“THE END: How Close Are We?” Part 2 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

just a couple of days before his crucifixion in Matthew chapter 26 that's recorded two chapters earlier in Matthew 24 Jesus sat down with his disciples on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem where he would die and there he took time to answer a very important question that they had for him and their question was basically the title of our series the end how close are we Jesus tell us when shall these things be what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world and in his answer to those disciples on that day just two days before his crucifixion Jesus pinpointed a particular generation of people who would witness a rapid series of astounding events they would come one after the other so quick so close that it would be almost breathtaking and those events would culminate in his second coming Jesus said that he would return when these signs of the times were happening more frequently and with more intensity than ever before and tragically he said that they would happen in a time when people wouldn't even notice them because they were too busy too preoccupied too successful to content and just too distracted according to a recent study by LifeWay research only one-third of Protestant pastors even believe in the rapture anymore you can make your own guess as to how many Christians believe in it anymore even few non Protestant denominations believe in the rapture but I stand here again tonight to tell you that Jesus talked about the rapture and the Apostles talked about the rapture and the Bible teaches that there will be a rapture and the Apostolic Church in this church we still believe in the rapture of the church in the air to meet Jesus just because people aren't expecting it does not mean it's not going to happen and that's why Jesus ended that discourse just two days before his crucifixion with these words therefore be also ready for in such an hour as you think not that's exactly when the Son of Man will return now I stand here tonight to tell you that for many years the Apostolic Church has had to stand alone in the wider world of what we call Christendom we've stood alone for the doctrine of the new birth taught in John 3:5 in acts 2:38 we've stood alone on the doctrine of the oneness of God taught in Deuteronomy 6:4 Colossians 2:9 and a host of other scriptures we've stood alone on the doctrine of personal holiness that impacts your life not just inside but outside according to 1st Thessalonians 4:7 Hebrews 12:14 and many other scriptures we've stood alone on those doctrines for many years but now quite unexpectedly it looks like the Apostolic Church may have to stand alone one more time on the doctrine of the rapture of the church because Christendom is changing Christendom has become very comfortable christened them has become very politically correct Christendom has been bullied by the forces of this world into a tolerance that thinks truth is Error and error is truth that good is evil and evil is good and so Christendom is adrift for the most part and so it may just very well be that the Apostolic Church will end up standing alone once more on the doctrine of the rapture that shouldn't surprise us because Jesus told his disciples you will stand alone and he even told them the world will hate you the same world that hated me will hate you you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved I said it last week and it bears repeating a lot of this present religious world talks about enjoying our salvation it's wonderful if you do but that's not the point the point is you need to endure until the end that's the point whether you enjoy it or not whether it's all good or not whether you feel great every day or not that's not the point the point is endure until the end so you can spend an eternity feeling great and doing well and being with Jesus that's the point enduring not enjoying is the point so yeah we've reached a day when many so called Christians no longer believe in the rapture but it's even worse than that these same people are now openly attacking those who do still believe that Jesus is coming you don't have to take my word for it you can go to Twitter and you can read hashtags like rapture anxiety you don't know evangelicals X van Jellicle Church - and empty the pews all of those hashtags and many more spew hateful insults and vile language and open disdain toward Bible believing Christians especially those who believe that Jesus is coming but the Apostolic Church has had decades of experience standing against pressure from worldly minded politically correct opponents and we still hold the hope of the rapture of the church and we hold it with good reason because Jesus delivered it to us himself and it was confirmed by the Apostle Paul Jesus said let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare that place for you I will come again and I will receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also don't know about you I don't pretend to speak for you but as for me and my house we still believe that Jesus is coming and he's going to keep his word he went away to prepare a place and I'm waiting to go with him to that place Paul said for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first all of those precious people we've had their funeral services we've celebrated their lives in memorials and we shed tears here but let me tell you the tears are over at the grave for them once you get through the passageway called death its eternal life with Jesus and on that rapture day the dead in Christ are gonna come out of every grave