Latest / Calvary Chapel Devine, Texas Podcast / Rapture Ready: Embracing Faith and Facing Tribulations

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Rapture Ready: Embracing Faith and Facing Tribulations · Calvary Chapel Devine, Texas Podcast

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Music.
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How did I start all my words?
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Music.
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Let's test it. All right, good evening, everyone, and those of you who are watching
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online, welcome to Calvary Chapel Divine.
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This is our Wednesday night summer series, and we're just going to open up with prayer.
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If you can please stand graced if you can't, and then we'll head into worship.
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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for yet another day where we can come and
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worship you in spirit and truth.
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We come with humbled heads, bowed heads, and humbled hearts,
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Lord, and we thank you for knowing that there is a great need.
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Lord, we ask that you touch the various families throughout the greater state
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of Texas, New Mexico, Carolinas, all throughout the United States and across
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the world. God, we need you.
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Father, you are a provider like no other. Father, I just pray that us as a body,
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we can be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, Lord, that others may see and
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wonder why we do the things that we do, and that we would be able to share the
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hope and the love and the joy that we have in Christ.
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Father, comfort the hearts of many health issues.
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Father, whatever concerns that we may have, Lord, help us to be transparent
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and humble ourselves and know that there is peace when we surrender those burdens.
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Lord, you are the burden bearer.
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Father, guide us and keep us. Lord, as we are assembled here today,
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let's pray that, Father, that our hearts and our minds will be focused on you.
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Lord, that you will speak a word, Lord, that we may be better for it.
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Lord, touch now as Brother Jesse comes and delivers our worship music, Lord.
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And let us just lift our voices and just give you praise that you are worthy of.
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And Lord, we love you, we praise you, and we thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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You.
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Music.
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It's a person. There you go. Let's pray and then we'll say hi to each other.
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Give Jesse time to put that away. Father God, we thank you so much for just
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for us to be able to be together.
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And we do pray. We come before you. We ask, Lord, as we see such a need in Texas,
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whether it's in Kerrville or San Angelo, we pray for the families that are in need.
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We pray for the things that have been lost to loved ones.
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And we just ask, Lord, that you just continue those families and the friends
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and help them through this time of grief and bring peace that surpasses understanding
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into their life. Bring the comforter, Lord.
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And we're praying that for them. We just also pray for the recovery,
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all the people that are out there helping.
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We pray for the first responders that have been dealing with finding the bodies
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and just all of the stress and the anxiety that goes with that.
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But we pray, Lord, that you would be with them as well. Bring comfort to them.
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We thank you so much for what you're doing in this body. We thank you for this church.
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We ask, Lord, that you be with us as we get ready to dive into your word tonight.
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And that we would be rapture ready. Understanding that God can return in any moment.
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And we're just praying, Lord, that we would be ready.
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We thank you so much for all that you're doing. We ask these things in Jesus'
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name. Amen. Go ahead and say hi to somebody.
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Check check check there we go all right.
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All righty.
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Today we're in Chapter 8. Chapter 8. I'm trying to see if I can see. I bet it's been a week.
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I think we didn't leave. My mom's house is a house of boxes.
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And every time we put something in one place, she decides after we assemble
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it that it should go in another place.
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Come on now. I don't want you on the couch, bro. Don't let me put you on the
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couch. because I don't want to do that.
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But at the same time, we've been trying to help mom get settled and dock appointments
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and getting, they got their car and it's just been a whirlwind.
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But at the same time, we're trying to, we have a family out of San Angelo.
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I don't think a lot of people know that San Angelo flooded.
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San Angelo got the same flood the same day, but they didn't have the loss of
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life. And so there's a church, Calvary Chapel, San Angelo.
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There's a family in San Angelo that lost everything.
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House was completely flooded. They did have high, what is it,
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the water rescues and all that stuff.
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So I'm going up on Friday.
