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[0:00] I don't know who's going to be first or whatever you have to share, but I'll just aim this thing out in your direction and we'll see if we get some decent pickup. Anybody question or comment regarding previous studies, regarding something that's bugging you that you'd like to try to address and get straightened out or jump to something entirely new?

[0:20] I want you to feel free. We've got the floor. Joe. You knew I'd probably be first, didn't you? Anyhow, I've got two things to comment. One thing to comment. There's two absolutes in this Bible, I've discovered. There's two absolutes.

[0:36] Okay. And one, you can have no connection with God. God will not listen. You cannot receive His blessings. You will not know His righteousness unless you believe.

[0:51] You have to believe God. Believe God. Now, that's different than believing in God. A lot of people believe there's a God up there, you know, and they say, yeah, He's up there doing things and so forth, but they don't believe Him and what He says, and that's the difference.

[1:09] You've got to believe what God says, not just that there is a God. You've got to believe God, okay? And the second thing is there's no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. No remission of sin without the shedding of blood.

[1:27] And that started with Adam and Eve. God provides that sacrifice of blood for all of us, and He provided the animal at that time. If you remember, they dressed themselves in leaves, you know, the garden. But no, God killed an animal, made skins, blood, and another thing, that blood has to be applied.

[1:48] God applied that blood to them, and if you go through the Scripture, at the temple and so forth, with the law, with Moses, you had to go to, He had to sprinkle that blood for forgiveness on the, um, ark, ark there, area there.

[2:06] It had to be applied, and then, if you think in the garden, when Mary was talking to Jesus, she didn't recognize Him. Well, of course, He was, why? Because He was all disfigured because of what He'd just gone through.

[2:20] And remember, He said, don't touch me? Now, this did hit me for a long time. Well, He had to go back to the Father, to the Holy of Holies, because He had to apply the blood that He wasn't really through yet, until He went to the Lord and applied that blood.

[2:34] And if you think of that, what He did for us, I mean, He had that sacrifice, and that, and doing what He did, because He had to, because there had to be blood to cover our sins. The only way.

[2:48] That's it. I'm sorry. Well, thank you. You got us off to a good start, Joe. Okay. Anybody else with a comment or a question? Feel free. Yeah, Dan?

[2:59] Marvin, in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the prophets, you know, they issued the enigma reading, or in other words, this is what you're doing wrong, I did this for you, and so forth, and God said, what happened to the salvation of those people that lived in God at that time?

[3:17] Well, you've asked a question to which I wish I had a better answer. I think the scriptures do make it quite clear, and it ties in a little bit with what Joe said already, that justification or being brought into a right relationship with God has always been on the basis of faith, on the basis of believing Him, that He is, and He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

[3:47] But insofar as specifics are concerned, there is a vagueness there that is difficult to understand. I do know, in accordance with what Paul said in Acts chapter, well, let's go there.

[4:04] Let's go to Acts chapter 17, and we'll explore this a little bit. You know, today, if someone is seeking a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and they're looking for salvation and God's blessing and forgiveness, etc., we've got a very simple formula to give them.

[4:29] It is to recognize that you are just a member of the human race, which automatically brands you a sinner, and that God is holy, and there is of necessity a great divide between you and God, so something needs to be done to close that gap.

[4:49] And that's where the finished work of Christ comes in. So our gospel simply consists of, believe on, and in contrast with what Joe was saying, we're in keeping with that, believe on, rather than in, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

[5:06] That's our gospel in a nutshell today. But what about before Jesus died on that cross and paid for the sins of the world? What were people told?

[5:17] If somebody back then would have asked you, how can I get right with God, what would you tell them? Jesus hadn't died on the cross. So all of that was future. And we've got a little bit of a hint, and granted it's not as satisfactory as I would like, but it's in fact in Acts chapter 17, and I want you to know a little bit about the setting, because the Apostle Paul is in Athens.

