Doctrine of the End of Time

- Jesus came, so lost people could be saved. This church is not a cruise ship. We'll be laid by the pool. This is a battleship. And for 23 years, we've been on mission for Jesus. For 23 years, we've been worshiping Jesus, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, reaching lost people, baptizing people, helping people know God and growing God. Discover purpose and make a difference. We've been on the mission of Jesus. (dramatic music) And for one reason, to see more changed lives. (dramatic music) ♪ Welcome to people's church, everyone ♪ ♪ Every day has been by Jesus, any of me ♪ ♪ Let's worship the Lord together, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm praising the valley ♪ ♪ Praise on the mountain ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm sure ♪ ♪ Praise when I'm down ♪ ♪ I'll praise when I'm numbered ♪ ♪ Praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ 'Cause praise is the water ♪ ♪ My enemies drown with me ♪ ♪ As long as I breathe ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh I praise when I feel it ♪

♪ And I praise when I'm told ♪ - That's right, come on. ♪ I'll praise 'cause I know ♪ ♪ You're still in control ♪ ♪ 'Cause praise is a weapon ♪ ♪ Oh, it's more than a sound ♪ ♪ My praise is a shout ♪ ♪ And I'll praise 'cause I know ♪ ♪ As long as I breathe ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it dry ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Come on church, squish all hands together ♪ ♪ And praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're strong ♪ ♪ Praise 'cause you're ready ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're true ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause there's nobody greater than me ♪ ♪ Come on, I praise 'cause you're strong ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're ready ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're rose ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ I praise 'cause you're true ♪

♪ I praise 'cause there's nobody greater than me ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Come on, praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is a lie ♪ ♪ How could I keep it dry ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is a lie ♪ ♪ How could I keep it dry ♪ ♪ Yes, I won't be quiet, my God is a lie ♪ ♪ How could I keep it dry ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ - I'd like to invite our trained prayer team to come on forward now if you will. Church, if you are here and there is a need on your hot water parade with you today. So if you feel comfortable, come on forward now. And at our prayer team here, pray with you. ♪ I pray into the atmosphere ♪

♪ Spirit of God, you're here ♪ ♪ You have all authority ♪ ♪ I pray over my heart and life ♪ ♪ I am healed by your stripes ♪ ♪ Your blood to clays that I am free ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must break in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I draw a permanent bound to my life ♪ ♪ The enemy has no rise to come in my family ♪ ♪ No sleep could ever one to God's place ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstances the cross ♪ ♪ Has sealed my destinies ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim every weapon formed ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must break in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know all the power of heaven ♪ ♪ It's our days for us all ♪ ♪ Every key to everything to me ♪ ♪ I hold in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I will not flee, I will not flee ♪ ♪ When the enemy calls me ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not flee, I will not flee ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪

♪ I'll protect it all the times ♪ ♪ Got the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Come on, say I will not flee ♪ ♪ I will not flee ♪ ♪ When the enemy calls me ♪ ♪ On the door frame of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not flee, I will not flee ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'll protect it all the times ♪ ♪ Got the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ But I pray ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I know ♪ ♪ All the power of heaven ♪ ♪ Don't care ♪ ♪ Must go ♪ ♪ Then it keeps you everything to me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪

♪ I am the instrument of exaltation ♪ ♪ And I was born to name to name above all name ♪ ♪ You hear the melody ♪ who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus and you are the infant man God of the angels and yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place and you healed my broken face showed me your glory so I have taught the place I even angel see who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one

only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one

only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one

only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one only in Jesus who else is worthy there is no one We pray in Jesus' mighty name, amen. And amen, come on, give God praise one more time. Come on, He's worthy, He's worthy. For church family, before you're seated, let's take the next few moments. Find two or three people you don't recognize.

Learn their name, shake a few hands. Let's connect church. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome to People's Church, everybody. Hey, my name is Rob Champion. I'm the campus pastor here at the Oklahoma City Campus. Whether you're joining us online or in the house, we are family. We're so glad to have you with us today. I do want to take a moment just to welcome all of our first time guests. Come on, People's Church family. Show them some love, yeah. We're glad you're here today. When People's Church, your heart to serve our community is absolutely incredible. And last month, you were the hands and feet of Jesus as we served our community through our local outreach day. And one of the places that we served at was Hope is Alive. So I want you to check out this video. (upbeat music) - Hope is alive exists to radically change their lives, their drug addicts, alcoholics, and the families that love them. They're coming from a park bench, they can come in from prison. And we build their life back, help them get their life skills. And we set them up for success.

