Together- did they miss it?

Good morning, everyone. Please stand, if you enjoy this worship. We love you, God. We praise you today. There's peace that outlasts darkness. We sing. Hope that's in the blood. There's future grace that's mine today, that Jesus Christ has won. So I can face tomorrow, for tomorrow's in your hands. All I need you will provide, just like you always have. We sing. I'm fighting a battle you've already won. There's mercy. There's mercy in the waiting, manna for today. And when it's gone, I know you're mine. You are my one mistake. And when the sea is raging, your Spirit is my help. Oh, He'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ. I'll say that it is well. Come on. I know that it is well. I'm fighting a battle you've already won. No matter what, no matter what comes my way, I will overcome. Don't know what you're doing. But I know what you've done. I'm fighting a battle you've already won. Oh, yes, God's our hope. I know how the story ends.

We will be with you again. You're my Savior. You're my Savior, my defense. No more fearing life or death. Let's sing that again. I know how the story ends. I know how the story ends. Oh, we will be, we will be with you again. Jesus, our Savior. You're my Savior, my defense. No more fearing life or death. All right, come on, guys. Let's sing this in confidence. Oh, yes, I know how the story ends. Oh, we will be with you again. You're my Savior, my defense. No more fear. No more fearing life or death. We say, I know how this story ends. Oh, I know how it ends. I'm fighting a battle. I'm fighting a battle. ♪ You've already won, no matter what ♪ ♪ No matter what comes my way, I will overcome ♪ ♪ I will overcome, I don't always know what you're doing God ♪ ♪ I will overcome, but I know what you've done ♪ ♪ I will overcome, oh, I'm fighting a battle ♪ ♪ I'm fighting a battle, you've already won ♪ ♪ I'm fighting a battle, you've already won, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm fighting a battle, you've already won, yeah ♪

Amen. Well, that's the hope we have today, that Jesus Christ has won, He's overcome the grave. And because of that, we can sing and we can gather and we can rejoice together. Isn't that good news? Amen. Well, it's good to see you guys. Welcome, welcome to 121. For those of you who are walking in and finding your seat, and welcome. For those of you that are joining us online, whether you're at home or in a prison cell, we know the Lord is everywhere, wherever His people are gathered, wherever they open the word and wherever they're ready to hear from Him, He is there and accessible to them. So we know that, and we love that. So we're gonna continue to sing and lift up the name of Jesus and to praise God, our blessed Trinity. And so we're gonna sing this song, it's called the doxology. I'm sure most of y'all have heard it. And so I'll just invite every voice to join me as we sing this, because He deserves all the praise. Amen. All right, come on, let's sing this together. And praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures, He'll be alone.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen, sing it again. And praise God from whom all blessings flow. Sing it out. Praise Him, all creatures, He'll be alone. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So let's this song just overflow with the rhythm when we sing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Come on, lift your voice to Him. Praise Him, all creatures, He'll be alone. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. One last time, praise God. And praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures, He'll be alone. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Sing it to Him. In darkness we were waiting, without hope, without hope. ♪ From heaven you came, Lord ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ ♪ To reveal the law and promise ♪ ♪ To a virgin came the Word ♪ ♪ From a throne of endless glory ♪ ♪ To a cradle in the dirt ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ To reveal the kingdom coming ♪ ♪ And to reconcile the lost ♪ ♪ To redeem the whole creation ♪ ♪ For you did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in your suffering ♪ ♪ You saw to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation ♪ ♪ Jesus for our sake you died ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Of kings ♪ ♪ In the morning that you rose ♪ ♪ All of heaven held its breath ♪ ♪ Till that stone was moved for good ♪ ♪ For the lamb had conquered death ♪ ♪ And the dead rose from their tombs ♪ ♪ And the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who come ♪ ♪ Till the Father all restored ♪ ♪ And the church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ Then the Spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of hope ♪ ♪ Shall not kneel, shall not faint ♪ ♪ By His blood and in His name ♪

