The Rapture Series

The Rapture

Series - The Second Coming of Christ

What is the Rapture?

What Happens in the Rapture?

When is the Rapture?

Why a Pre-Tribulation Rapture?

It best explains Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy

It best explains Christ’s imminent Return Expectation

It best explains our Rescue from God’s wrath

The Second Coming of Christ – This is something that is often talked about but not often understood. What are the things we should know about the events of Christ’s return? How should these events influence our lives today? Join us at Hickory Creek as we talk about the events of the Rapture, the Great Tribulation and the Millennial Kingdom and New Heaven and New Earth!

Transition Slide

Good Morning.

About 5 months ago, there was a lot of talk about the Second coming of Christ and the possibility that the world would be ending soon.

Harold Camping, a false teacher if there ever was one, predicted that on May 21st, 2011, Slide

that Jesus would return and those who were believers in Jesus Christ and had received Him as Savior, would be raptured up to heaven and then the end of the world would come 5 months later on October 21st, 2011.

Followers of Harold Camping paid for and put up billboards all over the country that read, Judgment Day is coming May 21st, 2011!

Well, that didn’t happen. Nobody disappeared that day. And this wasn’t the first time Harold Camping predicted an actual date for Christ’s return. He had done it in the past as well.

And after nobody physically disappeared on May 21st, he came out saying that it was just a spiritual rapture and that October 21st, 2011 was still the date for the end of the world.

Someone made a mock billboard with this new date.

Slide

Now, I can confidently call Harold Camping a false prophet because Scripture tells us that when someone makes a prediction or prophecy in regards to God that does not come true, we should not fear that person, we don’t need to listen to them. They are teaching falsely.

Now, the October 21st date is right around the corner, and I am nearly certain that this is not the date of the rapture. I say nearly certain, because the fact is Scripture tells us that nobody knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return for the church. So, I do not know if it will happen before then or after then, but I doubt, solely because this man predicted it, that it will happen on that day.

What I am certain about though,is that it is not the end of the world as Harold Camping is predicting because before that happens there is still a lot of prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled and even time periods much longer than 19 days that need to occur before the end of the world as we know it. What are those prophetic events?

Today, we are beginning what will be a series about some of the events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ.

Slide

Now, there are some that may ask, Shouldn’t we keep our focus on the things in the present instead of focusing on the things in the future?

Well, I think it is important to keep our eyes on some of the things in the future because when we have a proper view of them, they help us to live well in the present.

So we are going to take a look at some of the events that go along with Jesus’ return.

Now, before we begin, we must acknowledge that there is not universal agreement among the Christian community regarding some of these prophecies and the exact order of things.

Real Christian brothers and sisters can disagree on these things and still be fully devoted followers of Christ. And even though we may disagree on some of these issues, we must not be disagreeable, which has far too often been the case among Christians.

Remember that Jesus did not say, by your end times beliefs, people will know you are my disciples. It is by our love for one another that people will know we are His disciples. (John 13:34-35)

Now, before we begin, I want to remind everyone, that no one knows the day or the hour when the events of the end times as we know them will begin (Matthew 24:36)

But there are things we can know about these events that should be affecting how we live our lives now.

So, during the messages of this series, I will be talking about some of the major events of the end times to give you some perspective on these things and hopefully, affect the way we live our life in the here and now.

We are going to begin today talking about the Rapture.