- We're here with Hope is Alive. And so we're just cleaning the house. We are power washing, we are cleaning outside. - When the church community comes into our program and supports us, the residents feel valued, seen, and loved. - It hits my heart because I actually struggle with addiction myself in almost three years sober. And so when I saw that we were helping women that struggle with addiction, I knew I just wanted to come help. - You know, God has been good to me. So I want to help others. So this is a good way to give back. I think God calls us to show love for others. So we also have a heart of serving, and we're called to serve. - So thank you, thank you, People's Church, for all that you do, and we appreciate you all. - Yeah, praise God, thank you, People's Church. You know, I do want to say thank you, People's Church, for just your heart to serve our community. You know, our heartbeat here at People's Church is to help care for and meet the needs of people in our community and to show the love of Jesus so that their lives can be changed by His power. And I just a big thank you to all of you who came out and served at our local outreach day to make an impact. Lives were changed because you served. Father, we thank you for hope is alive in the ministry

that they're doing to minister to those who are struggling with addiction. Lord, we know that you said in your word, Lord, that He who the sun sets free is free indeed. And we pray that you would use this ministry that your spirit would flow through them as they help people find freedom, the freedom that's only found in Jesus. We love you, Lord, we thank you for this, and we pray for hope is alive today in Jesus' name. Amen. (gentle music) (gentle music) - Church family, I was scheduled to preach today, but Tiffany and I needed to go to Nebraska to help her parents. Tiffany's mom has cancer. She is going through chemo treatment and she's struggling with her health and her strength. Tiffany's dad is 74 years old and is the senior pastor of a church in Grand Island, Nebraska. The church is struggling and they need our help. So today, Tiffany and I are in Grand Island, Nebraska, helping her parents and their church with the next steps so the church can get out of this struggling season and the church can thrive and reach the community again. Church family, thank you for your prayers. For Tiffany's parents, Tim, and Nate. I can't wait to be back preaching next Sunday

at People's Church and kicking off our new series, The Missing Peace and Worshiping with the People's Church Choir. But today, you're in good hands as always. We have one of the best preachers in America as our lead pastor, Pastor Scotty is concluding our belief series today with a powerful message. I know you love Pastor Scotty just like I do. Come on, put your hands together and welcome Pastor Scotty Gibbons as he preaches God's word today. - Hello church family, you're glad to be in God's house today. Come on, let's thank the Lord for People's Church and all he's doing here. It's so good to see every one of you want to welcome those who are joining us at one of our campuses or watching online. Well, we're wrapping up our series today called Beliefs. What Christians believe and why it matters. And when it comes to theology or the study of God, we believe that there are some doctrines that are essential doctrines, some are non-essential doctrines. Essential doctrines are non-negotiable. So when we're talking about the non-negotiables or the essentials, we're talking about things that we study in scripture like, the Bible is the word of God. Can I get a good amen right there? So we don't have to look on TikTok or Instagram to go,

I wonder what I believe. We don't have to ask somebody in the office, we go to the word of God because we believe it's the authority. So no matter what culture ever says, if it shifts, if it changes, we say that's okay for you. I'm standing on the word of God. That is a non-negotiable for me. That's one of our doctrines that we believe. We believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for our sins and rose from the dead. That's not debatable. That's not negotiable. If somebody has a new idea, if they have a new opinion, hey, that's on you, I'm not changing. I believe that that is essential. It is non-negotiable. We believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Salvation is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. He is not a way, he is the way. If somebody says, well, I found another way, I found a different way. There is no other way. We believe this is a non-negotiable. It is an essential. Jesus Christ is the way. Do you believe it today? Say, man, these are essential doctrines. We don't negotiate. Not now, not ever.