♪ In His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Who has resurrected me ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings, yeah ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Thank you for my daily bread ♪ ♪ I depend on you, I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you for the sun to rise ♪ ♪ For my sleep at night ♪ ♪ I depend on you, I depend on you ♪ Sing this together. ♪ That you're the way, the truth, and the light ♪ ♪ That you're the way, the truth, and the light ♪ ♪ Oh, thou never run dry ♪ ♪ And I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ One more time. Sing this together. ♪ Where the spirit leads as I'm followed ♪ ♪ I depend on you, Lord, I depend on you ♪ ♪ I depend on you, Lord, I depend on you ♪ ♪ Before the victors, still in front of me ♪

♪ Yes, I depend on you, Lord, I depend on you ♪ ♪ And you're the way, and you're the way, the truth and life ♪ ♪ You're the will that never runs dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ Be my arm, you're my treasure, my prize ♪ ♪ I'm yours forever, you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ We are God in you. ♪ When I pass through death as I am now ♪ ♪ I'm here to rest, I depend on you ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, that I depend on you ♪ ♪ And for eternal life, to be raised with Christ ♪ ♪ And I depend on you, Lord, I depend on you ♪ ♪ Sing, you're the way, and you're the way, the truth and life ♪ ♪ You're the well that never runs dry ♪ ♪ And I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪ ♪ You can be my all, my treasure, you're my prize ♪ ♪ I am yours, forever you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Oh, every day we depend on you, I depend on you ♪ ♪ Oh, I am yours and you are mine ♪ ♪ Oh, you're the way, the truth and the life ♪ ♪ You're the well that will never run dry ♪ ♪ I'm the branch and you are the vine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ ♪ Be my strength, my song in the night ♪

♪ Be my all, my treasure, you're my prize ♪ ♪ I am yours, forever you're mine ♪ ♪ Draw me close and teach me to abide ♪ Thank you. ♪ When peace like a river, a damp sea ♪ ♪ Sends it my way ♪ ♪ When sorrows like sea billows roll ♪ ♪ Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say ♪ ♪ Thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with me ♪ ♪ My soul is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ My soul is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ And my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought ♪ ♪ My sin not in part but the whole, the whole ♪ ♪ Oh it's nailed to the cross and I bear it no more ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ Sing it as well. ♪ Oh it is well, oh it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, yes it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul, with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sighed ♪ ♪ Oh the clouds be rolled back, oh I will not be moved ♪ ♪ As I scroll, the trump shall resound ♪ ♪ And the Lord shall be saved in his song ♪ ♪ It is well with my soul, with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ Oh it is well, oh it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ ♪ Oh it is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul ♪ Amen, can we give God a hand of praise? Thank you Jesus.

Lord, we thank you Lord for the assurance of faith that we have in you God. We thank you that you hold victory Lord and that is our future hope Lord. It is our hope now God that you have conquered sin in our life God, but we know that ultimately there will be a day where you end sin forever God, where you end evil forever Lord. And that is our hope and our promise that we hold on to Lord. So we lift up just a shout of praise and a song of praise to you this morning God because we love you so much and we're just so grateful for you Lord. God, would you please speak to us today through your word God? We love you in Jesus name, amen. Maybe see. The mid 15th century birthed the Puritan movement. People who believed God's word should be read personally and lived out in community. For them church planting wasn't optional, it was essential. So they crossed the Atlantic to the Americas, stepped into the unknown and planted gospel centered churches where faith could take root and grow in every new settlement but they didn't do it alone. As they spread, church planters were sent and supported by the church they were discipled in. Churches and individuals partnered together,

giving, praying and investing time so that new congregations could be established and thrive. As a result. Entire communities were shaped by the gospel, and today the mission continues. So many places need strong, healthy churches. There's still people searching for hope and truth. And just as then, church planting requires more than those who go. It requires those who send. So whether you're called to go or just be a sender, we should all be praying about what God would have our place be in church planting and in spreading the gospel. Come and talk to us at the Mission Kiosk for more information on how you can get involved in God's global mission. Good morning. I am not Russ. My name is Arnaldo Soto, and for those who don't know me, I pastor the Spanish service here. We have a Spanish service at 2 p.m., and it's a blessing to see one church. You know, this weekend, a few days ago, I told some of my leaders from the Spanish service, I'm preaching this Sunday in the English service, and I need you to pray for me. It's been a while. And it was a great surprise this morning

