SPEAKER_02: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Back about a month ago, I came home and nobody was home.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody was supposed to be at home.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you like, I didn't make it! This is not good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to make it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to lead my flock up there.
SPEAKER_01: They're all up there, but I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: But it will be like a thief in the night, and it will come, and many will be shocked that they actually were never saved.
SPEAKER_02: Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_02: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_02: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk today about the rapture of the church because of where we're at in our study of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: John Wolver, the former president of Dallas Theological Seminary, writes in his commentary on Revelation, this is one of the commentaries I use, quote, there is no clear, explicit reference to the rapture of the church in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: And he's dispensational.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're an interesting church in that we're reformed theologically, but we're dispensational in our eschatology.
SPEAKER_01: So when I say eschatology, that's the study of the last days, a study of the last things.
SPEAKER_01: But Wolford would go on to say, and I agree, that the rapture of the church is implied throughout the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: But my understanding of the rapture of the church comes from the entire Bible, and it has some implicit references in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: We'll look at one of them here, which I think is the main one in our study today.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I say.
SPEAKER_01: Because we don't know, right?
SPEAKER_01: It hasn't happened, so we don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that we do not go through the great tribulation, but prepare as if we will.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that we will not go through the great tribulation in the last days, but prepare as if we will.
SPEAKER_01: And we're in chapter 8 of Revelation with the opening of the seventh seal.
SPEAKER_01: And here's where I differ with my Calvary Chapel guys, friends, and tons of them, a lot of good buddies of mine, and those who have a strict kind of, I would call it kind of a Schofield Bible dispensational perspective, is that the Great Tribulation started in Revelation chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the Great Tribulation begins in chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the good news.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is that I've got scriptural backing.
SPEAKER_01: The bad news is we're going to go through Revelation chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe Revelation chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: And I am not going to worry about that.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't care what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: And it's something I don't even believe in the rapture, church.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: But today you're just going to have to bear with me because I'm going to share.
SPEAKER_01: I believe Revelation chapter 6, which we just finished, is the Brack, I would call it the Braxton Hicks of the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And all the women know I'm talking, oh, yeah, I remember Braxton Hicks, you know.
SPEAKER_01: The birth didn't come yet, but you keep being reminded that you're pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: And so all the husbands are like, they thought you were just bending over because you dropped food on the floor in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, you're experiencing Braxton Hicks.
SPEAKER_01: But in chapter 6, which we already studied, and if you haven't listened to these or been a part of that, just go back.
SPEAKER_01: They're all online.
SPEAKER_01: You can listen to all the messages.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about a one-world government.
SPEAKER_01: I believe we're going to experience that.
SPEAKER_01: The Antichrist will start to rise to power.
SPEAKER_01: I believe we'll experience that.
SPEAKER_01: Famine, wars, and cosmic disturbances.
SPEAKER_01: We're already experiencing some of that.
SPEAKER_01: We may be on the precipice of some very interesting days ahead.
SPEAKER_01: Are we, has a seal been opened?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But we could have a seal open and we wouldn't know it until we start experiencing things that are happening.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend in Southern California, a vineyard pastor, who believes we're in the second seal.
SPEAKER_01: He believes the second seal has been opened of Revelation chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_01: But turning your Bibles to Revelation 7, 9.
SPEAKER_01: I want to start at verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: We read this, looked at this last week, but I want to cover it again from the perspective of the rapture of the church, and I'm going to give you a definition of what I mean in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 7, 9.
SPEAKER_01: After these things I looked and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number of all nations, and the operable word here in this passage is the word all.
SPEAKER_01: All nations are represented, all tribes, all peoples, all tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the Greek, all means all.
SPEAKER_01: So the only way I can believe that all is all here is that God has used the church up to this point to preach the gospel to all nations.
SPEAKER_01: So John makes a point here to not just say all nations, ethnos, but he says tribes, he says peoples, and he even says languages.
SPEAKER_01: All languages are represented.