[5:44] Athens was the seat of intellectualism of the day. The Greeks had produced people like Plato and Aristotle and Socrates and so on, and they were very long on IQs, and very intelligent people.

[6:03] I think it'd probably be safe to say that Athens represented the intelligentsia of the world at that time. And yet, they were people who were steeped in idolatry.

[6:17] And remember when Paul got to town, he tells us about this in Acts 17, and we'll take time to read it, but he says, talking to the Athenian philosophers on Mars Hill, and he says, I was really struck as I walked through your city of Athens, I saw that you had an idol, a statue, erected to just about every god that you could think of, and to cover yourself, make sure that you didn't leave anybody out, you even had a statue that said, to the unknown god.

[6:48] And he talked about their religiosity. Now, there is a perfect example, guys, of a point that we've made in the past, how that man reasons and thinks in his fallenness, he reasons and thinks with a warped intellect, with a skewed mindset that keeps him and prevents him from thinking in the right way.

[7:12] And by the way, this is the principal reason that we have the scriptures, is to give us God's take, God's estimation, God's point of view on everything that matters, that is designed to correct us in our point of view.

[7:28] And this is why Paul said, all scripture is given by inspiration of God as profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, throughly furnished unto every good work.

[7:43] And that's what the word of God does. The Bible, among other things, is designed to correct us in our thinking and put us on the right path. So when Paul went to Athens and he found all of these people operating out of their warped intellect, here you are.

[8:00] The world's intelligentsia, worshipping multiple gods, statues, where did that come from? That is a perfect example of man's warped intellect.

[8:13] And we carry that over into spiritual realms as well when you consider... Well, let's go to this passage in Revelation 17.

[8:25] I mean Acts chapter 17. He's talking, delivering this message on Mars Hill and he says, coming down if we may to... Well, look at verse 27, that they should seek God.

[8:40] Perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He's not far from each one of us. In Him we live and move and exist and even some of your own poets have said, for we also are His offspring.

[8:54] Being then the offspring of God in the sense that we are created by Him, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver, sometimes objects made out of those things, or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

[9:12] Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, that's an interesting expression.

[9:24] Paul is saying, God overlooked the times of ignorance. What does that mean exactly? It's not all that clear, but I'll just give you a suggestion.

[9:34] It sounds somewhat like God gave them a pass. God did not hold them to full account.

[9:48] There's a principle all throughout Scripture that says, unto whom much is given, much is required. And in this sense, guys, knowledge can be a dangerous thing because once you have knowledge, you are responsible for what you do with it.

[10:10] And these people were steeped in knowledge and learning insofar as the human intellect was concerned, but they were devoid of connecting with God.

[10:22] But he makes a contrast here that calls these the times of ignorance, overlooking those. God is now, which suggests a change has taken place.

[10:36] Something has happened from the times of ignorance in the past to the time that Paul is speaking of that has changed everything, and it has also changed the rules of accountability.

[10:49] And he goes on to say, God is now declaring to men that all, everywhere, should repent.

[11:03] Which means, change your mind. And there's always just one basis for changing your mind about anything. That is, you have received information.

[11:17] And the information that you have received, you process, you think about it, you mull it over, and you reach a conclusion. Is this information true, or is it false?

[11:31] Does it comport with what I have always believed, or does it contradict it? Now, in the case of contradicting, so that someone would say, when they hear the gospel, I've never heard that before.

[11:45] All right. So, what is it that you believe? Well, you know, what I believe that we're supposed to do good, and we're supposed to be good, and we're not supposed to kill, and we're not supposed to lie.

[12:00] And I don't do it perfectly, but I try to do all of those things right. And I think that God will cut me some slack.

[12:12] I'm not the best person in the world, but I'm not the worst either. And, you know, I try to do right, and so on. that's what you need to repent of.

[12:23] You need to change your mind about all of that stuff, about everything that you formerly believed. The question that I've asked often, and I got it from Bill Fay.

