Sowers Class

1 Chronicles 29:11-13 (KJV)

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name."

I Pray that you all had a tremendous week spending time with family and that you made it home safely!


REMINDERS:


1. Our Sowers Class Brunch is set for THIS SUNDAY, December 6th! Can you believe our fantastic Christmas Brunch is already this next week?
Please plan to bring a delicious dish to pass!

2. Our Sowers Class is planning on going to dinner at Soplados in Springfield on Saturday, December 12th. We will leave at 4:15 from the church.
Babysitting is available. Please contact Glennie if you are planning on going!

Mr. Good's Lesson:

RAPTUREOUR BLESSED HOPE

MANY SAVED PEOPLE CONTINUE TO HAVE QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE "RAPTURE" OF THE CHURCH AND ITS OBVIOUS CONTRAST WITH THE "SECOND COMING" OF JESUS CHRIST.
IS THE TERM "RAPTURE" EVEN IN THE BIBLE?
THE HARP/RAPEO
THE MYSTERIOUS EVENT KNOWN AS THE RAPTURE IS MOST CLEARLY PRESENTED IN PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS, IN WHICH HE ENCOURAGES THE GRIEVING CHRISTIANS THAT, AT THE "GREAT CATCH," THEY WILL BE REUNITED WITH THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN CHRIST BEFORE THEM.
1 THESS. 4-13-18
[13] BUT I WOULD NOT HAVE YOU TO BE IGNORANT, BRETHREN, CONCERNING THEM WHICH ARE ASLEEP( HAVE DIED), THAT YE SORROW ( GRIEVE ) NOT, EVEN AS OTHERS WHICH HAVE NO HOPE.( CONFIDENCE )
[14] FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN, EVEN SO THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP ( HAVE DIED ) IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM.
[15] FOR THIS WE SAY UNTO YOU BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, THAT WE WHICH ARE ALIVE ( SURVIVE ) AND REMAIN UNTO THE COMING OF THE LORD SHALL NOT PREVENT ( PRECEDE ) THEM WHICH ARE ASLEEP.
[16] FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD: AND THE DEAD ( DEPARTED ) IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST:
[17] THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: ( ATMOSPHERE ) AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD.

[18] WHEREFORE COMFORT ( ENCOURAGE/CONSOLE )ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS.

IN VERSE 17, THE ENGLISH PHRASE "CAUGHT UP" TRANSLATES THE GREEK WORD HARP WHICH MEANS "TO SEIZE UPON WITH FORCE" OR "TO CATCH UP."
THERE ARE THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT THE WORD "RAPTURE" ISN'T IN THEIR BIBLE. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY AREN'T USING THE LATIN TRANSLATION:
...DEINDE NOS QUI VIVIMUS QUI RELINQUIMUR SIMUL RAPIEMUR CUM ILLIS IN NUBIBUS OBVIAM DOMINO IN AERA ET SIC SEMPER CUM DOMINO ERIMUS..
1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 (LATIN VULGATE)
THE LATIN EQUIVALENT OF THE GREEK HARP IS THE LATIN VERB RAPIO, "TO TAKE AWAY BY FORCE." IN THE LATIN VULGATE, ONE OF THE OLDEST BIBLES IN EXISTENCE, THE APPROPRIATE TENSE OF RAPIO APPEARS IN VERSE 17. (RAPTUS IS THE PAST PARTICIPLE OF RAPIO, AND OUR ENGLISH WORDS "RAPT" AND "RAPTURE" STEM FROM THIS PAST PARTICIPLE.)
AT THE RAPTURE, LIVING BELIEVERS WILL BE "CAUGHT UP" IN THE AIR, TRANSLATED INTO THE CLOUDS, IN A MOMENT IN TIME, TO JOIN THE LORD IN THE AIR.
THE PROMISE
THIS WILL BE THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE WHICH OUR LORD CONFIRMED AT THE LAST SUPPER:
JOHN.14
[1] LET NOT YOUR HEART ( SOUL ) BE TROUBLED: ( FEARFUL ) YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.
[2] IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS: IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.
[3] AND IF I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF; THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.
[4] AND WHITHER I GO YE KNOW, AND THE WAY YE KNOW.
[5] THOMAS SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WE KNOW NOT WHITHER THOU GOEST; AND HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY?
[6] JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE: ( ZOE ) NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME.

