The Blessed Hope Series

INTRODUCTION

In 2023 there were 213 deaths by suicide in Alaska that is a rate of 28.5 deaths per 100,000 people double the national standard. Alaska continues to be the state with the highest suicide rates in the nation With young Alaskans, ages 15 to 24 years at a rate of 42.3 deaths per 100,000.

Do you know what all of these individuals have in common? Research shows that When an individual finds themself hopeless and in pain they tend to see suicide as the only way out. That is why today's message is so important because we live in a world that is lost and without hope.

Today is week 11 in our foundation series as we look at the 13th fundamental truth of the Assemblies of God: WE BELIEVE in the Blessed Hope—the rapture of the Church at Christ’s coming (1 Corinthians 15:51–52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Titus 2:11–14).

Hope is not something that guarantees that bad things won't happen but rather hope is what we have to look forward to when we're going through bad times. When I was growing up, my dad owned his own business and there were times when we hoped the customer would pay but it was not a guarantee. That kind of hope leads to anxiousness and worry but the hope that we're talking about today leads to peace and joy.

Read Romans 5:1-2

Through faith in God, we get to hold on to the blessed hope that is the place that gives us peace because of the undeserved privilege that we stand in as we confidently and joyfully look forward to God's glory which is Christ’s triumphant return…

Continue Reading Romans 5:3-6

You see at just the right moment while we were still helpless and while we were still hopeless Jesus intervened on our behalf and died for us and now that we stand in this place of forgiveness; of sanctification; of undeserved privilege we get to look forward to the time when Jesus returns!

Body:

Recently I came across an Instagram reel, and the person had the title of things not in the Bible and one of those things listed in there was the rapture. And while that person might be partially true and that the word “rapture” it's never exactly used in the Bible it does not mean that the rapture is not talked about in the Bible.

Another word not used in the Bible would be the Trinity but as we learned earlier in our series the Bible is clear about the triune nature of God and it's in both the old and New Testament.

Jesus coming back and reclaiming the Christians for his own and gathering us together is explicitly talked about in the Bible, but the topic has fallen into some disrepute over the years because of people making claims that Jesus will come back at a certain time. More than 300 times an average of one verse every 26, the New Testament refers to the truth of the second coming of Jesus Christ therefore, in spite of the fact that some have exercised more zeal than wisdom and making spectacular addictions about events surrounding the second coming, let us not mistake the truth that the scriptures place a great emphasis on this strategic teaching!

Within the Assemblies of God, we call the rapture the blessed hope and that is the moment that Jesus comes back and takes those of us who are still living with him directly into heaven without having to experience death. Frankly that's the way I wanna go and one of the primary scriptures talking about the rapture is in the book of first Thessalonians

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:1-11

The word here in 4:17 That is translated as “we'll be caught up” is ‘a?p???. Which is a word that means to seize, snatch away, catch up, or take by force and it was the same word used in John when Jesus said that he was worried that they would seize him by force and make him be their king after he had fed the 5000. And so, we are going to be powerfully snatched up in a moment to meet with Jesus in the clouds above the earth. We're going to join in with the angels and the Saints that had gone before us.

When that glorious day comes, those who have died, verse 14, will be raised to life again and we'll have new bodies, Resurrected bodies. So, we're not going to need these mortal bodies anymore while the graves will be opened, these decayed bodies will remain and those that are caught up into the sky before us will have received their heavenly immortal glorified bodies.

Jump over to 1 Corinthians 15:35-44

When my father-in-law passed away the children my wife and brother in laws wanted to cremate his body and bury it in one of his toolboxes with his name scratched above it just like he did with all his other tools as a way to honor their dad. But when his church found out that we wanted to cremate it they took matters into their own hands and made sure that he had a coffin to preserve his body. But when the time comes and the dead or raised again I think Paul makes it very clear that they will no longer need their earthly bodies for they will get new glorified heavenly bodies that is a different type of glory than the earthly mortal ones.