because at least 10 of them came to the 8 a.m. They sat in the second row. I was not expecting them. I told them, hey, next time, let me know so we can provide translation. And they said, well, we just come to pray for you. And it was just amazing to see that. If you know anyone that speaks Spanish, and let them know we are here, 2 p.m., Spanish service, we are on Facebook, YouTube, in prison. It's a blessing to see what God is doing. I have a wife. Her name is Marisol, three kids. And they're very active kids. I usually need to listen to Sermon on Peace every week. I'm originally from Puerto Rico, which means I speak English just with extra flavor. So you notice that. And today we pick up on 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13 to 18. And honestly, this may be the most personal question in the whole letter. You'll see in front of you now, big picture. They are, these are my, are people I loved and lost. They're my people. My grandmas, grandpas, my father-in-law, a family friend, my aunt, uncle, and for sure other people as well that they are not there, but I'm just putting a picture of some of them. Believers in my family who are no longer with me. I miss them deeply.

And I know you have a version of this screen as well. And you have a face, a voice, a funeral, a chair that stayed empty. Maybe a phone number you still don't delete from your phone. I have some. And I want to be honest with you before we open the Bible. And I have been around death most of my life. You probably will say, well, what's going on here? I work in a funeral home when I was young. Very easily. Hospital chaplain, then military chaplain. And after all those years, I learned something. Death never becomes normal. But the questions becomes predictable. And eventually the deeper questions comes, usually in the dark. When you're in your private time, the question could be, what happened to them? Are they okay? Where are they now? And here's something that might surprise you. 90% of Americans say talking with their loved ones about death is very important. Only 27% have actually done it. Imagine. Many of us carrying these questions quietly. And if you believe Jesus is coming back, the question gets even more specific. What if they died before he returned? Did they miss it?

Did they arrive too late? What's going on? But you might be, you have been in your life. church maybe for a long time and probably you know the answers to this, there's a difference between knowing something in your head and knitting it in your chest. Conviction. And that is exactly where Paul is writing from today. The church in Thessalonica church plant had real questions, real faith, real loss. Paul preached and told them that Jesus was coming back and then he left. I was reading that it maybe it might took a month for them to be there with them, church planting and then persecution and then they have to leave, running basically from that location. Paul preached, told them Jesus was coming back and then he left. Nobody explained what would happen if someone died first. And some of them died. Their families panicked. Nobody, not because they did not believe, because nobody explained this part to them. Real panic, real question and Paul doesn't write to give them a prophetic timeline. He writes to heal a heart. And here's something worth knowing about the culture that Paul was writing into. The educated, sophisticated people of that time carved their answers on their tombs. Over and over you can find that reality, the same phrase. You know what was that? I was not, I became, I am not, I don't care. Really? Yes. Philosophers, people, that was their best answer. Now go underground into the catacombs where the first Christian buried their people. Same city, same death, same reality. Archaeologists have found over 40,000 early Christian burial inscriptions in the Roman catacombs.

The most common phrase on every single one of them, which one? Two words, in peace. In peace. Same death, completely different ending. And that difference between I don't care and in peace is what Paul is about to explain here in the scripture. And by the time hopefully we finish today, we are going to know exactly why. Point number one, the gospel doesn't take away your grief. It changes where your grief ends. So Paul is not answering random end time questions here. He's pastoring people who are grieving with incomplete information. Verse 13, we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no, what? Hope. Fears grow where truth is absent. So Paul doesn't open with comfort, he opens with clarity here. We do not want you to be uninformed. Paul uses the exact phrase five times in these letters. Every single time it means the same thing. What I'm about to say is too important, people, to get wrong. This is not optional. This is not for the advanced crowd, this is surgery here. Now look what he actually says. He does, he doesn't say don't grieve, he says don't grieve like those who have no, what? Hope. Stop right there because that changes everything. The question is not do you cry? The question is where does your crying end? And then look at the word he uses for those who die, those who are asleep. Not those who died, those who are asleep. And the word Paul, the word Paul chooses here, koimaumai in Greek, appears 18 times in the New Testament for people who died in Christ. And then there is another word here in Greek, koimaterion. basically means sleeping place.

