How Close Are We? | Selvin Cortez

Wow, it is uh amazing, amazing to be here, church.

Uh I've missed you during the week.

I've been praying for you.

You are in my heart uh all throughout the week.

Uh this is the moment that I've been waiting for for the past two and a couple of months, two and a half years almost.

Um the reason why uh I'm so excited about this series is because ultimately that's my job.

Um and and I want to tell you that we have we have counseling during the week.

Uh if you need to speak, uh Lori's available, I'm available for you um uh during the week.

Whenever you need prayer, something specific, something's going on in your life.

Yes, that's why we're here.

And and I'm grateful to have that opportunity.

Now, the reason I'm here, uh the reason I think that God placed me on planet Earth is to get you ready.

To get you ready for a moment that is coming.

And that moment is so impactful.

It's a moment like no other moment in the in history, in humankind, like humankind has not lived what we are about to experience.

And my job is to get you ready for that moment because it's going to be glorious, it's going to be amazing, and this is the end times, and we are living in the end times, and what a glorious time to be alive.

And we're gonna be going through the next three weeks exactly what that means, what that means for you, what that means for us as a church, and what that means overall as the body of Christ.

Now, with that, there are there are different positions, there are different uh visions of this, and and um when when is this going to happen?

And today, what we're gonna be talking about is this.

So, so watch this.

Um, this is our timeline.

I'm gonna get out of the way because you might want to see this really nice.

This is the timeline that is stipulated by God in his word.

And so, what we're gonna be talking about today is this one right here.

So we're gonna stick with, I'm I'm in the shadow, I know, uh, but we're gonna stick to this one right here, this moment.

This is called the rapture, and we're gonna be we're gonna be focusing here today.

Now, from there, from there, we're gonna go next week, we're gonna go into the tribulation and what that means for the church, what that means for you.

That's gonna be next week.

The third week is gonna be the second coming of Christ and all of that business.

I know it seems like a lot for the third week, but trust me, it's gonna it's gonna fit.

It's gonna fit in in the hour and a half that I got.

Uh but we're gonna touch on all of that.

So it's gonna be an amazing, amazing time.

And so, with that, the question comes up how close are we?

How close are we to this moment?

And I think we are incredibly close.

This is this is my this is my uh feeling, this is my gut feeling.

There is there is uh something that God has placed in all of our hearts, and in theology, it's called the beatific vision.

The beatific vision just means this: there is a longing in your heart to see him, there is a longing in your heart to speak about him, there is a longing in your heart to get to know him, and that beatific vision is God placed.

He placed it in your heart.

There is this need for us to see him, and that moment is coming.

So I want you to imagine a moment unlike anything else in human history.

Anything that humanity has ever experienced will not compare to this moment.

In an instant, in a moment, believers are suddenly going to be gone.

In an instant, we're going to be gone.

And in that moment, in that moment, imagine this for a second.

Maybe, maybe, maybe you'll be driving.

Maybe you'll be driving your car, and Christ comes for his church.

And in that moment, there's going to be devastation across all of the of the earth, not just here, everywhere.

Imagine a pilot who is a believer flying a plane, and all of a sudden Christ comes for his church, he gets lifted up.

What's going to happen?

Devastation is coming to this world.

In fact, Jesus, if you remember, Jesus, when he when he first steps into uh uh uh the synagogue, he opens the scroll and he opens a scroll to a book called Isaiah.

And in Isaiah 61, he starts to read and he says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

And he starts going through the whole uh part of that prophecy for uh the spirit of the Lord to change to uh to bring uh peace uh to those that are that are longing for peace, to bring joy and to change uh uh sorrow into gladness.

And and then the final part of that verse, when Jesus is speaking, he says, and to usher in or to bring in the good news of salvation, he closes the scroll.

But in Isaiah, there is no, there is a second part to that verse that Jesus doesn't doesn't uh proclaim.

