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I want to look at 1st Corinthians 15. I want to start in verse 50. So 1st Corinthians 15 is a long chapter. I'm going to start at the end at verse 50, and I'm going to read a few verses and then we're going to. We'll pray and dive right in. But Paul is writing First Corinthians 15, verse 50, and he's going to mention this mystery. He's going to use that word, okay, we're going to look at this interesting verse that he quotes. So look at verse 50 says. Now this. I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you, a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pause there and let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for who you are and for what you are doing in our lives. And we want to be right with you. We want to. We want to be ready. You could come at any moment. You could. You could take away your. Your bride at any moment. And we just want to be ready, no matter what age we are. Lord, you will prepare our hearts for that. For that exact day time, hour. And Lord, we. We want to be found faithful, we want to be found blameless. And so stir in our hearts, we pray and help us to learn something new. Now, Lord, I pray that we would just leave this building changed. You would transform us from the inside out. And God, that you would just be with us for tonight. Continue to bless the team in Israel, keep them safe, watch over them, and we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I love mysteries. Okay. I grew up reading the Hardy Boys. I don't even know how many books there were. I probably read maybe like two. But they were great. The Hardy Boys even like whodunit kind of movies. Those are Interesting. Even Hallmark has some interesting, you know. Well, Hallmark, whatever. I, I love just the, the fact of. Of mysteries now in the Bible. That term mystery in the Greek, I'm going to talk about. That is not exactly what we think of when we say mystery in our English vocabulary. A book. I, you know, I recommend a lot of books all the time. I read a lot, and I, and I love sharing, you know, my recommendations. And a book that I recommend, if you don't have this, you need to get it. It's called Hidden Mysteries and the Bible. Okay. And check it out on Amazon or christianbook.com, hidden mysteries and the Bible. It's by Larry Ollison, and he talks about aliens, UFOs, giants, time travel, multiverse, AI and other explained phenomena. Right up my alley, baby. I love that kind of stuff. And so even pyramids are mentioned in there. So there's so many interesting stuff. Now, I'm not gonna talk about that. I'm gonna talk about, you know, the Bible does talk about that stuff. But what mysteries are found in the Bible are very fascinating. Okay? But again, we got to get that vocabulary of our head. Like, oh, these are clues we got to find. No, that's not exactly the word that Paul uses. But the mystery in the Bible he does mention is this event called the Rapture. So if you're taking notes on the screen, what is a biblical mystery? So a mystery in the Greek is musterion, okay? And all it means is really something hidden but now revealed. So the doctrine of the Rapture, let's use that, for example. That's what we're teaching on tonight, was not really talked about or made known in the Old Testament. It was revealed in the New. There was a lot of hidden secrets in the Old Testament that God then revealed in the New Testament. And so Paul is saying, this is a mystery, and God has given me the. The meaning of this mystery. And he says, this was hidden, and now I'm going to reveal it to you. The word mystery is mentioned roughly, depending on Your translation, about 27 times in the entire New Testament. Four of those times are in Revelation. And then I thought this was interesting. In First Corinthians 4. One, if you're taking note, Paul actually says, so look at Apollos. He says, so look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God's mysteries. So Paul had the right to explain these because the inspiration of the Holy Spirit told him these mysteries that he is going to now let us know that has been hidden that God knows. Now there's another good verse you need to write down. Deuteronomy 29. 29. It does tell us that the secret things belong to God. There are still many secrets or mysteries, things that are hidden that we still do not know and probably will never know, maybe until we get to heaven. But I think we'll, we'll constantly be learning. There's so much knowledge that God has. I think it would literally blow our minds if we knew everything that God knew. So there's secret things that belong to him. There's secret knowledge that only belongs to God that we're not to know. All we know is what he's given us in his word. Those. So everything that we see in the New Testament that Paul has revealed to us is by inspiration of the Holy Spirit saying, there's a mystery here. I'm going to reveal it to you. Here's God's plan. And he goes through quite a bit. And there's actually a lot of, a lot of mysteries. Like