Pastor Jeff emphasizes the hope that the Gospel provides, particularly in the face of death. He shares the powerful story of Todd Beamer, who faced his own demise with unwavering faith and hope in eternal life with Christ. By unpacking Scripture from First Thessalonians, he encourages believers to grieve differently, trust confidently in Christ’s resurrection, and live with expectancy for His return. Ultimately, Pastor Jeff urges everyone to embrace this living hope, as it fundamentally transforms how we navigate life’s challenges and encourages us to share this hope relentlessly with others.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome all of our Brave campuses that are worshiping with us this morning? So great to be with all of you. Just a couple quick announcements. Next week is Father's Day.
I will be doing a special Father's Day message the same way I did this year on Mother's Day. So fathers look forward to seeing all of you next week for that. Also, as you heard it mentioned for high five this week, I just want to encourage you continually keep that in your prayers. And then would you join me in prayer? Our heart would be to launch Brave Academy in Westminster this year.
We need about 25 to 30 students to really make that viable. Would you please join me? We always trust how the Lord leads. We hold everything with an open hand, but we're trusting that there are those students there and that parents can take a step of faith and that we're going to get there. But let's pray for the Westminster Brave Academy to be launched this fall.
And with that, let's continue our worship as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and his active word among us. Will you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise. What a privilege it is to worship with your saints in your house. On this very day, we celebrate you.
You are the king of kings, you are the Lord of lords. You are our savior and we love you. And we thank you, Jesus, for all you're doing. Lord, we do pray specifically this week for high five on all of our campuses, Lord, that you would touch each and every one of those children, that you be with each and every one of our volunteers, Lord, that you would give us energy to serve well, Lord, that you would keep us from distract action, Lord, that you would help us forgive one another, love one another, so the gospel can go forth. And Lord, we pray that there would be seeds of the gospel sown.
There will be seeds of the gospel that are watered and there will be a harvest of those who come to know you this week, Lord, we also pray for Brave Academy. We thank you for what you've done in the last two years and what you're doing here in Inglewood. Lord, our prayer is for your will to be done in Westminster. Lord, show us what you're doing. We pray for 25 to 30 students.
We pray for families that are going to get involved in that school. And Lord, we just give you pray, praise, glory and honor for all you're doing there. We trust your good hand. And now, Lord, we come before you because we are excited to hear your living and active word, Lord, because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer for each and every one of us this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear.
And so now, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith, put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen? Amen. On September 11th of 2001, on United Flight 93, one of the passengers was named Todd Beamer. For those of you that were alive, you remember what happened on that historic day as four planes were hijacked and United Flight 93 was one of the planes that were hijacked. And as news began to spread and people on the plane began to figure out what was going on, Todd Beamer picked up one of the air and ended up talking to a gal, a GTE operator named Lisa Jefferson.
And during the course of their short conversation that only lasted for a few minutes, they recited the Lord's Prayer together. And then Todd, from memory, quoted Psalm 23. And after that, he mouthed these words, which were the last words that anybody would ever hear him mouth. And prior to that, I should say that, he told them, tell my wife that I love her and tell my two boys that I love him. And then they heard these words.
Are you ready? Okay, let's roll. And that was one of the last words that he ever had, because that plane went down a little after 10 o' clock in the morning in Pennsylvania with no survivors whatsoever. But what is it that could cause a person to say goodbye to his wife that he loved and two kids and know that he was going to be okay? His wife Lisa later said at his funeral.
And subsequent to his funeral, my husband Todd loved Jesus. He believed in eternal life. He's home now. See, there's a hope that changes everything. Todd Beamer had that hope.
The Gospel gives us hope. If you have the hope of the Gospel, that hope will change everything about the way that you live in this life and what you focus on. And today I want you about that hope. I want to talk to you about the hope that changes everything. And we're going to be doing that this morning by taking a look in First Thessalonians, chapter 4, First Thessalonians, chapter four, verses 13 through 18.
And I'm going to read that and then we'll unpack four truths, four ways that you will be changed if you have that eternal hope in Christ Jesus. Hear what he says. He says. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words. And here, as Paul writes to this Thessalonian church, this church that he has helped start with the gospel, this church that's very young, only months old, he has written to them, telling them about the way that they love well, the way that they're doing things well, the way that they've been unified well, the way they've been sharing the gospel well. He tells them to avoid sexual immorality. He tells them to love one another. And then he tells them, this is where you can anchor your hope.
This is where you can anchor your hope. And if you get this, this will change everything. Here's why. Because there's nothing in this life that you can anchor your hope to that will satisfy you at the deepest levels of your life. Your hope cannot be found in a relationship.
It can't be found in your spouse, can't be found in your kids. It can't be found in your parents. It can't be found in your job. It can't be found in your bank account. It can't be found in your ability to travel and do things.
It can't be found in your hedonistic activities. There's nothing in this life that will give you the hope that I'm talking about. Only Jesus Christ can do that. And so, as we talk about this hope that changes everything, Paul then dives into what he wants them to understand about this hope that only Jesus gives. And the first thing you're going to notice if you have this hope is that you'll grieve differently.
You will grieve differently, and here's why. Because death is not the end you'll grieve differently because death is not the end, he says. But I do not want you to be uninformed, brethren. I don't want you to be ignorant of this. I want you to understand about those who are asleep.