SPEAKER_01: So at this point, I believe every nation, tribe, tongue, people, and tongue is represented in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That means the gospel has been preached to every nation, tribe, and tongue all over the world.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that great?
SPEAKER_01: So every people group will at least have a representative in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So you will have enchilada grit.
SPEAKER_01: We will have sauerkraut curry.
SPEAKER_01: Taco sushi.
SPEAKER_01: Clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
SPEAKER_01: Now I could just preach from this verse alone for the rest of the time, but I believe this will be the message in the latter days.
SPEAKER_01: This is the message of this church.
SPEAKER_01: This is the message of different churches that are word and spirit churches across the world, and that is a message of salvation belongs to God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, preached to every nation and tribe.
SPEAKER_01: All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, and power and might be to our God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This is a cry of intimacy, church.
SPEAKER_01: This is people who've just gotten saved and those that have known the Lord, those that went before us.
SPEAKER_01: These are the saints from before, these are recent converts.
SPEAKER_01: They're all in heaven and they're worshiping the Lord and they're describing his character.
SPEAKER_01: When we share our faith with others, when we speak of a personal, vital, dynamic, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, we speak of his character.
SPEAKER_01: I love when we share our testimony.
SPEAKER_01: That's so important to share your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is every testimony speaks of something supernatural of who God is, of who Jesus is, what he's done in your life, the difference he's made in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It has power on it.
SPEAKER_01: Not the testimony of 25 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: That's great too.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love that.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality, what's the testimony of what the Lord has done yesterday, last week, through what about at work?
SPEAKER_01: You know, we were at work and we were financially struggling.
SPEAKER_01: I got our staff team together, we prayed, God showed up, um, um, things began to happen at work.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the kind of stuff that really happens.
SPEAKER_01: We should share that.
SPEAKER_01: Share recently what God's done.
SPEAKER_01: And then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes?
SPEAKER_01: And where do they come from?
SPEAKER_01: So even one of the elders who's watching all this stuff happen, like, where in the world did all these people come from?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of them have weird hair stuff, and some of them are carrying bows and arrows, and some of them are sophisticated.
SPEAKER_01: And where do they come from?
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have ever been out of the country?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you've been out of the country.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, most of you here, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And so you get off that plane, and I mean, some places you just get hit with smells and heat and climate that is just radically different than anything we ever experienced in this country.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, the elder.
SPEAKER_01: This elder's like, where do they come from?
SPEAKER_01: Who are these people?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Sir, you know.
SPEAKER_01: So he said to me, These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it exciting to think that when you go into the 24-hour war room, when you go in to fast and pray, and we're going to do that on the 14th and 15th in January, right after the week together, that the Lord dwells with you.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord dwells in that.
SPEAKER_01: He loves that because it's preparing you for heaven, because we'll be doing that in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore they are before the throne and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: They shall neither hunger anymore or thirst anymore.
SPEAKER_01: So the impression is they did hunger and they did thirst.
SPEAKER_01: So they have gone through tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat.
SPEAKER_01: For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that's proverbial.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's spiritual, but it's also physical, because we will not yet hear in this passage, but as we come to the coming of the Lord, in the last days, there will be a recreated heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: And we're coming to that.
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful recreated heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's going to be, there's a difference between the Lord coming for his saints and the Lord coming with his saints.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is him coming for his saints.
SPEAKER_01: God will wipe away every tear.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
SPEAKER_01: And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
SPEAKER_01: Now, everybody, if you're if you're an underliner or a circler in your Bible or you have the ability to highlight, this idea of seven trumpets is important.
SPEAKER_01: Trumpets, we haven't heard about the trumpets yet.
SPEAKER_01: We're hearing about the trumpets now.
SPEAKER_01: And then as I read you a bunch of passages from the New Testament, I want you to see how many times trumpets come up.
SPEAKER_01: Then another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar.
SPEAKER_01: He was given much incense, and he should offer it with the prayers, again, all.
SPEAKER_01: Prayers of all the saints.
SPEAKER_01: So I believe we're all in heaven at this point, upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.