Have you heard that word in English? No? Cemetery. In Spanish, cementerio. This first Christian named it after hope. And here's what makes it interesting. In the New Testament, this word becomes one of the favorite ways Christians speaks about believers who have died. Because sleep implies waking up. And not everyone wakes up the same way. Now, when Paul says asleep, he is not saying the dead are unconscious somewhere. He's talking about the body, not the soul. The soul of a believer is already with Christ. Paul says it clearly in 2 Corinthians 5, verse eight, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So let me say this as clearly as I can, hopefully. The person, if they died in Christ, is more alive now, right now, than you and I are sitting in this room. Amen. The body is sleeping, waiting for resurrection. But the person is with him. And I've stood at enough websites to tell you this. The truth, that truth changes everything about how you stand in that room. Now, remember those words on the Roman tombs? I was not, I became, I am not, I don't care.

That is grief with no hope. That is grief with no bottom. That is grief that builds its house in the cemetery and never leaves. And then you see in peace. That is grief with a horizon. The Word says it's over. Christ says, we are not finished yet. And truth without hope is a wall. And hope without truth is just a feeling. The Gospels give you the both. Paul is not asking you to cancel the pain. He's asking you not to build our house there. Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus. Remember that story? He already knew that he was going to raise him. And still he wept. What an example. That means grief is not the absence of faith. Grief is the evidence of love. Visit the cemetery, cry, miss them, but don't move in. Christ already opened a door in the other side. This is the first point right here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19 says, if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. A faith without resurrection is the saddest faith we have or we can imagine. But Jesus did not just ask about or talk about hope. He walked out of the tomb and changes everything.

So I want to tell you about a moment that changed the way I see this text. I spent almost a decade as a chaplain in Baylor Scott and White Hospital, the heart hospital in Plano. First two years full time, and then from 2019 to today, I'm chaplain there, PRN, as needed. So sometimes when I'm available, I say, here, here I am, I can go and help and support and do chaplaincy work. So cardiac ICU, the floor where people come because their heart is failing them. And I learned something on that floor that you can't learn in a classroom. When the heart stops, everything gets very quiet fast. I was with a family once, they had been there for three days, same waiting room, same careful updates, beautiful family, they were believers. The kind of family that prays in the hospital hallway without embarrassment. Strong, strong faith right there. And when it finally happened, when the monitor went flat in the room. and changed, you know the feeling probably. The daughter turned to me. She didn't ask why, she didn't ask how, she asked one question. She with Jesus right now? I look her in her eyes and said, yes. Yes with capital letter.

But not to make her feel better. Sounds good but not because it was my job to say something comforting as a chaplain. You're trained for that, no. Because of this text. A conviction because Paul 2,000 years ago wrote to a group of grieving people and said, hey, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That is not wishful thinking. That is a word from the Lord. And in that room, on that floor, at that moment, it was enough. It was needed, it was enough. But I don't know who you lost. But I think some of you came in today caring someone. You may not have told anybody. You may not have said it aloud. But you know who it is. And this text was written for you and for me. The gospel doesn't take away your grief. It changes where your grief ends. Grief is not the absence of faith, it is the evidence of love. The pain is still real, but it is no longer final. Now point number two. We're moving fast in here. I don't know why Ross told me to preach about, just kidding. Our hope rests on an empty tomb, not on positive thinking.

