Holy Ghost Extraction

HOLY GHOST EXTRACTION

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: QUALIFICATIONS

1. A man went to Washington D.C. to interview for a job at a bureaucracy. “What can you do?” asked the Human Resources interviewer. “Actually, nothing,” said the man.

2. “That’s wonderful,” said the bureaucrat, “then we won’t have to send you to reorientation training.”

B. THESIS & TITLE

1. Our men and women in military get a locator beacon when they go on a mission. This beacon sends out a signal telling where they are. Its signal is placed on a global terrain grid, and their position can be placed within a few feet.

2. If they need to be extracted, special teams are sent and when it’s safe, they locate the downed pilot and evacuate him/her back to U.S. territory. That is what happened in the case of Scott O’Grady.

3. Scott O'Grady was an Air Force fighter pilot who was shot down over Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 2, 1995. He ejected from his F-16 into hostile territory.

4. O'Grady radioed for help immediately but had to maintain radio silence while enemy troops searched for him, coming within a few feet of him. He had had to keep his radio beacon off while his enemies scoured the area for him. On his 6th night on the ground he made radio contact, and rescue plans were set in motion.

5. Two CH-53 helicopters with 51 marines from the 3rd Battalion lifted off USS Kearsarge, accompanied by 2 Supercobra gunships and 2 Harrier jump jets. When the choppers arrived at the location of O'Grady's beacon, the pilots saw bright yellow smoke from O'Grady’s flare. Within 7 minutes O’Grady was found and evacuated, making it back to the aircraft carrier in under an hour.

6. O'Grady received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his mission. The 2001 film “Behind Enemy Lines” is loosely based upon his experiences.

7. God has an extraction planned for His people, very similar to that of Scott O’Grady. So tonight’s message is entitled, “Holy Ghost Extraction.”

I. WHAT IS GOD’S EXTRACTION?

A. TIMING OF THE EXTRACTION

1. This world is becoming hostile territory for believers; it’s getting worse and worse. As we approach the End Times, the Man of Sin will arise and then will begin the seven years of Great Tribulation. God will pour out a series of plagues over the whole world. That’s when you & I don’t want to be here.

2. When the Man of Sin has comes, the time will have come where WE need an extraction. And the Holy Spirit will do it! The locator beacon of the Holy Spirit inside us will tell Jesus where every one of the Christians are. He won’t have any trouble finding us because “The Lord KNOWS them that are His” 2 Tim. 2:19.

3. So we ought to feel very safe – we can’t be lost! If we were lost at sea (“The sea will give up the dead that are in it” Rev. 20:13) or died in a foreign war – and our bodies were lost to our families, God knows right where they are! There are no MIA’s to God. He knows where every particle of your bodies are and will raise them up at the Last Day. Praise God!

B. HOW IS THE EXTRACTION GOING TO HAPPEN?

1. When things get too “hot” for us on this earth, God will send in His special forces (angels) who will I.D. His people, gather them together from all over the world, and remove them. What’s our destination? Heaven!

2. The Spirit of the Lord will play a vital role in our extraction. Our earthly bodies aren’t ready for heaven, so the Spirit will “quicken our mortal bodies,” transforming them to be like Jesus’ resurrected body ([He] “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body;” Phip. 3:21, Rom. 8:11).

3. This won’t be the first time God’s ever done extractions. He did them for Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kgs. 2:11), although there are some differences between theirs and ours.

4. Paul described our extraction like this, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” 1 Thess. 4:16-17.

II. THE EXTRACTION IS BASED ON GRACE

A. WE’RE ALL INVITED – IT’S OPEN TO ALL

1. All are invited to be evacuated. You don’t have to be a certain rank, or economic class, or I.Q. level to qualify. There are no limitations, quotas, barriers – everyone – rich or poor, educated or illiterate, male or female, nationality or whatever background – everyone is invited!