This word asleep means dead. That's what it means. Now, really quickly, we need to understand what happens when a person dies. When a person dies, your body stays here on the earth. Your soul immediately leaves.
It either leaves to be with Jesus forever because 2 Corinthians 5, 8 says to be apart from the body is to be with Christ. If you're in Christ, if you've repented of your sins, if you've trusted Jesus for your salvation, the very moment you breathe your last breath, the very moment you go, your body will remain. Your soul goes immediately to be with Jesus. Jesus. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, your body, your soul, your body stays here.
Your soul immediately goes to hell. And there is no crossing over that chasm. Once you're gone, you're gone. Once you're there, you're there. And here's how long you're there.
Forever. So he says, I don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who have fallen asleep. I don't want you to be ignorant of this. Here's what he says so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. Friends, I want to tell you something.
One of the most difficult things to do as a pastor is to go to the funeral of a non believing person. It's so hard when you, when you go to a funeral and there's somebody that's died and the family's trying to make sense out of it, but they don't know the Lord and they don't know what's going on with their child or a loved one or a mom. They don't know what's happening. They can't explain what's happening. They try to throw platitudes on it.
They try to talk about the good, the person did. They try to talk about how the good outweighed the bad. They make statements like this, they're in a better place now. They're looking down on us, all that stuff. But when they don't know the Lord, they're immediately in hell and it's grieving.
And people that don't know the Lord, they grieve, but they do it without hope. They do it knowing I don't know if I'll ever see them again. They do it not understanding. Now, Christians we grieve, but we grieve as those who have hope. So let me make this clear, Christians, we do a poor job of grieving as a whole.
We tend to get to the backside. Well, we still have hope. You still grieve. Do you understand? I've watched well meaning Christians at funerals when people are grieving and the pain is fresh, try to quote scripture in hope that the pain will go away.
Even the best scriptures, even if you know the pain won't go away. We know in all things that God works together for the good of those who love him and those who have been called according to his purpose. Yes, I know that. But it doesn't take the pain away. It's okay to grieve if you're a Christian.
If I lost my wife or my children or my mom or my dad, I would grieve. It's okay to grieve, but I will grieve as those who have hope. And here's the difference. When you're grieving for someone who knows the Lord, it's still hopeful. If my wife precedes me in death, I'll grieve.
But I'll grieve with one that has hope. Because there was a man that, that pursued her a lot earlier than me, that she's been more in love with than me from the time that I've met her. And she still pursues more than me. And she can go be with him anytime that he calls her home. Doesn't mean I won't grieve.
Doesn't mean you can't say, well, Jeff, don't you understand? She's in a better place. I know all that. And I'll still grieve, but I'll grieve with hope. And as Christians, we can always grieve with hope because we know this for certainty.
If Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, our best days are always ahead of us. Did you know that? So we grieve, but we grieve as those who have hope. So he tells the Thessalonian Church, death is not the end. Don't want you to be uninformed.
This is true. And think about this. I mean, there's so many scriptures in the Bible. Even when we grieve, God is the God of all comfort. Second Corinthians, chapter one and verse three says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Some of you are grieving and you need the Lord to show you mercy and be the God of all comfort. And he promises to do that. Psalm 34:18 says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit. You remember the story in Jesus life when he goes to one of his best friend's house, Lazarus. But he goes there knowing Lazarus is already dead.
As a matter of fact, he's been dead for four days by the time Jesus arrives and his sisters come out to meet him, Martha specifically, and says, where are you? Had you been here, my brother would still be living. And Jesus said to her In John, chapter 11, verse 22, even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. So Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And she said, I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
And Jesus said to her these words, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? If you're in Jesus, you'll never die.
You'll never die. I mean, isn't that good news? As a Christian, you don't ever die means the moment you breathe your last, your soul's immediately in the presence of Jesus, and you're as alive as you've ever been. I mean, you're more alive than you've ever been. So it's okay to have some anxiety about how you might die.
Like, we don't know how we're going to die, but you shouldn't have any anxiety that you're going to die. I can have anxiety about how I'm going to die. I mean, I'd love to die, like, with my feet up at the age of 95, maybe watching a Broncos game and just going to sleep or something. That'd be great. I don't know how I'm going.
I know that when I go, it'll be the goal of my faith. Do you know what I'm saying? And so we shouldn't sit around and be anxious about, when's my time. All of your days were ordained before one of them came to be. God knows exactly when you're coming and how you're coming.
But what you can know for certain is as a believer, you will never die. You'll be alive as you've ever been the moment that you breathe your last breath. And so we grieve, but we grieve differently. I can tell you as a pastor now that we've been here for 15 years nearly. There's several people I've pastored over the last 15 years that are already in the presence of the Lord.
Some that I officiated their funeral. Some I was with them in the hospital when they went home to be with the Lord. Some I talked to the day before they went home to be with the Lord. Some I talked to on the phone the day they before they went home to be with the Lord. I always tell them, hey, you're going to go soon.
When Jesus calls you, go see him, tell him, tell him to pray for me some more because I need his help, right? I mean, go have fun with Jesus, right? I've seen that and I've grieved some people that I really, really love. Some of you remember when we did Band Ameer a few years ago, Matt Pate, my good friend that died of ALS about two weeks after Band Amir, he gave his testimony that day. He's in the presence of Jesus.
