Text – 1 Corinthians 15:51-51; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.” 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)
INTRODUCTION –
A lot of information is being shown on Facebook and the internet concerning the “Last Days.” Some of this information is good, some of it is bad, and some of it is misleading. Let me first emphasize the importance of Psalm 119:105 and other scriptures that encourage us to read and study the word of GOD (Holy Bible). As we look into the word of God, we should always ask God for the wisdom and understanding to rightly divide the word of truth.
Having said that, I am stating that if we seek God first for the understanding of His word, and for those who are saved, the Holy Spirit will teach us and allow us to discern, differentiate, and identify the three types of information I mentioned. For many of those who are seeking the truth from the word of God, understand that you need to FIRST seek the Lord!
Remember in John 3 how Nicodemus went to Jesus to get understanding of His teaching? And how the Ethiopian Eunuch told Philip that he could not understand the word of God unless someone explained it to him? (Acts 8:30-31). In both cases the LORD needed to intervene to aid that person in their understanding of His word.
So the difference between the saved and the unsaved is that the saved person has the indwelt Holy Spirit to teach them and allow them to discern what is right and wrong when it comes to the word of God; but to the unsaved person, those “deep” things of the Bible are “foolishness” to him (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).
My main purpose for going this way with this message is because I am mainly concerned with the information on Facebook and the Internet that is misleading, because there are so many people that spend a lot of time on the internet reading and hearing this information, that I am afraid that they are not going to seek the Lord for the understanding of His word; and they are going to be misled with some of the popular teachings on the internet concerning what is going to be happening in the “Last Days,” and how everyone is going to be affected.
As we are watching so many prophecies concerning the Last Days unfold before our eyes, I want to share with you what I believe is a very important piece of information that lets us know who will be involved in a very important act of what is going to happen in the “Last Days.” As we look at our text for today, I want to talk to you using a very simple subject . . .
JUST A MINUTE!
POINTS – The Rapture of the Church will set off a terrible chain of events; especially since it will be only the church who will be involved, and the world will suffer the “Ripple effects of it. Then the “Tribulation Period” will begin right after the church is raptured. I am going to point out NINE things that are going to happen in that “Twinkling of an eye,” and you tell me if this is important information to know or not:
- The trumpet shall sound. This trumpet will be sounded from heaven (expound).
- There will be a shout with the voice of the Archangel. Again, this voice will come from heaven.
- The Lord will descend from heaven. He will be coming to the clouds.
- Believers shall all be CHANGED.
- The dead shall be raised incorruptible.
- The corruptible (those of us who are still alive) will put on incorruption.
- Mortal will put on immortality. All who are “Caught up!”
- Those Believers who are still alive, along with those who Believers who have already died in the Lord, will all be caught up together to meet the Lord in the clouds.
- Death will be swallowed up in victory.
CONCLUSION –
I know that there are noted scholars who will disagree with what I am saying to you; this is part of what I am talking about when I say that many are being misled. This is the reason for giving you the passages of scripture I am using, and it is also the reason why I told you what you need to do when you are seeking the truth from the word of God. The same thing applies to when you are hearing someone minister the word of God . . . make sure it is the word of God, and that it is being rightly divided! If I am in error with what I am saying, a true Believer would understand what I am teaching about, and correct me where he/she feels I am error in hopes of helping to lead someone to the Lord; not confuse anyone by having a dispute over the word with another Believer.
Many people believe that there are going to be terrible things happening in the world; things like earthquakes, famines, and horrendous weather. Many people believe that there will be people who will become cold-hearted and hateful towards their fellow man. Many people believe that Jesus is coming back for His church. Many people believe that Jesus is coming back to bring peace to the earth. There are even many people who believe that there is going to be a “Tribulation Period.”
Yes! Many people will believe all of these things, but what they are missing is that is most important in all of this, what is paramount, what is absolutely essential for every person is that they take heed to what Jesus said to Nicodemus: “You must be born again!”
If you are born again, you will be caught up with the church. If you are born again you will meet Jesus in the air. If you are born again you will have the opportunity to see loved ones who have died in the Lord ahead of you. If you are born again, the Tribulation Period and every terrible thing that comes with it will not matter to you because you will be gone!
Don’t forget beloved, all of this is happening in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and it is happening to the Church!
But the key beloved, is that YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN! We believe that Jesus may come at any minute, and as our message for today states: JUST A MINUTE! (Conclude)