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So if you want to keep me in prayer, we're going to get pictures,
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going to get video, trying to figure out what we can do to help the family and
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how we can start sending some teams to go up there.
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If we do send people up, it'll be on a Friday afternoon.
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You'll have a place to sleep at the church.
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They'll be able to house you there. They have a kitchen and all that stuff.
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We'll make sure you're fed and all that.
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And then we'll come back on Saturday. We'll get up early in the morning,
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try to knock out as much work as we can, and try to be back on the road by 3
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o'clock because we have to be here for church.
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And we'll try to do, hopefully, you know, we're working with another church.
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And if we need more people, I'll invite another church that I can.
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But we want to try to at least take up. We have to do a fence.
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That's going to be a task within itself because those are never fun.
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And then sheetrock needs to go back up once they get the house dried out.
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And they have no furniture. They have, you know, I mean, it's everything.
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So with that being said, we're a small church. We'll try to help where we can.
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If it's just hands and feet, if it's treasure, whatever it is,
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we want to try to help out.
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And so just be in prayer for that. We're going to go up, take pictures,
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get video, talk to the homeowner and try to figure out what schedule and how it will work best.
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And we'll probably try to do one group that goes up and then another group that goes up.
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And if you can't make it, it's okay. There's no condemnation in Christ.
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And so don't, you know, we have some that are going on vacation.
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We have, it's just, it is what it is.
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So, and like I said, this is not going to be, unfortunately,
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this won't be the last flood.
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Won't be the last hurricane or the last tornado. There'll always be a need.
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But this is close to me because I mean, at the end of the day,
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it's one of our families and they're a small church like we are.
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And so they're trying to help as best they can but
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they they're crying out for help and and so we're
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going to try to help them out so we're going to pray and i
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know i just took all my time for the teaching but second
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chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 i was reading this today as part of our reading
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and i love the verse and it says my people who are called by my name humble
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themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways and i will
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hear from heaven i will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this
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place, for I know I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever.
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My eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. And I love that because for
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those of you that are children of God, you have the temple that goes with you everywhere you go.
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And so this has nothing to do with the rapture, but I just love the fact that
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we need to humble ourselves and pray.
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Right? Humble ourselves and pray and not be so prideful and not be holding on
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to sins and all that stuff that happens in our life because, you know,
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one day you wake up ready to celebrate the 4th of July.
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The next thing you know, you've lost everything within a few hours.
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So let's pray and we'll pray for the family. Father God, we thank you so much
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and we do lift up Calvary Chapel, San Angelo.
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We pray for the family as well. I pray for Beto, who's been trying to navigate
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his family through this, and he's also helping other family members as well,
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because they've had flooding as well.
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And so we just pray for them. We pray for their needs.
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But it says that, you know, when we humble ourselves and we come to you in prayer,
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your ear is attentive to hear from your children, and we want to keep seeking,
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keep asking, keep knocking.
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And I just pray for this family, and I pray for others.
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I know we've had some here in this own church that had flooding. We pray for them as well.
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And we just ask, Lord, for whatever the need is, whatever help that we can provide,
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whether it's hands and feet or whether it's the treasure of the church that
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we can help out. We want to do that.
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And we want to be busy doing what you've called us to do, just like the early church.
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And so let us not forget that. And so I pray for them. I lift them up.
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I pray for everyone here. and you know their situations, you know what's going
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on in their lives. And no matter how hard it may be or how deep the valley is,
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it just says, humble yourself and pray and just go before the Lord.
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And if we have sin, which we all do, even today, Lord, forgive us.
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Forgive us for getting angry. Forgive us for our greed. Forgive us for our covetousness.
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Forgive us for our lusts.
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All these different sins that we just allow in our lives, Lord.
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Forgive us and forgive our nation.
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We thank you. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
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So, tonight we are looking at the rapture. Now, there will be a lot of different
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discussions and what is believed and what is not believed.