I know it by faith that he is right. And so this is what he's talking. We grieve, but we grieve differently because we're living for something different. We're living for someone different. And that changes everything.
And there's been stories throughout church history that highlight all this. One that one of my favorites is Horatio Spafford. Some of you may be familiar with him. He was a senior partner in a law firm and a real estate investor in Chicago in the 1800s. And in the early 1870s, his four year old son died of scarlet fever.
And then on October 10th of 1871, there was the great Chicago fire. And it totally ruined him in every way financially. So with his four surviving girls and his wife Anna, he decided, let's get some peace. And so he sent his wife and his four daughters, aged 11, 9, 5 and 2, overseas to Europe on a ship. But the ship never made it.
The ship shipwrecked there. His wife was the only one to survive and sent a telegram back to him with two words, saved alone. What was really important in this man's life was not just what he did for a living, but he was also an elder in his Presbyterian church and he was a friend of D.L. moody, the great evangelist. And so he decided he would go see his wife.
And on the way to see his wife, the captain notified him on that trip right when he was over the very waters where the ship had shipwrecked and all four of his daughters had died. And it was right there on that water where he pinned the words to this very famous hymn called It Is well with My Soul. Listen to what he writes. After losing his four year old son, his four girls and has nothing left of his business. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buff it, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. And then the third verse, which is my favorite. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.
My sin, not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. O my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.
How can he do that? Because he has the hope that changes everything. His hope is in Jesus Christ. His hope is in the fact that he's going to see his son and his daughters again. His hope is in the fact that his best days are ahead.
His hope is in the gospel. And friends, I persuade you, I beg you, I earnestly plead from this pulpit all the time. I'm not asking you to join brave church. I'm not asking you to get in the cadre. I'm not asking you to serve.
Those are all great things. I'm pleading with you. Please, please, please believe that God the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. That Jesus came for you, that he died on a cross for you, that he shed his blood for all your sin, that three days later he rose from the dead. He's as alive as he's ever been.
And what you're sensing in your heart is his beckoning to you. Hey, come to me because I'm the only one that can give you life. Will you turn from your sin and turn to me? If you do, you'll have a hope that changes everything. Amen.
That's what the gospel does. The hope changes everything. We grieve differently because death is not the end. Let me give you a second thing that you'll do differently. You'll trust confidently.
You'll trust confidently because Christ's resurrection guarantees ours. Christ's resurrection guarantees are the fact that Jesus rose from the dead means we can too. It's amazing to me how many people think they're going to heaven when they don't believe anybody's ever conquered death. Well, how are you going to get there? I don't know.
I guess when I die, I go, how are you going to get there? The only reason I'm going to get there is because Christ is overcame death And I'm in Christ. That's the only hope I have. That's why Jesus Christ is the only hope of the world. No religion's gonna save you on Judgment Day.
No good works are gonna save you on Judgment Day. No good intentions are gonna save you on Judgment Day. Church attendance will not save you on Judgment Day. Philanthropy and giving money will not save you on Judgment Day. Only Christ's death and resurrection from the grave can save you on Judgment Day.
And if you believe that you will trust me, him differently, and you will trust him confidently, your hope will be built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. Amen. Notice what he says. He says, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, he's making the assumption, since we believe Jesus died and rose again. Here's my question.
Do you really believe that Jesus died and rose again? I'm not saying. Do you have any questions? I'm not saying. Do you have any doubts?
I'm not saying. You know, with 100% certainty, there's nothing in life we know with 100% certainty just by show of hands, how many ate breakfast this morning? How many are 100% certain there was nothing in that breakfast that could harm you? There's no proof. I can tell you that there probably was something bad in there.
Listen, here's what we know. We base everything on evidence. Evidence. There's so much evidence to show that Jesus Christ historically lived there. So much evidence to show that the Bible testifies as to who he is.
And even historians of the day testify the same thing. There is so much evidence to show that Jesus Christ died on the cross. There's so much evidence to show that he rose from the dead. And if you try to prove the Bible wrong or that Jesus didn't rise from the dead, you'll be the first person in human history to ever do it. And everybody that's ever tried with an open heart and an open mind has been converted to Christ.
So go for it. Amen. The evidence is there. The evidence is there. Scared disciples who are afraid of being killed, transformed, and giving their very life to share the message that the God they believe in had actually risen from the dead.
Right? And this is how you trust differently. And the reason you trust differently is because you know the Gospel. I mean, you remember the apostle Paul? He said to the Philippian Church, he's like, I don't know whether I'm going to come see you or whether I'm not going to make it out of here, but what difference does it make in Philippians 1:21.
He says, because for me to live Christ and to die is gain. Paul's whole method was, I'm gonna share the gospel. Share the gospel, share the gospel. And if I get killed sharing the gospel, well, that's the goal of my faith. I mean, that's who I am.
And we know that when someone dies, they immediately go to be with Jesus. We know a soul goes to be with Jesus. Remember the thief on the cross, the one until almost the very last moment of his life, was mocking Jesus, making fun of him. And then he had a change of heart, said, we deserve to be here. He's done nothing wrong.