And so in Isaiah the book says, and and uh to bring good news, to bring the gospel, to bring good news to those that are longing, to bring the good day of the Lord and the day of his wrath.

Now, Jesus doesn't speak, he doesn't say to bring the day of the wrath.

So what he's establishing there is that there is a period of time of the grace of God over all of humanity.

And that grace, that grace looks like this that you are getting something that you did not deserve.

That's what grace means, that I receive from God that which I don't deserve.

What do I deserve?

The Bible says it very clear, for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

And all that sin have a payment.

The wages of sin is death, and not just physical death, but eternal death, a lifetime eternally separated from God forever.

And Jesus stops short at the wrath of the judgment day because right now we are living in a time where his grace is abounding, and we are the bride of Christ, we are his church, he is our groom, he is the one we long for, and in that moment, he's going to take up his church.

We're going to see that right now.

He's gonna take up his church, and in that moment, now the second part of Isaiah is fulfilled.

The coming day, the wrath of God over the world.

Why?

Because sin has abounded, but where sin abounds, grace overabounds.

Amen.

And so we are looking at this uh this series, and I'm really excited because when you think of end times and you think of the book of Revelation, the first thing that comes to mind is apocalypse now, just just just bombs and devastation and all that, and that's true, it's coming, but I want to tell you something.

There is something special about the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation, if you've never opened it up, it's the last book in the Bible, and something really, really special about it that is not found in any other book.

The book of Revelation says this that blessed are they who read this book, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

This is the only book in the Bible that comes with a promise that if you read it, you will be blessed.

So let's read it, and have the blessing of God come over your life because ultimately the book of Revelation starts with my favorite verse of all time in the Bible.

All of them, but this one.

This one is the one.

The book of Revelation starts like this: this is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's it.

This is the revelation of Jesus.

The book of Revelation.

The word revelation is apocalypse.

You've heard of the word apocalypse?

Right.

Apocalypse just means this unveiling.

So the whole book of Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus.

Now, now you're probably wondering, yeah, but I've I've I've read some parts, and some parts I just I don't even want to stick to because it just feels like otherworldly.

But ultimately, here's the thing: we have a revelation of Jesus, who he was on earth through the gospels.

We know where he walked, we know with who he walked.

We can even time sort of how he looked, not physically, but the the clothes he wear while he was here, the sandals on his feet, the robes.

We know that that he must have had a beard.

You know, maybe he had long hair.

That's about all that we know.

We have a revelation of who Jesus is through the gospels, but now we're getting the revelation of who he is right now.

As the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, what does he look like right now in heaven?

And that is what the book of Revelation is all about.

It's not about seeing Jesus hanging on the cross, it's seeing him victorious sitting on a throne.

That's what Revelation is all about.

And so the question then becomes how close are we?

How close are we?

Listen, church, something is happening, something great is happening in history.

And what we're gonna see is what the Bible predicts.

So Jesus, Jesus, his his coming uh the first time when he came as a baby is predicted all throughout scripture.

And we know exactly when he came because it's there's a prediction.

We know that it was him that was born on Christmas Day.

We know that it's Jesus that came.

And so if we know the first coming, we can understand the times that are coming.

And the and the disciples, they they wanted to know.

Jesus spoke about his second coming to the disciples, and they wanted to know when is this going to happen?

And that's what that's what I want to know.

When is this going to happen?

How close are we?

Matthew 24, verse 3.

Matthew 24:3

Matthew 24, verse 3.

Matthew 24:3

It says, As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, that's really important.

Okay, keep that.

Where is he sitting?

On the Mount of Olives.

Really important for the third week.

Okay, we'll come back to it.

The disciples came to him privately and they said to him, Tell us when will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.

They were really interested in understanding when and what were the signs going to be.

So I'm gonna leave you some homework, okay?

So I'm gonna leave you some homework.

Those of you that absolutely love to get into your Bibles, I want you to see this.