They're foundational. They're essential. But there are also in the word of God, doctrines that we would consider to be non-essential in terms of the nuances and the applications of them. We believe that there are areas in Scripture where Bible believing Jesus' loving Christians can study Scripture and come to different conclusions. Hear me today, church. That's okay. That's acceptable. We can disagree and still love each other. Can you say, man? We can still worship Jesus together. We can still be church family together. We can still be on mission for Jesus together. We can still see more change lives together, even if there are points of understanding of Scripture that we would see differently. Being a church family doesn't mean agreeing on every single nuance or aspect of our understanding of certain doctrines. Casey, my wife and I have been married for 26 years and we have had one or at least two times that we've disagreed over the last 26 years. Just a couple of times that we just saw it different, but when we did, I didn't look at her and go, remember when we were married? I mean, I didn't handle it like that. Why?

Because you can disagree and still love each other. We have six kids. Some of you already knew that. That's why I'm on your prayer list and I want to say thank you. Thank you for praying as we parent these six kids. All eight of us, we love each other. We just don't always agree on everything and that's okay because agreeing on everything is not a requirement for being family. Let me take it this far. The more mature you become, the more you grow in love, the more you can do life with people who don't see everything exactly the way you see it. So in the essentials, we believe there should be unity. But on what we would consider be non-essentials, we would say there is liberty. Today, we're talking about a doctrine that would fall in the category of non-essential, at least as it relates to its nuances that we agree on all the nuances, but it does not mean that this doctrine is unimportant. In fact, for some of you today, this message, this doctrine that we're about to look at is going to be the catalytic piece that causes you to finally open your heart and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. For others of you that already know Jesus, this doctrine today is so important that as we look at it and study it, this is going to cause you to grow deeper, stronger, closer to God in your relationship with Him because this is such an important piece of Scripture. So we're talking about something that is very, very important. We're talking about the study here today of the doctrine of eschatology. That's a big word in eschatology. Some of y'all can use that one today at lunch just

going to whoever you're eating. When you know, I've been thinking lately about eschatology. Just say that to them. You don't have to say you've been thinking about it for about an hour since you learned it at church. That's okay. You don't have to say that part. Eschatology simply stated it's just the study of or the understanding of looking into end times or upcoming events of the last days. And I know that when we start talking about eschatology or the end times, people really listen up because we're all intrigued. We all want to know is this the end of the world? We all want to know are we getting close to the end of the time, especially in 2026, when you got everything crazy going on, right? All the wars, everything going on with the economy. News reports saying aliens, spaceship found in Utah, you know, you're hearing all this like, oh my goodness. And then you throw in a little AI in there. AI is about to take over the go. AI is about to take over the banks. AI is about to take over you. Like AI is taking over everything. We're like, what in the world is going on? So people start saying, man, when you're talking about eschatology, when you're talking about the end of the world, people lean in and listen up. My goal today is to give you just a biblical understanding of the doctrine of eschatology. I want to acknowledge that we could spend the next 12 weeks looking at this subject and not cover everything that we'd like to and want to. And so I'm about to take the next 30 minutes and break it down. And you're like, do you really think that you can break it down? Nope, but we're going to give it our best try in 30 minutes and just hit some of the high points. And I'm going to give you a bit of a timeline of the events in the end times or that are prophetically given in God's Word. And I'm going to share it through my understanding and interpretation of Scripture that I would say as I've studied and looked into what many scholars believe and I'm going to share that with you, we're going to be looking at the book of Revelation as well as some of the other books in the New Testament. But when you talk about the book of Revelation, it's actually referred to by scholars as a prophetic book. It prophesies. It tells us what is about to happen, what is to come. Some of you have studied the Bible long enough to know that John, John the revelator, John 1 of the 12 disciples is the author of Revelation. He was sentenced to isolation on the island of Patmos because of his faith. He was there and while he was there on the island of Patmos, he received a vision from God where God showed him things that are to come. And John captured