Verse 14 and 15, I want you to follow me on this. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we'll declare to you by a word from the Lord For this we'll declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. There are moments when presence alone is not enough. When you need something solid. You can be trained as a chaplain and you know that ministry of presence is key, but that's not enough. We know we have the word of God to share more than that. In something that holds when everything else fall apart. Paul gives that here, not feel better. Here is your foundation. And since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, says the Bible here. Paul doesn't say feel more. He says, think clearly. And notice how he frames it. Not since you wish, not since you hope, not since you imagine, since we believe. Christianity does not begin with, there's probably something after death. Christianity begins with somebody already went through death and come back. And he's back.

Physically, historically, really. The resurrection is not the question. It is the foundation. Everything else builds from there. Death, resurrection, and glory. That is the road. And everyone who died in him is on that same road. Falling asleep in Jesus, he said. And I like that word, that phrase, but specifically the word in. We sometimes don't pay attention to that. Keep word right there. That word in matters more than it looks. They did not die alone. They did not die abandoned. They did not die far from God. They died inside of a relationship that death could not break. And that relationship is key. The phrase in Christ appears for more than 80 times in Paul's letter. It is not a poetic language. We can say, oh, it's beautiful. No, but it's not about that. It is a statement of position, like being inside something that protects you completely. You're protected right there. What happens to Christ happens to those who are in him. He dies, he rises. and he's glorified and the union does not end at death. So let me say something that I want you to carry out this from this room today. If someone you love

died in Christ, they are not lost. They are not floating somewhere in the middle of nowhere. They are not forgotten. They died inside the most unbreakable relationship in the universe. And that relationship is still holding them right down. Paul, the same man writing this letter, said in another letter, he says for me to live is Christ and to die is? You better know this verse. Why? Because you just drove here, you saw a big sign says 121. So this is the church you wanted to be today. It's not the highway. It's Philippians chapter 1 verse 21. The DNA of 121, our church. A declaration. And today Paul is showing us why that declaration holds even when you are standing at a grave. When you finish that verse, go through that verse and finish in verse 23. Check this. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. When I came here the first time to 121 and I saw that was our main passage in connection to our name, I said I haven't seen this anywhere else. Like this is our goal. This is a conviction. Paul is not afraid of death. Now we know why. For him dying in Christ is not losing, it is getting closer. It's getting closer. Someone here is thinking how do I know Jesus really rose? That's a great question. And that's not a question only for Easter. It's for us every single day of our lives. An empty tomb, 500 witnesses, people who died rather than deny it. You don't have to turn off your brain for this. You have just to use it. We can use our brain and say well there's so many different evidences in connection with Jesus and his resurrection. Now verse 15. We who are alive will not precede those who have fallen asleep. This is what the exact fears of the Thessalonians at that time. We need to see the context, what's going on with them. What if the living have the advantage? What if the dead get left behind? What if death put them on the wrong side of the return? And Paul says, no. The living don't go first. And then he says something I don't want you to miss. He says, this we declare by a word from the Lord. From the Lord. Not his opinion. Straight from Jesus. Nobody gets left behind. And I want to be honest with you about something personal. October 2020. Remember? 2020 we were in the middle of the pandemic. Everything was already upside down.

Marisol, my wife, was at a park with our boys playing with their normal afternoon kids. Playing, relaxed, and sun going down and her phone rang. It was one of her brothers. Their father had an accident at home. Nobody knew. He had been alone, had been alone in his home for three days before anyone found him. Three days. We still talk about it and it's just hard to think about it. I got a call from her and I run to that park. I was at home hiding. Why? Because that same day I had been diagnosed with COVID. The doctor said, isolate. Protect anyone, everyone around you. Keep your distance. Remember? So I ran to my wife who had just lost her father and I could not hold her. I had COVID. I had fever. I had symptoms. I stood there, a few feet away. I wanted to protect her, following instructions, especially me feeling symptoms, waiting and watching her cry, and I could not put my arms around her. I don't have words for what that felt. A few days later, she made it to Puerto Rico, but there was no open casket. She never got to see him again here on this earth. No final goodbye. No last look. He was very close to us. Just trust. Trust that he was with the Lord. Trust that the promise was real. Trust without seeing, and it happens, and I want to tell you something I learned in that park, standing six feet away from her, from the woman I love, while she carried the grief that it was the worst day of her life, I'm sure. Knowing theology and needing theology are two completely different things. I needed it in my chest, a conviction. What helped me, what helped us, was that I had the right answer at that moment. It was that I knew this text was true, that one day when the Kings arise, Marisol's father will not be absent, and that made all the difference in our lives. What is your hope resting on right now? That God will fix your situation, or one day, that one day you will actually be with him, with our Lord, because some of people, some people want heaven like they want vacation. No pains, no problems, but that is not what Paul is offering here. Paul is offering a person, and that person is already holding the one you lost, the one I lost. The resurrection, brothers and sisters, was not Jesus escaping death. It was Jesus opening a road through it. They are not missing him. They are closer to see him more than we are. Christian