I said, 27. That term is mentioned 27 times. And I just want to look at at six. And then we're going to dive in, into two of them over the next two weeks. But here's six that I just pulled up and mentioned. You can take notes. The, the one is Israel's blindness. Okay? That's a mystery. And, and, and Paul says, I'm going to reveal to you that Israel is blind for a time because God is waiting for the fullness of the Gentiles to get saved. Okay, that's Romans 11:25. It's a whole other sermon. Okay, but that's one. Another mystery is God's will concerning Christ. And that actually has to do a lot with the millennial kingdom. That the reason Christ came for his first coming was to, you know, call us to repentance. And when his second coming happens, he's going to rule and reign and establish his kingdom and have all authority on heaven and earth. Okay, so that was a mystery. And Paul said, I'm going to explain it to you. That's Ephesians 1:9. There's the mystery of Christ in the church. Okay? So Paul talks about. Here's. Here's what the church and Christ really represent. He talks about marriage a lot. In Ephesians chapter 5 and 6, there was that mystery, and that points to Christ in the church. But you can read Ephesians 3 or Colossians 1 and 2. There's the mystery of the Rapture. We're going to look at that Today, he reveals to us what this mystery, this thing that was hidden, now revealed. He also talks about the mystery of lawlessness. Now, that is what I'm going to talk about next week. So if you want to come back next week, please do. And it's going to be on the topic of the Antichrist. So this mystery or the secret of lawlessness that has been at work for a long time is still at work. And I'm going to talk about that next week. What does that mean? So that's Second Thessalonians. And then there's also the mystery of Babylon the great. In Revelation 17, there's. There's a mysterious Babylon, either an economic, social network or religious system that's going to be established during the tribulation. But the angel reveals to John, the author of Revelation, here's what it is, okay? And. And he. The angel describes it. Now, it's still sort of mysterious. It's some of that we will really not know until it happens. But that is another mystery that is. That was once hidden but then slowly revealed throughout the New Testament. But the mystery of the Rapture, I think it's good to. Honestly, I want to kind of look at it and dissect it in different ways about who, what, when, where, and why. All right. And how. I think that's the best way. What is the Rapture? Who's involved in the Rapture? How does it happen? When does it happen? Everyone's about that. Why does it happen? Why is there even a Rapture? No one is really gonna debate that there is a Rapture. Everyone's gonna really pretty much debate on when does it happen. Okay? And I'll tell you where we lean towards where the Bible, I think, makes most sense. But I want to first talk about mystery of the Rapture. What exactly is it? So if you're taking note, I got a lot to go over. It's kind of like a classroom setting. But buckle up, it's gonna be a good ride. All right, what is it? What is the Rapture? The Rapture is an event, okay? It's not something that prophecy has to happen for it to be fulfilled. It's an event that will take place in which the church is caught up. Now, that's the Greek word harpazo. Okay? The Latin translation of harpazo was raptus. That's where we get our English word, rapture. So everyone's always talking about the word rapture is not found in the Bible. Well, okay, it is in there, but it's not just there in English Okay. It's there as caught up, which is Harpazo, which in Latin is Raptus, means rapture. And the term means to be snatched away or caught up or seized by force. Okay. And that's what Paul uses. There was another rapture incident that just, you know, comes to my mind in Acts, chapter eight. Go back and read Acts chapter eight. It's the story of Philip ministering to the Ethiopian. And at that story, when God tells him, I want you to go down. And he doesn't tell him the instructions. That's how God works sometimes. I just want you to go south, go to Gaza. All right, I'm going to go. And he goes and he finds this Ethiopian. Long story short, he's reading the scroll of Isaiah, doesn't know what he's reading about. Philip explains the gospel to him. The guy gets saved. Philip baptizes him. And as soon as Philip baptizes, the Bible, says that he is caught up and snatched and disappeared. And the Ethiopian is rejoicing and Philip's gone. And it says that God literally transported him to another city or town known as Azotos, which is about 30 miles north. God literally transported him or raptured him to another place. Okay. A lot of people missed that. That actually happened. That's amazing. That's time travel right there. He just snatched him and took him right there. And Philip was that example. And so this rapture scene is where the church is going to be caught up and taken from earth to heaven. And, okay, that's 1st Thessalonians 4:17. And I want to look at 1st Thessalonians 4 17. So if you have it in your Bibles, please turn there. 