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Speaker 1: Good morning, faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast.

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Speaker 1: All right, so today we have a pretty interesting topic.

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Speaker 1: At least I think it's going to be really interesting.

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Speaker 1: We're going to be talking about how to wait for Jesus'

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Speaker 1: second Coming and just more about the second Coming in general.

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Speaker 1: So let's jump right in. I'll be reading from the

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Speaker 1: web as I usually do. Let's read first Thessalonians five

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Speaker 1: five through eleven. Grab your cup of coffee or your

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Speaker 1: cup of tea this morning to share with me, and

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Speaker 1: let's give reverence to God's word together. You are all

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Speaker 1: children of the light and children of the day. We

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Speaker 1: don't belong to the night nor to the darkness. So

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Speaker 1: then let's not sleep as the rest do. But let's

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Speaker 1: watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep in

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Speaker 1: the night, and those who are drunk are drunk in

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Speaker 1: the night. But since we belong to the day, let's

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Speaker 1: be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love

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Speaker 1: and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God

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Speaker 1: didn't appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of

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Speaker 1: salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

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Speaker 1: That whether we wake or sleep. We should live together

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Speaker 1: with him. Therefore, exhort one another and build each other up,

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Speaker 1: even as you also do. On Tuesday, we talked about

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Speaker 1: the first portion of First Thessalonians five, where Paul tells

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Speaker 1: the people about Jesus's second coming that we don't know

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Speaker 1: the day or the hour, but that we should always

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Speaker 1: be watching and waiting for Jesus's return. Nonetheless, because Jesus's

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Speaker 1: return is going to be as sudden as like a

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Speaker 1: lightning flash across the sky. One minute, we're going to

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Speaker 1: be going about our normal day, doing all of our

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Speaker 1: daily chores, doing our work, whatever we have to do

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Speaker 1: throughout the day, and the next second, Jesus will be

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Speaker 1: here and everything will be like final At that point.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to be caught confused when that moment happens.

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Speaker 1: We want to be aware and ready for that moment,

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Speaker 1: no matter when it takes place. That is very, very important.

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Speaker 1: We also talked about on Tuesday the various parables that

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Speaker 1: Jesus taught regarding his second coming. We've talked about the

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Speaker 1: three categories of people that will be around during Jesus's

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Speaker 1: second coming. The first category are the people who are

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Speaker 1: watching and waiting. The second category are the people who

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Speaker 1: either are Christians or claim to be Christians, who are

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Speaker 1: not doing God's will, or maybe even aren't Christians but

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Speaker 1: know that God exists. Those people who are just living

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Speaker 1: for themselves, not doing God's will, rebelling against him. That's

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Speaker 1: the second category, and Jesus's return is going to be

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Speaker 1: the harshest for that category. And then, of course the

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Speaker 1: third category are the people who don't know God's will

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Speaker 1: and do not do good things. Those people are going

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Speaker 1: to be actually less in trouble. I guess when Jesus

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Speaker 1: comes back. Then the second category of people. So we

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Speaker 1: focused a lot on that, like, don't fall into the

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Speaker 1: second category, be in the first category. That is the

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Speaker 1: sweet spot. And how do we be in that first category.

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Speaker 1: We talked about all of that on Tuesday, So now

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Speaker 1: Paul goes into that a little bit more, that we

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Speaker 1: who are waiting for Jesus's return need to be aware,

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Speaker 1: need to be waiting, and how do we do that?

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Speaker 1: Starting in verse five of our passage four, today you

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Speaker 1: are all children of light and children of the day.

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Speaker 1: We don't belong to the night nor to the darkness.

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Speaker 1: So then let's not sleep as the rest do. But

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Speaker 1: let's watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep

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Speaker 1: at night. Those who are drunk are drunk at night.

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Speaker 1: But we belong to the day. So what's all this mean. Well,

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Speaker 1: Paul is giving an analogy here, very similarly to the

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Speaker 1: analogy that Jesus used with his sermon on the mount

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember that in Matthew chapter five, Jesus

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Speaker 1: did this big sermon to all of these people up

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Speaker 1: on this mountain, and he said to them, anybody who

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Speaker 1: is one of my followers is like a city up

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Speaker 1: on the hill. They are lights shining in the darkness.

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Speaker 1: They are children of the light. You know, think about

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Speaker 1: a city up on a hill back in Jesus's day.

