Let's turn our Bibles to Psalm
147. Praise ye the Lord, for it is
good to sing praises unto our God. For it is pleasant, and
praise is comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathereth together the outcast
of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the
stars. He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord,
and of great power. His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifteth up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving.
Sing praise upon the harp unto our God. who covereth the heaven
with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass
to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food,
and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the
strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the
legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear him and those that hope in his mercy. Praise the
Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. For he
hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy
children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. He sendeth forth
his commandment upon earth. His word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool. He
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice
like morsels. Who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word and melteth them. He causeth his wind to
blow and the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation. And as for his judgments, they
have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray. Oh, our kind and gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, How your word thrills our hearts,
fills us with joy. The God whom we serve, the true
God, he is God. You are God and have all power. Power belongeth unto thee. And he in whom we trust has saved,
will save, and is not trying to save, but has done what he has purposed
in the salvation of his people. Thank you for the blessed Savior,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, it's because of him we can
sing these hymns that mean so much to us and with confidence
can sing, it is well with my soul. And my sin, not in part,
but the whole, He nailed it to His cross and put it away. Oh,
what a thrilling thought. What a blessed thing to enter
into that truth and that assurance. We cannot make too much of it. We
cannot make too much of Him. We seek to make much of him this
evening as we worship him and him alone. And truly,
as we've read, thou alone are worthy of praise and honor and
glory. Oh, may Christ increase before
us and may we decrease. May we be brought to fall in
the dust before him. May we be with those that fear
him and hope in his mercy. Cause us all to be brought to
that place tonight. And cry in our hearts as that
poor leper, Lord, if you will, you can save, you can make me
clean, if you will. You can. You can make those that
are lost, you can make them clean. Speak to the hearts of your people
and call out your sheep that may yet still be in their sin
and lost without you. We pray for our children and
those that we love that's not yet seen their need. Lord, go and get them and bring
them to yourself. Remember them. Remember Kathleen,
how we pray for her and we long to see her back with us. We know she'd be here if she
could. Be with her and her family. Heal
her, we pray. Be with our pastors, he leads
us, preaches to us. Give him strength and wisdom. Give him your word. to preach to us and help us as
we hear, anoint our ears and cause your word to enter into
our heart and take root and feed our souls. Oh, we need you. We need you. We must have Christ
or we'd perish. Go with us in this service, bring
honor to yourself, and we'll give you the praise for all things. In Christ's name we ask, amen. Wonderful. Milton Howard did
that. And I remember Henry, one of
the very first times I ever heard him preach. They'd got up and
sung the old rugged cross. And talked about where we'd lay
our trophies down. And, uh, Henry said, trophies? What trophies
you gonna have? You ain't got no trophies. You know, never sung the old
rugged cross again. Never sung it again. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians 15. Instead of the old rugged cross,
it's the Christ of the cross. Yes. And there is a difference
in trusting in the cross and the finished work of Christ and
trusting in Him who finished the work. Trusting in Him who finished
the work. 1 Corinthians 15, I want to start
reading. down here in verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, He is talking to brethren now,
talking to the Lord's people. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doeth
corruption, inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and shall
be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption This mortal must put on immortality. So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is
not in vain. There in verse 57 says, thanks
be unto God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord Jesus himself said in
John 15, verse 5, without me, you can
do nothing. And without him, spiritually,
we can do nothing. In fact, we'll never draw another
breath if he chooses us not to draw another breath. He holds
the breath of our ever-living soul in his hands. And we'll
take our last breath one of these days and it'll be when he says,
that's it. But he's here, the apostle says, thanks be unto
God. God gives us a victory, great
victory over everything through our Lord Jesus Christ. But I
want you to notice there in verse 56, he gives us victory over
sin. He said, the sting of death is
sin. And oh, death, where is thy sting?
