved? Do you believe you're delivered from the wrath to come? Then you're delivered. Period. Now, let me backtrack here for a second. I want to mention this. Good question. I ask this and never get an answer. How can you be waiting for Jesus to return while knowing there is a seven year time of tribulation? Horrendous beyond words, by the way. Jesus said it would be like a time we've never experienced on this planet. It doesn't start until the Antichrist steps up to confirm the covenant for seven years. Folks, I can say with all confidence that if the rapture is not pre-trib, if the rapture is not imminent, you ain't got nothing to worry about. Go do whatever, as long as you don't die, you're cool. Amen? Sin boldly. Why? Well, we know that He's not coming for seven plus years, because before Jesus can return, we've got to see this Antichrist set up a world government, confirm the covenant with Israel for seven years. So until you see that happening, Don't worry about it. That's how they're living. You know, they have these people who claim that they think they're going to go through this great tribulation period. They're not stocking up on anything. They're not building bunkers. They're not getting guns and ammo. They're not living out in the sticks so they can hide from everybody. And they're not winning souls. They're not preaching the gospel to anybody. Why? Because only the truth will produce fruit in you. Only the truth will produce fruit. People who reject the doctrine of the security of the believer, that you don't know you're saved, they're not soul winners. They don't go out ministering. Why? They're too worried about losing with the God. And if you don't have the peace that God promises to those who are saved, you feel like you've got a disease or something. Why would you want to spread that disease? Now what do you want to spread? You want to spread that you're saved. What do you want to spread? That Jesus could come at any moment. You want to get excited. Oh boy, the Antichrist is going to show up at any moment and start killing us! Yeah! Isn't it great? Yeah. Again, it's the confusion of the rapture and the return. The rapture is His gathering us together. The return is death. The return is vengeance. He's not saving anybody. And He says He brings His saints with Him at the return. He's not going to rapture them. He's bringing them back with Him. Why? Because we've been up in heaven for seven years. Plus. Amen? Now look, this is the anonymous. If you don't believe that He could come at any moment, you think you're going to go through the tribulation and everything, you don't have to worry about Jesus coming today. The Bible says to look for Him to come today, but ignore the Bible. Why? Because we've got to watch for a government that's going to be global. They've got to set up a global religion, going to have a global monetary system, going to be a global dictator with a global peace accord, and going to be a global mark on the right-hand forehead with seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vows, etc., etc. Listen, I'm just telling you. I'm just shooting straight. I don't know all of your background. I know some of you told me some of the churches you go to. You had bums for pastors. And they didn't teach you nothing. And they filled people with doubt in God's Word. That's true too, Tracy. You're right. It's not an excuse even though that bum is going to stand before Jesus Christ and answer for not teaching. Jesus said, let not many of us be masters, for we receive a greater condemnation. You don't think I got that memorized? And what I'm tired of, I'm not making excuses. Don't get me wrong, Teresa. Yes, you guys ought to all read your Bible. Everybody watching and listening should read your own Bible. You should be Bereans. You should study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Psalm 1, etc., etc. But, remember Jeremiah? God prophesied and said, your pastors have led you astray. Your shepherds have led you astray. So I don't get as angry at the rank and file. But I do get angry, and if you see it, I do get angry. And if you think it's a sin to get angry, burn your NIV, it's filled you with lies. The Bible says, that's right, Jesus got angry. But not in the NIV, because it's garbage. The Bible says, if any man is angry with his brother without a cause, the NIV rips that without a cause out and makes Jesus a sinner. Burn it. Well, all the Vatican versions do that. But that's, you know, you've got fake Bibles with fake preachers preaching false doctrine. Why? Because if they can keep you under their thumb and keep you subject to them, we've got to go to the Greek and we've got to go to the Hebrew and since you're stupid and I know Greek and Hebrew, ha, gotcha. You can make your check payable to Gregory Miller. Please, a minimum of $1,000. That's what they do. Hey, I could have been the next Benny Hinn. You want me to do it one week? We'll have a charismatic service here one week. I'll speak in tongues better than Benny and Pat Robertson combined. And I will heal more people than they ever did. That's just mean. I'm going to repeat that. Only the imminent pre-trib rapture fulfills this requirement. That's just a fact. Look in Hebrews 9.28. Hebrews 9.28. I told you before, I'm going to try to move through these because there's a lot of passages, a lot of Scriptures we want to look at. Hebrews 9.28. Now I want to tell you something. When Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead, 40 days later He ascended to heaven. His followers looked to heaven for Him to return any moment. Why not us? Why not? Just lack of understanding, unbelief. Because the Bible says they looked up to heaven and were going to return right then. And the angels showed up and said, you stupid idiot, he's not coming back for at least seven years. Go find something to do. No, he didn't say that. He said, hey, he's going to come back exactly the way he left. But you don't know when. They lied. They lied, if this isn't true. Because I know exactly when Jesus is coming back. Seven years after the end of Christ confirms the covenant. What was He talking about? He was talking to believers about Jesus coming back for them. Not when Jesus comes back to kill everybody. Folks, you've got to get that. When He comes back a second time, He's going to kill everybody who did not believe in Him. That's not the rapture. Now look what it says in Hebrews 9.28. Read that with me. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Maybe. I mean, you know, we think maybe that's true, but I think he might have come over to the Americas and died for the American Indians, which you all get that Book of Mormon. It's really, you know... Amen? See, that's where unbelief is going to lead you. Heresy begets heresy. When you doubt the simple truths of Scripture, you're going to end up out there. That's where people are ending up right now. Just go on the internet and look at these guys who are rejecting these clear teachings. They end up in Lolo Land. Not Lolo Land, Lala Land. Continue with me. And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. That's a scary Bible verse for those who are not looking for Him. Now I'm not saying that if you're saved and taught wrong, you're going to be left behind. But what I am saying is what this verse is saying. That those who are saved ought to be looking for Him. If you're saved, you ought to be looking for Him. Listen, you know what? A lot of the folks who reject the preacher of rapture and start regurgitating the stuff they've learned, they don't understand. If you trace back who started teaching this stuff, attacking the rapture, a bunch of queers. You go back to the 19th and early 20th century and the people who published books and attacks on the rapture were homos. And they don't just attack the rapture, they attack the virgin birth, they attack the resurrection, they attack everything else. If you do your homework, you'll find out that's true. Now, if you believe the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation must come first, then you are not looking for Jesus, you're looking for the Antichrist. Let's make us some t-shirts. Bible Believers Fellowship, looking for the Antichrist. That's the truth. If you don't believe that the rapture could happen at any moment, then you're looking for the antichrist. Why do you think those books sell so many? Oh, I've identified Henry Winkler as the antichrist or whatever. Why do those books sell like they do? Oh, it's Henry Kissinger, wasn't it? Anyway, if you're not looking for Jesus to appear at any moment, then you're looking for the Antichrist, period. I know there's some people going to watch this that I've talked to recently, and I said this to them, and they just lied to me and said, no, they're not. Yes, you are. Say whatever you want. The next thing to happen for you if you don't believe the rapture is going to happen at any moment and before the tribulation, you are looking for the Antichrist. And the Bible never tells you to do that. Looking for that wretched scoundrel and the unglorious, wicked man of sin. It never says anything like that. It says looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing. A lot of it just comes down to common sense. But this is something that was written in 100 A.D., right as the Bible itself was being finished. And the book of Revelation was written, we think, around 95-100 A.D. This is what we don't know exactly who wrote, but we know it was from that period. It says, quote, Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your lorns unloosed, but be ye ready. For ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. That's what Christians believed when the apostles were alive. Because the apostles taught that. That's what Christians ought to be believing. Why would we be looking for Him if His return was not imminent? Why would we follow that 100 A.D. admonition? The very idea that we are to be looking requires His return to be imminent. Now, some people say, well, the word imminent isn't in the Bible, and we've repeated this over and over. Neither is the word rapture, neither is the word trinity, neither is the phrase second coming, neither is the word incarnation, neither is the word Bible. It doesn't mean anything. We use words to communicate. It's easier to say imminence than to say, well, Jesus could come back at any moment. There's nothing else that needs to be done. He could appear in the next second. Or I could just say, His return is imminent. See? I could say, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God, but there's not three gods. There's one God and three persons. Or I could say, Trinity. See how it simplifies things when you use words. Now Luke 12. Jesus is speaking here in Luke 12, 37 and 38. And He said, "...Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." Now I've got to stop there. You're going to be in the tribulation period. The whole world's gone to hell. Mountains are being leveled. The moon has turned to blood. The sun has darkened. Men are crying for the mountains to fall on them and kill them, etc., etc. And you're not looking for Him to return? Everybody's going to be looking for Him to return. Even the unbelievers. It says they don't reject His return. They don't reject the fact He's coming back. They reject Him and they blaspheme the heavens. They scream up at God and use His name in vain. It's not a matter of whether or not they know He's going to return. It's that they're holding their fist up in defiance. So why would Jesus say, blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching? Everybody's going to be watching. They're going to be looking for some... If you're a believer and you've survived and not been killed by the Antichrist for not taking the mark, you're pleading for him to return. It's just a fact that those who do not hold this imminency of the rapture, they grow bored with the discussion and indifferent to the encouragement this brings, and that's just a fact. You'll find that their goal is, I read a blog statement from a Calvary Chapel lady that I had read a few years ago, and I went back and checked her blog, and she's left Calvary Chapel now, not over any legitimate reason, which there are some legitimate reasons to leave, but she left because she got sick of hearing about Jesus coming back. Why? Because she bought into that post-trip stuff and she got tired of hearing about Jesus coming back. That's what will happen. You want to hear more about the New World Order, hey, you know, I believe in being informed. I keep up to date on all that stuff. But that is stuff that reminds me that He's coming at any moment. I don't get caught up in that stuff, I get bored. Thinking about his return. Look how it ends. It says, Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And watch this, And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. What's he mean? He's saying he could come at any moment for his people, his servants, he could come at any moment. He makes a difference between Him coming for His servants and Him coming back to kill people. Jesus makes the difference. So should we. Now, I want to say this and we'll look at it. We're going to look. The Lord raises the possibility of His coming in the second and third watches, which would be the rapture, as opposed to the fourth watch. He speaks of coming in the fourth watch. But He also speaks of a different coming in the second or third watch. In Mark 6, verse 48, it says, And he saw them toiling, for the wind was contrary unto them, and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed them by. Almost every commentary you read will say this is a type of the second coming. He comes to them, we're talking about Jews in tribulation. and the fourth watch. But when he talks about coming for his servants, he says it can happen anytime. And blessed are those who he finds watching when he comes. a a a a a a Precious name, oh how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven! Precious name, oh how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven! Oh, the precious name of Jesus! How it fills our souls with joy When His loving arms receive us And His songs our hearts employ Precious days, oh how sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious days, oh how sweet home of the brave, joy of man.