1st Thessalonians 4:17, 1st Thessalonians is all really about the rapture at the end of the book. And then Second Thessalonians all has to do with the Antichrist. So those two books are, I think, highly underrated. And if you get confused with Revelation, join the club. Revelation's a tough book, but when you read 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, it's just very. It's very clear. Okay, So I recommend that. But first Thessalonians 4:17, Paul says, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. I'm going to talk about who's the them and what's the clouds all about. But the. Those who are alive and remain shall be caught up. Okay, that's that Greek word, harpazo will be snatched away or taken by force seized. And God is going to do that. And we're going to meet Christ in the air. The second thing is, though, those that are raptured will immediately be transformed and receive a glorified body. That's what we just read in First Corinthians 15. So we're going to talk about who. Who are the two groups? Okay. And we're going to look at that. Who's involved with this? But again, everyone that's raptured will immediately be transformed into immortal body. You're going to receive your glorified body. Hallelujah. It's going to be amazing. And we're going to have. I think we're going to look like each other. I think we're still going to look the same, but it'll be just a better resurrected body. And Paul says because Christ has been resurrected, we also will then be resurrected. And thanks be to God, because the resurrection is key. If Christ was not resurrected, then our faith is futile and we're dead in our sins. But Christ was resurrected and he received his glorified body. And that's why I think it was interesting when he meets some disciples on the road of Emmaus, and then he meets the other disciples, they don't recognize him at first. Now, I think God may have done that supernaturally, and then their eyes were open. But I think there may have been some truth to that where they really just didn't recognize him because he was in a glorified body. So it doesn't have to always be spiritual. It could be physical where he looked a little different. And also, it just shows you that their faith was pretty weak, that they weren't expecting Jesus to be risen from the dead, which he said he was. And so the what is it is, as best as I can put it, simply put, it's an event in which the church is caught up and we're all going to be transformed and receive a glorified body. Now, who is involved with it? That's number two, who experiences this. And number one, it's all believers in Jesus Christ. Non believers will not experience this. The Bible's clear about that. It's all believers in Jesus Christ from Pentecost in Acts chapter two to the present day, whenever the rapture will be, to that present day. But from Pentecost, after Christ ascended back into heaven And Pentecost started 10 days later, everybody since Pentecost till now are those that are going to be raptured and receive their glorified body. Now, Paul does make it clear that there's two different phases with the Rapture. There are those that are dead in Christ first, and then those that are still going to be alive and never experience death. And they'll be taken up. But it's actually a part two part step with this. So the first part is the dead in Christ. Okay, that's just a euphemism and a way of saying the church. Okay, these are not Old Testament saints. Why does God do it that way? Not quite sure. There's a reason in rhyme, why God does everything. But the Old Testament saints will come later. That's a whole different discussion. This is just pertaining to the church. So everybody like Peter, James, John, everybody after that, Paul, everybody in Acts that you read about getting saved, Stephen, they will all be experiencing this with the generation that doesn't die. So the dead in Christ have to go first. They will rise from their graves. Now, the Bible makes. It doesn't really explain if someone has been cremated or someone was just buried naturally. It doesn't really matter. God's going to work it out and he will bring all the atoms and molecules together and you'll receive your glorified body. These are everyone that's died after Christ rose from the dead. That's first Thessalonians 4, 16. But then after that, immediately after that. So how long does that take? I don't know. But the Bible does say, you know how long it goes. And we're going to look at that. Up our next slide. But immediately after the dead in Christ are raised, the living believers, those who are still alive, then they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So you've got all the church saints like Peter, James, John, Paul, everybody else. All right. And everyone that has died since then up until present time. We're all going to be united, reunited with each other, and we're going to be with the Lord in