every cemetery in this province and far beyond and they will rise first but then we which are alive and remain we will be caught up together with them in the clouds we will meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord and Paul said wherefore comfort one another with these words how do you comfort each other like this jesus is coming it's almost over you're gonna make it your trial will be over soon that's how you comfort people that's how we hold the hand of a grieving widow or grieving widower a grieving parent a grieving child and we say you can have hope because jesus promised that your dead loved one died in Christ and they're gonna rise first but they're not going Rhys alone the church on the ground is going to meet the church in the air and we're going to be together with Jesus in heaven for all the endless ages of eternity the issue of the rapture is absolutely critical to the Apostolic Church regardless of what the rest of Christendom decides to do with it it's not hard to name the two most evangelistic periods in church history the first century and the last century since the truths of water baptism in Jesus name the oneness of God the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues since those truths were rediscovered toward the beginning of the 1900s the last hundred years has been the second-most evangelistic period in church history and both of those great soul winning periods they shared a common characteristic not only did they share apostolic doctrine that was important not only did they share apostolic experience so important not only did the church share apostolic lifestyle but they also shared one other characteristic both the first century church and the current Apostolic Church have an unshakable belief that Jesus Christ could come for his church at any moment before the end of this sermon before the end of this service before the end of this day before the end of this week we still believe that Jesus Christ could come at any time that's called imminency and belief in the imminent return of Jesus the at any moment possible at any time the belief in the imminent return of Jesus it produces three vital effects in the Apostolic Church first of all it produces holiness in an unholy world a lot of Christians today they take every cue in the personal life from the world mostly from Hollywood and their ungodly friends and that's how they judge themselves and they judge if they're doing okay a few others they judge themselves against the measuring stick of other Christians and if they're doing better than them they think they're okay but here's what happens to an Apostolic when you live with the knowledge that your Lord could come back at any moment while you're looking at your computer while you're out with your friends while you're all alone while you're in your privacy of your home that produces holiness that's why John says every man that has this hope in him he purifies himself even as Jesus is pure so if you've got a hope of the coming of the Lord you're not gonna be dabbling in sin all the time because you want to keep yourself ready because Jesus could come at any moment so not for you is this idea well I'll just go sit on Monday and Tuesday and I'll come back on Wednesday night and pray through you don't have that idea because you know Jesus could come on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning and so you don't believe in that foolishness first of all imminency produces holiness secondly the imminent return of Jesus the knowledge that he could come at any moment it produces an awareness of eternal priorities Jesus told a parable Matthew 24 he said watch therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come and when you don't know when he's coming you're always on the lookout when you don't know when he'll be back here you're always watching the heavens with one eye when you don't know when Jesus could return you're always careful that you're not squandering your time your money your talent your treasure you're very aware of eternal priorities because you believed Jesus could come at any moment and finally if you really believe if we really believe if these pastors of this great church really believe and if the Saints of this great congregation really believe that Jesus could come at any time that belief in the imminent return of Jesus produces an urgency to win the lost because the last book of your Bible still says whosoever was not found written in the book of life they were cast into the lake of fire that's still in the Bible and people are still going to be cast into the lake of fire which burns forever and I know we're concerned about our friends and our loved ones and our families but we have a city and a province and a country that's lost we have a world that's lost and if we really believe it we don't just squander our opportunities we have an urgency to win the lost so if the doctrine of the rapture produces holiness and eternal awareness and an urgency to win the lost no wonder the devil has launched an attack on the doctrine of the rapture in our day no wonder pastors I read some of them today no wonder pastors are teaching Bible studies against the rapture that it's not going to happen that you don't have to worry about it no wonder websites and blogs and articles are devoted to dismantling the doctrine of the rapture if it produces holiness and awareness of eternity and an urgency to win the lost you want to believe that one of the devil's last days strategy is going to be to try to tear down the doctrine of the rapture but in the last chapter of the last book in your Bible John penned these words and