SPEAKER_01: And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand.
SPEAKER_01: So all the saints, all the tribes, all the tongues in heaven, as we're about to open the seventh seal.
SPEAKER_01: So what is the rapture?
SPEAKER_01: My many mainline pastors wouldn't even believe in the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: They don't even discuss the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: They believe in the coming of the Lord, but not the idea of the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: We believe here at the road in the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the rapture does occur, and I believe it's very clear to me.
SPEAKER_01: The word rapture is never in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The term comes from a Latin word meaning a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.
SPEAKER_01: The concept of the carrying off or the rapture of the church, I believe, is clearly taught in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: The rapture of the church is the event in which God snatches away his church before the coming of the great wrath.
SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, church, there's a difference, and I'm not going to go into great detail.
SPEAKER_01: I think most of you know this, but there's a difference between wrath and discipline.
SPEAKER_01: So in our lifetime, we will go through many disciplines of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I hate disciplines of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and you have to discipline your children.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a good father, good mother, sometimes you have discipline.
SPEAKER_01: You have boundaries that you have to have with your kids.
SPEAKER_01: That's not wrath, that's teaching and training them to be better human beings, to be to be fathers and mothers someday in their own right.
SPEAKER_01: So we have discipline within our home.
SPEAKER_01: If you're an athlete, you have to discipline your body, you have to discipline your mind for competition.
SPEAKER_01: So discipline is different than wrath, and that's where I draw the line.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15, 50.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 15, 50.
SPEAKER_01: Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Because sleep is synonymous with death here in the New Testament under this reference.
SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna all die.
SPEAKER_01: Not all of you are gonna actually experience physical death.
SPEAKER_01: Many of us here, I believe, if we're living in the last days, and only God knows that, that what he's about to say next will be true for you and for me.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, so suddenly changed, physically, mentally, emotionally changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound.
SPEAKER_01: There's that trumpet.
SPEAKER_01: I've got it underlined in my Bible, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.
SPEAKER_01: So those that have already died before us will be raised, and we shall be changed, transformed, for this corruptible, which is our bodies, must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 54.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna see two comings of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's referencing here.
SPEAKER_01: But also the scriptures speak of a coming with the saints.
SPEAKER_01: That's when when that's what John is speaking of.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your Bibles to John 14.
SPEAKER_01: John wrote this, Jesus spoke it, John 14, 1.
SPEAKER_01: Let not your heart be troubled.
SPEAKER_01: You believe in God, believe also in me.
SPEAKER_01: In my father's house are many mansions.
SPEAKER_01: If it were not so, I would have told you.
SPEAKER_01: I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Jews didn't understand this.
SPEAKER_01: They thought that Christ was gonna set up a kingdom on the earth, but he's speaking to the church that he's gonna come, he's gonna catch you up in him.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where we get the word rapture from the Latin.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
SPEAKER_01: And remember back at Revelation 7 and 8, the trumpets.
SPEAKER_01: So after we see, as we're opening the seventh seal, the trumpets are sounding.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be trumpets blasting in Revelation chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven as a shout with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
SPEAKER_01: Then we, that's us, who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we get the word rapture, with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Again, this is an example of the Lord coming for the church.
SPEAKER_01: And now we're going to look at the coming of the Lord with the church.
SPEAKER_01: You can't come with if you're not with.
SPEAKER_01: All the saints in heaven can't come with the Lord if we're not with him, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he comes and he grabs you.
SPEAKER_01: In our day, he may come and grab you like a thief in the night, and you are out of here.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll look at what Jesus said about that in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: So, Colossians 3, 4, you don't need to turn there.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
SPEAKER_01: So we are going to have to already be up there with him to appear in glory when Christ appears.
SPEAKER_01: That is the final coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There's really three comings of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture gives us really three comings of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The first is his advent, which we're about to celebrate here.
SPEAKER_01: So the advent.
SPEAKER_01: The advent of the Lord is first.
SPEAKER_01: Second will be our going up to him, seeing him in the sky.