these things and he wrote them down in a book. He wrote down these revelations in a book that we call appropriately Revelation. And when you read through the book of Revelation, you'll see that John was struggling at times to communicate what he was seeing. So he kept saying things like, it's kind of like, it's like, and I can just kind of picture him in my mind. God shows him something and he's trying to write down. He's like, it's like, no, it's not like that. It's a little more like, well, not that either, but that's as close as I can get. I mean, he's trying to communicate something supernatural and otherworldly in terms that you and I would understand. That's why for some of you, when you started your reading in your Bible and then you got to Revelation and you started reading Revelation, you said, I think I'm going to go back to the Gospels and you went back to Matthew, Mark, looking John because Revelation can give us a lot of that can be a little bit confusing, that can be a little bit difficult to understand. And yet today I'm going to try and take the high points and make them as plain and simple as possible. I'll begin with Revelation chapter one, the first three chapters. What we learn from Revelation chapters one, two, and three is that we are currently living in what scholars refer to as the church age. So that's where we are right here. And right now we are living in the church age. We're gonna stay in the church age loving and serving God as a part of his local church until the next step in the end times timeline. So the reality is what is about to happen next is not just some spiritual ambiguous out there, something. No, no, it's so important we study what's next because what's next is supposed to impact how you live now. What's to come in the future? It's supposed to impact your today.

So right now we're in the church age, where we're going, there are a few events that I wanna draw to your attention. A few major events, let me just start with these three. One would be, I'll give you my perspective on each of these and then I'm gonna share with perspectives what other people think about these. One would be the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church meaning when Jesus comes back for his church. Second event that we're gonna look at is the tribulation period. That is a period of judgment on earth. Then thirdly we're gonna look at the second coming of Christ and that is when Jesus comes back with his church to rule and reign. So let's break that down. If you're taking notes right now, number one, we're gonna look at the rapture of the church, the rapture. The word rapture literally means just to be caught up or to be snatched away. When we talk about the rapture, this is where Jesus will return to gather his church, those who follow Christ, those who have surrendered their hearts to him, they are true biblical Christians or disciples. Jesus will come back for us and he will take us from earth to be with him. Look at in the first Thessalonians chapter four, verse 16. It says, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven "with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel "and with the trumpet call of God."

Who's excited about that trumpet call? Come on, who's ready for the trumpet call of God? It says, "And the dead in Christ will rise first." So those who have already passed away are gonna get a head start on the rest of us who are still alive. It says, "After that we who are still alive in our left "will be caught up, they will be raptured together, "with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, "and so we will be with the Lord forever." It's the rapture. Now, when you start talking about the end times, you start talking about the rapture. The biggest question that comes to everybody's mind is when is the rapture going to happen? A lot of people want to talk about that. A lot of people want to guess where it is. They'll read the news, they'll pay attention, they'll get the Bible, they'll start paying attention to what they consider to be some symbolism. They'll take out their calculator and they're dividing this and adding that, subtracting that, and they're like, "I think I know when Jesus "is going to come back." You ever heard people talk like they know, some of you have lived long enough. You remember one of the popular ones back in 1988, the guy who wrote, "88 reasons why Jesus has come in back "in 1988." You remember that?

Remember that, and then 1989. 89 reasons why Jesus is coming back in 1989. Some of you all remember Y2K. Come on, wave at me if you remember Y2K. You remember that? The whole world was just thinking, this is how it ends. It's come down to this. You remember that? I know this. If you were alive in 1999, I know none of y'all went to sleep before midnight. I know every single one of us were awake. 1158. 1159, you know it, you were watching the clock. Just looking at it. When it struck midnight, you looked around and you're like, "What happened? "I'm still here." And you're wondering, did I miss the rapture? You know, you thought that in all of us had at least one, every family has. At least one member of the family, you just know they're going to heaven. And so if you ever feel like you miss the rapture, I had to call my man-mo. "Man-mo?" You're like, "Hey, honey, I'm good. Go back to sleep, man-mo. I just want to make sure. I know if man-mo's still here.