he saith unto me seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand he that is unjust let him be unjust still he that is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still and behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be what are you saying Jesus what are you writing John only this once the rapture happens you don't get a do-over once the rapture happens you can't make changes in the life you lived once the rapture happens you can't repent once the rapture happens you can't get right once the rapture happens you can't get in God's church you can't make any changes to your state if you're holy you're gonna be holy after the rapture if you're righteous you go into eternity righteous if you're sinful or filthy or wicked or unholy that's how you go into eternity you can't make changes after the rapture but you can make those changes right now because thank God at least for this few seconds we're still on this side of the rapture and Jesus told John you write it down I'm coming quickly you may think it's not going to happen you may think it died out with the elders but listen I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me I'm gonna bring my reward to my people now in the Old Testament it was different God told the prophet Daniel to seal up the book of his prophecy he said Daniel seal it up until the time of the end because Daniel lived in the Old Testament but John was told don't you seal your prophecy don't you seal up the book of Revelation because the time is at hand you live in the New Testament see John wasn't part of the Old Testament he was part of the Apostolic Church in the New Testament he was part of the same church that we are part of and let me tell you the Apostolic Church from the opening on the day of Pentecost until this Wednesday night Bible study we have always lived with the rapture in view we have always lived with our heavenly hope in our eyes Revelation chapter 1 the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto John to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John let me call your attention to a couple of words first of all these are things which must shortly come to pass a lot of people miss read that they think that was written nearly 2,000 years ago those things haven't shortly come to pass see they're interpreting shortly as quickly but if you study it shortly doesn't mean quickly it means suddenly it means rapidly so here's what it means it doesn't mean that those things would happen very soon after John wrote them it means that when they start to happen it's gonna be like an avalanche and those things will suddenly begin to happen they will rapidly begin to happen and so if you live in an era when those signs are happening you want to buckle your seat belt and get ready because it's a sure sign that something is happening in the prophetic realm and then he says he sent and he signified it by his angel unto his servant John he signified it you literally could translate that word he symbolized it see the book of Revelation you've read it if you're a Bible reader a Bible lover you've read the book of Revelation and you've scratched your head many times because the book of Revelation kind of folds in on itself it'll go a little ways and then it'll go back and look at an event and magnify it or amplify it and then it will continue on and the book of Revelation is is very puzzling to us because it's written 2,000 years ago in Eastern mindset where images and visuals are more important than a linear kind of logic that we use here in the West and so God literally gave John that vision in symbols he signified it he symbolized it and so you read all through revelation the symbolic language of prophecy it's kind of like political cartoons today in in America our great neighbor to the south though in in America the Republican Party they're symbolized by an elephant and the Democratic Party they're symbolized by a donkey if you see one of those animals in a political cartoon you don't have to have the word printed you just know what it's talking about Russia is always pictured as a bear America pictured as an eagle and and so though that kind of language that's why revelation is written in those kinds of symbols it's almost like political cartoons if you could pardon that reference it's really like a spiritual code that protected first century Christians John didn't write about the Roman Empire he sometimes called them Babylon but he was writing about them nonetheless and that symbolic language when you see a beast that's terrible and has teeth and has horns and has huge claws when you see that beast it's as terrifying today as it was in John's day because the image doesn't weaken God couldn't talk to them about some of the modern technology that's going to be used in the end times God could say to John every eye will see this happening he could say the world will wonder after the Beast John probably had no idea how that would happen we know very well we've got 24-hour news networks all around us we know exactly how that could happen and yet the language hasn't weakened over time and so God gave revelation to John in symbols and as you pick through revelation and as you look through the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and as you piece together Jesus references in 2:24 and other places and as you look at what Paul wrote in his epistles and as you look at the whole Council of Scripture it's pretty easy to come up with at least an elementary timeline of what's going to happen and tonight I'd like to teach you for a moment and we'll get back into the rest of the scripture in just a moment but I'd like