[12:35] Bill Fay was a national purveyor of pornography. And he had all kinds of pornographic businesses going and everything, and he came to faith in Christ, and the revolution was remarkable.

[12:54] And I heard him preach at Donald Street Church of the Brethren a few years ago. He was just touring the country as a believer. And I'll never forget a question that he asked because he really developed some neat things in evangelism talking to people.

[13:10] And one of his key questions is this. If what you believe about eternal life, about life, about death, about salvation, about Christ, if what you believe about all of those things is not true, would you want to know it?

[13:35] Now, anybody with an ounce of logic is going to say, well, yeah, sure. I think what I believe is true, but just in case it isn't, yeah, I would want to know.

[13:48] Why? Well, you want to know so you could make a correction, so you could repent, so you could change your mind. And by the way, guys, don't confuse repentance with penance.

[14:02] Our Roman Catholic friends are very much into penance, P-E-N-A-N-C-E. penance, which means you do certain things to score points with God.

[14:15] You go to communion, you go to confession, you say the Our Fathers and the Hail Marys and all of that. That's penance. You're trying to make up and compensate for your sin by doing good things and by quoting Scripture and a Roman Catholic friend may go to the confession and the priest says, what is your sin?

[14:38] And you tell him I did this and I did that. And the priest says, all right, he said, you need to recite 25 Hail Marys and 15 Our Fathers.

[14:50] And most of them count those on the beads. You know, the bead they use, the rosary, it's got beads on it. That's a counter and they count that and keep track of the, that's their penance and that has nothing to do with repent or repent.

[15:06] Repent literally means metanoia. It means through the mind. Salvation is a thinking intellectual process that requires an act of the will.

[15:23] Now everybody knows what it's like, not everybody, but most of you guys here know what it's like to get married. And when you stand at that altar, you are asked to make a commitment to each other.

[15:40] And the response is supposed to be either I will or I do. In either case, you are making a commitment and you are making that commitment on the basis of having assessed the situation, that's the person that you're going to be marrying and you have come to a conclusion that you want to spend the rest of your life with this person and you make a verbal, intelligent, conscious, deliberate commitment by saying I will.

[16:15] And it's the same way in making a commitment to Jesus Christ. it isn't some special religious holy talk or some abracadabra statement that you utter or anything.

[16:29] It isn't a certain feeling that you have to have. It is a purposeful, deliberate commitment of yourself to Jesus Christ on the basis of what he has done for you.

[16:42] So when we read here in Acts 17 he says that God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, should change their mind from the position they had.

[16:56] And what was the position of all of these Athenians? It was the worship and the adoration of these dumb idols and statues. And you've got to change your mind about that.

[17:07] Those things are not going to help at all. And he goes on to say the reason you should is because he, God, has fixed a day that is a deliberate time in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed.

[17:31] In other words, this man, who of course is none other than Jesus Christ, is going to be the issue with whom you are on one side or the other.

[17:46] Everything has changed. As a result, guys, as a result of the finished work that Christ paid on that cross, everything changed. That point, Christ on the cross, he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[18:05] that event became and still is the centerpiece of the universe. Don't ever forget that.

[18:17] That's the most important three hours in the history of creation from 12 noon to 3 o'clock in the afternoon when he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us.

[18:30] God turned away from his son. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And in those three hours, Jesus was bearing your sin and mine.

[18:44] And God turned away because he could not look upon that and that was the payment that was exacted from Christ for our sin.

[18:55] Just hold your question just a second. Let me finish this. So, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man speaking of course of Christ whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

[19:22] And some made fun of that. Some mocked it. Some sneered as the text says. They began to sneer and others said, well, we'll hear you again because you know what they were thinking about?

[19:33] They were thinking in terms of a corpse coming back to life. They knew nothing and could not relate at all to the idea of a glorified body, that wounded, bleeding, scarred body that was placed in that tomb came out of that tomb in a completely different shape, glorified being.