And he looks at Jesus, said, lord, which is calling him the Lord. You're my king, Lord. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. And what does Jesus say? Truly, Truly.
I tell you, today you'll be with me in paradise. Not tomorrow, not the next day, not after I rise from dead. Today we're going home. When you die, that's where you go. You'll trust confidently, like if you could live your life not worrying about death or what could go wrong or what could happen, and you say, it doesn't really matter, you would live differently.
And why should we do that? Because Colossians 3:3 says, for you have already died, and your life is now hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, and you will also appear with him in glory. Trust confidently. You already have your eternity taken care of.
Everything is secure for you. What's the worst thing that can happen? You can die. And here's how bad that is. The moment you do, you'll be more alive and more happy than you've ever been in your entire life in the presence of the one that you say that you serve and that you love.
Amen. It's not a bad day if you know Jesus when you die. I tell people all the time. You know, even. Even when people are in hospice and I'm talking to them and they're going to miss their family.
And I understand all the human element, I. I tell them this. When you get to heaven, you won't even think about them. You'll be so enthralled with Jesus and the worship of him and the glories that are to come, you won't have energy to think about anything here. It's that good.
If. If God took us to heaven for 25 seconds, none of us would want to come back. None of us. That. That's how good it is.
And yet Paul wasn't just some guy that was like wanting to martyr himself. I can't wait to go. That's not what he did. He was living for Jesus. The saying that my hope is still future.
Yes, the gospel's past. God forgives your sins once and for all. Yes, the gospel's present. God's sanctifying us, getting us ready. But yes, the gospel is future.
And the biggest part of the gospel. Future, eternity, future. The biggest part of the gospel you're going to live is in the future. Amen. And that's why the resurrection of Jesus is so important.
He says this in First Corinthians 15:17, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still dead in your sins. If Jesus Christ didn't rise from the dead, there is no way to heaven. There's nobody that's overcome death. We're done.
That's why you say, well, Pastor, what about all the other religions? All the other religions need to turn and give their heart to Jesus. I'm not promoting a religion. I'm promoting the God man, Jesus Christ. That's who I'm proclaiming to you.
Regardless of what religion you've hung onto, there's no religion that can save you. Only Jesus Christ can. Amen. But notice what he says in Romans 8:11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, which the spirit of God dwells in every single Born again believer, then he says this.
He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is inside every single born again believer. And in the same way Jesus got up out of the grave, so will you that awesome. And you do nothing to earn it. It's a gift that you can have through repentance and faith just by receiving the gift that God has given to us.
And when you live this way, when you realize, hey, the future is really what I'm living for and I can trust God completely, you live totally differently. There was a man named Jim Elliott that's a graduate of Wheaton College. And in the 1950s, because the gospel was so powerful in his life, even though he had a chance to be very successful in the business world, he was a very successful athlete. Felt the call of God to go to the Anka Indians in Ecuador. And he went with four of his other friends, Nate St.
Ed McCully, Pete Fleming and Roger Uterin. And this Anka Indian tribe was known really for three important things. One, extremely violent Extremely violent. One of the highest homicide rates of any culture that they had ever studied. Number two, they lived extremely isolated.
They never went outside of their own group of people. And number three, they didn't trust outsiders. And because of the light of the cross and because he realized, if somebody doesn't go share the gospel with them, they can't be saved. I already know Christ. My future's secure.
Even though I'm married, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna share the gospel with this people group. And for a period of time, they flew airplanes over this group. They dropped gifts. They tried to do everything they could to encourage these people that they loved them, that they wanted to bless them, that they wanted to do everything to show them that there was a better way. And yet, on January 8, 1956, at the age of 28, he and his four friends got out of a plane to go meet some of these people, and all five of them were speared to death right on the shore.
And there were a lot of people back home that were saying, what an idiot. Why would you give your life for that? You could have been successful in business. You could have been a successful athlete. But you know what Jim Elliott was quoted saying before he died?
He is no fool. If he would give the thing he cannot keep to buy the thing he could never lose. His wife and some of the wives of these men ended up getting back down in the village, later befriended some of them. Some of their very killers became Christians. Hundreds in the village became Christians.
And they even established a church in that village because of their bravery. See, when you know Jesus, you'll live differently. When you realize your life is not your own, you'll live differently. When you realize you've been given everything for life and godliness so you can share the gospel, you'll live differently. I remember when I was in college and I was a senior, I was going to some of these different camps, and people were trying to convince me about doing ministry.
And I went to this one camp, it was in Indianapolis. It was called this life Options camp. And I remember I was at this thing, and they were talking about all this radical stuff. I didn't grow up in a Bible church. I didn't know I was supposed to serve Jesus like that.
I thought that was for the radicals out there. And this guy had the audacity during one of his talks to say, hey, I want to know what you're gonna do with your life. And I had all sorts of things I was gonna do with my life. And he's like, whatever you're thinking about, if you're thinking about dialogue, businessman or whatever, here's what you should do. He worked for Campus Crusade for Christ.
He goes, find out what a Campus Crusade for Christ person makes annually. Take that for your salary, Give all the rest of the way to missions, and if you still love your job, then you're called to it. And I was like, man, that's ridiculous. Do you know why? Cause all I cared about was being rich.