In the book of John, John is the one that that gets the revelation, the final revelation of who Jesus is.

That's John.

Now, in the book of John, you know there's a word that's missing?

Miracles.

The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they talk about Jesus' miracles.

Do you know what John calls them?

Signs.

Signs and wonders.

And so John is preemptively pointing us to a specific date.

In fact, some homework, and we'll talk about it if you don't do the homework.

Some homework.

What was Jesus' first miracle?

Turning water into wine.

Where at a wedding.

And John doesn't call it a miracle, he calls it a sign because that's pointing, signs point.

And the sign of the first miracle of Jesus is pointing to something really, really special.

And so if we keep on going, Jesus says to them, You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.

Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Nation will rise against nation, the kingdoms against kingdoms.

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places, and all these things are the beginnings of birth pains.

And we see that in the news.

Russian drone attacks just a couple of weeks ago, killed three children and a woman in Kiev region, Ukraine says.

Millions of people in Sudan surviving on one meal a day, famine as food crisis deepens, NGO says.

US allies fret over how Trump might play his Taiwan hand with qi.

Death toll from Venezuela earthquake rises to 3,535 as thousands remained displaced.

Now we have had, we have had earthquakes, we have had wars, we have had famines all throughout human history.

And Jesus isn't saying to interpret the news with the with the word.

He's not saying interpret the news with the word, he's saying interpret the word that's that's in your hands right now and see what is happening outside.

So our foundation is the word of God.

So Jesus is really specific, and he's saying that there are going to be famines, earthquakes, nations against nations.

Nations will rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms.

And what he's saying there is that that's not nothing new, but what is new is the next part of the verse where it says, all these things are the beginnings of birth pains.

Now, I was there for all three of mine, and I can tell you this that as my wife was getting ready to give birth, there was something that happens with birth pains that you know it's time to give birth.

And that is frequency.

That is frequency.

And so birth pains will start, and you'll get you'll get a contraction.

Here I am trying to explain it to you.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I think I'm just going on a tangent here.

Um what am I doing?

Contractions come for the fellas, for the fellas.

This is for the fellas.

Um tractions will come, and I remember, I remember recently, um uh Josue, our our our director, uh, he uh uh he had uh a child recently.

His name is Noah.

We presented him last week, and as uh as uh Steffi is going into uh labor, um silly me, he's already had a child, silly me, I was like, you know what you gotta do, Josue?

You gotta you gotta start writing down the moments of contraction.

So when she's got a contraction, write down the time.

And then and then when she gets a second contraction, write down the time and figure out how long it's been between transactions transactions, contractions.

This is falling apart.

This is falling apart.

Uh how long it's been between uh contractions, and he said, uh he calls me my pastor.

He said, My pastor, my pastor.

Um there's an app for that.

And I'm like, I my last kid was 15 years ago, and so there wasn't an app for that.

He said, There's an app for that, and so I guess now the app tells you the frequency.

Now imagine this is our app right here, and it is telling us that there is a frequency that is coming, and in the frequency of wars and rumors of wars, you can you can go and find out how many wars have been started just this year.

Just this year.

It's crazy the amount of wars that have happened in the last 50 years versus all of humanity, human history.

We are entering into a uh a frequency of famines, pestilence.

We live through COVID.

Um there's there's there's earthquakes.

The frequency of earthquakes is incredible.

The earth is is ready to give birth, and and birth pains point to a moment, the coming of a promise.

And in that promise, in the coming of the promise, that's where we are standing.

And so we we look at our world, and Jesus says, do not be alarmed.

Do not be alarmed.

See to it that you are not alarmed.

And so I've had this always, always.

Is the Antichrist around?

Hey, did you see that in Europe they're they're starting to put chips in people?

They're already putting chips in dogs, and now they're putting chips in people.

Is that is is that it?

Are we there?

Is it coming?

Are we are we soon?