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Speaker 1: In Paul's day, there was no electricity. Everybody traveled at

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Speaker 1: night by moonlight or lamp light. That is basically what

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Speaker 1: you had. So you can imagine on a day where

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Speaker 1: it's cloudy out or there's no moon, that it is

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Speaker 1: pitch black and you're traveling along you don't know where

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Speaker 1: you're going, like you can barely see what's in front

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Speaker 1: of you. Imagine how comforting it would be when you're

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Speaker 1: traveling through that darkness, not knowing where you're going, and

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Speaker 1: you see a city with all of its lamp light

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Speaker 1: up on the hill, it would be the most comforting

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Speaker 1: thing that you could possibly see in that moment. That is,

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Speaker 1: that's what a Christian is supposed to be like. They

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Speaker 1: are supposed to be children of the light shining in

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Speaker 1: a dark world. So that those who are walking through darkness,

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Speaker 1: not knowing how to achieve eternal life, not knowing that

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Speaker 1: they have a god given purpose and that there is

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Speaker 1: a God who loves them, who created them, who formed

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Speaker 1: every part of their being, they can find hope and

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Speaker 1: light and truth with the message of Christianity. That is

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Speaker 1: the whole point of the Christian They are to be

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Speaker 1: lights in a very dark world. And so that's kind

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Speaker 1: of what Paul says here. You are children of light

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Speaker 1: and children of the day. We are not children of darkness.

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Speaker 1: Children of darkness are those who do not believe in Jesus.

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Speaker 1: And what do children of darkness do? Well? First and foremost,

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Speaker 1: they sleep at night, and secondly, they drink at night,

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Speaker 1: they get drunk, they are not sober minded, and then

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Speaker 1: they go to sleep. They are not watch or waiting

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Speaker 1: for anything but us Christians who live in the day,

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Speaker 1: not in the night. We are to do the opposite

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Speaker 1: of that. We are to watch and be sober minded

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Speaker 1: waiting for Jesus's return and spreading the Gospel to everybody

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Speaker 1: that we possibly can, evangelizing about the message of Jesus,

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Speaker 1: because Jesus is coming back, and like I said at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode, it is going to be

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Speaker 1: so sudden that one second you are doing like an

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Speaker 1: innocuous task in your house, and the next minute there's Jesus.

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Speaker 1: And to anybody watching and waiting, what an exciting thing.

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Speaker 1: You know, your work on earth is done. You don't

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Speaker 1: have to go through the pain of death. All of

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Speaker 1: your suffering is over, any pains that you had, any

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Speaker 1: struggles that you had, it is over and done because

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Speaker 1: Jesus has just appeared and your work on earth is done.

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Speaker 1: What an exciting thing that's going to be for every

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Speaker 1: single Christian. But the problem is is that there's still

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Speaker 1: a lot of people living in the dark that don't

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Speaker 1: know about Jesus that are going to be caught completely

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Speaker 1: unawares when Jesus returns. And we don't want that to

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Speaker 1: happen to those people. So that is why Paul encourages

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Speaker 1: us to live in the way that Jesus calls us

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Speaker 1: to live, to shine our lights for everybody to see.

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Speaker 1: Not to fall back into our old behaviors before we

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Speaker 1: knew Jesus, where we aren't watching, we aren't waiting, and

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Speaker 1: we're getting drunk all the time, we're not being sober minded.

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Speaker 1: But to actually live the way Jesus calls us to live.

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Speaker 1: Here's what he says. God didn't appoint us to wrath,

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Speaker 1: but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think a lot of people get really worried.

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Speaker 1: You know, a lot of Christians are like, oh, man,

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Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if I'm good enough that

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Speaker 1: if Jesus comes back, I might not get like raptured

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Speaker 1: with everybody else. I might not get taken because I

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Speaker 1: sinned yesterday or I sin this morning, or I'm still

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Speaker 1: struggling with this habitual sin. And you know, Jesus is

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Speaker 1: just gonna leave me. No, if you believe in Jesus,

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Speaker 1: Paul is very clear right here, you are not appointed

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Speaker 1: for wrath. We are sinful human beings. We live in

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Speaker 1: a sinful environment. We're never going to be freed from sin.