to try to diagram for you what's going to happen in our world for the church and for this world over the next few years if you could draw out a prophecy timeline we would be at the beginning of the end times right now we are looking at the signs of the times happening all around this we talked about many of them last week we talked about Israel last week God's prophetic time peace but also earthquakes famines Wars if you graph those things if you look at the signs of the times you see their ever increasing and their ever intensifying and they're coming at us more and more strife among nations and ethnic groups all kinds of things happening and Jesus said there signs of the times and the Apostles conferred so so right now we're in that era of time and the very next thing on God's agenda is the rapture of the church please don't listen to people who tell you well there's all these other things that have to be fulfilled before Jesus could come Jesus said no man knows the day nor the hour and Bible scholars have differences of opinion on the timing of the rapture and they're welcome to do so and we honor them for their study of the Word of God and if they're sincere I'm sure they don't have any kind of hidden agenda but let me tell you be very wary of any teaching that tells you you can relax you've got all kinds of time there's ten things got to happen first there's five things that have to happen first be very leery of that kind of teaching because as I read the Bible the very next thing I see everywhere on God's prophetic calendar the words of Jesus in the teaching of Paul in the teaching of the New Testament in the book of Revelation the very next thing I see is Jesus is going to return and he's going to catch his church away in the air and we call that the rapture after the rapture happens two things are going to happen for the church the first is called the judgment seat of Christ you see the church never stands with the wicked and the sinners to be judged the church will stand at something called the judgment seat of Christ if you ever make it to the judgement seat of Christ you don't have to worry about being lost you're already in heaven and when you get there God's not going to judge you as to whether you get in or you don't get in you're already there but what he is going to judge us for is equally concerning he's going to judge us for the deeds that we've done in the body he's going to judge us for every idle word we've spoken he's going to judge us for how we use the treasure of the Holy Ghost that he put inside us so although the judgment seat of Christ isn't whether you get in or out of heaven the judgment seat of Christ is still a terrifying thing because can you imagine standing there and having God evaluate every word and every work thank God that our sins are under the blood that's why we get to stand there but just because our sins are under the blood doesn't mean we get a free pass to do nothing for God with the rest of our lives we are his servants we're not his boss he's our master and our Lord and our King and we work for him not vice-versa after the judgment seat of Christ there's an event a beautiful powerful wonderful event called the marriage supper of the lamb it's celebrated at various points in Scripture and we are going to be in fellowship with all the saints of all the ages and it's going to be a wonderful event it's not so wonderful here on the earth because while the church is caught away for the next seven years on the earth unfolds what the Bible calls the tribulation the tribulation some people divided up into two segments the first three and a half years being the beginning of Sorrows the last three and a half being the Great Tribulation but during that time let me tell you that the wrath of God and the wrath of Satan and the wrath of man are all going to be poured out on this world simultaneously it would be like taking every terrible event every despot and dictator every natural disaster and just dumping it on the world all at the same time you don't want to be here during the Great Tribulation missing the rapture is not a church joke missing the rapture seals your fate you do not want to miss the rapture it's not the least bit funny while the tribulation is unfolding over the world the church has been caught away to be with the Lord and then at the end of that seven years there's a battle that you've read about it's called the Battle of Armageddon and basically it will be the nations of the world under the Antichrist who will attack the little tiny nation of Israel and at that war at that battle God Himself will return from the skies with all of us behind him and we will intervene the church led by the Lord Jesus will intervene in the Battle of Armageddon and we call that his second coming and when he stops the Battle of Armageddon cold then God sets up a thousand years of peace his millennial reign his Millennial Kingdom and for a thousand years no war will happen on this planet no crime no evil or wickedness will be allowed but for anybody that's kind of been saying well if I had a better life if I had better opportunities if somebody had been nicer or kinder to me I'd serve the Lord but I've had it so hard I have an excuse after a thousand years of no sin no crime no war no injustice because Jesus reigns literally on the earth with his church during that thousand years after a thousand years of a perfect environment the devil will be loosed from the bottomless pit for a short time the Bible says and all the nations of the world who just had a thousand years under God's reign will follow the devil and go to war against God so can I just say