SPEAKER_01: That's the rapture.
SPEAKER_01: And the third is the final coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We call it the second coming.
SPEAKER_01: You could actually literally call it the third coming, the third coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Jude 14, don't turn there.
SPEAKER_01: Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints.
SPEAKER_01: So again, we've been raptured up.
SPEAKER_01: We come with the Lord with 10,000 of his saints.
SPEAKER_01: When Christ comes back, he will have an army of the redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 19, 14.
SPEAKER_01: And the armies in heaven, the redeemed, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.
SPEAKER_01: So even if you never felt like you could ride a horse down here, you'll get to ride a white horse up there.
SPEAKER_01: The saints are coming with them because we'll be lifted off of the face of the earth before the great and terrible tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: So now look at Luke 17.
SPEAKER_01: And look what Jesus says, and this is why I believe so strongly in the rapture of the church before the capital G great, capital T tribulation, which I believe is about to be opened up to us in the coming weeks in Revelation 8 onward in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 17.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus gives us examples from the scriptures of how the Lord's MO, his way of dealing with his redeemed, is to pull them out before the wrath of the Lord is released.
SPEAKER_01: God pulls us out before the wrath of the Lord is released.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 17, 26.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus speaking.
SPEAKER_01: And it was in the days of Noah.
SPEAKER_01: So it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, a type of rapture.
SPEAKER_01: Noah taken out before the floods came.
SPEAKER_01: And then the flood came and destroyed them all.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, as it also was in the days of Lot.
SPEAKER_01: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.
SPEAKER_01: But on the day that Lot went out.
SPEAKER_01: Out of Sodom, another type of rapture, God's merciful rapture to his saints.
SPEAKER_01: It rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
SPEAKER_01: Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
SPEAKER_01: So he's speaking of the last days.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: So now Jesus describes what it will be like in the rapture of the church.
SPEAKER_01: In that day, he who is on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away.
SPEAKER_01: And likewise the one who sits, who is in the field, let him not turn back.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Lot's wife.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed, the one will be taken and the other will be left.
SPEAKER_01: Two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left.
SPEAKER_01: Two men will be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left.
SPEAKER_01: Back about a month ago, I came home and nobody was home.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody was supposed to be at home.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you, like, I didn't make it.
SPEAKER_01: This is not good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to make it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to lead my flock up there.
SPEAKER_01: They're all up there, but I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: But it will be, it will be like a thief in the night, and it will come, and many will be shocked that they actually were never saved.
SPEAKER_01: They thought they were saved, they did all the things that the church told them to do.
SPEAKER_01: They did the ordinances of the church, they were baptized, they went to communion, but really they were never born again.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you here are not born again.
SPEAKER_01: You know how you know if you're born again, there's a there is not, it's not always a passionate desire to follow the Lord, because that that ebbs and flows, but there is this consistency in your walk with God to know God, to want to have a relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And it, yeah, you've got times where it's not as strong as other times, but but there's something within you that wants the Lord and you're longing for the Lord, and you're convinced, I believe this, because the Spirit of God gives us assurance, Ephesians says, that you're assured that you are saved.
SPEAKER_01: So I would say this this morning: if you don't have that assurance, sometimes you doubt that, you need to talk to one of our shepherds or stewards or myself and let us lead you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a desire and you're continuing to sleep around, you're continuing to do drugs, you're continuing to do all the stuff that, you know, you kind of feel guilty about it because your mom and your dad don't like it, or some of these Christian people that you hang around with tell you that's bad, but it's not really that convicting, you're just trying to do your own thing, you're probably not saved.
SPEAKER_01: You're probably not saved.
SPEAKER_01: Getting saved is not praying a little prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Getting saved is surrendering your life to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Often through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's not through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I know guys in my life, they they they were pumping gas and they got saved.
SPEAKER_01: They were pumping gas, they knew they needed Christ, said, Lord, come into my life, and boom, it was done, and they were radically changed.
SPEAKER_01: I know other people have been in the church for 20 years and they're still up to no good.