And the sting and the strength of sin is the law. Death, death
is just as sure and as common as men being born. Babies are
born, men die. Just common. I saw two funerals
and a black people having funerals while we were gone. And death
is as common as birth. But to the believer, but to the
believer, death don't have any sting to it. Death don't have
any sting. And the reason why is because
the sting of death is sin. Now how can death have any sting
to it when you don't have any sin? Where did your sin go? How did you get rid of it? He
said, the strength of sin is the law. Well, our Lord Jesus
Christ bore our sin, sin, in his own body on the tree. And
being put to death, he put away sin once and for all by the sacrifice
of himself. So our sin It's gone away. Our sin does not exist. God said
he does not remember our sin anymore. And that's one of the
blessed things of the covenant of grace that God said, I will
not remember your sin. So death, he says, we have victory
over this awful thing called death because death and its sting
has been taken away. Our Lord Jesus Christ took it
away. Look in Romans chapter six with me. Oh, my sin, and he read it, you
know, he quoted it, and we sung it. Oh, my sin, oh, the bliss
of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. Praise the
Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul. And that's why that, you
know, we have victory over sin. And I tell you, people, you know,
this is something I used to preach, and I know other men preached
it, And God had mercy on us and saved us from this thing. But
we used to tell people all the time, you got to quit this sin,
that sin, you better give up this sin, that sin, and another
sin. And people tell, preachers tell
all the time, you got to get overcome this sin and you need
to overcome that sin and this other kind of a sin. But beloved,
man can never overcome sin. It's an impossibility for man
to overcome sin. If man could stop sin, Why did
the Lord Jesus Christ die? Why, if we could deal with our
own sin in any way, why did our Lord Jesus Christ die? If we,
you and I, had the power over any sin, any sin, I'm telling
you, and that's sins that you can't see. I can't see pride
in you. I can't see pride in your heart.
You can't see it in mine. Y'all can't see the thoughts
of your mind, you can't see mine. You don't know what I experience
in my soul and I don't know what you experience in yours. But
I do know this, that God himself put away our sin by His Son,
and I mean, beloved, He gave us victory over every sin we
ever did commit, over every sin we will commit, and over every
sin that we'll have until the day we die. And then if somebody
turns around and says, well, if I believed that, I'd sin all
I want to, and I'd sin to grace my abound. No, you wouldn't.
Not if you understand who put sin away. Not if you understand
how awful sin really is. You know how awful sin is? God
said he's of a purer eyes than to behold it. God himself says
I will by no means clear the guilty. God himself said the
soul that sinneth, sinneth, what is he gonna do with it? It's
gonna die. And so when we come to die, and
this thing of death, and that's why Paul said, whoa, thanks be
unto, he talked about all the things we're gonna go through
as we go through this change in this body to that new body. And he starts talking about these
things, and the first thing he deals with is this thing called
sin. He says, listen, sting, the death
sting and sin sting has been taken away. And oh, Romans 6
and verse 14, this is where it's going. Our Lord said, here's for sin
shall not have dominion over you. Now sin, there was a time
sin absolutely had dominion over us and we absolutely did not
care whether it did or not. It ruled us, it reigned over
us, it was our master. We obeyed it in our minds, we
obeyed it in our hands, we obeyed it in our hearts, we obeyed it.
We sinned with a high hand, drunk iniquity like it was water. And
yet it says here, sin shall not have dominion over you. Why won't
it? What did he say back over in 1 Corinthians? He said, the
strength of sin is the law. Where does sin get its strength
at? You want to find out how strong sin is in you? Let me
start laying down the law to you and start telling you what
you need to do. And sin will rise up in you and rebellion
will rise up in you and say, who does he think he is telling
me what I ought to do? How I ought to live? Where I
ought to go? How I ought to dress? And you'd
get angry. And that's why God said, you
know, He says, they rebel, they rebel, and He lays, He gets the
law to them and they rebel. And I tell you what, the law
has this, sin finds its strength under the law, but He says, and
this is why sin don't have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law. Not under it in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
We was talking about it back in the study a minute ago. that all of this free grace this
time is all on the Sabbath, keeping the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath
day and living a whole, all just, all the things that they say
you cannot do and you can't do and not supposed to do and all
that stuff. Don't even cook on Sunday. If
you're going to eat on Sunday, cook what you're going to eat
on Sunday, on Saturday, and eat it cold. Don't even start a fire
to heat it up with. And that's what they said about
the Sabbath. He's out there breaking the Sabbath
because he picked up a stick, because he healed somebody on
the Sabbath. But let me tell you this, if
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, you tell me
what law he's not the end of. Huh? Is there any law he is not the
end of? Is he the end of the law for
righteousness, to love God? Is he the end of the law of the
righteousness, to love your neighbor? Is he the end of the law for
remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? Is he the end of the
law that thou shalt honor your father and your mother? Is he
the end of the law that thou shalt not lie? Is he the end
of the law that thou shalt not covet? Is he the end of the law to tithing? Now he's either the end of the
law for everything or he's not the end of the law for nothing.