stop waiting around for a perfect environment because a perfect environment means nothing you've got to have it inside your heart you've got to want to serve God because after a thousand years of perfection people are still gonna sin and rebel against God so if you're ever gonna serve God stop waiting around for a perfect time a perfect place a perfect situation and just make up in your mind I'm gonna serve Jesus and I'm gonna be ready for the rapture that battle win now all the nations of the world turn against God himself that's called the Battle of Gog and Magog and it's it's going to be a fierce but a very short battle and after god puts to flight all the nations of the world then comes the judgment that most people know about it's called the great white throne judgment and at the great white throne judgment every man woman boy and girl who's ever occupied this planet doesn't matter what generation they were born in doesn't matter what time period what country it doesn't matter every man woman boy and girl will stand before the great white throne of God's judgment and he and he alone will judge them no one on that day is gonna argue with God and say you're unfair because everybody will know because the thoughts and the intents of everybody's heart will be revealed the only people who don't stand at the great white throne judgment are people who are born again in the Apostolic Church because they've already been caught away to heaven at least seven years earlier do you understand what a privilege it is to have your sins washed away by the blood of Jesus that means that your sins aren't following you to judgment your sins are gone your sins don't come back up to haunt you when God stands every man woman boy and girl in long endless lines before his great white throne your sins aren't going to be there and if you're born again you're not going to be there because God's gonna judge the nations he's gonna judge sinners he's gonna judge evil he's gonna judge every good person he's gonna judge every good neighbor he's gonna judge all these people who didn't have a relationship with him but you'll never stand there because you right now have a relationship with him you're filled with his spirit and so you won't ever stand there and your sins will never be dredged up out of his sea of forgetfulness and surely even on a Wednesday night even in a Bible study somebody could say thank you God for washing my sins away because now you don't have to go to that horrific judgment setting you are ready for heaven if you're born again you're ready for heaven right now [Applause] after that we walk into eternity the Bible says there'll be a new heaven and a new earth but the Bible also says there will be a lake of fire and everybody that got turned away at the great white throne judgment and that will be by the way the vast majority they will enter the lake of fire and there's nothing else that's eternity there's nothing else there's no second chance there's no do-over there's no begging there's no pleading so if you're going to be ready you don't wait till here or here or here or here you get ready right now for the rapture of the church don't delay be ready Paul wrote these words to Titus we are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ and in that little scripture not very long Paul actually did something that I want to do with you next because many people get confused in prophecy with two points the first point is they confuse the church with Israel for example the Bible talks about Saints being on the earth during the tribulation but it's not talking about the church it's talking about Old Testament Saints Jewish people Israel's going to be here another way that people get confused when they study prophecy is they mix up what Paul just called the Blessed hope everyone say the rapture that's our Blessed hope and there's another phase of Jesus coming it's called the glorious appearing the Blessed hope is when Jesus takes his church away the glorious appearing is when Jesus comes back seven years later with his church to interrupt and intervene in the Battle of Armageddon the Blessed hope and the glorious appearing and Paul identifies both of them in one verse now most of us were Western educated we're kind of linear in our thinking so so let pastor chart it out for you and this might be helpful to somebody let's let's look at the rapture and the second appearing of Jesus it's one coming but it happens in two phases basically seven years apart first of all the first appearing of Jesus he comes in the air and he comes for his church the church is caught up to meet him the dead in Christ those of us who are alive and we meet him in the air that's his coming for his church but at the glorious appearing he comes to the earth and he comes with his church we're already with him so that's different the the rapture or the Blessed hope it's the the one that that ushers in that seven-year tribulation the time on the earth of great trial but the glorious appearing when Jesus comes down to earth that ushers in the Millennium a thousand years of peace at the rapture only the church will see him the only reason the world will know the raptures taking place is there will be millions of people missing you talk about the news media trying to do scrambling trying to present a story that makes some kind of sense they'll be totally confused only the church will see him at the rapture but the Bible tells us that when he comes back every eye will see him so they're different the the rapture uh sure is the church to the judgment seat of Christ that we talked about that's where we're judged for our works that is