And so we get alarmed by what's going on around us.

And Jesus says, do not be alarmed.

See to it that you are not alarmed.

Don't be alarmed at what's going on in the world, even though this world is pointing to a specific time.

And so uh back in 1948, something happened in one single day that was the the ushering in of the a prophetic clock of God, and that is Israel became a nation.

In 1948, Israel became a nation, and the Bible says in Ezekiel, will a nation be born in one day?

It took a thousand years for that promise to come forth, more.

It took two thousand years for that promise to come forth.

And guess what?

Guess what happened?

More than that, three thousand.

Guess what happened?

In one single day, the nation of Israel was born.

There was there was a vote that was passed at at the United Nations, and the the Isra Israel became a nation.

Right then and there, boom, something starts.

The clock of God uh started all over again when we see Israel becoming a nation.

We see global conflict, and we are we are witness to that instantly through the power of technology.

AI can reproduce faces and voices with a single click.

We're gonna see how that plays into effect in the Great Tribulation.

The digital systems that connect our planet, if there is an event that's going to happen, every eye shall see.

If something happens on planet Earth, we can instantly see it through the power of technology.

Previous generations struggled to imagine the time that we are living in today.

We sent a couple of dudes to space in the 60s, and the technology that is in your pocket right now supersedes all of the technology that was available to them to send somebody to the moon.

And technology is just increasing month after month, it's not even.

Even year after year anymore.

It's duplicating at an incredible rate.

And the Bible predicts this and says that information and knowledge would be increased and multiplied in the last days.

So does every headline equal prophecy?

No.

But the headlines point us towards what is happening.

History is uh showing us that Christ is coming back.

We are moving towards the revelation of Jesus.

And what we are waiting for is a person.

We are waiting for a person, and it's going to happen in an instant.

Let's go to Thessalonians for a second.

Watch this.

This is where we get our doctrine from Thessalonians 15.

The Apostle Paul who was caught up.

And he says, I saw things that I can't write.

But I saw things.

I was caught up.

He saw, he saw a vision of heaven.

And in that moment, he says, This, listen, I tell you a mystery.

Like when you start like that, it's like somebody coming up to you and saying, Hey, I got some scoop.

I gotta tell you something.

And they're burning inside to tell you.

That's what Paul is saying here.

Listen, I tell you a mystery.

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed, for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality.

How long is that going to take?

In the twinkling of an eye.

In a flash, in an instant of time, we will be caught up to be with him.

And it will be at the sound of the trumpet.

Paul says, at the sound of the last trumpet, you will spiritually hear the sound of a trumpet.

And in that moment, the Bible is really, really specific.

In that moment, we are going to be caught up.

Now, I saw a video, and this person has a special place somewhere, uh, maybe not in heaven.

Uh, but it was a video in in Brazil, and um, and and this guy took a trumpet all the way up to the mountain and started to blow the trumpet all the way on top of the mountain, and people were like, What's going on?

What's going on?

It was a prank.

Uh, and I I don't know, I don't know where this guy's gonna end up.

Uh, I hope he is saved.

But but let me tell you this: you will hear the sound of the trumpet, and a couple of things are going to happen in that moment.

In the moment that you hear the sound of the trumpet, the Bible says that the Lord will come down, and he will he will come down from from heaven.

He will come down from heaven.

Now, just stay with me.

He will come down from heaven, he descends, the Lord descends, the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise.

The dead in Christ will rise, and the living are caught up to be together with them.

And this is where the enemy takes advantage of the word of God.

This is where the enemy, what he wants to do, is he wants to distort the truth of the word of God.

So you've heard of zombies?

Yeah, walking around this crazy stuff.

It's October.

It's not October yet, but it's coming, and there's there's all these zombies and people walking, the the living dead, and all of this garbage.

This is what the enemy wants to do.

He wants to put fear in us, and he wants to think of the the dead in Christ will rise up.