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Speaker 1: While we're here on earth, We're always going to struggle

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Speaker 1: in some way. I mean, what do we talk about

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Speaker 1: on Monday with the Old Testament side of stuff. When

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Speaker 1: we were finishing up season nine, we talked about how

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Speaker 1: David was kind of a really sinful person. You know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people act like the biblical characters. Oh,

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Speaker 1: they basically had sinless perfection except for you know one

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Speaker 1: spot on their record. No, David was a sinner. He

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Speaker 1: sinned all the time. He was a liar, he was

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Speaker 1: a cheater, he was a murderer, he was complacent, he

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Speaker 1: was a terrible husband, he was a really bad father.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he had a lot of bad things going

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Speaker 1: for him. But yet, but yet, he was loved by God,

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Speaker 1: and he loved God. And now David has like lasting

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Speaker 1: fame in spite of all of his sins because he

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Speaker 1: was a man after God's own heart. So God is

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Speaker 1: not going to leave his children behind. He knows you,

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Speaker 1: he called you by name, and he loves you. You're

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Speaker 1: not going to be left behind when Jesus comes back.

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Speaker 1: Do not worry about that. You are not appointed for wrath.

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Speaker 1: If you have the Holy spirit, you are going to

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Speaker 1: meet Jesus when he comes the second time. You know,

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Speaker 1: so many Christians live in this guilt, and I get

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Speaker 1: it because I feel that guilt. Sometimes I feel like

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Speaker 1: I just can never be worthy. And that's absolutely true.

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Speaker 1: We are not worthy, but Jesus is. Jesus is worthy,

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Speaker 1: and so he made us also worthy because of his blood.

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Speaker 1: So if you believe in Jesus, you also have been

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Speaker 1: given salvation and you are going to meet Jesus when

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Speaker 1: he comes again the second time. So please don't live

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Speaker 1: in guilt. Do your best, obviously to overcome these sins.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to live in these sins. I mean,

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Speaker 1: even Paul goes on to say in this chapter, don't

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Speaker 1: live in sin instead do this stuff. You don't want

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Speaker 1: to live in sin because that's bad for you. It's

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Speaker 1: bad for your flourishing, and it grieves the Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: when you sin. You know, the Holy Spirit doesn't want

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Speaker 1: to see you living in those sins, especially since he

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Speaker 1: bought you out of that. You don't want to live

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Speaker 1: in them. But don't feel so guilty that you believe

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Speaker 1: that you're not saved because you sinned. So Paul goes

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Speaker 1: on to say, here we're not appointed for wrath. In

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Speaker 1: verse nine but to the obtaining of salvation through our

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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we

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Speaker 1: wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Now,

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Speaker 1: when Paul says wake or sleep, here once again he's

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Speaker 1: talking about life and death. Remember, in the last chapter

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Speaker 1: for Thessalonians four, Paul referred to death as sleep because

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Speaker 1: sleep is a temporary state that you go into every

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Speaker 1: single night, and for the Christian death is very similar.

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Speaker 1: It is not a permanent thing. It is a temporary state.

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Speaker 1: So even if we die before Jesus comes back, that's okay.

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Speaker 1: We're still going to meet Jesus. We're still going to

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Speaker 1: be raptured in our own sense. And given those resurrected bodies,

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Speaker 1: and actually those who have died get first priority, they

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Speaker 1: meet Jesus first, and then anybody who's alive meets Jesus

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Speaker 1: right after that. So that's what Paul is referring to

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Speaker 1: here when he says, whether we wake or sleep, whether

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Speaker 1: we are alive or dead, we will live together with him. Therefore,

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Speaker 1: exhort one another and build each other up, even as

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Speaker 1: you also do so, Paul says, encourage each other with

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Speaker 1: these words. You know, for the Christian, the rapture should

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Speaker 1: not be a scary thing. But for some reason, churches

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Speaker 1: have done the worst job at explaining how exciting the

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Speaker 1: rapture is going to be. I told you guys my

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Speaker 1: story last week that was like traumatized up until my

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Speaker 1: early twenties about the rapture just because of the way

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Speaker 1: that it was described in church and because of Those

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Speaker 1: Left Behind series that I read as a child. I

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Speaker 1: was traumatized by the rapture. But the rapture is going

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Speaker 1: to be so exciting. And here's the other thing. I

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Speaker 1: think some Christians are like, I don't want the rapture

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Speaker 1: to come because I think I'm going to miss out

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Speaker 1: on life. You know, I really want to be married,

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Speaker 1: experience things on earth before Jesus comes back. Well, let

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Speaker 1: me address those concerns that you have. I think the

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Speaker 1: two biggest ones that I hear from the students is

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Speaker 1: I don't want Jesus to come back because I'm nervous

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Speaker 1: that that means I'm not going to be able to

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Speaker 1: be married. I'll address that concern first. I think that's

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Speaker 1: the biggest one. Here's what Romans seven, verse four says Therefore,