And that just kept pounding my heart and pounding my heart and pounding my heart to a place where I remember just going to the church I grew up in, sitting right in the front one day telling the Lord, lord care if I make any money? I don't care what I do. I don't care what you do with my life. You want me to go to New guinea and be a missionary? I'll leave on a plane today.
And I felt the peace of the Lord like I've never felt the peace of the Lord in my life from then until now, where God just ministered to me in that moment. Friends, I want to tell you something as a Christian. Your life is not your own. You're not just breathing so you can be a good guy or a good gal. Your life is for Christ.
And if you trust him completely, here's the question, Lord, how can I use my life, my resources, my intellect, my talents, my influence, all for your glory? Because when I meet you, I want to know I have something to offer you. Because you offered me everything. That's what it means to trust him completely. So when you know the gospel and you have the hope that changes everything, you'll grieve differently, you'll trust differently.
Then you'll do this too. You'll live expectantly. You'll live expectantly. You're going to live different. And the reason you'll live expectantly is because Jesus Christ is coming soon.
Can I just tell you he's coming soon? I mean, it's really interesting because I'm not getting into the times and dates. We will when we get into chapter five. Great Bible scholars and Christians and friends of mine, we all believe a little different on things, and you know, they're wrong. But that's okay.
And we'll talk about all that. But the point is, I don't think he's really getting into time frames. I think he's talking about where our hope is. But think about what it's going to be like when Jesus Christ comes back. He tells us what it's going to be like Jesus tells us in Matthew, chapter 24 what it's going to be like on a global scale when he's ready to come back.
He says this in verse 21 of chapter 24 of Matthew. He says, for there will be a great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no one would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then he goes on to talk about this in verse 24.
For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. And then Jesus said this. Behold, I have told you in advance, what does Jesus say? It's going to get really, really bad. And I'm telling you, before it gets really, really bad, that it's going to get really, really bad on a global scale.
And he talks about what all those things are. If you're interested in this, I did a whole series on this called the Alpha and Omega series. It's on our website. You can go through the whole book of Revelation with me and study it. But for today's purposes, just know this.
This. It's going to get really bad before Jesus gets back. Now, when I talk about end times, let's make sure we're clear on the time frame. End times is from the time Jesus Christ rose from the dead until he's coming back. So are we living in the end times?
You've always been living in the end times. Every one of us lives in the end times. But here's what. Here's what the word of God tells us. The end times are going to be like.
This is what it's going to be like right before Jesus comes back. So just listen to this. See if any of this resonates, if you've ever seen any of this in our culture, if you see it increasing or decreasing. Here's what Paul writes to Timothy in second Timothy, chapter three, verse one. But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come for men will be what?
Lovers of self, lovers of money. Boastful, arrogant revilers, disobedient to parents. Quick pause there, just for a second. I mean, I'm only 55, and I watch things that kids do now. And I think if I would have done that when I was their age, I would have been put out.
And some of you that are older than me say they wouldn't even have made it that long. I mean, you know what I'm talking about there's just no authority, no respect for parents. You might have seen some of that. Ungrateful. You seen anybody?
Ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable? Anybody see any malicious gossips without self control, brutal haters of the good, Treacherous, reckless, conceited. How about this one? Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
How about this one? Holding a form of godliness although they have denied its power, Avoid such men as these. And then as Paul drops down, when we get to verse 13, here's what he says, just so you're not, you know, thinking that he's making this up, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. It's going to be bad and then it's going to get even worse. So when you say it's bad out there, I would say it is and it's going to get worse.
Now, I'm not saying that because I'm not an optimist. I'm an optimist. I tend to like post millennial people that believe that the world's going to be in a place of complete bliss for a long period of time and then Jesus is going to look down and say, my bride's ready for me and here I come. I love that view. And I love post millennials because they fight for what's right.
I love it. They're just wrong. They're wrong. It's going to go from bad to worse. It's going to get worse.
We can say, well, thank goodness we got a president in there that aligns more with biblical values. Donald Trump is just a tourniquet for what's bleeding out someday. There is coming a world dictator that will rule the world. If you watch our culture, the world is crying out for a one world order. The world is crying out for one system of financ.
The world is crying out for one government. The world is crying out for everybody to be equal. It is setting itself up to do exactly what the Bible says it's going to set itself up to do. It's happening right before your eyes. So does that mean Jesus is coming back in our lifetime?
He might. I could totally see that happening. Could it be the next generation? I could totally see that happen. I don't think it's very long that we have.
But if our goal is the gospel, then we're not concerned. But for most of us, it's like, well, I don't want that. You know, I gotta get to college. And I gotta get married and I gotta have kids and I gotta get a job and I gotta get my finances together. I gotta get my retirement set up.
I gotta get everything square. Then I gotta make sure I'm taking care of my kids. I gotta get them set up, taken care of so that by the time I'm 90, I'm ready.
Friends, be ready today. Be ready today. Because if you live expectantly, he begins to tell us what we will. See. See, he says in verse 15.
For we say this to you by word of the Lord. That means Jesus told us this, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. Right now, we're the ones who are alive and remain. We may be, we may not be. But here's what I would tell you.
