Hello everyone, I'm Pastor Don and Jester, Richard Difshund Church. I'm so glad that you can tune in today. If you have your Bible, I'd like for you to go with me to the book of Luke's Gospel, chapter 21, that's Luke, chapter 21. And while you're turning there, just want to invite you, if you'd like to become a partner with this ministry, you'll see the address on the screen.
If you would like to sow seed in the ministry, you'll see that as well. So let's pick up right here at Luke's Gospel, chapter 21, verse 34, Jesus said, and take heed to yourself, so lest at any time your hearts be overcharged or weighted down with surfacing, which is a nausea, self-indulgence, and drunkenness and cures of this life, so that they come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all of them that dwell on the face of the whole earth, verse 36. What you therefore, and pray always, that you be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man. I want to continue, we've been talking in the last programs about the Rapture of the Church, and seems like we don't hear a lot about that teaching anymore.
Our country, as you well know, is split, you know, in two, it's just abided. It's not what God intended for us as a nation. And so let's me know the Bible said that kingdom would rise against kingdom, and when we understand that, we know that the time of the Lord's appearing is soon to come. I told you in times past that the only thing that had to be fulfilled in Bible prophecy was that Israel had to become a nation, and it did so in May the 14th, 1948.
But we pick up here that Jesus is saying, take heed to yourselves. He goes on to say because the whole world gets drunk in over-indulgence, so self-absorbed, living a life that is so pointed towards ourselves rather than understanding where God is at in our life. And so caught up in everyday life, in the cares of this life the scripture says, but Jesus said in verse 36, he said, what's you there for? And he said, pray that always that you be accounted worthy, counted worthy, that word worthy, in the Greek is access, it means deserving, that you be counted deserving, to escape the things that are coming upon this earth.
And Jesus, even though he didn't come out and talk about the rapture, he's alluding to the rapture, and he's telling us that there's some things to escape, the great tribulation period, as you well know, 2020, was a rough year for all of us. And there was so much tribulation in it, but not great tribulation. That's the thing that we have to keep in mind. Jesus said, great tribulation would come, such as never has been before, will be here after.
Great tribulation is when the Antichrist is revealed. But he said, Jesus said, pray that you be accounted worthy to escape these things. I mean, you can make fun and call it, we're escapists. But I believe that Jesus Christ wanted us to be prepared.
He knew this day would come before it arrived to us, that we must be prepared to live a life looking for his coming. You heard me saying, times past, as we get into this more in the second part of the series, there are two comings. The first time that Jesus will come for his church, and then seven years later, he'll come with his church. So you have to know that the rapture of the church is the next greatest event on God's timetable.
And it could happen before I go off the air. It could happen at any time. A lot of people, when it was much teaching in the early days, or back at 30 years ago, when most everybody was preaching, teaching about the rapture of the church. All those times, before you was getting married and you said, Jesus, please don't come, then six months after if you got a bad marriage, you're thinking you could come now, or you're late.
But he is coming. And we must not lose sight of that, or lose hope. The Bible calls it the Blessed Hope. I wanna take you over to the book of First Thessalonians, chapter four again.
I wanna share with you when Paul introduced the rapture to the church. I want you to look at that with me. And as you're turning to First Thessalonians, chapter four, I wanna share with you that there are five raptures spoken of in the New Testament programs before I said seven raptures. But when we look at the rapture, Enoch was taken, he didn't die and we look at Elijah.
It was the type of rapture Elijah seen him go away. But in the New Testament, we look at four, five raptures. One has already taken place. And of course that was Jesus.
Had been addressing the disciples and given them a great commission and let them as far out as Bethany. He was blessing them. All of a sudden he began to lose gravitation. And you can find that in the book of Acts, chapter one.
But then there's the rapture of the church. That's what we're all looking for. And then you've got the rapture of the 144,000 Jews that will be raptured in the middle of the great tribulation period. And then you've got the rapture in Revelation, chapter 11 of the two witnesses, which we believe it's Enoch and Elijah that will come back and die their appointed death.
People ask the question a lot of times, what about that? Hebrews, chapter nine, verse 27, it's appointed once that man to die and then after that to judgment. Well, rapture, the rapture of the church is the only exemption of that. But in Revelation, chapter 11, you see that the two witnesses will be killed.
And then three days later, the spirit of God comes into them and they rise up and they're raptured. And then the last rapture, the filth rapture is the tribulation martyrs at the end of the tribulation period. So now let's look at this together in first thessalonians chapter four, while you're finding, because people want to say, well, you know, there's nowhere in the Bible that talks about the rapture or the word rapture. Well, that's true.
The word rapture is not in the Bible. It's an old English word. It's a translation of a person from one place to another. But look what he said in first thessalonians chapter four, Paul said in verse 13, but I would not have you ignorant or uneducated, brethren concerning them which are asleep that you saw or not, even as others, which have no hope.
Can you imagine losing a loved one and not knowing Jesus Christ? How terrible, how tragic that is? I know what it is to lose a mother and not knowing God, having no hope. But you see, as a child of God, we have hope that we're going to see our loved one again, if they've accepted Jesus as the Lord and Savior.
In verse 14, Paul said, for we believe that Jesus died in rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. That's the rapture. For this we say, verse 15 unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Let me stop right there.
What do you mean not prevent them which are asleep? In other words, we can't go until the dead in Christ. Get up. Now I want to say to you, because of time, we have to pick up next week.
I want you to know that your loved one that has went home to be with the Lord, the Bible said God will bring with him. And you have to know that we're going to all go up together. So I want to take this time as we go off the air. If you don't know Jesus, if you don't know him as your Lord and Savior, what you just right there, where you're adding pray with me and say, Lord, I don't know you, but I do believe you're the Son of God and I accept you today.
Would you come into my heart and forgive me of my sins? Lord, I make you my Lord today. If you've done that, let us know about it. Tell somebody, would you do that?
Because the greatest thing is to be born again. Except you are born again, you will not see God. I believe you prayed that prayer today. We'll see you next week.
God bless you.