I'm all right. I'm all right." But the Bible teaches us in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 36 that no man knows the day or hour. So don't be fooled when people act like they got it figured out. So it doesn't matter what they say on TikTok. Doesn't matter what your friend said, the book that they read, listen, no man knows the day or the hour. But here's what we understand. Studying the rapture is that there are some different views as to when to expect the rapture in general terms. So let me just give you three of the most widely accepted views on when the rapture is going to take place. The first one, if you take a notes, write it down, would be pre-tribulation rapture. Pre-tribulation rapture is just what it sounds like. It's a belief that the rapture will happen before the time of judgment has laid out in the tribulation. Now, this is the view that I would lean towards when I study scripture. I'll break that down and explain why I believe that in just a few minutes. But bottom line is this is how you could sum it up. Those who believe in pre-tribulation rapture. They'd say, we're currently in the church age. Then you have the rapture. Then you have the tribulation. Then you have the second coming. All right, now I'll explain why I lean that way in just a minute.

But there are others who say, no, it's not going to happen like that. They believe in mid-trib or mid-tribulation rapture. That would be for those who believe it's going to happen in the middle of the seven-year tribulation. So here's how they would say, we're in the church age. Three and a half years into the tribulation, the rapture will happen. And then another three and a half years of tribulation. And then the second coming of Christ. Then there's this third view that some people would hold to. And it's called post-tribulation rapture. And each of these are self-explanatory. Just their title gives away the whole meaning. This would be those who believe that you will go through the entire tribulation. So you got the church age, then the entire tribulation. And then they believe the rapture and the second coming will happen simultaneously at the end of the tribulation. I don't believe that any of us can know with 100% certainty how all of this will unfold. I would just say that I lean towards a pre-tribulation rapture. And I'm going to show you why from scripture. So if you're taking notes, you can write down these thoughts on why we would lean towards a pre-trib rapture. Number one, I believe the rapture will happen before the tribulation because the church is promised deliverance from God's wrath in scripture.

Now I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures here over the next few minutes. So I just acknowledge that I'm giving you these. You might try it first to take notes. And I think that's great if you can catch them. I just know you're not going to be able to capture all of them. So you can go to the Bible app. You can go to under events, People's Church. And that's where you can always find sermonotes during the time that we're preaching. And you can follow along with those notes. The scriptures are all there for you to be able to capture. But in 1 Thessalonians, Paul is speaking to Christians as he's writing this letter to the church in Thessalonica. As he's writing to these Christians, he's encouraging them as they anticipate Jesus coming back. Look at what he says in chapter 1, verse 10. He says to wait for the Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead. Jesus, who, look at it, rescues us from the coming wrath. He says in chapter 5, verse 9. God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that believers will not experience wrath as it's described in the tribulation or in the prophetic timeline. As we see here in 1 Thessalonians, also in the book of Revelation. I'll show you what I mean by that.

So the second reason I lean pre-trib is because Jesus promised to keep his church from the, what the Bible calls, the day of. Now to Revelation, Revelation 3.10. The Scripture records, "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth." Notice, he doesn't say he will protect us through it, but he says he will keep us from it. The third reason I believe the rapture will happen before the tribulation is because when you read the book of Revelation, the church is missing in chapters 4 through 18. Now remember, I told you that in the first three chapters of Revelation, it talks about the church, so much of what we call it, the church age. And in just those first three, hear this now, the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, you will see the word "church" referenced 19 times in three chapters. Then when you get to chapters 4 through 18, that tell us about the tribulation, the outpouring of judgment and the outpouring of God's wrath. You know how many times you see the church referenced zero. You see, well, that's interesting, 19 times in three chapters in the church age, and then during the tribulation period, it's not mentioned any times it's zero, why do you think that is? I believe it's because the church isn't here. I believe it's because the church is gone because we've been raptured. But let me give you the fourth and the final, in my opinion, the most compelling reason why I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture is because of what scholars refer to as the imminent return of Christ. Maybe you've heard of that before, the imminent return of Christ, imminent meaning sudden it could happen at any moment. It's imminent. The scripture teaches us that Jesus' return that is coming back could happen at any moment.