hope is not escaping death. It's meeting Jesus. It's meeting Jesus. It's meeting Jesus. Paul doesn't stop at comfort. He gives us the whole picture here in the Scripture, and I have my third and last point. This is where the text finally answered the questions we started with. When the King arrives, no one will be forgotten. No one. Verse 18 and 17, look at this. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise again first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we'll always be with the Lord. Some of the hardest deaths are the ones where someone felt forgotten. Paul speaks directly to that fear. In God's plan, no one is forgotten. Paul gives you the sequence, what happens in order, step by step. Four movements. Follow me on this, because this is where the text finally answered the question we opened with. One, the Lord himself will descend. Not an angel, not a representative, not a message. He comes in person, physical, real. The first time, a manger, a cross. This time, he comes as King. The same Jesus who walked dusty roads, touched lepers, went to graves, died, rose, ascended. That same Jesus comes back down. And notice the word Paul uses here, himself. Not this, he sends someone. Not, he delegates the moment. Because Christianity is not waiting for any event. we're waiting for a person. Number two, three sounds, a cry of command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God. This is not quiet. This is not something that happens while people sleep and nobody notices. In the Old Testament, the trumpet meant one thing. God is moving. God is moving. And all that converges right here at once. The king calls, judgment begins, the people move. This is not panic. This is coronation. The crown, the king. Three, the dead in Christ rise first. And this is the answer, brothers and sisters. Right here, in this sentence, did they miss it? No. Did they arrive late? The opposite. They go first. Death looked like defeat. God turns into priority. Death looked like absence. God turns into arrival. Death looked like the end of the story. God says, hey, watch what I do with an ending.

The Thessalonians, they're in Greece, thought their dead were the losers of history. But Paul flips the entire order. The one they were crying for are at the front of the line now. Cemetery right here is not the final archive of the children of God. It is the field waiting for the voice of the king. Four, caught up together. The king actively taking his people to himself. Together, nobody separated, nobody left behind. Paul uses a word here, a fantasy, for when citizens went out to receive a king. We are not escaping. We are going out to receive who? A king. And then after all of that, after the trumpet, the resurrection, the gathering, the king arriving, Paul says the simplest and most powerful line in the whole passage. And so we will always be with the Lord. Simple as that. Profound. Not for a moment, not for a season, not until something else happens. Forever. That is our hope. Notice what Paul does not say. Not answers, not rewards, not glory. He says one thing, one thing. We will be with him. We will be with the Lord. That is heaven. Not gold streets, which sounds good, huh? Not the absence of problems. Sounds great, but it's not that. Not endless comfort. Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Think about every good thing you have ever loved. Every moment you wish will last. Every place that felt like home. Every meal around a table with people you love. Every reunion, every embrace, every feeling of belonging, every moment of peace. All of it was never meant to be the destination. It was rehearsal. And one day you arrived, not by understanding, by seeing him, seeing the Lord. Look at what 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 51 and 52 says. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. Both texts together, the complete picture. Same event, different angle. So, someone here lost a parent. Those watching online, those in prison this week. A child, a husband or wife who died in Christ. I need you to hear this. They missed nothing. They are in the line. And that line goes to the exact same place you are going. Place that I'm going. Same Lord, same home forever. And when the kings comes, they will not be absent. They will be there. After all of that, Paul closes with one sentence.

