Searching For God
Pastor Bracken Christian
Hosea 6:3 So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
THE RAPTURE IS ONE THE LORD’S MOST PRECIOUS PROMISES TO THE CHURCH
1 Thess 1:10 Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; 38 And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
THERE IS A 7 YEAR TIME PERIOD RAPIDLY APPROACHING
Jeremiah 30:7 “The time of Jacobs trouble”
Daniel 12:1 “A time of distress such as has never occurred”
Revelation 3:10 “The hour of testing”
Matthew 24:21 “A time of great tribulation”
Revelation 7:14 “The great tribulation”
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Rev 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
THE CHURCH IS PICTURED HERE IN CHAPTERS 4 & 5
5:9 And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
THE CHURCH IS NOT SEEN AGAIN UNTIL Rev 19 WHERE WE THE CHURCH WILL RETURN WITH JESUS TO THE EARTH AT HIS 2ND COMING.
Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
1 Cor 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God (SAINTS):
Rom 11:25 for I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the gentiles has come in; 26 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” 27 “and this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
IN SCRIPTURE YOU HAVE THE CHURCH AS WELL AS JEWS WHO HAVE YET TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST.
Luke 21:29 Then He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.
ANOTHER MYSTERY PAUL TALKS ABOUT “EPH 5”
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE CHURCH IS LIKE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A HUSBAND AND WIFE
A MYSTERY – “IT WAS NOT UNDERSTOOD IN THE OLD COVENANT”
ANOTHER MYSTERY “1 Cor 15”
1 Cor 15:51 “BEHOLD, I TELL YOU A MYSTERY”
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH “CATCHING AWAY OF THE SAINTS”
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH IS SOMETHING THAT PAUL GOT BY REVELATION (GAL 1:12, 2:2)
1 Cor 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “death is swallowed up in victory. 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the lord.
THERE ARE TYPES OF IT HAPPENING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
GENISIS – A MAN BY THE NAME OF ENOCH. HE WALKED WITH GOD BY FAITH AND GOD TOOK HIM
ANOTHER PICTURE IS THAT OF ELIJAH THE PROPHET… HE WENT TO HEAVEN IN A CHARIOT
SOME OTHER TYPES AND SHADOWS ARE IN THE LIVES OF NOAH AND LOT. THEY DIED BUT THEY WERE BOTH DELIEVERD FROM JUDGMENT. WHEN THE WORLD WAS JUDGED AROUND THEM, THEY WERE SPARED AND SEPERATED.
GO TO 1 Thess 4 AND LOOK AT WHAT PAUL SAY’S ABOUT THIS EVENT WHERE THE RIGHTEOUS ARE SEIZED UP OFF THE EARTH
1Thess 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep (dead in Christ), that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so god will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
WE WILL HAVE A BORN-AGAIN GLORIFIED BODY
Matt 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.
1 Thess 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
PAUL WAS PREVIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT THE CATCHING AWAY OF THE CHURCH NOW HE TALKS ABOUT SOMETHING THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT.
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT THE DAY OF THE LORD SAY’S, “JUDGMENT”, “DOOM AND GLOOM – TROUBLE”, DESTRUCTION
NOW WE HAVE’NT READ ANYTHING IN 1 Cor 15 OR 1Thess 4 THAT PERTAINS TO THE BELIEVER THAT SOUNDS LIKE DOOM AND GLOOM
PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT THINGS HERE
2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 while they are saying, “peace and safety!” Then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; And they shall not escape.
4 but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; 5 For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
WHEN THE DAY OF THE LORD COMES ON PLANET EARTH IT IS A DAY OF WRATH ON HIS ENEMIES
Today there are 8 billion people in the world.
If 2 billion were taken in the rapture. That would leave 6 billion behind.
The seal judgements (Rev 6:8) are going to kill one fourth of those people (1.5 billion), leaving a total of 4.5 billion.
The trumpet judgments will kill one-third of those remaining (another 1.5 billion), making a total of 3 billion gentileswho will die during the first half of the tribulation; Half of the world’s population.
Percentage wise, more Jews will die in the tribulation. Zec 13:8 “Two-thirds of them will be killed by the antichrist.
There are approximately, 15.3 million Jews in the world today.
So the total number of Jews destined to be killed is about 10 million – one third more than those killed in the holocaust.
THE WORLD/GENTILES ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE A MASS SLAUGHTER THAT IS UNPARALLELED IN ALL OF HISTORY.
THE TRIBULATION PERIOD IS A TIME FOR MEN TO MAKE THEIR FINAL CHOICE. THERE’S A LOT OF SIFTING THAT TAKES PLACE…
IF YOU’VE ALREADY MADE YOUR CHOICE THEN THERE’S NO NEED FOR YOU TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE SIFTING
HERE WE SEE THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN APPOINTED TO WRATH
1 Thess 1:10 and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