What does that mean?

Literally, the tombs are going to open up of all the believers that are dead in Christ.

Their tombs are going to open up and they are gonna come out walking.

I know, I know, but in that moment they will be they they will be resurrected, they will come out, and in that moment they will be taken up, and we will be taken up right after with them.

And the Bible is very specific in First Corinthians.

It says that we will the dead will rise imperishable, and we will be changed.

In other words, we're going to be with them, they're going to rise up.

So if you have a loved one that was that that is fallen asleep, a loved one that that has passed away in Christ, there is hope.

And there is a resurrection that is coming for them.

And in that moment, we will all be changed.

The mortal will change into immortality, the dead are raised, the living are transformed.

Why?

Because the rapture of the church, the the word rapture comes from the Greek word harpazo, to be caught up, to be taken suddenly in a moment.

And it's it's what we call the iminency of the return of Christ.

It is coming.

He is coming, and my job is to get you ready for that moment.

He is coming, and in that moment, we are going to be caught up with him and with those that we love, our loved ones that have passed away in Christ.

We will be caught up and be taken up with him.

The rapture is the victory of Christ over death manifested in his people.

And right after this, there is the verse in verse 55.

It's not on the screen, but this is where, this is where your mortal body takes on immortality.

This is where death, it says it two verses down, death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where, oh death, is your victory?

Where, oh death, is your sting?

In that moment, you will no longer be subject to death, you will no longer be subject to separation with Christ, because in that moment we will be caught up together, and the people that we buried in Christ will be risen, we will come with them, the dead in Christ will rise, we will be with the Lord forever.

We will be with him forever for the Lord Himself, for the Lord Himself will present himself to us.

And listen, we worship God, we worship God because we have the faith.

We believe He died and rose again, we believe He He saved us, He died for my sins.

We worship that God, we worship Jesus in that day you'll see Him face to face as He is.

And the Bible speaks of how Jesus is.

Uh 1 John 3.2 says, He is coming himself.

We shall see him as he is, the eminency of Christ.

If we look at at three verses very quickly, Philippians 3.2, Titus 2.13, and 1 Thessalonians 1.10, we eager eagerly await.

While we wait, and waiting for his son, we are waiting for a person.

We're not waiting for the Antichrist to manifest himself.

That's not what we're waiting for.

We're not waiting to see how many chips people get in their arms or on their foreheads.

We're not waiting for any of that.

We're waiting for a person, and that person is Jesus.

Ultimately, revelation, the rapture, the end times.

It's all about him and seeing him face to face.

And so the question then becomes Are we ready?

Are we ready to see him?

Are we ready to be with him?

We are waiting for the person and then the next person that the church is looking for and longing for is Jesus.

And so the question is uh, when and how long do we have?

When is this going to happen?

How close are we to this moment?

How close are we to this moment?

Can I ask a better question?

How close are you to him?

How close are you to him?

Because whether you go to heaven or not, it depends on your proximity to him.

Have you accepted Christ, your Lord, as your Lord and Savior?

Guys, there is a time that is coming.

It is coming, and and and we do not want to stay.

We do not want to be left behind.

And in order to not be left behind, it's very, very simple.

I say simple, but it's not free.

The easiest way to make sure that you're going to be raptured up, that you are going to be taken up with him, is when you accept him in your heart, that you declare that he is your Lord, and that you believe that he is risen on the third day for the victory over sin in your life.

If you believe that, you will be caught up and seek him in heaven.

That's the only way.

And I don't want to sugarcoat it.

There is no easy way of saying that.

There is only him or not him.

And if you decide, and I promise you, I promise you that this message, you will remember it if you decide that that's not the path that you want.

The devastation that is coming and the wrath that is coming upon humanity is going to be like never before.

And there is nothing that will guarantee your survival in that time during those seven years.

You see, I want to say this, and I'm going to be as bold as I can.

There is not one Christian that will be left behind.

