According to the Scriptures, the closer we get to the end of this age, the more ungodly our society will become.

· From a human perspective, it will appear that we are living in uncertain times and that our society is falling apart.

· From the biblical perspective, we are living in the most certain times of our history as the end-time events are falling into place, just as God ordained them to be at this time.

God is shaking His people up to wake us up, to get us to grow up, look up, and then to speak up, for even many of God’s people are losing their hope.

We will explain this further in our next sermon entitled “The Beginning of the End.” (Part # 1)

The Rapture of the Church is not just the Christian’s “Great Escape” from tribulation, as some believe. The rapture is the fulfillment of the promise Jesus made to the church of Philadelphia, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” (Rev. 3:10)

That “hour of trial” is the seven years of Tribulation when God will pour out His wrath upon those who rejected Jesus as the Christ and instead embraced the Antichrist. Since, by definition, Christians have already confessed Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the wrath of God that we deserved was satisfied by our faith alone, and in the Person and work of Christ alone.

However, before we are given our harp and assigned our cloud, (wink, wink) each Christian “must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). We will explain this further in our next sermon entitled “The Judgment Seat of Christ.”

Biblical eschatology contains the message of God’s irrevocable love for those who received His Son as their Savior, as well as God’s divine justice for those who did not receive Him.

In our study of biblical eschatology, if we only focus on those prophecies that tell us of God’s judgment to come, our desire to learn all we can about the future will be diminished. However, if we focus on a new heaven, a new way of life on this earth for 1,000 years, with Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and then our eternal life on a new earth and in a new heaven, world without end, how can we help but want to know all we can about this One who loves us so?

Perhaps the main event for Christians will be the rapture of the Church. We will explain this further in our new series of sermons on the Glorious Return of Christ. In this second sermon, we will explain the next event on God’s prophetic calendar, “The Rapture of the Church.”

In his farewell speech to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul told the elders:
• He had lived among them and taught them the Holy Scriptures with humility. Historians believe Paul was in Ephesus for a little over two years.

“….98, 99, 100 – Ready or not, here I come!” Wouldn’t you love to play “Hide and go seek” again? Today’s children don’t know how to have real fun!!
However, Jesus says the same thing to us today, “Ready or not, here I come!” There are no more prophecies to be fulfilled. First, Jesus will come FOR us, in what is called the Rapture of the Church, to deliver us from the wrath of God that will be poured out on this earth during the Tribulation. Then He will come WITH us to rid the world of sin and remove those who rebelled against Him and His Son.
Jesus is coming soon; are you ready? We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark: “The Glorious Return of Christ.” The sermon study guide is attached.

Without controversy, Christians believe Jesus lived a perfect life, died an atoning death, and rose from the grave to prove His death was sufficient to pay the wages for our sin. However, had Jesus not ascended back into the heavens, from which He had been sent by God the Father, His perfect life, His atoning death, and even His physical resurrection from the grave would not have been sufficient to obtain our eternal salvation.
However, because He fulfilled His mission to redeem us from our sin, after His resurrection, as the Apostle Peter said in Acts 2:14-36, “Jesus was exalted at the right hand of God.” Having finished the work the Father had sent Him to do, the Father highly exalted Him, and now the one and only true “God-Man” reigns in heaven as Lord of all.
We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark: “The Ascension of Christ.”

In Romans 8:11, the Apostle Paul wrote, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
· Just as the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, so the Holy Spirit raised us from the death of our trespasses and sins?
· Just as the Holy Spirit empowered the Lord Jesus to walk in the newness of His resurrected life for 40 days before He ascended back into the heaven to be glorified with God the Father, so the Holy Spirit empowers those He redeems to walk in that newness of life during our days on this earth before He raptures us from the earth or resurrects us from the grave and takes us to the Father’s House in heaven.

We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “Resurrection Realities and Results.”

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central doctrine of the Christian Faith. Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day after His death, and by conquering death, those who receive Him as their Savior and surrender unto Him as Lord will also be victorious over sin, death, and the grave.
However, contrary to the contemporary versions of the gospel, there is no salvation without one’s faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He purchased our forgiveness of sin, which makes Him our Savior. But when He rose from the grave, He proved His deity, which makes Him our Lord, and He deserves our full surrender to His Lordship.
We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “The Glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

One of the popular hymns of our day is entitled, “In Christ Alone.” The lyrics, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, express the theological truths of the life, death, and saving power of Christ through His death on the cross.

Some liberal denominations object to the line in the song that says, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” They can’t (or won’t) accept the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross was to satisfy God’s righteous anger against OUR sin. They want to change the line to read, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified.

I’m thankful they haven’t changed it, for to have done so would have negated the essential doctrine of our salvation, for had the wages for our sins that God had established, not been paid by the shed blood of His Son, we would still be lost and looking for a Savior.

We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “The Certainty of Jesus’ Crucifixion .”

The Last Supper is one of the most heartrending moments of Jesus’ earthly ministry. On the last night of His time on earth, Jesus gathered His disciples to celebrate Passover as they all had done with their own families for many years. Mark said, “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said unto them, this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:22-24

We will explain this further in our next sermon from the gospel of Mark, “The Passover Lamb.”