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And I'm not getting into all the mid-trib and post-trib and all that stuff.
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I'm getting into what Calvary Chapel believes.
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If you want to dive deeper into all that wonderful stuff, you can go to GotQuestions.
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Or you can get with me and I'll give you some wonderful things that you can
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read that will hurt your head within about an hour.
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And so there's a lot of theological statements and things on it and all.
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But as Calvary Chapel, what we believe in is the rapture. And let's look at why.
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In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, it says, But we do not want you to be uninformed,
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brothers, about those who are asleep.
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They were worried about the people that had passed on the early church.
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Like what happens to them?
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He says that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
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For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God
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will bring him, when with him those who have fallen asleep.
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For this we declare to you by the word from the Lord that we who are alive,
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who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of a command and
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with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and
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the dead in Christ will rise.
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And then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them
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in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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And so we will also be with the Lord and therefore encourage one another with these words.
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And that word caught up is harpazo which
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is in the greek it means to carry off forcefully in
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the blink of an eye and and so people
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will argue man i've seen people argue whether the trinity is in the bible you
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can the word itself is not but you can show it within scripture and they'll
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say well rapture is not in the bible but you can see harpazo and you can see
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that it's caught up quickly,
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and they challenged the word, and they challenged the argument, and.
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When you look at the word itself, the Latin word actually comes from rapturo, which is the rapture.
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And so we know that in John 14, verses 1 through 3, it says,
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Let not your hearts be troubled.
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Believe in God. Believe also in me and my Father's house or many rooms.
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If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
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And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you
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to myself, that where I am you may be also.
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And so when we think about eschatology, which is just studying of end times,
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it's a fancy word, but it just means study of end times.
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And when we look at the pre-tribulation and pre-millennial eschatology,
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Calvary Chapel holds to that.
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That's what we believe in as Calvary Chapels. To be a Calvary Chapel association,
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this is what we believe in.
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And why do we believe that? Why would God leave the church back in the tribulation to be beat up?
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That's his bride, right?
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And so, you know, when we look at things like the premillennialism,
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and that just deals with Christ's second coming,
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and it also deals with the millennial kingdom, which is in Revelation,
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and it talks about the reign of a thousand years.
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And within that scripture, you see many views that are argued over that,
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But we believe that Christ will return and the rapture will happen.
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And we believe that his thousand year reign will happen.
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Matthew chapter 24, verse 25, it says, see, I have told you beforehand.
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Let me get back to where I was at. I jumped way ahead.
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But he says, see, I have told you beforehand. And so he's been telling us and
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showing us the scripture Jesus had in John 14, 29.
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And I have told you before it takes place so that when it does take place, you may believe.
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We hold on to that because we know in Revelation 20, verse 6,
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it says, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
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Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and
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of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
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And that's what we see, right? And so we understand, like, you don't want the second death.
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The second death means that your name was not written in the book of life.
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I would much rather be reigning for a thousand years. Now, there's a lot of
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theological arguments over this, right?
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But guess what? If they believe in Christ and they've given their heart to Christ
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and they're repented of their sins, whether they have a pre-trib,
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post-trib, or mid-trib, they're all going to be in heaven.
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And as you're caught up, you can go, see, I told you. I told you,
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bro. You didn't believe me.
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But the reality of it is, it's just understanding like we want to make sure
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that we share in the first resurrection.
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We don't want to be no part of the second death, but sadly, there are going
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to be many people that are part of that second death because they never chose
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to follow Jesus here on earth.
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It's once once you go you know
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once you you're absent from the.
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Body is to be present with the lord and once you if you
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didn't do it while you were here then it's
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done it's too late i've shared that story with y'all before about my grandparents
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my grandmama and granddaddy never talked about god never went to church not
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unless there was a you know deathbed confession they're in hell that's That's
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the importance of understanding.
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Like there are people in your life right now that may not know Christ.