Not one.

Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.

Will be saved.

And so today is your day.

Today is your time to declare to to call on the name of Jesus and be saved.

It is urgent.

That I believe we're living on borrowed time.

And we believe in the imminence, and we believe that God is going to deliver us from this moment of wrath because it is a pattern.

And I want you to see the pattern throughout scripture.

And the pattern starts at Noah.

In fact, Jesus says it himself that the coming of the Son of Man will be like unto the days of Noah.

So if you remember the story of Noah, it was a great flood, and in that moment, the judgment of God came down upon humanity.

And only eight people survived.

And those eight people were given a task to build an ark that would save humanity and all the animals.

That was their task.

That was Noah's job.

And people in that time were saying, A flood?

Are you crazy?

Noah is shouting out, guys, come into the ark.

Guys, help me build this.

Guys, there is there is judgment that is coming.

There is a great flood that is coming, and everybody laughed at him.

But he kept on building, he kept on building, and he took his family and they kept on building and they built up the ark.

And once the ark was fully made, people were still making fun of him.

The time had come for the judgment of God to fall upon the earth.

Why?

Because sin, the Bible says that in Noah's time, sin was so great that it rose up, it rose up to the presence of God.

That's how great sin was in that time.

And let me ask you something.

In that time, there was there was so much sin all around.

It rose up, and God said, I will bring my judgment down upon sin.

But all who enter into the ark will be saved.

Turns out nobody wanted to, nobody believed the message, nobody cried out.

Guys, this is our ark right here.

This is the ark of the Lord right here.

This is the covenant of God.

This is the presence of God.

This is the temple of the Lord.

You are the temple.

This is where we gather.

This is our place of getting ready for that moment.

We are building together.

We are putting each piece of wood together for that ark that is going to save the many.

But it's our job, it is incumbent upon us to preach this word that He is coming back and He is waiting for you.

And the Bible says that as Noah entered, God Himself, the Lord Himself, shut him in.

The door didn't have a hinge.

It was God that closed the door.

It was too heavy for Noah to close.

And so God closed the door and he protected the family.

And then the waters rose.

And that was it wasn't like a rain like we get here.

The waters rose so quickly, so fast that the mountains were covered.

And so where is Noah now?

He's up in heaven by the clouds with the ark.

And he is saved from the devastation below.

He is saved from the wrath below.

So Noah is up here.

Wrath down here.

Death, devastation, judgment down here.

Noah is above it.

And so that's what Jesus says.

Jesus says that it'll be like in the times of Noah.

He also says that it'll be like the days of Lot.

And Lot lived in a city, a bad city.

And that city was called Sodom.

And the neighboring city, Gomorrah.

And in that moment, God, they they were so evil, so evil, that God sent an angel down to warn Noah.

Noah, Lot.

He sent an angel down to warn Lot and said to Lot, Lot, you have to leave this place because watch this.

I can do nothing until you leave.

The wrath of God is coming down upon Sodom.

You need to leave, and you need to leave quickly, instantly, right now.

And the people of Sodom saw the angel.

And let's keep it PG.

But they wanted relations with the angels.

And the Bible says specifically that it was the men.

The men wanted to have these moments with the angels.

Just a complete, complete sin covered city.

And the Bible says, Jesus says that the Son of Man is going to come and it's going to be like in the days of Lot where sin and and and and perversion is rampant.

And that's when God says, I'm getting ready.

I'm getting ready to do something.

But but I can't.

I can't do anything right now.

Because Lot, you're still in the city.

Because church, bride, you are still on earth.

And so he says that as soon as the Bible says that as soon as Lot left Sodom, it started to rain down hail and brimstone and fire.

And the city was devastated.

And we still find remnants of that city today.

With rocks that are burnt up completely.

Thessalonians 5 9, God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.

Revelation 3 10, I will also keep you from the hour of trial.

Now I need to be really specific here.