And that's why he says the strength of sin is in the law. Christ
is the end of it. He is the end of it as a covenant,
as a commandment, as a curse. And that's why he says you're
not under the law. Where you at? You're under grace. And grace sets you free. And
you know what it sets you free to do? It sets you free from
sin and death and guilt and shame and puts in your heart a thankfulness,
a love for Christ, appreciation for the gospel. It puts in your
heart a new nature. It puts in your heart a desire
for God. It puts in your heart a fellowship
with God, a fellowship with these people, the grace of God. Not
the law don't do that, grace does that. Is that not right? And so I tell you what, and that's
what back over here in 1 Corinthians 15, you know, that's why it says
the law, the law was given by Moses. The law was given by Moses,
but grace, grace, grace and truth came by who? Jesus Christ. So thanks be unto God who gives
us the victory over sin. Now let me show you something
else he gives us the victory over. Look down here in verse
53. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. We have
victory over mortality and incorruption. We're mortal beings. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption. Where did we get this corruptible
nature? Where did it come from? We're corruptible. Corruption. Corruption. You know, when we
think of corruption, you know that's one of the things that
old-timers used to say all the time. When somebody had a real
bad infection in their body parts, you know, and a big ball on them
or something like that, and old stuff would run out of it, and
they'd say, boy, that's just full of corruption. Because it
was awful looking. It was awful. All the stuff would
be in a wound or something. They'd get bad. They'd squeeze
it and all this awful green, yellow, and black stuff would
come out of it and blood. They'd say, oh, that's full of
corruption. Well, that's why we was. Where
did we get that at? We had come from corruptible
seed. And we was mortal beings. We
became living beings, mortal beings. And he says here, thanks
be unto God for victory over this incorruption and this mortal. You know, these bodies of ours,
they partake of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
bless his name. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
raised from the dead, And then when he comes again, this body
right here, this body, not another body, this body, this corruptible
body, this mortal body, this mortal that, this mortal body,
it's gonna quit being corruptible and it's gonna quit being mortal
when the Lord Jesus comes again and all this corruption and all
this mortality is gonna be gone. And I tell you, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, I tell you, we're gonna be changed.
And that's why I look over here in 2 Corinthians 5 with me for
a minute. I know this is kind of a strange
message, but I tell you, it's been on my heart for a while.
And this, in a moment, that's why
Paul said, I'll show you a mystery. He said there in verse 15, in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the twinkling of an
eye. Look what he said here in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 4. For we that are in this tabernacle,
in this body, in this mortal body, do groan, being burdened. What are you burdened about?