the air. I mean, we're talking about billions of people, most likely, that have ever lived and accepted Christ since Pentecost to whenever that Rapture Day happens. So that's who is involved with this. Non believers will not be involved. And it will be an interesting time. They will notice. Are they going to see it? I don't know. I mean, the Bible's not clear about that. Christians get all tripped up about, like, what are they going to see? And are we going to have our clothes with us when we go up? I don't know. Probably not. We're going to be naked maybe. Sounds good to me. I don't know. I'm kidding. No, I mean, Adam and Eve were naked in the garden and they felt no shame. I don't know how it's going to happen with the Rapture. The Left behind series with Kirk Cameron and all that back in the early 2000s made it seem like they went up naked because their clothes were left behind. And Santa Claus too, and Tim Allen. I mean, the guy disappeared as or whatever, and that was totally out of left field. But how we're going to go and what it's going to look like, I don't know. I just know we're going to go and when we go, it's going to be awesome. And God will work out all those details. Now, after the who experiences it, how is it going to happen? Okay. And the Bible does actually talk about how it's going to look like a little bit. The first part is Paul says it happens in a moment. Now, a lot of people miss that part. That Greek word is very interesting in a moment or a flash. Some translations say the twinkling of an eye. That's First Corinthians, 15:52. That Greek word for moment is atomos. We get our English word atom, and it means really invisible or. Or uncuttable. So you, those of you that are into quantum physics and science and all that, way better than me. It's very interesting how Paul uses that word atomos or a Thomas and that we get our English word Adam, where it's something that's going to happen. It's going to be so quick that even the blink of an eye, really, Paul is going to use this. It's like as you're blinking an eye, but it's going to be even, almost like faster than that. It'll happen when, when. And it's going to be just crazy. We're not going to. We're not going to see people go up so slowly like, whoa, there they go. No, it's going to happen quick. And then you're going to be like, they're gone. Twinkling of an eye in a moment. Okay. And there's interesting, you know, theories about what that'll look like and how the world will react to that. It might be chaotic. And then I bet there will have to be some people that realized, I was wrong, the Bible was right, I need to get right with them. And here comes the tribulation. There's going to have to be people that are going to realize that, because we know the Bible talks about that people will get saved during the tribulation. Don't believe that garbage. Where it says, no, the Gospel's not preached in the tribulation. People can't get saved. That's. That's baloney. They can get saved. It does talk about that. The Gospel is preached, and there will be many that get saved. There'll probably be a great revival in the tribulation, but sadly, you know, you know, they're going to have to count the cost. The Antichrist will kill many of those who don't align themselves with him, and I'm going to talk about that next week. But there will be people that get saved, and because they're going to have to be the ones that repopulate the earth. You ever thought about that? The millennial kingdom happens right after that. Who repopulates the millennial kingdom? It's not glorified bodies. It's those that survived the tribulation that got saved in the tribulation. So this is interesting stuff that's going to transpire, and I don't know when this is all going to happen, but it's good for us to know and to encourage one another with this. After the how part, we can look at when. When will this happen? All right, here we go. Guess what? Unknown. No one knows. No one knows. It is unknown to everybody except God the Father. Now, that's Matthew 24:36. And Jesus quotes that. Now, Jesus says no one knows the day or the hour. Not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only the Father. Now there's a debate, and there's an interesting argument. Does Jesus know now when he's coming? If he is one with God, does he know? He may. Now that he's in heaven. I've heard an interesting argument that maybe he didn't know when he was on earth. That's a good argument. I mean, clearly he did not know. But does he know now that he's in heaven? He might, but. But he may not. And that's only reserved for God the Father. Then the Father will tell the Son. Now you can go. Go get. Go get the bride. You know, that either one would not surprise me. But, I mean, they're not salvation issues, so we don't need to be arguing over them. But only the Father knows. That's how Jesus worded it. No one knows the day or hour. Look, social media, I don't know if you knew about this or was following social media, especially TikTok. It was blowing up that the Rapture