The simplest in the whole passage. Look what he says. Because honestly, it's the hardest. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Encourage one another. And after everything, one instruction. Encourage one another. No debates, no timelines. Comfort people. You don't arrive with answer, you arrive with presence. And sometimes that is everything. And here's what I want to say carefully. The danger is not that you have never heard the gospel. The danger is hearing it so many times that it stops moving you. I told you about standing in that park, six feet away from my wife in her worst moment of life, unable to hold her. What I didn't tell you is what happened after. A few weeks later, when the isolation lifted, I was hiding in an apartment away from her family in that moment. When she came back from Puerto Rico, when the worst of it had passed, she said something I have never forgotten. She said, I don't know how people do this without the hope we have. I don't know. I don't know how people do this without knowing they will see him again.

And that is true today. Still true for us. The gospel did not come to make you better. It came to connect you to Christ in his death, in his resurrection, in his return. One day, there will be no sin left to cloud the way we see him. Every wound the mind ever carried, gone. Every question that kept you up at night, answered not by explanation but by sight. And we will know him the way he already knows us. That is where all of this is going, not just relief, not just reunion, him fully forever, period. We belong to God. The God who holds the sequence of the universe, who coordinates the trumpet, the voice, the resurrection, the gathering, that God knows the name of the person you lost. He has not forgotten, not just for one second, not across eternity. My favorite Bible verse, Romans 8, verse 38, I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, known our Lord.

If you see the screen again with a picture of my family, a promise was written for the people on the screen, for the people on yours. These are people I have loved and lost. And I know you have your own version of this. The person on your version, if they died in Christ, they are not gone, they did not miss it, they were not left behind. They are waiting, and when the King comes, they will be all there. You're gonna join them, you're gonna join them. If you do not know Jesus yet, the hope is found only in Him. Not in being spiritual, not in being religious, not in hoping everything works out in Christ. The invitation today is simple. Trust the one who died, rose again, and is coming back. That's it, he's coming back. Because the only safe place to face death is in the arms of the one who already defeated it. If you are grieving today, just cry with a horizon. If you have been a Christian a long time, who needs to hear this from you today, or this week? A text message, maybe a phone call. Sit with a person who is grieving. You do not have to explain everything, just bring the words with you. And if you have hard questions. Did Jesus rise or raise? Because if he did, death last.

Together, we will always be with the Lord. Death does not have the final word, it never did. Together, we will always be with the Lord. Let's close our eyes. Lord, we came in today with caring names, faces we love, voices we miss, shares that are still empty, and you met us here. Not with easy answers, but with a promise that the King is coming. That the ones we have loved and lost are not gone, they're waiting. And one day, we will all be there together, hold those who are grieving this morning, give courage to those still asking questions. And for anyone who doesn't know you yet, let today be the day. Let this word do what you only can do, transform the hearts, not just inform us, change us, because the King is coming, and he's bringing everyone home together. I want to give you a moment now, silence, 60 seconds, one minute. Just let the word, the Holy Spirit seal this word in not just in your head, but in your chest, in your heart, conviction. Amen. God is good. And all the time, oh, you know this. Can you give a hand to the Lord who is with us? I have no options, this is the passage of the day,

but this is not a funeral, right? But this is a message that we should preach every single day of our lives. Because if we remember this, it gives us purpose to live with fullness, clarity, knowing that this life is just temporary, knowing that we have a future ahead. We are eternal people, we are his people. And I would like to encourage you, if you need prayer this morning, for any reason, you're coming to Christ for the first time, maybe you're grieving, maybe you're asking questions, whatever the reason you may have this morning, we're gonna have people here in front ready to pray for you. Keep this conversation going during the day, don't hide it anywhere, just let God speak to your heart. At the same time, when you go out, you can worship God with your tithe and offering, and just praise him with he has given you in your hands. In this way, we are dismissed. But I'm gonna invite you to do something I do every Sunday in Spanish service, and this is my style. Just, what if you give a hug to someone before you leave around here and say, it is good to be in the house of the Lord with you, and praise him. God bless you.