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There are people that God puts in place for you at the H-E-B and the Walmart,
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and the Holy Spirit plonks you, but you won't go talk to them.
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It's remembering like at the end of the day, your time here on earth is not,
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you're not promised tomorrow. You need to live for Christ today.
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In 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 7 and 8, it says, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
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Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
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And then lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the
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breath of his mouth and reign to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
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And so he's talking about the second coming and he's talking about the coming
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of the Lord and for his church it draws near.
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And Satan's, we talked about Satan's time as short.
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And so that's why you see such division One of the things you're going to learn
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about this weekend Is the whole purpose of greed is to drive division It's another form of lust,
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And so when the false teacher uses greed He uses that to create division.
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And sadly, what happens is Satan loves division.
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And so anytime you see fighting and friction, you need to check and see,
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hey, man, is my heart right?
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Or is the other person's heart right? What's going on? Because we don't want division.
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We don't want Satan to be operating within the body of Christ.
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And yet he'll try to pull you away and get you to start division,
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whether it's in your marriage or your family or even in the church.
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But you have to remember that Satan is a liar.
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And the way that we resist Satan is by using the Word of God.
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We use the Word of God. And again, if you're not in God's Word, how do you defend it?
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We talked about it this past weekend, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life.
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We talked about the different types of people that are in the church,
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whether you're Abraham, right?
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You're pursuing Christ. You're worshiping God.
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You're seeking the Lord, right? You're not perfect, but you're still seeking
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God. You're still willing to worship.
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You're still trying to follow him. You're walking by faith, not by sight.
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He was a tent dweller. He never wanted to be in the cities because the cities
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were the place where the devil really loves to stir things up and get you to
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worship false gods and false teachers.
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But Lot wanted the city.
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And we said, which one are you? Are you Abraham or are you Lot?
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Are you one foot in the church and one foot in the world?
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As Lot gazed out, he loved the city. And he loved just being just a little bit above everybody.
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Because when you're in Sodom and Gomorrah and you're just a little bit of Christ, you look good.
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He was at the city gate. And Satan lied to him.
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He kept longing for it. God gives life through his truth.
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And Satan slays with his lies, and that's what he did with Lot's wife.
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Slayed her. She couldn't stop longing for Sodom and Gomorrah.
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And what did Jesus say? Remember Lot's wife.
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We need to understand that right now there's an antichrist walking this earth.
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That should skitter you.
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The devil is not all-knowing or all-powerful. So he has to have an antichrist
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walking every generation ready to go.
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So there's one. Now, don't go be looking at pastors going, well,
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they said this is the Antichrist, and they said that's the Antichrist.
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You can look at the Word of God, and you know that there's somebody walking
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around right now that is the Antichrist, and there's judgment that is going to come.
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In Titus 2, verse 13, it says, Waiting for our blessed hope,
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the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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That's what we should be doing is waiting for Jesus.
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And then Luke chapter 31 verse 36 says, but stay awake at all times,
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praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going
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to take place and stand before the Son of Man.
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He doesn't say praying that you have the strength to make it through. He says what? Escape.
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To escape. If you cling to Jesus and he's your savior and your shepherd,
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you should be awake at all times.
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The devil just loves walking you to sleep in your sin.
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Just gently, hey, it's okay you can do that, right? It's not going to hurt nobody.
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It's sad, but it's the reality. Like when we look at the rapture,
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we're supposed to be alert and ready.
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We're supposed to be anticipating it coming. And I remember,
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you know, Pastor Sandy Adams from Stone Mountain, Georgia, Calvary Chapel.
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He was like, man, I wake up every morning being rapture ready,
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knowing that this could be the day that Jesus returns.
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I don't want to be caught doing something I'm not supposed to be doing.
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I want to be busy when he catches me. I'm either preaching, studying.
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Spending time with my family, nurturing my marriage, and then boom, it happens.
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And then I don't want to be caught looking at something I'm not supposed to be looking at.