SPEAKER_01: There's still no conviction of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And if I told them, if I gave them the four spiritual laws in three hours, every point explained that, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: But you know their heart's not born again.
SPEAKER_01: They are not transformed, they are not walking or have a desire for, a passion for the things of God, and you can't convince them until the cows come home.
SPEAKER_01: I never try to convince anyone to get saved.
SPEAKER_01: What I believe is our responsibility is to live the gospel, preach the gospel in our word and deed, express a way to know Christ, but really ultimately at the end of the day, it's their decision based on the Spirit of God working in their heart.
SPEAKER_01: And so we see here that the Lord knows those who are his and he calls them out, and it's sudden and they and they're just gone.
SPEAKER_01: They're gone.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 says this for they themselves declare concerning what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us, listen, from the wrath to come.
SPEAKER_01: And so the Lord will deliver us from the wrath to come.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
SPEAKER_01: So, church, this is our watch.
SPEAKER_01: This is our time.
SPEAKER_01: I believe we have a window of opportunity here in America and around the world, like never before, to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Even in my earlier days, back in the 70s and 80s, we had to smuggle Bibles into Eastern Europe.
SPEAKER_01: We smuggled Bibles into China.
SPEAKER_01: We smuggle Bibles into Hungary.
SPEAKER_01: We smuggle Bibles into Russia.
SPEAKER_01: And the iron curtain is down, even the bamboo curtain is somewhat down.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the opportunity, literally, we could, most of us, if you have a viable, uh, up-to-date passport, you could book a flight to Beijing and be out of here this week if you want to.
SPEAKER_01: Unprecedented in world history, the ability for believers to go all over the world and share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And God is giving us this open door for the gospel to be preached.
SPEAKER_01: And it's exciting.
SPEAKER_01: In China, amazing things are happening in China.
SPEAKER_01: The church is growing by leaps and bounds.
SPEAKER_01: There's communist officials.
SPEAKER_01: There's officials in the highest echelons of the Communist Party in China that know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There are the all over India among the wealthy and the most poor.
SPEAKER_01: Churches are being planted to the tune of about 25 a day in China.
SPEAKER_01: There's parts of Vietnam, there's parts of Thailand.
SPEAKER_01: There's actually some beginnings of the Spirit of God working in Muslim places, like in Malaysia and Indonesia.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing, amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And kind of the last frontier.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the last frontier is the heart of Islam.
SPEAKER_01: And so guys, even from this church, are going into those areas.
SPEAKER_01: You heard Victor even share last week.
SPEAKER_01: So the heart of Islam, I believe, is one of the great last strongholds of Satan.
SPEAKER_01: And God is using us as a church to start to penetrate those areas.
SPEAKER_01: Young people are signing up.
SPEAKER_01: Young people from the universities are saying, yes, I want to go.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give two years of my life, like the student volunteer movement.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of a resurgence of this sort of 21st century, third millennium student volunteer movement.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know what I mean by the student volunteer movement, just put it in our Google search, student volunteer movement.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see this work of God that occurred in our country in years past.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we have a special young lady, Haley Popovich, in our church, who some six months ago gave me a poem about the rapture that she had written, and I felt like it would be appropriate for her to share that here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So, Haley, would you come up and share this poem?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the title is Rapture.
SPEAKER_00: Time is moving, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
SPEAKER_00: Each day time passes, sitting and wondering about Jesus' promise to us.
SPEAKER_00: He will be returning for us.
SPEAKER_00: We watch and we wait.
SPEAKER_00: It's a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will be returning.
SPEAKER_00: We will soar on wings, the angels will sing.
SPEAKER_00: Their voice is melodic.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, how beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: The clock cries out the Lord is returning for us.
SPEAKER_00: We are his bride, his treasure.
SPEAKER_00: He will take us to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Time is in constant motion.
SPEAKER_00: The rapture is coming.
SPEAKER_00: We must never stop watching.
SPEAKER_00: We must never stop listening for that midnight cry.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is returning for his bride.