Look at what it says in Luke chapter 12, verse 40, it says, "You also must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Listen to what it says in Mark chapter 13, verse 32 and 33, "But about that day or hour, no one knows," not even the angels in heaven, "nor the son, but only the father." So look at what it says in verse 33, "Be on guard, be alert. You do not know when that time will come." And I believe that that's just preparing us to know you've got to be ready right here right now because Jesus could come back at any minute and then while revelation goes on to talk about the tribulation, let me just say this, when the earth is experienced in the tribulation, nobody's going to be confused. Nobody's going to be going, "I wonder if this is bad. Everybody on planet earth will know this is horrific and if they know their Bible, they will know this is judgment. They will know this is wrath. They may not have believed in Jesus in terms of experience in the rapture, but if they know the word and there are a lot of people who know a lot about the Bible, but they don't know Jesus. But during the tribulation, they won't be guessing as to the judgment of God being poured out on the earth. During the time of tribulation, the Bible teaches us that there's one called the Antichrist, thy Christ, opposite Christ against opposing Christ, who will be a charismatic world leader who in the midst of all of the persecution, all that's going on in the tribulation, all that's happening in that time, there will be a world leader who will rise up and who will try to bring peace on the earth. And what I'm suggesting to you is if we're in the middle of the tribulation and we see the Antichrist rising up, I don't think that I'm going to be shocked that Jesus is about to come out in any minute at that point. I think that's not so much going, "I wonder what's going on. Thief in the night, I don't know what he means." I think he's saying, "You better be on guard right here and right now because Jesus could

come back before any of that even takes place." And if you would say, "Well, Scotty, you haven't convinced me. I don't believe in pre-trib, I believe in mid-trib, I believe in post-trib." I would say, "Listen, you can have difference of opinions on this and still love each other, still encourage one another." I would just say, "You go ahead and believe for mid-trib and post-trib, I'm going to have faith and believe for pre-trib, so I want to go in the first train that goes out of here. So I don't know about you. But when I study Scripture, I'm going, "Lord, let it happen in Jesus' name." we could see that differently and still not have to, you know. Let me talk for just a minute about the tribulation. This is the second event that I would say as I study scripture, I believe it's the rapture, then the tribulation. Let's talk for just a second about the tribulation. This is a period of time often considered to be about a seven-year period where the world will experience intense suffering, devastation, disaster, and judgment before Jesus would return. I would say so much so to where it's unimaginable to think what it's going to be like. During that time is when the Bible teaches us the Antichrist will show up on the scene trying to bring peace and calm because the world has turned so upside down with all of the devastation. Listen to what Matthew chapter 24, verse 21 says, it says, "For then there will be great distress." Unequaled from the beginning of the whole world until now. And never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the lack, those days will be shortened.

The tribulation will be a time of unthinkable, unimaginable suffering. So whether someone believes that we're going to be raptured before the tribulation taken in the middle of the tribulation or taken after the tribulation over, most all would agree the tribulation is going to be horrific. And then there's this third event. We believe it will follow the rapture, the tribulation, and then leading to number three, the second coming of Christ. Listen to what it says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 30. It says, "Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." Now understand, we distinguish the second coming from the rapture because we believe that the rapture is when Jesus comes back for his church. And we will meet him in the air. The second coming is when he comes back with his church to rule and reign on earth. The second coming is when Jesus returns the earth and power and great glory to defeat evil, judge the world, and establish his kingdom on earth. This one is so exciting for the followers of Jesus. At the second coming, Matthew chapter 24 in Revelation chapter 19, teach us that Jesus physically returns to defeat evil and to establish his kingdom. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a lowly babe

in a manger. When he comes back that second time, he's coming in great power and glory. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a humble servant. When he comes back the second time, he will be coming back as a conquering king. When he comes back, Revelation 19 says he will defeat the Antichrist once and for all. Revelation chapter 20 says when he comes back that second time he will set up what's referred to as the millennial reign of Christ. Do you ever heard of that before? The millennial reign of Christ. That's when he comes back that second time and sets up that millennial reign. He, along with every single one of you who are true followers of Jesus Christ, we will rule and reign with him for 1,000 years over the earth. Now the final point I want to give you today is what the Bible teaches us about what happens at this point in the prophetic timeline. I would call it the coming judgments. The Bible speaks of two judgments that we can know are to come because Scripture is so plain and so clear. The first one is what's called or referred to as the Great White Throne Judgment. You have to understand the difference in these two judgments. The Great White Throne Judgment is not a judgment