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There's so many people wrapped up in in pornography it
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it ruins their mind they talk
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about the way that that now that these kids are as young as eight years old
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they're addicted to it and it's worse than heroin the the what it receives and
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what it what it craves is it's the same craving that you have for heroin so
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if you're messing around with that stuff It's another addiction,
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It's sad But that's Again, what is it going to catch you doing?
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Stay awake at all times.
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Saying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are going
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to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.
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And so we're rapture ready in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 50 through 58.
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It says, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
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of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
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Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed
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in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
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And that that in the twinkling of the eye
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of the eye and the greek actually means instantly at
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the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will
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be raised imperishable and we shall be changed
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for this perishable body body must be put on the imperishable and the mortal
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body must put on the immortality and when the perishable puts on the imperishable
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and the mortal puts on the immortality then shall it come to pass that saying
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that is written death is swallowed up in victory.
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O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
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The sting of death and power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives
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us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
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the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
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Please understand, if you are married, that is what God has called you to be
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busy doing, nurturing your marriage and your family.
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Right? We think this is what he's talking about.
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No, he's blessed you with kids. He's blessed you with a wife. Right?
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Be busy nurturing that. And then,
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you know, as things are successful and you're doing well,
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you'd like, Hey, I'm going to start serving at the church or we're going to
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start serving the church me and the family want to start helping out because
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you're all you're all abounding in the work of the lord you're all seeking christ.
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Being steadfast and you're abounding in the work of the Lord.
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You're understanding like the labor that we do as a family in Christ is not
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in vain and a marriage is not in vain.
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Individually is not in vain. It's like you're busy doing the work of the Lord.
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We should be busy doing that. And I'd love in Luke chapter 17, verse 26 to 29.
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It says just as it was in the days of Noah. and we're
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going to be looking at this again in 2nd Peter chapter 2 so
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it will be in the days of the son of man they were eating and drinking and marrying
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and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the
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flood came and destroyed them all likewise just as it was in the days of Lot
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they were eating and drinking and buying and selling planting and building But on that day,
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when light went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rain from heaven and destroyed them all.
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And he's like, look, it doesn't matter at all. It's just going to be like a normal day.
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People will be getting married. There'll be funerals going on.
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You'll be, oh, I got this new business and I got all this stuff going on. And then it's all gone.
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It's that quick. And then twinkling of an eye instantly.
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And I always have a picture of people being raptured and they're holding on
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to stuff like, no, I can't take my TV, don't let me, right?
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Like you'd be holding on to stuff, right?
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You're hanging on to it like, hey, it's like, no, go. Some of your relationships.
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Are you going to be caught up? Or are you going to be like, no,
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Lord, I got a deal. I can't leave her. Man, I'm out.
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The rapture happens, me and Teresa will be up together.
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You know? It's like you have that mindset. Like, hey, it's going to be all right.
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Instead, what happens is we never talk about it. We don't talk about it with
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our kids. We don't talk about it in the church.
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We don't talk about that Jesus can return at any moment, the second coming.
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I mean, there's nothing else in prophecy that needs to be done. Nothing.
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That should excite you. Are you living in the days of doing now? Of lawlessness?
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Sodom and Gomorrah? Yeah. Pretty much. Well, let's get to the old folks.
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60s was bad, right? Is it as bad now as it was in the 60s?
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It's worse now, right? 70s, is it worse now?
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80s, 90s, right? It's gotten worse. It's getting worse.
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The birthing pains are happening. And you go, man, why is all this weather happening?
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They're cloud seeding. They're doing all this. You know what's happening?
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Birthing pains are happening. His return is coming.
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It should excite you.
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Revelation 3.10 says, Because you have kept my word about patience and endurance,
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I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to
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try to those who dwell on the earth.
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He's like, you kept my word about patient endurance and I will keep you from the hour of trial.