We will not precede anybody that's already died. If you have a mom, a dad, a child, a friend, a boss, an employee, a coworker, a neighborhood who died in Christ, died knowing Christ. They will not precede the glory of the resurrection before you, right? They. They won't.
You're not going to miss out, and they're not going to miss out. Here's what he says. He says. He says this. Those who are alive and remain in the coming Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
Those who are dead are still going to enjoy all the blessings of everything you are. And let me just say this. When we talk about this, we're talking about the resurrection of the body. I talked to too many Christians that are like, I think one day we'll be, like, floating around. We'll have wings.
Love this. You'll have a body. It's the resurrection of the body. When Jesus rose from the dead, he arose in a body. You'll have a body.
It'll be a resurrected, glorified, unable to get sick. Beautiful, wonderful body. I mean, I think I'm gonna look like Thor in one of those movies. Or Fabio. I mean, I don't know, but it's gonna be incredible.
You'd be like, pastor Jeff. I'm like, praise God for the resurrection, right? I mean, it'll be good and it won't spoil or perish. And we won't know how to sin. We won't know how to do anything wrong.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead. But here's what happens. Remember to be apart from the bodies, to be with Christ. So your soul is with Christ. Everybody we know who's died, their soul is with Christ.
Their soul is With Christ. Their soul is with Christ. He's going to bring them back at the rapture. When he comes in the clouds, he's bringing those souls back, and their resurrected bodies are going to be reunited with their souls. Okay.
And this is what he's going to go on to tell us. You say, how do you know that? Because the Bible's going to tell us in the next verses. Listen, he says, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
That's those who have already perished. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord. So let's just walk through these events, right? I mean, what's he say is going to happen?
Well, here's some things that are going to happen. The Lord himself is coming. Jesus is coming. When he ascended to heaven, the angel said, in the same way you saw him go, he's going to come. When Jesus comes, it's too late to repent.
He's going to come in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. So the Lord is going to come. And how's he going to come? The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout. Now, a lot of people believe in a secret and silent rapture.
I do not. And the reason is, I think the Bible is pretty secret and silent about the secret and silent rapture. And some people that believe in a secret, silent rapture, and many friends of mine do, and that's fine. Point to this passage. And I'm like, okay, let's take a look at it.
If the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, how loud will that be? Even if I descended from heaven with a shout, somebody hear it. If the Lord's coming, the whole world's gonna know. With the voice of an archangel. It could be the archangel or an archangel.
In the original language, it's an Arthur, as it doesn't have an article there. So it could be an angel. We don't know which archangel it is. Could be Michael. We don't know.
But Jesus is coming back with a shout. The archangel, whoever that is, Michael or whoever is coming back with his voice. And check out. And with the Trumpet of God. How loud's the Trumpet of God?
Anybody ever have kids learn to play the trumpet in their house or an instrument? Okay, it's not secret or silent. And this is loud. And notice this. Then the dead will Rise first.
So, everybody, okay, here's what happens. You die. Your soul goes to be with Jesus. If you're in Christ, your body remains here. People have died on battlefields, people have died in oceans, people have died in fields.
People have died and been buried in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Every person that's died in Christ from the time Jesus was on the earth until then, all going to rise at the same time on the earth.
I mean, that's pretty powerful, right? I mean, you remember when Jesus rose from the dead, dead bodies were getting up, walking all around. It was kind of the precursor of what it is. So here's what you have. You have Jesus descending with his voice.
You have the voice of an archangel. You have a trumpet. And then every dead person in Christ that's ever died is going to be miraculously resurrected and put in their glorified body, and only Kirk Cameron's gonna know it happened. I don't buy that theology. I just don't.
I think the whole world is gonna say, what in the world's going on? Because they're gonna see Jesus and everything he's doing. And then, guess what? In the moment as that's happening, it says those of us who would be us now, if we're still here, who are alive and remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with him always.
So as that happens, amen. It's worthy of praise.
So when that happens and everybody's like, whoa, then in the same moment, we're all gonna have resurrected bodies and go up into the heavens and be with Jesus forever. It's going to be the most amazing day that we've ever experienced up until that time. It's called the snatching away of believers. To be caught up. That's what it means, snatched away.
The Latin word is rapturo. That's where we get the word rapture. Do you believe in the rapture? I 100% believe in the Rapture because that's exactly what he's teaching here. And for me, the Rapture immediately precedes the wrath of God.
And here's why. Because God promises, even in this book, in First Thessalonians 1:10, that we will escape the coming wrath. God does not pour out wrath on his children. You may suffer, you may go through tribulation. God will not pour his wrath out on you.
Why? Because when you trusted Christ, all of his wrath was poured out on his son. Already been taken care of. God's not pouring his wrath out on his kids. And so he's got to get us out of the way before he pours out his wrath.
And we get to chapter five, we'll kind of talk about the timings of that and how it works. But I want you to see this. When you read this passage. We read rescue, we read resurrection, we read rapture. All of that's happening simultaneously, all in the twinkling of an eye, and it's going to go super fast.