THIS PROMISE WASN'T GIVEN TO EVERYONE, ONLY TO HIS BELIEVERS. (JUDAS HAD ALREADY LEFT BY THEN.)THIS APPEARS TO PARALLEL THE PROMISE OF THE BRIDEGROOM IN THE PATTERN OF THE ANCIENT JEWISH WEDDING, WHERE, AFTER THE KETUBAH, THE ENGAGEMENT, BUT BEFORE THE HUPPAH, THE FORMAL CEREMONY, THE GROOM DEPARTED TO PREPARE A NEW HOME FOR HIS BRIDE, USUALLY AN ADDITION TO HIS FATHER'S HOUSE.
THE BRIDE WAS KEPT IN A STATE OF EXPECTANCY PENDING HIS RETURN-OFTEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, AS A SURPRISE.
(THE HUPPAH, THE WEDDING CEREMONY, WAS FOLLOWED WITH A SEVEN-DAY CELEBRATION, ETC.)
THE PROCESS
THE ANTICIPATION OF A BODILY RESURRECTION AFTER LIFE ON THIS EARTH PERVADES THE ENTIRE BIBLE. IN THE OLDEST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, JOB DECLARES:
FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH, AND THAT HE SHALL STAND AT THE LATTER DAY UPON THE EARTH: AND THOUGH AFTER MY SKIN WORMS DESTROY THIS BODY, YET IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD: WHOM I SHALL SEE FOR MYSELF, AND MINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD, AND NOT ANOTHER; THOUGH MY REINS ( INTERNAL ORGANS ) BE CONSUMED WITHIN ME. -JOB 19:25-27
YET, WHEN OUR LORD COMES TO GATHER HIS CHURCH, THERE WILL BE A GENERATION ALIVE AT THAT TIME. IN HIS DISCUSSION OF THE RESURRECTION IN HIS FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS, PAUL AGAIN DEALS WITH THIS ASTONISHING EVENT:
BEHOLD, I SHEW YOU A MYSTERY; ( SECRET ) WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP, BUT WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED, ( TRANSFORMED ) IN A MOMENT, IN THE TWINKLING( NANO SECOND ) OF AN EYE, AT THE LAST TRUMP: FOR THE TRUMPET SHALL SOUND, AND THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE, AND WE SHALL BE CHANGED. FOR THIS CORRUPTIBLE MUST PUT ON INCORRUPTION, AND THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY. SO WHEN THIS CORRUPTIBLE SHALL HAVE PUT ON INCORRUPTION, AND THIS MORTAL SHALL HAVE PUT ON IMMORTALITY, THEN SHALL BE BROUGHT TO PASS THE SAYING THAT IS WRITTEN, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING? O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY? -1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-55

THE IMMINENT GATHERING
CLEARLY, THE BIBLE TEACHES US TO EXPECT HIM AT ANY MOMENT. THIS IS CALLED THE DOCTRINE OF IMMINENCY: IT IS NEXT ON THE PROGRAM AND MAY TAKE PLACE VERY SOON.
IMMINENCY EXPRESSES HOPE AND A WARM SPIRIT OF EXPECTANCY, WHICH SHOULD RESULT IN A VICTORIOUS AND PURIFIED LIFE. BELIEVERS ARE TAUGHT TO EXPECT THE SAVIOR FROM HEAVEN AT ANY MOMENT.


TWO EVENTS
THERE ARE MANY THAT HOLD TO THE VIEW THAT THE "SECOND COMING" OF CHRIST AND THE "RAPTURE" ARE SOMEHOW THE SAME. YET THERE ARE A NUMBER OF INDICATIONS THAT THESE ARE DISTINCT AND SEPARATE.
IN CONTRAST TO THE IMMINENT GATHERING OF HIS CHURCH, THERE ARE NUMEROUS PASSAGES THAT DEAL WITH PRECEDENT EVENTS WHICH MUST TRANSPIRE PRIOR TO THE "SECOND COMING" TO ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM ON THE EARTH. SOME OF THE PASSAGES REFERRING TO THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING ARE SUMMARIZED IN THE TABLE BELOW.
RAPTURE SECOND COMING
JOHN 14:1-3 DAN 2:44-45
ROM 8:19 DAN 7:9-14
1 COR 1:7-8 DAN 12:1-3
1 COR 15:1-53 ZECH 14:1-15
1 COR 16:22 MATT 13:41
PHIL 3:20-21 MATT 24:15-31
COL 3:4 MATT 26:64
1 THESS 1:10 MARK 13:14-27
1 THESS 2:19 MARK 14:62
1 THESS 4:13-18 LUKE 21:25-28
1 THESS 5:9 ACTS 1:9-11
1 THESS 5:23 ACTS 3:19-21
2 THESS 2:1 1 THESS 3:13
1 TIM 6:14 2 THESS 1:6-10
2 TIM 4:1 2 THESS 2:8
TITUS 2:13 2 PETER 3:1-14
HEB 9:28 JUDE 14-15
JAMES 5:7-9 REV 1:7
1 PETER 1:7, 13 REV 19:11-20:6
1 JOHN 2:28-3:2 REV 22:7, 12, 20
JUDE 21
REV 2:25
REV 3:10


We need to fulfill these four things:

1. Proclaim the Truth
2. Defend the Truth
3. Instruct the Truth
4. Live the Truth

Jesus IS COMING AGAIN!
This world is NOT my home.
I am just passing through.

Are you telling others about how they can find peace and live with our Lord and Savior for all of eternity??
Tomorrow may be too late - don't wait!

*****Do you remember when Jimmy DeYoung was visiting and he talked about how Tony Blair could be appointed to help us sign a peace treat and is truly setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled in a future tomorrow?
Hmmmmmmmm . . . it could be happening soon. Check Jimmy DeYoung's website and learn more about this.
http://www.prophecytoday.com/

Check out this video about Tony Blair and New World Order: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMqUWFXdxBM&feature=related


The Bible is clear that in the last generation just before Christ's return, a Peace Treaty of 7 years will be signed to quell hostilities in the region of Israel & the Mideast.

Daniel 9:27:
"And he [Antichrist] will a make a firm cov- enant with the many [Jews] for one week..."

In Daniel's context, one "week" represents this final period of 7 years, not 7 days. At its signing, the final 7 years of Tribula- tion begin.
Prophecies in the News Today that confirm His nearness...
News articles about:
Major NEWS Headlines CONFIRM that the stage is set now for the signing of a Mideast Peace Plan. It will ultimately be negotiated by Antichrist with the End Time Jews of Israel. This will trigger the last 7 year period in history:


Have a blessed week and pray for those that need the Lord in their lives!
Send me additional prayer requests you may have throughout the week!
Let's be prayer warriors!

God Bless!