Me. Me. Me and Peggy talked about
it this morning. It'll be a wonderful thing when
I'm done with myself. The only person that ever has
gives me any trouble in this world. I mean, I have aggravation
from kids and grandkids and sickness and that kind of thing. But I
tell you, the thing that's really, really troublesome to me is me. Myself. Not one of you have ever
give me one bit of trouble. And nothing you do, nothing you
said, you've never I care for your pains. I care for your burdens. I care for that. But oh my, this
old man right here, this old corruptible man. And oh listen, he says, for this
we groan being burdened. Burdened with trouble. Burdened
with heartache. Burdened with sorrow. Burdened
with life. Burdened with the things of our
brothers and sisters. Not that we would be unclothed,
not that God would take our clothes off of us and let us stand naked
before him, but clothed upon. Listen to this, that mortality,
this old mortal body, this life, and this life might be swallowed
up. This mortality might be swallowed
up in what? Life. Christ comes and he has
so much life in him that he comes and this old mortal, he just
swallows it up. You know, he take this old mortal
body, and he's just got so much life in him, more abundant, he
just swallows it up in life, in life. Oh my. And go back over here again in
1 Corinthians 15. Look what he says down here in
verse 52. He said, I show you all a mystery.
Everybody's not gonna go by the way of the grave But everybody
whether we go to the grave or not said we're gonna all be changed
and he says in a moment What's a moment? What in the world is a moment
then he said in the twinkling of an eye Y'all can't even see
my case. You know, you don't see no twinkle
mine They happen so fast. You can't see it He said, that's how fast it's
gonna happen. In the twinkling of an eye at the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound, the dead should be raised incorruptible
and be changed. And that's when this old body
here, thanks be unto God for victory over this mortality.
And I tell you, if we long for a house, which is from heaven,
that a place where we will dwell with Christ forevermore, Look
what it says up in verse 44 for a minute. Talking about this
new body, this mortality going away. It is sown a natural body. It's raised a spiritual body.
There's a natural body and there's a spiritual body. And I tell
you what, in our spiritual bodies it's gonna be a lot different
than our natural bodies. I wanna show you in Luke chapter
9. There's a couple of things I
want to show you, and Luke 9 with me. And talking about these bodies
and this mortality being gone. Luke 9, 28. Look at it with me
for a minute, for a minute or two, or however long it takes
me. But look what it says here. And it came to pass about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into a mountain to pray. The Lord went up into a
mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered. Now that's what's gonna happen
to us. He was a man. that they could
see the color of his eyes, the color of his hair. And he began
to pray, and his countenance was altered. It was changed. In his raiment, his clothes became
white and glistening, just shine like the sun. And behold, there
talked with him two men, which was Moses and Elijah. And these
men appeared in glory. What glory? In the glory they
had. that God gave them, the glory
of that new body, that glory of that incorruption, that glory
of that mortality, swallowed up in life. And they was talking
about the death that our Lord Jesus Christ would accomplish
at Jerusalem. And Peter and they that were
with them were heavy with sleep, and when they woke up, they saw
his glory and the two men that stood with him. Now they saw
two men, but now watch what happens. And it came to pass as they departed
from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it's good for us to be
here, let's make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one
for Elijah. How did he know it was Moses
and how did he know it was Elijah? The scripture says we'll know
even as we're known. When we get to glory, we'll look
like we do now, except we'll have a new body. That's the long and the short
of it. When we get there, we'll know
one another as we know one another here, except we'll be known there
as God knows us now. And we'll get there, and I'll
recognize Moses, and I'll recognize Elijah, and it says we'll sit
down and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that thief that our Lord
Jesus Christ says, today thou shalt be with me in paradise,
we'll know him. We don't know his name, but we'll
know him. We'll know who he was. That's why Paul said, this is
a mystery. We're gonna be changed. You think God's gonna, you know,
he's gonna take this body. Our Lord Jesus Christ came out
of the grave with the body and went in there. But here's the
thing, look with me and, Luke 24, I believe it is. Let's look
in Luke 24 about this. Luke 24. Our Lord, when He came
out of the grave, yeah, Luke 24. When He came out
of the grave, and our resurrection bodies are gonna be different,
just like stars and sun and moons differ in others, and that's
why thanks be unto God gives us the victory over this mortality
and this incorruption. And verse 36, and as they thus
spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto
them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them,
why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself and handle me and see. Now listen to what
he says. For a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me
have. Now the thing that makes us corruptible
is our blood and being a man. And I tell you what, when we
resurrected from the dead and we have this new body, mortality
will be swallowed up in life and corruption will be made incorruptible. When that happens, we'll have
a body like our Lord Jesus Christ that can eat, can walk, talk,
move, but have no corruption in it. Our Lord said, touch me, handle
me, it's me. It's me. Oh my, that's going to be what
a wonderful day. And now I'll tell you what, that
corruptible seed, you know, it says if we're made new creatures,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. by the word of God which liveth
forever and ever. If God makes us new creatures
here and resurrects us from the death of sin and gives us life
here in that new nature here, imagine what the new life will
be like if with the new nature that we already have here. If
he could do that, imagine what he can do in the resurrection. All right. And oh my, let me
give you something else here. back over here in 1 Corinthians
15. Victory over sin, victory over
mortality, and then look at this, victory over death. He said in
verse 55, oh death, where is thy sting? You know, we know where they
got this from, Isaiah 25.8, look at it. Isaiah 25.8. This is nothing new. This wasn't
something that Paul came up with. This is something that God told
him and taught him. Isaiah 25 8. Look what he says here. He will swallow up death in what? Victory. And you know what happens when
he swallows up death in victory? And I tell you, there's a lot
of tears over death in this world. A lot of tears, a lot of sorrow,
a lot of grief. But he swallows up death in victory.