for followers of Jesus. It's a judgment against the unbelievers. Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 and follow, capture this really chilling scene is frightening, but it's real. This is clear in Scripture. This is something that those who reject God will face. Doesn't matter if they believe in God. Doesn't matter if they went to church. Doesn't matter if they say, well, I don't believe in the Bible. Anyone who does not accept Jesus as Lord will experience the Great White Throne Judgment. captures it in Revelation 20 verse 11, he says, "Then I saw a great white throne in him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened." Another book was opened which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. Everybody who does not go into a relationship with Jesus will still stand before the throne and they'll be judged for every single thing they did. It says that they will stand before and be judged for everything they've done as recorded in the books verse 13. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, the death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them so nobody's going to miss it and each person was judged according to what they had done verse 14. "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. You say, "Well how do I get my name in the book? How do I make my reservations for heaven? How do I secure my place in eternity?" By surrendering your life to Christ and making Him Lord of your heart. It's what God wants in His desires but He says for those who don't they'll be

thrown out into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is hell. That's where those who choose to not follow Christ will go. Scripture also teaches in Matthew 25 verse 41 that hell was not prepared for people. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, those demons that rebelled against God. Hear this today. People say, "I thought he was a God of love." He is. He's a God of justice to where Satan will pay for all of the evil. The demons will be repaid for all of the rebellion and hell was created for them. Not for you or me, the only people who will go to hell who follow the path and the plan of Satan that says we reject God, we want to do our own thing, call our own shots, and you can say in that sense people who go to hell will get just what they wanted. No relationship with God. It's a scary reality. Revelation chapter 20 verse 10 says that Satan himself will be thrown into the lake of fire and tormented forever. Hell is presented as an eternal reality of judgment. Revelation 20, 13 and 14 and 15 describes the final judgment and the lake of fire as the second death. Revelation 21, 8 second Thessalonians 1, 9 and Jude 7 describe hell as everlasting punishment. You see in our world today, hell is like a cuss word. Hell is like slang. People talk about how a hard day or difficult situation and they'll say, oh, it's rough as hell. It's like my brother. I don't know what you went through. I don't know how hard your day was. I can just tell you this when anywhere close to how horrific, how devastating is unthinkable. And part of what makes hell hell is that it's unending. Jesus taught about hell describing it as hell fire or eternal fire, darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth. He talked about that in places like Matthew 5 22, Matthew 8 12, Matthew 10 28, Matthew 13 42, Matthew 18 8 9, Matthew 23 3. Listen to Matthew chapter 25 verse 46. He says, then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Do you see the contrast? The places of eternal punishment alongside eternal life demonstrating the permanence of both destinies. See one of the things that makes hell hell is that it's unending. No escape. No do over. We can't even get our our finite minds around it. We can't even grasp something so horrific and so permanent, but as contrasted with those who will be in heaven. See one of the things makes heaven heaven is the fact

that there is no end. It never is. I can't even give my mind around that. It's beyond our ability to comprehend, but that doesn't change the reality of Scripture being so plain and so clear. The central characteristic of hell is separation from the presence of God. 2 Thessalonians 1A says, "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might." Here's what you have to understand about those who go to hell. The only people who go to hell are those who chose to in the sense that they rejected the love and the kindness and the grace and the mercy of God. So the other way to say it is, the only people who will be there are the people who get exactly what they want. No relationship with God. And yet God is doing everything that He can to reach every person who will because He loves you. He doesn't want anybody to be separated. For God so loved the world, as you and me, that He gave His only begotten Son. He died for us so that we could live with Him. He came from heaven to earth so that when we leave earth we can go to heaven. That's God's heart. 2 Peter 3.9, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, what His promise to come back for us. As some understand slowness, instead He is patient with you. He's waiting as long as He can, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God's doing everything that He can to reach everybody that will with His love and kindness. The great white throne judgment is a judgment of salvation. Second, judgment is a judgment of service. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. This is not for unbelievers. This is for believers. This is for everybody who claims to be a follower of Jesus. You've made Him Lord of your life. He's the King of your heart. We will still stand before the Lord. But not to be judged for salvation. It's not to see whether or not you go to heaven. It's to see what kind of reward you will receive for your life of service while on earth. 2 Corinthians 5-10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." Everything that you see, everything that you do, every word that you speak, listen, nothing escapes the attention of God. Our sin is covered by the blood of Jesus. All that we do in His name and for His glory will be rewarded for all of eternity. That means when you use your time, your talent and your treasure to do the work of God, to build the kingdom of God, to serve the church of God, he sees it all. He sees when you get up early to come and serve faithfully in the house of God. He sees you serving in the kids area. He sees every penny, every dollar that you give to build the church. He sees it all and He says, "I see you and I will reward you." We'll still stand before Him. The question is when I do, what's that moment going to be like for me? Did I spend my days on earth living for me? Did I live chasing the stuff of this world? Did I realize I've got a short little minute here on earth and I'm going to be rewarded for all of eternity? So what I know about tomorrow better effect the way I live today. 1 Corinthians 3 8 9 says, "The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose. They will each be rewarded according to their own labor, for we are co-labors in God's service.