[20:01] And that was something that they didn't understand. So all of these things come together. Well, all I'm saying is there appears to be a point of demarcation of accountability before Christ and after Christ.

[20:15] And we've got a gospel to preach now. And by the way, guys, this is the whole basis for the missionary endeavor. This is the whole basis of taking the gospel is because people are responsible and we've got a message to give that can bring men from a position of spiritual death into spiritual life.

[20:32] What, Joe, do you have? I was just going to say all those Old Testament saints like Abraham, Noah, and all them, they couldn't go to heaven yet because Christ hadn't died on the cross for them yet, see?

[20:46] They went to paradise which was supposedly in the center of the earth and that's where they had to wait. They had to wait until Christ paid that price for their sins.

[20:58] There's no longer a paradise now. You've read the story about Lazarus and Abraham in the Bible that was Matthew or one of those books, I can't remember there, but that further confirms that they had not received that blood, they had a temporary system of the animal sacrifices for their sins, but that was only like a temporary thing that was done until Christ came, was born, and died on the cross, and then they could go to heaven.

[21:27] Okay, thank you, Joe. So in connection with that, I wish I could give you a better answer. The Jew, through Judaism and through the law of Moses that is established in the first five books of the Bible, did provide a way whereby those who had undergone the sacrifice and so on could maintain a position with God, and this was done on a national basis.

[22:01] Every year, it was called the Day of Atonement. It comes, I think, in October, and it has to do with the sacrifice of the animal, and the priest would go in on the Day of Atonement and sprinkle the blood and so on, and Israel was covered and off the hook, if you will, for another year.

[22:24] Then the next year, they had to go through the whole process, do the whole thing all over again, and what that, of course, was establishing was the fact that death has to be imposed upon sin.

[22:41] The wages of sin is death. Wages is what you deserve, what you earn, what you work for. The wages, of course, is death, and that death is imposed upon all under the sentence of death.

[22:54] In the case of Israel, there was a reprieve for the nation for a year, and of course, you know, they had the Sabbath to keep and the ritual diet and all the rest of it, all of those hoops to jump through.

[23:06] So, the difference between becoming right with God before the cross as opposed to after the cross is just monumental. and today, we have a system, if you want to call it that, that is so simple that a child can engage in it.

[23:28] And that is to simply recognize, acknowledge your own sin and your own failure, and nobody is saying, and anyone is an especially vile, loathsome individual, we're just saying we're all in this thing together, and the proof positive that you are a sinner is the fact that you're going to die physically.

[23:49] And if you weren't a sinner, you wouldn't die. But we're all going to die, and the question is, has your sin been cared for through the finished work of Christ?

[24:00] And if it has, we are promised eternal life despite the fact that we are sinful beings and we don't deserve that. So, I wish I could give you a better answer because I don't have one.

[24:11] Dan? I have a follow-up. Is there any, could you include what said in Revelations about those Christians that have gone, will be brought up to heaven, could you include those that were believing God in the Old Testament, could that be included in that?

[24:31] Oh, of course, yeah. Yeah. Well, dead in Christ shall rise first, we who are alive and caught up with him will be with him, yeah, absolutely. That's all part of the salvation package in reference to the translation of the saints or the rapture of the church and so on.

[24:51] I've got a concept that I like, well, I'll just run it by you, and to me, it's very satisfying and very comforting, and I don't know how else to express it, I've never seen it in writing or anything, I probably ought to write it down, but anyway, let me put it this way.

[25:10] In the final analysis, when everybody is where they are going to be for eternity, and everybody is experiencing whatever it is they are going to experience, whether it is negative or positive, positive, it will be precisely what it ought to be.

[25:42] It will be totally, what shall I say, appropriate. Now think about that. This has given me a great deal of comfort from the standpoint of my father, whom I never knew, I don't know that he was, have no reason to believe that he was a believer that I'll ever see, I don't know that for sure, but, and my half brother that I didn't know I had until a few years ago, and I know he was exposed to the gospel, I trust that he received Christ, I don't know that he did, but when you think about God in his mercy, and also in his justice, and in his righteousness, righteousness, that everybody, whoever they are, everybody, whenever they live, in the final analysis, wherever they are, whatever they are experiencing, whether it is good or bad, it will be precisely, exactly, what is appropriate for them.