was gonna happen on September 25th. Did you guys catch that? Oh, what. What day is it now? October 15th. Yeah, don't believe that stuff. I had students come up to me and it was like two days before September 25th. Hey, is the rapture supposed to happen, like in two days? Should I get. I'm like, is it really? No way. I'm like, it could, but let's wait and see. We'll see what happens. And I just said, are you right with the Lord? Well, yeah. I'm like, then you're good to go. Didn't happen though, because I don't like date setters. There's been many date setters over, not just this one. Over TikTok. There's been many date setters. You know, Wasn't that book 88 Reasons why Jesus Coming Back in 1988 then? I think he had to revise it, actually. I meant 89. Whatever. I don't even know who that author was. But it's just different. Different books that have come out and different, in a way, heretical words that have come out saying, this is when the rapture's happening. This is when the Lord's coming back. Jesus said, no one knows, not even the angels, only the Father. And so it is unknown. However. However Paul does mention that it's at this time when it's called the last trumpet. Now, that's on the calendar of God's mind. And will we all hear that last trumpet? I think so. Will non believers hear it? I don't know. That's a really other. That's another secret or mystery. I don't know if non believers will hear this trumpet blast or the commanding shout of God or the voice of the archangel. It just Paul just says at the last trumpet. Now don't get that confused with the trumpet in revelation. That's a. That's judgment. That's not referring to this trumpet. This trumpet is mentioned in 1st Thessalonians 4:16 or 1st Corinthians 15:52. There will be this loud blast trumpet that. That God will. That God will give forth, and that'll be the call for all that believe in him to come up. And again, I don't know. I know growing up, you know, being Pastor Gary's son, I've heard revelation a lot, and it's so fascinating to me, but it changes, like, every day. And I know he's always used the joke, like, what if it's just a dog whistle? Like, only believers will hear it, but non believers can't? I don't know, maybe. Or it could be a huge shout and it's just going to, like, blow our eardrums and we're going to. Who knows Paul? All he says is it's at the last trumpet. Another thing, though, got to know this for the Rapture. We've said this before. It's ready to take place at any moment. And that word is imminent. It can happen at any moment. Now you need to read Romans 13:11 through 12. I love this passage that Paul gives. Romans 13:11 through 12. I'm just going to summarize. He says it is time for you to wake up. It is time for you to stop sleeping and to wake up, because Christ is coming back at any moment and you're. We are closer to the day of salvation than ever before. Now, that term, salvation he's using is really about when Christ is going to take us home. Okay, There was. There was sometimes different terms for salvation. He wasn't talking about really saving grace. He's talking about physical salvation from this earth. Read Romans 13. It's really, really fascinating. And he says we've got to get out of the spiritual slumber and we need to wake up because we are closer every day. We're closer than yesterday. We're closer than yesterday to the return of Christ. And again, it's in two different parts. And I'm going to talk about that. How is that going to look like now, when it'll happen here on the screen? This is one of the best timelines I found on the screen, and I'm going to do my best to kind of illustrate it. The 69 weeks of Daniel, that's a whole different topic. You can read that on your own or find a good commentary. That is where it really starts. Daniel talking about in chapter nine, verse 24 through 27, it's the 69 weeks, okay? And then there's this one week left over one week, which equals 70. And that one week will be the last. You know, the tribulation. But also where we are right now in the orange is the church age. That's where we're living right now. So the 69 weeks have ended. We're in the church age. Christ has already come and ascended. But the Rapture could take place at any time. Now, when the Rapture happens. I've gotten this question before, too. It doesn't necessarily mean that the tribulation will start immediately. I know that's how left behind made it sound. And that could be. But I actually lean towards that. There might be a gap of time. And why do I think that there's more information in Daniel that talks about these. Some of these intervals now? It could be Right after. It could be immediately, but there could be months or maybe even years that go by before the tribulation even starts. The Rapture. We don't know when will happen. Technically when you're in the tribulation. And whenever that starts, you have a ticking time bomb in a way of seven years. In that way you, in a way you can know Jesus will come back after the seven years that is biblical, that he will come back