SPEAKER_00: All across the world, he will provide for us, and we will walk beside him always.
SPEAKER_00: Time is slipping away, but he says, Behold, I am coming quickly.
SPEAKER_00: We must continue watching and listening.
unknown: Thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians 5.2 says, The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Peter 3.10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you may have had your car broken into, maybe you've had your house broken into.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been held up before.
SPEAKER_01: You remember that sense of one moment, everything's sort of normal.
SPEAKER_01: And then the next moment there's fear.
SPEAKER_01: There's a suddenness.
SPEAKER_01: It just seems to come out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the coming of the day of the Lord will be.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be as in the days of Noah.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, everything will be normal.
SPEAKER_01: Everything will be moving along in routine, as in the days of Lot.
SPEAKER_01: It will be routine.
SPEAKER_01: And then suddenly the Lord will come.
SPEAKER_01: So let me close with Matthew 25.
SPEAKER_01: Let me close with Matthew 25.
SPEAKER_01: So remember, Matthew 24 is where Jesus speaks of the last days.
SPEAKER_01: But then in the context of the coming of the Lord in the last days, where he gives us the signs where we'll know that the Lord is, that the birth pangs of the coming of the Lord are happening across the globe.
SPEAKER_01: Then in Matthew 25, this is what he says to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Now five of them were wise and five were foolish.
SPEAKER_01: Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
SPEAKER_01: But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
SPEAKER_01: And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him.
SPEAKER_01: Then all those virgins arose and they trimmed their lamps.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.
SPEAKER_01: But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.
SPEAKER_01: Afterward the other virgins came out, also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
SPEAKER_01: But he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you.
SPEAKER_01: Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
SPEAKER_01: And so men and women, this oil is representative of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_01: You can't give the Spirit of God away.
SPEAKER_01: You can't take the Spirit of God within you and give it to someone who you love.
SPEAKER_01: You can't take the spirit of the lamp that is that power, that peace, that joy, that tremendous energy, that energy of the spirit that's within you.
SPEAKER_01: Can't give that to someone else.
SPEAKER_01: They have to personally give their heart fully to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And there is a day coming, men and women, we've got to trim our lamps.
SPEAKER_01: There is a day coming where you have got to trim your lamps.
SPEAKER_01: To me, the trimming of the lamps is the equipping of the saints.
SPEAKER_01: The trimming of the lamps is the equipping of the saints.
SPEAKER_01: So if you are in God's word daily and we have our PB and J, the bookmark that we use, we read that, you know, every day, spending time in God's Word, prayer Bible journal, PB and J, prayer Bible journal, prayer Bible journal, spending time, you're trimming your lamp.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know what does it mean to trim your lamp?
SPEAKER_01: It means that your lamp has enough oil for when it needs to be picked up, when you need to pick up that flame.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I know because I camp and I hunt a lot, and we have our, we have those Coleman lanterns that we use in our tent.
SPEAKER_01: And so I turn it down when we're all outside around the campfire because it's going to be so cold.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to mess with it when I get in.
SPEAKER_01: And then it's so I trim it and then I come back in and then I and then I open it up and boom, we have light, but there's enough oil in the reserves to be able to be used when we need it.
SPEAKER_01: And so it is, church.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you're here.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we come to the sanctuary, we worship.
SPEAKER_01: When our worship team under Marcus are leading us in worship, we're trimming our lamps.
SPEAKER_01: We're preparing our heart, we're filling up our life with the Spirit of God, because you're going to need that light this coming week.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we read God's word and then we study God's word and we equip our saints with God's word, which enlarges our heart, we're trimming our lamps.
SPEAKER_01: So what's going to happen as things get tougher, as things get more difficult in our world, there's going to be many people who didn't trim their lamps, and they're going to run out of the strength and the faith and the power and the peace that they need.
SPEAKER_01: And so the warning of Jesus is trim your lamps.
SPEAKER_01: Be a people who have oil in the reserves because you're being filled up with the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_02: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_02: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_02: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_02: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.