[26:51] Then the question comes, well, according to whose sense an estimation of appropriate, well, it won't be yours, and it won't be mine, it will be God's, and this one, who is omniscient, he knows everything, and by the way, when the judgment time comes, depicted in Revelation 20, there isn't going to be any interrogation, God isn't going to ask anybody to explain anything, it isn't going to be, all right, why did you thus and so, and thus and so, there isn't going to be any of that, because God knows everything, he's not going to ask any questions, and if he did, we'd lie, if we could, but you wouldn't be able to lie, so, God is simply, and the text says in Romans, that every mouth may be stopped, nobody is going to say, but, but, but, but you don't understand,

[28:01] I, I, you know, no, he does understand, well, the reason I did this is because, no, he knows the reason you did it, he's not going to ask you any questions, he's not going to ask you, why did you do this, explain that to me, as if God is waiting with beta breath, for a good excuse, he knows everything, it's just going to be a sentencing, and it won't be an interrogation where you'll have an opportunity to explain yourself and what you really meant, because he knows that all, he knows that all, yeah, Joe?

[28:35] Marv is talking about the unbeliever's judgment, when he's resurrected, and he will be resurrected out of the grave too, with the body and go before, that's what Marv is talking about the unbeliever, but the believer, you need to believe in Jesus, we're going before a different, it's called the Bema seat, and we're going to be going there for reward, you're going to have your salvation if you were a believer, there's a different resurrection, there's more than one resurrection, and at that Bema seat thing, you're going to be there to receive rewards, and I don't know what they will be, I don't know, the Bible doesn't explain it, but there's going to be more rewards for some people than other people, and basically it's doing the good works you do after you're saved, and the scripture has that planned out, if you read Romans 2, it says God has what good works he wants you to do already planned out, now if some pastor asks you to be the charge of this committee, or that committee, or that committee, that may not be in

[29:35] God's will for you at all, and you shouldn't necessarily accept it, just because you turn down something that some guy asked you to do, that doesn't mean you're not in God's will, God will let you know what good works you want to do, it'll probably be that lady across the street that wants you to fix something for her, and you have perfect knowledge in it, and you're not doing anything, and so you go do it, that may be the reward that you do, simple things like that, and it's your reward you're going to get when you're before Jesus at the Bema seat.

[30:09] Thank you, Joe, that's an important clarification, there are two different judgments, and actually, ours will not be a judgment, that's not the right word to use, it is an award throne, and it is taken from the ancient practice that the Greeks had, you know how the Greeks began this thing that we call the Olympics, and the competition, and it goes all the way back to the first century, and that's what Paul was drawing upon when he talks about those who run in a race, the only one receives the prize, and that's the one who wins, and by the way, they didn't have a first, second, third, and a gold, silver, and a bronze, so you either won or you didn't.

[30:49] And he's talking about the award throne of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3, and if your deeds as a believer, by the way, there will not be any unbelievers at the award throne of Christ, these are all Christians, and there will not be any Christians at the judgment seat of Christ in Revelation 20.

[31:12] Those are all unbelievers. These are two entirely different judgments. And for the award throne, our deeds, our thoughts, and our actions are disguised, if you will, as wood, hay, stubble, or gold, silver, precious stones.

[31:36] The first three are ignitable. They just go poof, like that. Wood, hay, and stubble, they all burn up very quickly. But gold, silver, and precious stone are the items that abide, and they have an endurance, and those are supposed to be the kind of activities and attitudes in which we engage.

[31:58] And God knows which they are. God's eyes are like fire, and they're going to burn up that chaff and stuff. That's right. It'll just go up in smoke. And there will be, see, we are not saved by our works, but we are saved to do good works.