This is why I plead with you again. Make sure your life is ready. Make sure you're ready for Jesus return. See, when you live expectantly, then you can live differently, too. Some of you know the German pastor in the 1940s named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I believe he was a Lutheran pastor who began to speak out against Hitler and Nazi Germany and some of the cruel things that they were doing at the time. And for him, because of his defiance, because he was actually found guilty to be a part of one of Hitler's assassination attempts, he was locked up in prison and arrested in 1942. And at the Flossenburg concentration camp on April 9, 1945, just shortly before the end of the Second World War, he was hanged. And they talked to one of the doctors who has been there. And here's what her testimony was about seeing Pastor Bonhoeffer.
She said this. I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. In the almost 50 years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer's last words that anybody ever heard was this. He said, this is the end for me, the beginning of life.
See, when you live expectantly, you know that you have great confidence that no matter what happens here, there's great things coming. And God wants us to live with that kind of hope and that kind of assurance and that kind of excitement that if you were to go home and meet Jesus today, that you would be thrilled. And here's the reality. If you get these three down, this will change your life. Which gives you the fourth one, which is this.
Encourage relentlessly. If you really know the gospel, encourage relentlessly. Why? Because the gospel is our never ending hope. The gospel is our hope.
The gospel is the hope of the world. The gospel is the hope of every single person you're going to come into contact with this week. Notice what he says. Verse 18. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
The words in this section is not intended to spark A debate. It's okay to banter back and forth, but what this should be, no matter what your theological positions are, you should believe this. Jesus Christ is coming back fully bodily and physically in power to lead on this planet. That's what the text says. He's coming to gather his saints.
He's coming to take us out of the way so his wrath can be poured out on mankind. So when you think about this, think about scriptures, that would be comforting. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of. Of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Or as we mentioned in Philippians 1:21, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Or how about this one? In Revelation 21, verse 4, Jesus promises that he will wipe away every tear. The promise of being with Jesus forever is the greatest comfort we can give to anybody. Now you think about it.
There's grief that you've had in this world. There's grief that's been so hard in this world, you can't even get out a tear. And yet when you meet Jesus and you're like, I was there with you the whole time. It's okay, let it out now. I'll dry every single one of those.
Lord, why did I have to go through this? And why did this happen? And this was so gut wrenching. And Jesus was like, I know. I was there.
I was walking with you. It was really hard. You did great. And now you're with me and you'll never suffer anymore. There'll be no more sadness.
There'll be no more tears. There'll be no more sin. There'll be no more heartache. Come, enter your rest. I'm.
I'm so glad that you responded to me. I'm so glad that we have a relationship. You're gonna love eternity. I mean, when you live like that, it changes everything. And so you encourage people relentlessly.
Everybody you're with, from the people you love the most to the people that annoy you the most, need Jesus. They need Jesus. Encourage them in Jesus. Let them know they need Jesus. It's the most important thing.
How much money you have to pay the bills, that's okay. But compared to the gospel, it's nothing. How much influence you have, that's a little thing, but it's not a big deal. Compared to knowing Christ, it's nothing. I mean, taking a vacation to Hawaii is pretty cool.
Compared to knowing Jesus, it's nothing. There's Nothing in this world that satisfies like Jesus. And if you get that, you'll live differently. On October 7, 2007, some of you know, I ran the Chicago Marathon. It was the third time I'd ever done a marathon.
And I think saying I ran a marathon the first two times would be an exaggeration for effect. I steadily plotted over four and a half hours. But for this one, I said, I want to do it in a way that I can do it. I want to go sub four hours. I'm going to train.
I'm going to give myself to it. I wasn't really a runner. I played football, but I was like, I'm going to do this thing. And so I got a buddy and we began training together, began running. We followed a program, and we got to a point where we're pretty good.
I mean, I could call my friend, say, let's go run 15 miles and we could go run 15, or, hey, let's run 20 this week and I'll run 20. And I was ready to go all up until the date of the start of the race. Normally in Chicago at that time of year, it's 43 to 50 degrees. On the day of that race, it was 90 and humid. And I remember thinking, oh, why?
And we drank a lot of water. We were at the starting line, we prayed together. We said to God, be the glory. I said, God, I want to honor you. I want to learn about endurance.
Everything I've been doing for this is for you. To you be the glory. And off we took. Now, if you've ever run before, certain days you feel better than other days, but you run about the same. It's just you feel a little different.
This day was the worst I had ever felt in all of the training I had ever done up until that point. At the two mile mark, I looked at my friend. I'm like, are you feeling this? He's like, no, I feel fine. I'm like, I feel horrible, man.
At the 13 mile mark, which was halfway, I saw my wife and I said, you gotta pray for me. I don't think I'm gonna finish. I feel horrible. Kept going. At about mile 15, I started walking and running.
At mile 16, I began to tell my friend, you gotta leave me. Just go, bro. I don't know what's going on. If you feel good, just run. And so from mile 16 to 18, he started quoting Top Gun, like, you never leave your wingman and you know all this kind of nonsense.
And at mile 18, I finally said, bro, just Go. He goes, well, you wouldn't leave me, would you? And I said, if you'd been asking me for three miles to leave you, I'd have been gone a long time ago. So he went scooting off. And I'm walking down the streets of Chicago asking, lord, what in the world did I waste six months of my time for doing this?
About mile 19, I started to run. And that was when I noticed something that changed my life. Because there was a guy that had gone down. Now, that wasn't the first guy I saw go down because there were a lot of people collapsing because of heat. But this was different.