not where we're judged as to whether we are saved or not whether we go to heaven or not that's already been decided but we're judged according to our works but the great white throne judgment that's seven years later that's where every man woman boy and girl stands before Jesus when he comes back and finally the main difference between these two is that the rapture could happen at any moment Jesus won't be back here physically on this earth for at least seven years from right now but the rapture could happen right now that's the difference so you've got to be ready for the rapture in Matthew chapter 24 this is very important it's a place where some people get confused with prophecy in Matthew chapter 24 many of the signs Jesus gave for the end time are actually not pointing to the rapture specifically they're actually pointing to his glorious appearing they're actually pointing to the time when he will come back to earth and so that confuses some people because he's talking in places about the Jewish people being persecuted in the tribulation and and and and he's talking to them and so people get confused but but here's how to understand it this event isn't going to happen for at least seven years from tonight this event could happen at any moment so if Jesus talked to his disciples and he gave them signs of this he said here are some things to look for before I come back and set my feet on the earth and set up my kingdom if he was giving them some signs for that and we are back here before the rapture and we're already seeing some of those signs happen here all I can say is how close must the rapture be when we're seeing signs of the rapture and signs of his glorious appearing his return literally to earth we're seeing all of those signs start to happen so some of these signs that we're beginning to see they won't have their fulfillment until this happens seven years from now if we're already seeing them you want to believe that prophecy has pushed down the accelerator pedal I say it again once the rapture happens everything's in motion everything's set you can't make changes to your eternal destiny once the rapture happens but you can make those changes right now the Christians around the world refer to our Blessed hope as the rapture and yes for all of you that might have wondered we do realize that the word rapture isn't in the Bible the word Bible isn't in the Bible either and yet it still exists the Bible doesn't say rapture that's a Latin word it came later the Bible simply talks about us being caught up but rapture caught on as the unofficial name of the event because rapture conveys a sense of joy instead of a sense of fear the rapture is not going to be like us being kidnapped the rapture is going to be like a little girl leaping into the arms of her father laughing and smiling and rejoicing that's what's gonna happen to the church when the rapture happens we're gonna be swept into the arms of God along with every loved one who departed this planet before us I'm a pastor and I pastor you great people and I look around this sanctuary and I see people who don't have a spouse here don't have their parents here some of you don't have your children here some of you don't have a brother or sister here but for those that died in the faith can you imagine the sense of overwhelming joy when we haven't even got the heaven we're still in the atmosphere on our way there and the dead in Christ we look ahead because they rise first and we look ahead and we see them just ahead of us and we're accelerating to meet them and to meet Jesus the rapture is going to be one incredible day and I know I know I know it's we've been exposed to so much fiction and science fiction that it hardly registers anymore in a modern mind but the rapture is real and that stuff's imaginary and when the rapture happens it's going to be all the joy you could ever imagine all in one moment in the twinkling of an eye and we're gonna join our departed loved ones and we're gonna be around his throne forever the terror isn't the part on the part of the church the scare the fear isn't on the part of the church it's on the part of those who are left because the rapture will happen without any warning whatsoever the church will suddenly and instantly be gone a million phone conversations will suddenly go dead a million face-to-face conversations will end mid-sentence a wife will reach over for her husband's hand and nobody will be there a mother will feel the horror of kissing empty air as a baby disappears from a bundle of blankets in her arms a man will turn with a laugh to tell a crude joke to a buddy and slap him on the back and his hand will move through empty air a backslider will turn to joke with his friend can you suddenly feel the fear he spent a lifetime trying to drown out when the preachers voice stops talking mid-sentence in a sermon the rapture is gonna happen folks Jesus is not coming for everyone he's only coming for his church some will be taken some will be left behind and as we learned last week from Jesus parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 some will think they are ready but they will not be ready calling yourself a Christian isn't enough attending a church service isn't enough praying a prayer at some point isn't enough you have to be ready spend your life ready because the rapture is coming one of the hardest things we face and my goodness this year we faced a lot of it in this local congregation one of the hardest things we face is the loss of our loved ones through death and the rapture it's not a negative it gives us hope that we will see them again and we will see them soon