[32:15] That's the Ephesians 2 passage. And while that is not part of our salvation, it is part of what we are supposed to do with it. This is why Paul says, work out your salvation.

[32:28] It means give your salvation a workout. And how do you do that? Through your deeds, through your actions, that don't add anything to your salvation, but they will add to your reward.

[32:43] And this is why Paul talked about the one he delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. It's this man who was carrying on.

[32:54] He said that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So, we are not saved by our works, and we are not kept by our works. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are saved to do good works.

[33:08] Once you have Jesus Christ in your life, he intends to make a difference. And the difference is in loving and serving others. So, anything else that you want to mention?

[33:18] Yes? Can I make a statement I guess? Just want you guys to maybe ponder this today, ask yourself, are you born again?

[33:29] Ask yourself, am I born again? What does that mean? I'm going to read John 3. Now, there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

[33:42] He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. No one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. Jesus replied, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

[34:00] This is the renewing of your mind. This is you putting your faith. The work is done. Jesus came, he did his thing, and he lives in us. Christ in you.

[34:11] Let this mind that was in Christ also be in you. So are we going to believe that and actually act on it? Like, hey, Christ is with me. So I walk around everywhere I go, I know Christ is with me.

[34:22] I rest with him every night. That's our prayer. God is a spirit. He's to be worshipped in spirit. I think we all get it mumble jumbled in the fine details of the literal meaning.

[34:34] There's a spiritual meaning behind all this. Amen. That's the renewing of your mind. Amen. Amen. And that spirit died when Adam and Eve sinned.

[34:48] When they did that. We're fighting from victory. Not for victory. We're fighting from victory. We already won. It's done. Now it's up to us. Now we're on a mission. I look at it as a mission from God.

[34:58] I'm going to go around. I didn't want to stand up. But God kept telling me. The spirit kept telling me. Poking me. Pricking me. Amen. Stand up. You better stand up now. And that's just me being obedient.

[35:09] I didn't really want to. I'm shaking right now. Amen. I appreciate that. Amen. Thank you. We've got to go about our day. Because if we just shut off the TV, we wouldn't know that there was a COVID or a this and a that.

[35:23] Because we make the day in our mind, if we're going about our day all like jolly, then that's what you're going to be. Mind, idea, expression, which you said earlier.

[35:34] It starts in the mind, then it becomes an idea, and then you express it. Matthew 13, seed time and harvest. We're going to drop good seeds. Hopefully it falls on good ground.

[35:45] Some people's ground is like concrete, so you might have the jackhammer, you know? But that's the law right there, seed time and harvesting. And people, be able to see the fruits by the tree.

[35:56] Thank you. Thank you, brother. And thank you for standing up. What's your name again? Brandon. Randy? Brandon. Brandon? Okay, Brandon. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that.

[36:06] I believe that. I know it. I don't even believe it. I know it. You're sons of God. When you experience it, it becomes real to you. And this is what our Lord was talking about.

[36:20] Nicodemus was at a loss. He was a teacher of the Jews. He was supposed to be the answer guy. And when Jesus hit him with that, he said, well, how can a man be born again? And Jesus said, that which is of the flesh is flesh.

[36:35] That which is of the spirit is spirit. And long story short, every one of us has an intangible, invisible human spirit.

[36:47] spirit. Even the atheist has a human spirit. And when you believe on Christ as your Savior, it is that part of your being, that immaterial part of your being, that is regenerated, that is made new in Christ.

[37:04] This is becoming a new person on the inside. And that's what the new birth is. Then that is a spiritual rebirth, doesn't do a thing for your body.

[37:16] I mean, if you had a physical deficiency before you came to Christ, you're going to have it afterwards. Because that's the age in which we live. Now, had you been back in the time of Christ, you would have been made every whithole.

[37:32] So everything that was deficient about you would have been fixed. But it's a different time than we're living in today. So that spirit, then, when you die, exits the body.