Just swallows it up. Just like taking this glass. I swallow it. He swallows up
death. And he swallows it up in victory.
He said, here's death. Look what I did to it. I defeated
it. I destroyed it. I put it down. It'll never have dominion over
my people. It can't rule my people. It can't
defeat my people. It can't owe my people. And look
what he says. And then this victory is so wonderful,
so great. And he says, the Lord God will
wipe away tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his
people shall he take away from all the earth, for the Lord hath
spoken. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. And it tells us that
he took not upon him the nature of angels, but the A seed of Abraham that he had
the power over the death and delivered them who through fear
of death all their lifetimes were scared because of death. Subject in bondage. And I know
this, it says about in 1 Timothy 1.10 that our Lord Jesus Christ
abolished death. Abolished it. If he abolished
death over our sin, And if he put the results of our death
and the curse of sin away from us and saved us from our spiritual
death, how easy will it be for him to take death, the physical
death, and destroy you? And that's why the resurrection
gives us more hope than you can ever imagine. Because a believer, when he goes
this way, I'm telling you, sin ain't going to... He's going
to be alright because sin's been put away. That's why death does
not have no sting in it. And he's not mortal anymore and
he's not corruptible anymore. He's already been made immortal
and already been incorruptible. And then death has been already
swallowed up in victory in our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
went into the grave and he swallowed death and defeated death so that
when he said, it says in 1 Timothy 1.10, Jesus Christ hath abolished
death and brought life and immortality to life. Where at? Through the
gospel. Through the gospel. Thanks be
unto God. which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then one other thing, and
I'm through. One other thing. Oh grave, where is your victory? I've said this before. Now everybody
don't feel the way that I do. I know everybody don't feel the
way that I do. They have a great affinity for
a grave. That's the only thing they can
remember about somebody is where they want to go and remember
them and be around them and talk to them and sometimes at those
places. But I personally, I don't do
that. I don't feel like it's necessary.
I, you know, don't go to my mother's grave, my dad's grave, my wife's
grave. Don't go to my grandpa's grave.
You know why? For a believer, they're not there.
They're not there. No. They're gone. They're gone. There's a body there. There's
a body there. But that part that's eternal,
that part that's immortal, that part that's corruptible, that's
already put on incorruption. That's already put on immortality.