immediately after the seven years. The seven years are split up into two parts. The first part is actually in a way, peaceful because the Antichrist will come on the world scene. I'm going to talk about this timeline next week as well. The last half, the last three and a half years. That's what's known as the Great Tribulation. And that will be the worst of all time really, that the Bible talks about. And that's when the Antichrist in the halfway point will declare himself to be God. We'll talk about this next week. But then after the whole seven years are done, Christ comes back immediately. And he comes back, it says, with his holy ones. The Bible also talks about, he comes back with his angels. It's both. He comes back with his angels and his saints, which would be us. Because we've been raptured and there's different views. We lean towards a pre Trib rapture, meaning the rapture will happen before the. The tribulation. There are many brothers and sisters that I know or celebrities that are, that are Christians, pastors or whoever out there on social media that, that believes in a mid Trib, that we'll get raptured in the middle of the tribulation. Okay, I don't see the Bible. If we do, then okay. But I lean 99% towards a pre Trib. That's how the Bible describes it throughout Scripture. You got to compare Old Testament with New Testament. You got to see how the way the Lord worked and he uses the term the days of Noah and the days of lot. Read that in first Peter and two Peter. And the pre Trib view is I think, the most solid now post Trib too. That really just does not make sense. But for some reason that's trending right now in the Christian church. A post Trib again, I am so glad that these are not salvation issues. Christians get so tripped up about all these different views. It's like, look, we all agree that he's coming back and he's going to rapture us. That's what we need to land on. Where you land on pre mid Post, that's between you and the Lord. If you're not pre trib, you're wrong. But it's okay. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. But then Jesus comes back and I wonder if Jesus is going to, like, tell people I told you pre trib. No, I don't know. But then a millennial reign will happen and eternity will happen after that. There's still a lot to go. Okay? The Rapture is just the beginning, and there's still a long way to go. The millennial reign is a thousand years on planet Earth. That's not even heaven. That's not the new Jerusalem. The millennial reign is when Christ will rule and reign from Jerusalem physically. And that will be an interesting time because Satan is bound. There's no more demons, there's no more Antichrist or false prophet. And there are a mixture of immortal people and mortal people. I'll talk about that a little bit next week. And millennial reign is going to be a fascinating, very interesting time. But before I get ahead of myself, I want to keep that for next week. But why does this happen as we close? Why does the Rapture even need to happen? Okay. And the Bible just makes it clear. Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 1, 10 and 5, 9, that Christ has come to rescue us. We're the bride of Christ. That's a mystery too, that Paul reveals. And Paul says Christ is going to come back for the bride. He's going to rescue us from the wrath of God. We are not destined to the wrath of God. Do we go through little tribulations throughout our lifetime? Yes, but that's not the wrath of God. That's just small tribulations or persecutions that Jesus said you will go through. He's not talking about that. He's talking about the wrath of God, which is for non believers who have rejected him. Okay? It's the wrath of God from the wrath of God and to make way for his righteous judgment poured on the earth. That's why it has to happen. And in a way, God is being patient with us and calling everybody to repentance before this Rapture takes place. Now, again, those that don't get raptured, they will have a second chance. But it's going to be very difficult and the world's going to look very different. It's going to be very dark. Because next week when I talk about this, we're going to talk about how when the Antichrist comes, it's going to be like no other before. And it'll be very hard to walk in your faith. But we do know that there will be martyrs that will not give their allegiance to Satan or to the Antichrist or take the mark. There will be those that say I'm not doing that. And they're gonna either be killed for it or they're gonna have to survive for those seven years. But we are not destined for God's wrath. That's what Paul's saying. God's wrath is for a Christ rejecting God forsaking world. And he wants to rescue his bride. I love the late Dr. Ed Hindson. I had him when I was at liberty and I loved what he said with just his voice like this. He's like the Jesus. He's not, he's not going to beat up his bride and then say, all right, come up with me into heaven. All right, we're not going to go through God's wrath. Only then to