[37:45] Nobody sees it leave. When Jesus said on the cross, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit, he bowed his head and gave up the spirit.

[37:57] And nobody, out of all the people who were there, nobody said, look, there it goes, there it goes. And they saw the spirit come right up out of Jesus and, no, it's intangible, it's immaterial, and that's what leads a lot of people to say, it isn't real.

[38:15] And this is one of the things we're dealing with today in the medical community because they are, of course, looked upon as the ultimate for understanding human bodies. And this has led them, particularly the psychiatric persuasion, to conclude that we do not have a mind.

[38:39] Think about that. You say, well, if you don't have a mind, what do we have? And they say, you have a brain. You have a physical brain that weighs about two and a half to three pounds.

[38:51] It's like gelatinous putty. And that is all you have. all of your thoughts, ideas, everything originate in that physical brain.

[39:03] Interestingly enough, guys, the Bible never once uses the word brain. Never once. but it uses the word mind hundreds of times.

[39:18] So it's suggesting, the biblical point of view is, we have a non-physical mind that connects with a physical brain.

[39:33] And these two work in concert in such an incredible way that you can't imagine. let me give you a simple example. When your nose itches without even thinking about it, you have nerve impulses in your nose.

[39:55] And when one of those flares up and creates an itch, that physical itch in that nerve goes automatically to your brain.

[40:07] brain, and your brain tells you, my nose itches, scratch my nose. And you do that without even thinking about it. And your mind gives an order to the brain.

[40:23] Hey, brain, activate the right arm so that the hand can be used to scratch the nose. And you do that without even thinking.

[40:35] you just do it automatically. Fellas, this is just a tiny bit of the way we are connected. And as I've told you before, if there's a verse of understatement in the Bible, it's this, surely I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

[40:54] Guys, we don't know the half of it. you are such an amazing, elaborate concoction of nerves and muscles and blood and bones and tissue.

[41:08] You are a genius walking around. Although, none of us think of ourselves that way, but it is simply amazing. The psalmist says, it is too high for me.

[41:21] I cannot attain unto it. It's too wonderful. Other comments or questions? Anybody? I got one. It's not nearly as deep or spiritual. Just inquiring minds want to know, at the rapture, we're called up.

[41:35] We get a heavenly body. Does the scriptures tell us what happens to our physical body at that time? Boy, you guys are asking some dandy questions.

[41:49] I wish I had some dandy answers. Probably the best thing we've got is that 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, if you want to turn there quickly.

[42:01] It doesn't answer all the questions. I use this a lot at funerals because it is a very encouraging passage.

[42:17] In verse 13, Paul says, we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep. When he uses that word, he's not talking about eight hours a night, variety, sleep.

[42:32] He's using sleep as a euphemism, which means it is a toned down expression of a reality that is kind of harsh. So death is often spoken of as sleep.

[42:45] Jesus did that with Lazarus when he said, got word that Lazarus was sick. And Jesus, after waiting four days, he said, our friend Lazarus sleeps.

[42:58] And one of the apostles said, oh, well, that's great if he's sleeping because everybody knows that sleep is one of the best things for you when you're sick. And Jesus said, no, what I meant, guys, was Lazarus is dead.

[43:12] But I go that I may wake him out of his sleep, out of his sleep of death. So it is spoken of as asleep the same way it is here. But not have you an uninformed brethren about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

[43:29] And there he makes a distinction between the death of believers and the death of unbelievers. And for unbelievers who die and those who are left behind, they have no hope.

[43:43] They have no assurance. They have nothing really to look forward to. And he said, it isn't that way for those who are believers who have no hope. For if we, and this is a conditional clause and it depends upon our belief, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep or who have died in Jesus or died as believers.

[44:12] For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, and when Paul inserts that, it's another way of saying, guys, I want you to get this and I want you to know, this isn't me saying this.

[44:25] I'm not the authority in this. This is from the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

[44:41] and the coming of the Lord here is not to be confused with the second coming. Jesus is making two returns. One is above the earth.