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Again, you see it all throughout scripture. When the tribulation period begins
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and you think about Revelation 19, verses 11 through 16,
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it says, then I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on
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it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
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His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has
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his name written that no one knows but himself.
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He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name of which he is called is the word of God.
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And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses.
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From his mouth comes the sharp sword and with which to strike down the nations,
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and he will rule them with a rod of iron.
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He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
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And on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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Now, this verse, when you look at it, it's the second coming of Christ,
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which will occur before the millennium.
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And so when you look at this, it's a depiction of heaven's visible opening.
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And Jesus rides out on a white horse. And the Roman horse for white horses won a victory.
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And he's coming to do what? To make war with the enemies of God, to bring judgment.
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And so when we when we look
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at this it's like to understand the return of christ and
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i had this i have to print it i had to print it for next week but the when we
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look at it you know the rapture is going to happen and then the second coming
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when we look at that the again the translation for the saints is that for the
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first stage of christ and the revelation of jesus christ That's the second stage of Christ's return.
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Christ will come for his bride, right? And then Christ will come with his bride, right?
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And so that's amazing. Like you're going to be part of all this if you're his child.
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People argue all this stuff. And I'm like, man, I just want to be yours, Jesus.
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I don't know about all this other stuff.
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I know there's a lot of great theologians that argue it, but I just believe
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when I look at the scripture, it backs up a rapture and a pre-tribulation and millennial kingdom.
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But again, I know that there's other discussions about that that people have.
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And again, I just, again, that word hapaza, which is caught up in understanding
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that Christ is portrayed as the bridegroom.
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But in the second coming, he's the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
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And he will come to deliver the saints and then in the second coming he'll come
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to judge and wage war against the sinners,
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believers are removed they have the blessed hope and then in the second coming
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the unbelievers have no hope when judgment comes,
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in the millennial kingdom there is no direct relation to the millennial kingdom
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it immediately proceeds.
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You can go over the scriptures on that. And again, we went over some of those
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in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17 and John 14, 3 and 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51 and 52.
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But you have to remember when, if you're wanting to understand the seven year
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tribulation and the great tribulation, we went over all of this when we were in the book of Daniel.
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We went into great detail on that. So I'm not going to dig that back up again.
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So you can find those teachings online or else we'll be here till 10 o'clock tonight.
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So y'all can look that up when you get time, but we went really, really deep into that.
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And so just remember caught up and remember that it's the twinkling of an eye, 1 Corinthians 15, 52.
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And so people will argue, they'll go back and forth and argue this stuff.
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And like I said, I understand. I mean, I spent.
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You know, as we had to study this in school, and you have so many different
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opinions from different denominations, but it's like for us,
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this is what we believe is the pre-tribulation and the rapture.
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Now, the tribulation, again, is three and a half years.
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The two witnesses will prophesy for 1260 days, and then the great tribulation
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for three and a half years.
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And so all these things will happen, and then after that is the millennial kingdom.
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And so you could study eschatology. I would tell you the best thing to do is
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to dive into the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation together.
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Because they go hand in hand. They go hand in hand.
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Matthew 24, verse 21 says, For there will be a great tribulation,
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such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
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And so people think that, you know, we've seen wars and earthquakes and death.
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There will be nothing compared to the tribulation, the amount of people that will die.
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And, you know, again, that's why, like, man, I don't want to be here when all that happens.
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I don't want to be hanging out while the tribulation. There's some people that
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believe the tribulation is already happening now.
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So there's that belief as well. So people, you know, like I said, you can dig into this.
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And, you know, I would tell you, if you go down those rabbit holes,
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you get stuck. Because a lot of times what happens is people go down a rabbit
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hole and they get stuck in there.
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And, you know, you need to look at other things. And so I would always tell
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you to take everything in as you're studying it.
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And so, you know, this is why people read those books Left Behind.
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Not the Nicolas Cage movie. Don't watch that one. That one wasn't any good.