This guy that had gone down had blood coming out of the side of his mouth, and people looked super panicked. And the guy was saying, get off the race course. Get off the race course. And I just felt prompted for some reason to go pray for the guy. So I wheeled around by his head and just started praying.
And then the person was yelling at me, like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm just praying for the guy. Okay, you pray everybody else get away. You know, that kind of thing. And when the medics came and they started doing everything that they knew to do that I didn't know how to do, I just turned around, got up and started walking.
And in my heart, I just heard the voice of the Lord saying this. Jeff, the most important thing in this life is being prepared for the next. The most important thing in this life is being prepared for the next. I was so moved. I remember I was crying because I was so overwhelmed with what happened.
I called Kim. I said, hey, I'm okay, but it's going to take me a while to get here. I had to walk seven miles all the way back to the starting line. Felt terrible by the time I got there. We drove home that day.
I told her the whole story. And then that night on the Internet, they put a picture of the guy that died because there was a guy that died in the race. They stopped the race. They made all of us walk. If you've ever run 19 miles and then have to walk 7 and 90 degree heat, it's not fun.
And I saw his picture. I'm like, that's the guy I prayed over. And instead, he was part of a church in Michigan. I got the name of the church. I called the next morning on a Monday morning.
I talked to the pastor secretary. I said, you gotta let me talk to your pastor. I'm an evangelist. I need to talk to him. He thought I was trying to get a Speaking gig.
So he didn't take the call. So she came back on the phone. I said, no, no, you don't understand. I was praying over Chad Scheiber when he died on Ashland Avenue in Chicago. I've got to talk to him now.
So he gets on the phone. He's like, what happened? I told him what I was doing, how I was praying for him. Before I could even say anything, like, is Chad a Christian? This pastor just started praising the Lord.
Oh, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I'm like, whoa. What I said, was Chad a believer?
He's like, yeah. We were training him to be an elder in our church. His wife sings on our worship team. She has three surviving kids. He loved Jesus.
Here's what happened, Jeff. He goes, his wife had run the race, too, but when it got canceled, they rerouted people back to the starting line. Chad. And you missed it. That's why you were ahead of them.
And so when she got back to the starting line, she was waiting for him, and he didn't come back. So she went, took a shower, came back, still waiting for him, went back to her hotel room. That's when she got a knock on the door and saying, you, husband's dead. You know what her biggest fear was? She wished she had been there praying over him when he died.
He goes, have you called her yet? And told her. I'm like, I don't know any of you all. He goes, would you come to the funeral and share this? So I did.
And when we got to the funeral, I think Brooke was about six months old. Kim and I went. I mean, at the time, his wife was in the front with her three surviving kids with her hands over her head, worshiping Jesus and saying how awesome he was. Why was she able to do that? We spent the whole weekend with him.
She was grieving. It wasn't platitude. She was hurting, but she was grieving as one who had hope. She was grieving knowing that her husband was in the presence of the Lord. She was grieving knowing she would see him again.
She was grieving knowing that God was going to take care of their family. And we shed tears with them and we prayed with them and cried with them and all those different things. But yet when I left, my heart was so filled. Because I know someday. Well, I didn't get to run with Chad Scheiber here on this planet.
I'll get to run with him on the streets of gold someday. Amen. See, that's the kind of confidence we need to have. Amen.
Because if you have that kind of confidence, you'll grieve differently. You'll trust courageously and confidently. You'll live expectantly, and you'll encourage relentlessly. I mean, Hear this verse, 1 Peter 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection from the dead.
Friends, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is inside every single one of us as a believer. And that. That is your living hope. And if you have that hope, that hope changes everything. It changes the way you see your past, it changes the way you live in your present, and it changes the way you see your future.
And here's the reality. If you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, might I persuade you or even beg you today, make today the day. Not asking you to join brave church. I'm not asking you to give money. I'm not asking you to join a cadre.
I'm not asking you to serve. I'm begging you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That he bled out on a cross for all your sins and he got up out of the grave to give you life. And he's been after you, pursuing you, loving you and fighting for you so that you would repent and believe that he's the Christ, the Son of the living God. And if you know Him, I certainly hope that you live with greater and greater and greater hope.
Hope. And that these things that we've talked about today become more and more a part of your life. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me?
Our Father in Heaven, we love you and we bless you and we praise you and we thank you for who you are. Lord. I'm just praying over those here today that would say, I'm not sure. I don't know that I've ever trusted or you're feeling on your heart today. You're being tugged by the Lord, saying, he's talking to you.
That's not me that's talking to you. That's Jesus who's talking to you, saying, come home, Come home. If you want to pray and receive Jesus, you could pray something like this. Lord, I know you're calling me to yourself. I know I'm a sinner.
So, Lord, I turn from my sin and repent. And I place my faith and trust in your death on the cross and your resurrection from the dead. I confess you as my Lord. Come into my life and change me and make me what you want me to be. And Lord, give me the hope that I've been hearing about all morning.
Lord, I also pray for those here because there's many that know you, that love you. Lord, would you just encourage their hearts with every truth that they heard today to live expectantly, to grieve differently, to trust courageously and continue to share and encourage relentlessly. Lord, we love you, we bless you, and we praise you for who you are and for all you do. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and Amen.
Can we give God praise for his word today?