You are God's field. God's building. You will be rewarded." I've got to give you one final scripture that I'm going to pray. The Bible teaches us that if you're a follower of Jesus, you have a new heaven and a new earth to look forward to. Revelation 21 verse 1 teaches us that when your life is over on this earth, you don't just go to sleep. Some people just tell you that. Your heart just stops beating. You just go to sleep. It's not what the Bible says. Some people watch too many cartoons. They think after you leave this earth, you start floating on a cloud, playing a harp for all of eternity. They're going, that sounds awesome. I can't wait. Board out of my mind for all of eternity. That's not what the Bible says. Revelation 21 verse 1, John's seeing this captures it down. He says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth that passed away, and there was no longer any sea." prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband and heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and He will dwell with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Who's looking forward to a new heaven? Who's looking forward to the new earth? All who are followers of Jesus. We set our hope on eternity. What we know about tomorrow is supposed to give us hope for today. Will you bow your heads and close your eyes? All that we know from the Word of God teaches us about how we're to live for today. You say, "Scottie, what am I supposed to do with all of this?" Listen, I'm great if you want to go study and research and figure out, spend days, hours, weeks, months trying to figure out if you're pre-tribbed, mid-tribbed, post-tribbed. Listen, I say study the Word of God, seek to understand as much as you can understand. I'm just saying this, a bigger issue for me is if Jesus came back today, are you ready? Are you ready? If you're already a follower of Jesus, I'm great if you want to study the millennial reign of Christ. I think that's wonderful. I think it can be faith-building. I'm more concerned with, are you living today? Know that he's coming back soon and very soon, and he's coming back with his reward in his hand for everybody who serves him faithfully. That's what I hope that you're hearing and learning from today. So I'm just going to pray in this moment. It's so important for some of you, this is going to be the moment that you prepare for eternity because you make the decision today to ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. I want you to know no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter how many mistakes you've made, God loves you. Hear me today. This teacher's not meant to scare anybody. You can be aware without having to be afraid. But if you don't know Jesus, I would be scared out of my mind if I was you, because at some point your heart stops beating then what? Today we've looked into

the Word of God as to the then what. And now that gives you this moment right here right now to decide where you'll spend eternity. I'm going to pray for you. This is your chance and this is your moment to ask the Lord to come into your heart. You can leave today knowing I'm right with God. I'm prepared for eternity. If you're hearing this today and you know that you're not right with God but you want to be, you want to commit or recommit your life to Christ, I'm going to ask you for a show of hands and by lifting up your hand you're saying that's me. I want Jesus to save me. One, two, three. Come on all over this room just raise your hand up. So many hands, so many hands. Those watching online, just lift your hand. If you mean it with all of your heart just repeat this after me. It's your prayer. I'm just guiding you say dear God thank you for your grace and your mercy. Today is the day. I surrender my life to you. Please come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. From this day forward, I've decided to follow Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray and everybody said amen. Come on let's give God thanks and praise for saving people today. Hello. With that said, would you stand up with me all over this place? If you're a guest looking for a home church, I hope you don't need to look any further. You're among some of the kindest, most loving people in all of Oklahoma. Give us a year of your life. Really get plugged in and watch how God will transform your life. We're family here at People's Church. Come on we just shadow with me on three. One, two, three. We're family. God bless your church. [Music]