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The Code Cameron ones were good. But you know how many people got saved because of Left Behind?
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That series of books. So many people got saved because it's,
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you know, it should put the fear of the Lord in you.
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That you're not promised tomorrow and that Jesus can return.
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And so when they did those left behind movies that was the purpose of to show
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you that there is gonna be a rapture and so they're great books to read i would
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you know highly recommend,
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if you're trying to reach an unbeliever have them read that or or have them
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watch the kirk cam and not the nicholas please don't put them on the nicholas
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cage one i mean he overacts and that's not even good.
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And so just not worth watching at all. Not unless you want to laugh.
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That's more of a comedy with Nick Cage than it is a movie.
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Pastor Chuck says this, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the clouds for his
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children, he will resurrect and carry off this earth in all believers who are
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still living as well as those who have died.
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And there will be a family reunion in the air.
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When the rapture takes place, death for the believer will be swallowed up.
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So what is your application for tonight are you ready.
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Don't think. You've got to be ready. You need to be eternally minded and having
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that mindset to be eternally minded in what you do here on this earth,
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and be busy doing the things that God has called you to do.
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And I know this is probably the worst thing for a pastor to say is,
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hey, for me, focus on your marriage, focus on your family.
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Okay? That has to be right.
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And through that, what God does is, man, God blesses the church.
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If we have healthy families and healthy marriages, man, it blesses the church
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in a way because they're just ready to serve and they're ready to do.
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It doesn't mean that your marriage is always going to be perfect.
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You're going to go through ups and downs, and that's part of it.
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But if you're consistently keeping your eyes on Christ and being rapture ready,
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you're focused on the cross and you're moving in that direction.
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So that's my prayer for y'all. So let's pray and we'll turn this thing off.
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And we went way past time today.
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Now that I'm thinking about it, I got to make sure when we do worship,
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I leave time for questions.
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I messed that up today. So that's on me. Everybody's like, I didn't do the questions
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anyway. So that's good. Right?
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Matt, look at y'all. Who looked up?
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Hey, there's answers right there. So we're going to go over a couple of them.
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So let's start looking together.
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There's two all right and everybody else is like let's let's pray let's pray
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father god we thank you so much for laughter we thank you so much that we can
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come before you and just even have these little little giggles that we have
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we thank you that we are your children.
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I pray, Lord, if there's anyone who's watching this online or either just here
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that has not made that commitment to follow you, that they would.
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It's simply through repentance, believing in Christ, believing in the work that was done on the cross,
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that Jesus was the spotless, sinless Lamb of God who went to the cross because
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our sin, there was a debt that we couldn't pay, but Jesus paid it.
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We were guilty, but because of Christ, we can be not guilty.
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And then we turn from our sin and we turn to Him. We deny self,
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we pick up our cross and we follow Him.
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I pray that we would do that. I thank you for all that you're doing.
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I pray for each person here, Lord.
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You know their heart. You know their stressors.
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We had one who had an accident.
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We pray for them and just pray, Lord, that you bless and get their vehicle fixed.
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And just the ups and downs that we go through, Lord of life.
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I pray that you would comfort us regardless of what season we're in.
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Bless the marriages, bless the families, bless the kids that are in there for children's ministry.
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We thank you that we can be here on a Wednesday night and we do pray for Friday,
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pray for that family, for Beto and his family and just, you know,
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Lord, I don't know what we can do, but we're taking that step of faith.
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And we're going to walk towards San Angelo and see what you want us to do.
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And so, Lord, we know that if we step out in faith that you'll be with us and
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if it is your call and that's what we're asking, Lord willing,
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Lord, this would be a way to help a family who's lost everything.
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We thank you for all that you're doing. We ask these things in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Amen. So I went way over time. So we, yeah, I think what we'll do is I
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may at the beginning, before I start teaching next week, I'll go over some of
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the questions. I don't want to keep you.