That's already had the sting of death took away. And that's
already got victory over death. You know, when our Lord said,
I give unto them eternal life, what do you think He's talking
about? Eternal life till you die? No. In all grave where is your
victory? Our Lord Jesus said in John 5,
28, the hour is coming and now is, which all that are in the
graves shall hear the voice and come forth. And let me tell you
something, let's look over here at 1 Thessalonians 4. We've looked
at this so many times, 1 Thessalonians 4. And here's the thing, the
people that's members of his body, members of our Lord Jesus
Christ's body, where's he at right now? Where's his body at? Wherever he is, that's where
they're at. And we're gonna be the first
to share in our Lord's triumph over the grave and bondage and
corruption. Now I'll tell you this, people
talk about the rapture. You know, you got so many people
talk about the rapture. What that means is, if you never
heard about it before, that that means that God's gonna sneak
in here, come in here and sneak all his people out here and leave
everybody else here to go through some kind of a tribulation. And
if they endure that tribulation, then they get to be saved. Now
our Lord don't have to sneak around and do anything. Paul
told a bear on Mars Hill, said this gospel and what God did,
he didn't do it over here in the corner. He done it for everybody
to see. Christ was crucified before the
world. Christ was crucified where everybody
could see. God sent him forth where everybody
could see it. God didn't go over here in the
corner and say this is what I'm gonna do. He's not gonna come
here and sneak his people out of here. No, no, when we leave
here, everybody's going. And look what he said here now. But he said in verse 13, but
I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which
are asleep. Now he's talking about when a
believer goes, he said it's just like he goes to sleep. It's like going into a sleep.
They lose consciousness. They are not aware of anything
around them. They are not aware of anything
that anybody is going through. And so He is just talking about
His taking rest. That is what He told them about
Lazarus. He says, we are going over Lazarus sleepeth. And they said, well, if he sleeps,
he is doing well. And then our Lord finally said,
well, he is dead. He said, but I'm gonna go and
wake him up. He says, brethren, I would not
have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. I tell you what, if you go to
somebody that has no hope. For if we believe, if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep,
now here's where they sleep at, in Jesus, resting in Christ,
joined to Christ, finding their comfort in Christ, will God bring
with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, what God said, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, shall not hinder,
not be in the way of them which are asleep. For the Lord himself,
Christ himself, shall descend from heaven, and there's gonna
be this shout, shout, and with the voice of an archangel, I
don't know which archangel it's gonna be, whether it's gonna
be Gabriel or it's gonna be Michael, I don't know. That's the only
two you find mentioned. And with the voice of an archangel
and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then all of us that are alive
and remain shall be caught up, caught up, caught up, caught
up together with them. We're at in the clouds. You know
how high the clouds are? That's where you're gonna start
meeting together in the clouds. To meet the Lord in the air.
So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye one
another with these words. Thanks be unto God. for the victory
he gives us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be ye steadfast, unmovable. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, Thank you for your grace, for
your great pity, for your abundant mercy. Thank you for the blessed hope
we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, for the victory that you give
us over everything that's in this world, and over this flesh,
and this corruption, and this mortality, and sin, and in the
death and the grave. You give us the victory over
all the things. that men and women are so afraid
to face in this world. But oh Lord Jesus, you've made us ready, you've
made us willing. And Lord, we're like the apostle. For us it's far better to depart
and be with Christ, but yet for the sake of ourselves and others
that we No, we're to remain here to you through. God bless these
dear saints and meet the needs of their hearts. And oh Lord,
please, please, please, for Christ's sake, do something for Kathleen,
her family. Lord, raise her up, touch her,
give doctors wisdom to do for her, to figure out what her problem
is. Oh God, you can cause the doctors
to understand. And oh Lord Jesus, you send the
Spirit of God to her, touch her body, touch her heart, touch
her spirit, because I know she's discouraged, I know she's weary
of being sick, so God help her and strengthen and encourage
her. And Lord Jesus, we pray for those among us who yet don't
know Christ, yet are unbelievers, And so, Lord, we'll have great
sorrow with them sometime because they have no hope. So, Lord, we ask that you do
something for them so that we would not sorrow over them, but
rejoice. Father, I pray for your forgiveness
of everything unlike you. Not only for what I've done,
but for what I am. As everyone that's prayed tonight
said, Lord, we need you. And Father, I know that every
soul in this building needs you. All of us that are believers
need you. And Lord, we want you. So be with us, keep us, and preserve
us. Bring glory to yourself through
us, for Christ's sake. Amen. Well, I'll see you Wednesday
night, God willing. Good night and God bless you.