Jesus said that in this lifetime we will we will be persecuted.

In this lifetime, we will experience tribulations.

That's what Jesus said.

But then he said, but but but have heart, take heart, for I have overcome the world.

And I'm with you through that.

This is not talking about persecutions and tribulations that we could suffer today.

This is very specific, definitive article, the tribulation, the hour of the Lord, the day of wrath.

This is a very, very specific moment in time.

And it is in that moment that God is going to deliver us from.

And so the Bible says that Jesus knows his sheep, he knows them, he calls them by name, they hear his voice, and they belong to him.

And so then the question becomes what's going to happen?

So we get raptured up.

We get taken up.

I know, I know how that might sound if this is the first time you're here, but trust me, God wants to protect you and wants to deliver you from a wrath that only He can give down to earth.

And it is going to be massive.

And next week we're gonna see how massive that is.

And you're probably wondering well, well, if if God is a loving God, why would He do that to humans?

Why would He do that to earth, to humanity?

Because God is a loving God, He's giving you the opportunity today so that you don't have to go through that moment.

Because God is a loving God, He has withheld His coming because He's waiting for you to accept Him in your heart so that you don't have to go through this moment.

There is an urgency of God for you to come to His feet because not only is God a loving God, but He's also a just God And He cannot and will not let sin go unpunished And so right now we are living in the time of grace, a time where you can call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

Can I say this?

During those seven years that are coming, where we're going to be raptured up into heaven, you cannot call on the name and be saved.

What's going to happen is you're going to have to give up your own life to be saved, and that death is gonna be gruesome because He doesn't want you to confess that Jesus is Lord, and so there is a time that is coming, church.

And I want you to feel the urgency of that moment.

The urgency of a moment where God is going to judge Earth, planet Earth.

And if you are not with Him, then you are going to be here left behind, and you're going to remember this message.

And there's gonna be people that are gonna be like, Why didn't I hear?

Why didn't I listen?

And I can imagine, as in Noah's time, that people were knocking on the door.

Noah, Noah, let us in, let us in.

The water is drowning us.

Let us in, but it was too late.

The door had been closed.

Paul says at the last trumpet.

That's the last trumpet of the church.

That's the last trumpet that we're going to hear.

That's the last trumpet for the church age.

There are coming seven more.

But that's not for the church.

And we're going to see what the trumpets and bowls and seals are next week.

And it's going to be devastating.

But for us, it's going to be the most glorious moment of all time.

You're going to see the face of Jesus.

You're going to see him, and you're going to be in his presence, and for the following seven years, we're going to be with him in what's called the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And we are going to be celebrating.

We are the bride of honor, and he's going to lift us up, and he's going to bring us together, and we will be married to our groom, our Christ, our Lord, our Savior, the one who gave his life for you.

His name is worthy.

His name is going to be placed upon your life.

And you will see him.

And I don't know what that looks like for you.

Maybe, maybe you'll dance in his presence.

Maybe you'll shout out.

Believe it, believe it, you made it.

We're here.

That's him.

Maybe others will dance like David danced in his presence.

Some of you that can sing, maybe you'll sing, I want to be that person.

I can, it won't be me.

Maybe you'll just start singing a new song.

Maybe you'll join in the choir of the angels that say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is here now.

The kingdoms and the heaven belong to him.

Maybe, maybe you'll be singing that with the choir.

Or maybe you'll just know.

I don't deserve to be here.

But I am.

And you'll fall at his feet.

Just say thank you.

Thank you for your grace.

I didn't deserve it.

But I'm here today.

But if I could just wrap my arms around your feet.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for calling your church, your bride.

We long for that day.

We long to see you face to face as you are.

To worship at your feet.

Who are we?

That you are mindful of us.

And that you would want to be eternally with us.

I don't know which one I'm going to be.

But I do want to fall at his feet.

That's all I need.

If that's my eternity, amen.