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Speaker 1: my brothers, you also were made dead to the law

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Speaker 1: through the body of Christ, that you would be joined

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Speaker 1: to another, to him who was raised from the dead,

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Speaker 1: that we might produce fruit to God. Here's some more

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Speaker 1: verses Revelation nineteen six through eight. I heard something like

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Speaker 1: the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice

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Speaker 1: of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders saying,

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Speaker 1: hallelujah for the Lord, our God. The Almighty rains. Let's

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Speaker 1: rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let's give the glory

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Speaker 1: to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

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Speaker 1: and his wife has made herself ready. It was given

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Speaker 1: to her that she would array herself in bright, pure,

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Speaker 1: fine linen, for the fine linen is the righteous act

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Speaker 1: of the saints. So both of those verses are making

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Speaker 1: it pretty clear that we are going to be married

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Speaker 1: in heaven. And I can promise you from somebody who

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Speaker 1: has been married for almost eleven years now, the marriage

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Speaker 1: that we experience in heaven is going to be so

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Speaker 1: much better than any marriage could possibly be here on earth.

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Speaker 1: And that's coming from somebody who I feel has a

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Speaker 1: pretty good marriage. You know, I love my husband, he

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Speaker 1: loves me. He kills me sometimes, but I mean, what

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Speaker 1: spouse doesn't you know. He's a human being and I'm

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Speaker 1: a human being, and we mess up all the time,

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Speaker 1: and we hurt each other, and we are inconsiderate to

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Speaker 1: each other. You know, we love each other. And I'm

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Speaker 1: so thankful I married my husband. But I can promise

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Speaker 1: you that the marriage that we experience in heaven to Jesus,

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Speaker 1: to God, this joining together that we're going to experience,

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Speaker 1: is so much better than any marriage relationship we can

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Speaker 1: possibly have here on earth. That's a promise to you,

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Speaker 1: because our marriage in heaven is going to be perfection

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Speaker 1: what marriage is supposed to look like. But marriage is

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Speaker 1: on earth. They are fun, they are often rewarding, they

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Speaker 1: produce children, but there's a lot of hurt and pain

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Speaker 1: also associated with marriage as well, just due to the

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Speaker 1: fallenness of our world. So that's the first concern. I

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Speaker 1: hear young ladies saying all the time about why they

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Speaker 1: don't want the rapture to happeness because they want to

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Speaker 1: be able to be married. We're going to be married,

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Speaker 1: and you're going to have a perfect marriage when Jesus

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Speaker 1: comes back. And the second one, I often hear is

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Speaker 1: that they don't want Jesus to come back because they

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Speaker 1: want to experience having a family, having children. Here is

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Speaker 1: what Isaiah fifty four says about this sing bearn woman

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Speaker 1: who didn't give birth, break out into singing and cry aloud,

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Speaker 1: who didn't travail with child? For more are the children

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Speaker 1: of the desolate than the children of the man married wife,

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Speaker 1: says Yahweh. So that versus saying that those who could

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Speaker 1: never have children on earth are actually going to be

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Speaker 1: more blessed than the woman who is able to have

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Speaker 1: a ton of children with her husband, It actually tells

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Speaker 1: the barn one to rejoice and to sing because of this.

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Speaker 1: So that, of course is a very comforting verse to me,

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Speaker 1: you know, because I haven't been able to have kids yet,

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Speaker 1: even though you know, married eleven years. It is something

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Speaker 1: I want to be able to experience. But if I

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Speaker 1: can't experience it, I know that there is joy to

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Speaker 1: come when Jesus comes back. I'm going to have a family.

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Speaker 1: I think that's what people don't get, is like, when

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Speaker 1: Jesus comes back, we're not going to be like sitting

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Speaker 1: on some cloud, you know, playing the harp, as people

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Speaker 1: in media often depict it. It's not going to be

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Speaker 1: like that at all. That seems boring and terrible, like

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Speaker 1: who wants to do that. It's going to be fun

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Speaker 1: and fellowship and family every single day. It's going to

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Speaker 1: be a joy, rest and relaxation, but also meaningful work

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Speaker 1: and everything that we long for on earth is going

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Speaker 1: to be fulfilled when Jesus comes again. Everything we long for,

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Speaker 1: from the husband to the children, to success and a good,

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Speaker 1: prosperous work life, all of these things will be accomplished

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Speaker 1: when Jesus comes again. We will be fulfilled. Being next

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Speaker 1: to Jesus every single day for the rest of eternity.