[44:54] He's not coming to the earth. He's coming above the earth. And we will be caught up together with him.

[45:04] We will join him in the air and go back to heaven with it. This is the most phenomenal thing that you can ever contemplate. We just cannot fathom something like this and how that is going to be.

[45:19] So, of course, scholars differ over whether it's going to be physical or whether it's just going to be our spirit. But let's finish the text first, Joe, and then I'll take a comment. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout.

[45:35] This is not the second coming of Christ. This is the rapture of the church. This is the parousia. It is the catching away. It is the snatch away. In the 1970s, Hal Lindsay came out with a book called The Late Great Planet Earth.

[45:52] And it was the best selling book in the United States for the whole decade of the 1970s. And I was amused by one of the chapter titles in the book.

[46:03] book. And it was called The Great Snatch. And that's exactly the way it's going to be. Just as if you would imagine a giant hand reaching down and going whoosh, just like that, snatching away, catching away, all believers all over the world, everywhere, at whatever time of day or night it is, snatched away, caught up to be with the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

[46:42] And then, when that happens, we are changed in an instant, in the moment. And Paul says, in the twinkling of an eye. How long does a twinkling eye take to twinkle?

[47:00] It's faster than a blink. A blink is pretty fast. A twink is even faster. That's the way it's going to be. Descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel.

[47:16] We don't know what that shout is going to be like, but it will be adequate. And everyone will hear. You know, you've heard about the dog whistles.

[47:29] You can blow a dog whistle and you can't hear it, but Rover comes running because he hears it. His hearing is on a different wavelength than yours. So, it's going to be that way when the Lord shouts.

[47:42] Only those who have the receptive capability will hear it. And it will be just like that, and we will be caught up with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

[47:55] Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. And that word is rapto in the Latin from which we get the word rapture.

[48:07] And it is a breathtaking catching away. To meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. And what are you supposed to do about that?

[48:18] You're supposed to derive an enormous amount of comfort, solace from it, because that is the part and parcel of every believer. Joe, your comment will have to close.

[48:29] What the body is going to be like? Jesus showed us. I asked what happens to our physical body after the rapture. Are they lying here on the earth, or are they removed?

[48:41] No, God, Jesus, when He came back for that 40 days, here's what your body is going to be. He walked through walls, but they saw Him, they saw Him and saw Him that they touched Him even, that they touched His wounds and so forth.

[48:55] So, He's going to have that kind of a body. We're going to have the same body. He showed us the kind of body. It says we get a heavenly body, but that means something happens. Oh, yeah, it'll be a glorified body.

[49:06] It'll be a body that is fashioned, like Paul said in Philippians 1, it will be a body fashioned like unto the body of Christ. promise. My thought is to the people that are still here, will we be completely removed?

[49:22] Yes. We will be completely removed, body and soul. The body is gone and changed. The body is gone or just our spirit was called out.

[49:34] Yeah. The body is going to be regenerated. It is going to be made new. It's going to be fashioned like unto the body. We'll be able to identify, we'll know one another, but it will be a perfect body.

[49:48] It will be a body that will no longer be subject to death or disease. Yeah. But nothing left behind when it comes to physical. No. Nothing left behind except people who are believers.

[49:59] They'll be left behind. It's too easy on the non-believers to see a bunch of dead bodies laying around. Yeah. Well, I don't think that will be the case. Think about how the world's going. How many lives do some Christians who believe in God are going to be on earth?

[50:13] People talk about airplanes going to crash. Think about the way the world's going. How many live Christians are going to be here on earth when he does that?

[50:25] And we don't know his timing, but I can see there's going to be the way the world's going. There's going to be almost none left, just like in Noah's time. Noah and his family were the only ones left that were believers and what happened to the rest of the world?

[50:38]  people. You know, they were away. Okay, thank you, Joe. And you can see Joe's talking because he's not eating.