the grave is not the end for the Apostolic Church the rapture is the next important thing on God's agenda the question is is the rapture at all on your agenda that's the question would you lift your hands pastors got one more scripture and we'll be finished tonight but would you lift your hands and just interact with God's Spirit that's in this room just embrace what he's speaking and what he's saying what he's doing in our midst tonight I worship you Jesus I worship you Jesus I worship you got it I've read it at dozens of grave sites but it is going to come true behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep we won't all go into the grave you won't have a funeral for all of us but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet shall sound it doesn't matter who dismisses it disregards it or tries to disprove it the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed no more pain no more sorrow no more sickness illness none of that we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality and when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and when this mortal shall have put on immortality only then shall this saying be brought to pass that is written you won't ever know this in its fullness until the rapture but at the rapture when you're on your way up and you catch a glimpse you catch the eye of our loved one who died decades ago and they're on their way up to then and only then will be brought to pass this say death is swallowed up in victory I don't know what we're going to say or sing on the way up but it might be this Oh death where is your sting and old grave where is your victory you tried to hold my parents my siblings my children you tried to hold him but grave we died in the faith we died in the Lord you don't have any victory you don't have any hold you don't have any claim and at that day everybody's gonna know that God was true and every man was a liar and his word came to pass rapture day and so we live we used to sing so many songs about I don't mess with the young folks I'm proud of the young folks I don't mess with the worship team I'm thankful for the worship team but I miss the awareness we had of the coming of the Lord a few decades ago I missed that I'm trying to revitalize that and resurrect that in my own life as a pastor and as a Christian because I missed out and my fear is my concern is that we could be the generation that fulfills the words of Jesus at an hour when you think not at an hour when you're distracted and satisfied at an hour when you're so successful and so busy that's when the Son of Man will come because the trumpet will sound and when the trumpet sounds there's not enough time to get ready think about getting ready there's not enough time to cut a deal repent of sin there's no time it's over so we need to live our lives with one ear attuned for the trumpet that's going to sound from heaven once the rapture happens you can't make any changes but you can make those changes right now right here tonight we're not gonna worship right now but I'm gonna ask you to pray right now if you would this great church that knows how to pray I'm gonna ask you to just launch yourself into prayer and push yourself into prayer with your voice out loud with intensity the reason there there's just kind of an undercurrent of awkwardness is because we know the law of averages says there's people even in this room on a Bible study night that aren't ready for the coming of the Lord so it just it's just awkward and nobody talks about it anymore it's easier to ignore it and christen them it's easier to discount it it's easier to tear it down and throw it away who needs the doctrine of a rapture but everybody needs that teaching if you're gonna be ready because Jesus is gonna come he will shock the religious he'll terrorize the pastor's that preached against it he is going to return and when he returns it's all over so obligation number one priority number one is to be ready for the rapture of the church I worship you Jesus we have time here tonight we might not have as much time as we think but we've got time right here we're still here so if you've got to repent now's the time to repent if you got to make it right now's the time to make it right if you've got to pray to God and ask for forgiveness now is the time if you got to make a promise to God now's the time if you're going to do it you need to do it now time is running out the raptures on the horizon today shows a bucket a I worship you Jesus could I ask you to stand with me if you're able if you just stand and would you let your hands just continue on heavenward and could we just reach out into the presence of God right now and pray you feel it it's it's the weight of eternity it's the it's the weight of the lethargy of our day it's it's the weight of the world on us it just wants to push us down and push us back I'm asking you to just pray until you feel a little bit of a breakthrough in your spirit because what Jesus would want is that we walk out of this place aware of eternity aware of his coming aware of the rapture aware of the trumpet that could sound at any moment that's what he would want but the lethargy of our day pushes down on us and it just soothes us and calls us and loves us to sleep but Jesus is coming Jesus is coming

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 170,785

Rating: 4.7842031 out of 5

Keywords: the, end, how, close, are, we, pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, part, two, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, times, prophecy

Id: fj0Gnf_GLUo

Length: 55min 13sec (3313 seconds)

Published: Wed May 23 2018