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Speaker 1: What a fulfilling thing. So if anybody's like, I really

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Speaker 1: don't want Jesus to come back in my lifetime because

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Speaker 1: I want to experience more things, don't worry. You're going

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Speaker 1: to be able to experience them, and your needs are

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Speaker 1: going to be completely fulfilled. Everything we long for on

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Speaker 1: earth will be fulfilled by Jesus. That's an exciting thing.

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Speaker 1: That should be an exciting thing for every single Christian.

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Speaker 1: So no, we should not worry about Jesus's second coming.

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Speaker 1: We should be looking forward to it and very very

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Speaker 1: excited about it. And there's one more concern I've heard

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Speaker 1: that people have brought forward to me, which was what

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Speaker 1: about their pets? What happens to pets when Jesus comes again?

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Speaker 1: Are they going to just be like left in our

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Speaker 1: homes with no food and water and die and excruciating death?

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Speaker 1: Like what's going to happen? When I was a little kid,

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Speaker 1: I actually had that same exact concern. There is this

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Speaker 1: dog I had. I loved him so much. His name

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Speaker 1: was Titus. He was such a sweet little dog. I

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Speaker 1: loved him so much. I was like, Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: what's gonna happen if Jesus comes back? Is my dog

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Speaker 1: going to die and just not be taken care of? Well,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to put your fears at ease, because when

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Speaker 1: Jesus says that he's coming back, it's pretty clear that

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Speaker 1: when he comes back, things are going to change pretty drastically.

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Speaker 1: And we also know in scripture that God really loves animals.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of verses about that that God cares

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Speaker 1: for animals. The one verse I often go back to

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Speaker 1: is the one in Jonah where God spares the Ninevite people,

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Speaker 1: and he actually tells Jonah at the very very end,

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Speaker 1: he says, do you really think that I should kill

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Speaker 1: this entire city with all of these people and all

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Speaker 1: of these animals in this city? And that's literally how

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Speaker 1: the book ends. And so it's clear that God thinks

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Speaker 1: about the animals and cares for the animals. You know,

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Speaker 1: even looking at the Old Testament law God told people

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Speaker 1: to care for animals. There was actually laws about it,

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Speaker 1: and you know, if you broke one of those laws,

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Speaker 1: you were sinning. So if somebody mistreats an animal, that

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Speaker 1: is a sin in the eyes of God. There's another

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Speaker 1: verse in Matthew that says that God knows every sparrow

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Speaker 1: that falls to the ground. So these verses make it

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Speaker 1: very clear that God loves animals. So when Jesus comes

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Speaker 1: again for the second time, I really wouldn't worry about

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Speaker 1: our pets because whatever Jesus does is going to be

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Speaker 1: fantastic when he comes again, and the animals that are

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Speaker 1: under God's care to begin with are going to be

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Speaker 1: taken care of. I don't know exactly what that's going

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Speaker 1: to look like, but I do know, based upon scriptural passages,

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Speaker 1: that there are going to be animals in the New

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Speaker 1: Heaven and the New earth right, that's what Isaiah says.

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Speaker 1: So these animals are going to be made new after

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Speaker 1: Jesus comes back. They're going to be made perfect the

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Speaker 1: way they were meant to be. And humans and animals

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Speaker 1: aren't going to be afraid of each other anymore. A child,

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Speaker 1: it says, can stick his hand down the snake hole

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Speaker 1: and the snake won't touch him. A child can lead

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Speaker 1: a wild horse and the horse is not going to

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Speaker 1: harm the child. The lion is going to sleep with

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Speaker 1: the lamb. That is how these animals were supposed to be.

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Speaker 1: And when Jesus comes back, he's going to make all

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Speaker 1: things new, and things are going to be perfect. So

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Speaker 1: I don't think we need to worry about our pets,

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Speaker 1: even though it is our natural inclination to worry about them. Well, Faith,

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Speaker 1: For listeners, I hope you've been enjoying this podcast and

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Speaker 1: going through the Book of First Thessalonians with me as

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Speaker 1: we talk about the rapture in Jesus's Second Coming. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you like the podcast, please share it on your

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Speaker 1: social media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explain

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Speaker 1: podcast exists. And I will see all of you on Monday.

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Speaker 1: Unless you want to become a member and tune in

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Speaker 1: to tomorrow's podcast, The Bible Explained on Fridays. You'll find

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Speaker 1: all the information for that listed in the description of

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Speaker 1: this episode. Until Monday, happy listening and God bless