be, you know, be beaten up and then, oh, now we're at the marriage supper of the lamb, we're all like beaten up and stuff. No, he says, I'm going to take you, I'm going to rescue you from this, from this evil age, from this world and you're not going to experience God's wrath. Now until then, I want this to be our application because this was like drinking out of a fire hose. And this is, you know, this is stuff I love and I think this is stuff we need to understand and hold close to our heart. But I don't want to leave here until what can we do in the meantime? Because who knows? The Rapture may not even happen for another hundred years. I don't know, it could happen tomorrow. It could happen for, for decades still. I hope it doesn't. I hope it comes. The Lord comes quickly but here until then because everybody's been waiting for the return of Christ. So since Paul wrote about this, it's been almost 2,000 years. And by the way, in first and second Peter, Peter does talk about that there will be scoffers that come saying where is this Christ? Why hasn't he come? He says you need to stand firm in your faith and believe that he is coming. But here's things that we can do until then. Good application for us. This is all from 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5. Paul would say, you need to be on your guard. We have got to watch our hearts and our minds. We have got to be on guard. He says not to become lazy like non believers. Don't get lazy. Be on guard. Know between fake news and real news know between false messiahs and the real messiah we got to be on guard, guard our hearts and our minds. We have to stay alert. We have to stay alert and know that he can come at any moment and we've got to be right with him. Be clear headed. The Bible talks about be sober minded. Don't be, don't be drunk and spiritually drunk in a sense where you're just, you don't really care anymore. We need to be alert and clear headed. He also says that we need to put on the armor of God in verse 8. We have got to put on the armor of God and, and be ready for anything that comes our way because these are going to be trying and testing times. I know it's going to, it's revivals happening especially with the Gen Z generation. I love it and I'm so, I'm just glad to be a part of it. But we have to put on the armor of God. It's gonna hit us hard. And then last but not least, he says to encourage and edify each other. These are encouraging words. Why would Paul say encourage each other with these words? Oh but by the way, you're gonna go through the whole tribulation. That doesn't make sense to me. He says encourage and edify each other as you see the day approaching. Last but not least, I want to close with this verse. I was trying to figure out a verse from the Lord like what do you want me to close with? I love closing with God's word and a verse that just summarizes everything. And I love this verse that Paul uses at the end of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And in summary he says this now may the God of peace make you holy in every way. And he says may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen for he who calls you is faithful. Amen. It's a great verse. Write that down in your Bibles. Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Father God, we thank you so much for this time that we've had together. Just to stir our hearts and prompt us to holy living God. That's what it's really all about for a lot of this stuff. We're not even going to be here to see it but Lord, we want to be ready. And when you come back, when you meet us in the, in the air, we want to be found right with you. And Lord, there's a lot of us that have been again riding the fence. We need to pick a side. There's no neutral when it comes to walking in faith. We need to be either on your side or against you. And God, I pray that all of us would be on your side. You are patient with us. You want none to perish but all to come to repentance and and receive eternal life. So God, I pray that that is our goal and ambition. I pray Lord. In the meantime we'll be on guard, we'll be clear headed. We'll stay alert, we'll put on the full armor of God and we'll encourage and edify each other. We're going to build each other up. God, there's revival happening, there's, there's hearts that are stirring amongst young people and even older people. Lord, you're doing something in the lives of all of us across the globe. Muslims getting saved, people in Asia getting saved, the United States. Lord, the young people are just are screaming for truth and are finding Jesus. So God, we pray that you would do something in the hearts of every man and woman and young person and that when the rapture happens it'll be the perfect time and that we won't have to experience the wrath of God. We thank you Lord that you are going to rescue us and take us to be where you are. That where you are, there we may also be be. God, we love you. We thank you for this time. We look forward to next week. In Jesus name everybody said amen.