In this sermon, the preacher focuses on 1 Thessalonians 4, discussing the believer's walk and the Lord's coming for the saints. The first part of the chapter emphasizes the importance of the believer's conduct and pleasing God. The preacher highlights the commandments given by the Lord Jesus and the will of God for sanctification and abstaining from fornication. The sermon also touches on the benefits of trials and the practical ways believers can show love and meet daily needs.

It'll be way beyond anything we've ever seen. Now, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. Wonderful chapter. First part of the chapter has to do with the model walk, the walk of the believer, and then, of course, the last part, the unveiling of the explanation of the Lord's coming for the saints. I think it's always good to read the Word of God, and so let's read these 18 verses, beginning at verse 1 of chapter 4. Remember, chapter 1 has to do with the believer's conversion in connection with the Lord's coming, the second chapter with his crown, the third chapter with our conduct, and today the believers comfort one another with these words. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of sensuality or concubines, even as the Gentiles who know not God, that no man go beyond and defile his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger of touch, and we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despised and despised is not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. For indeed ye do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye started to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, and that ye walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. 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. And then we who 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." What words they are! Why has anyone ever had words like that? The believer's portion is just beyond anything that we can probably question. How grand is our future? How certain is our future? How glorious is our future? You take out many as we keep, and we mustn't use the word old here, but as we keep getting older, you know there's not much prospect, is there? Humanly speaking, as we get older, get more people, and harder hearing, and harder to walk, and harder everything, you know. The old machinery slows down. The old tent wears out. There's not much to look forward to from the human standpoint, but oh what a blessed hope we have as believers. Isn't that wonderful? Now then, we'll start in the first part of the chapter, and it is very practical. Just a little bit by way of application from the third chapter. Remember, the third chapter dealt with the believers and their testing, and their trials, and we might just give a few benefits of trials. You know, God puts us through these trials and testing for our good. One of them is found in 1 Peter 1 7. We might just turn and read that. I'll read it to you. He says that the trial of your faith be much more precious than a bull that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So, we see first that they prove, the trials prove the reality of our faith. It brings out the real thing, and if we stand up in trial, there's a great reward more precious than gold. Secondly, they enable us to help others who pass through trials. You remember in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, Paul says we're able to comfort you with the same comfort with which we've been comforted of God. Unless you pass through trials, you can't help others. It's the man that's gone through sorrow that's able to comfort a person that goes through sorrow, and it's not until you pass through that way that you can say, I know, and you can enter into it, and you can comfort them. And then, there's something else. He says there are patience. Tribulation worketh patience, says Paul in Romans 5 verse 3. You heard of the story, I'm sure, about the man that asked the preacher to pray for him that he'll have more patience. I'm sure all of us at one time or another, we feel the need of that, and as the preacher got down and he started praying for him, he said, Lord send our brother tribulation. Because our brother, he said, I didn't ask you to pray for tribulation, I asked you to pray for patience for me. Ah, he said, Father, tribulation worketh patience. Kind of a hard way to get it, but that's how we get it. So, these are some of the benefits of trials, and then they make us more zealous to spread the gospel. You look on to the early part of the book of Acts. The more the people of God were persecuted and suffered tribulation, the more zeal they had to spread the gospel. That's the very opposite of what you would expect from the human standpoint. Gave them great zeal and desire to spread the gospel. And then, as we read in Job 23 verse 10, it helps him to remove the glass in our lives. He says, when he passed through this setting, he says, I shall come forth as gold tried in the fire. We're polishing us, hitting us for the glory. And something else that makes us realize this is not whole. You know, when you get everything too comfortable down here, you want to settle down and stay here. So, a few tribulations makes us realize this is not whole. We're only passing through, as the old hymn used to say, strangers and pilgrims passing through, and it makes us look long for the eternal city. Now, verse one, we have first a walk that's pleasing to God. Notice this pointed and forceful appeal. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren. That's one of Paul's great words, beseech. He could have said, we commend you, but he usually uses that word, beseech. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you be sent to bondage a living sacrifice. In several other places, he uses that word, beseech. I beg of you, I plead with you. And he said here, I beseech you, brethren, and exhort you, as to his past instruction by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, as you have heard of us in the past, now he says, I'm reminding you, I'm pointing out to you, that the Lord Jesus, this is how he wants you to walk. How you received of us, how you ought to walk. They received it by word, they received it by testimony, by their lives. You know how holy and unblemishedly we behaved ourselves among you, he could say to them. Now, we exhort you, according to our own way of living before the Lord, and in the word of the Lord, that you walk to please God. That's the great goal of a Christian, that I might please him, that I might be well-pleasing to him. That should be our greatest desire, that I might please him. Everything else is secondary. The chief end of man is to glorify God. Everything else should fall into insignificance next to that, that I might please him. Walking to please him, and that you would have bound more and more. Do you notice, as we reach such a long age, you often see these words together, you're bound more and more. One of Paul's great words was more. Romans 5, much more, much more, much more. Here, in this epistle you get more and more, more and more, that you're bound more and more, your faith increased more and more, that your love increased more and more. You never get to the place where, in your Christian life, where you can say, I have arrived. There's always room for more growth. I think all of you will agree with that. Some of you folks here have been saved longer than I'm alive, and you still, I'm sure, will admit I have still more room to grow, and there's always more room to grow. There's always more room, because God's ideal is that we might be conformed to his image, and how far short we come of that. So, there's room to go as you have the pattern before you, looking unto Jesus, and he says that you would not only go on more and more, but abound more and more. Terminologies, rich languages, and that's the thing, this is the permanent challenge. We can continue to abound more and more till we see him face to face. Then, in verse two, you have the preaching of the Apocryphal. You know what commandment we gave you by the Lord Jesus. He reminds them of his word to them through the authority of Christ. It's the commandment that we gave you by the Lord Jesus. Unless we teach the word of God, it has very little effect. Anything we add to the word of God doesn't mean very much. It's the word of God that has authority. It's by the word of the Lord Jesus, he says, that is his backing. By his authority, we speak to you. So, you have first the walk, the preaching to God. Then, in verses three to eight, you have the will of God in relation to wedlock. First, this is the will of God even your sanctification, a walk in holiness. Do you notice how practical this epistle is? A walk in holiness. This is the will of God even your sanctification. You know, we've been set apart. If you look at the word of God, I think you'll find there's sanctification as to the test. In 2 Corinthians, or 2 Thessalonians rather, you might just turn to one verse there, chapter two and verse 13. "'For we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning," notice that, these believers, "'he has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth.' Before he ever saved us, he set us apart by the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit prepared us." We have the same in 1 Peter 1 too, "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God and the sanctification of the spirit unto obedience of the sweetness of the blood of Jesus Christ." So, God's whole purpose in calling us was to make us holy. Then, when we are saved, he says even to the Corinthians that they were sanctified in Christ Jesus in opposition. We're absolutely holy because we're in his holiness. We're accepted in his perfection. We're made holy in him. Speaking holy now, says God, even as I'm holy. That's the practical aspect of all sanctification. God has called us to holiness, and don't you be afraid of that word. That's a Bible word. There's so much false teaching about holiness, but God's word tells us we're to be holy even as he's holy. This is the will of God, your sanctification. That's God's great desire. Out of unholy beings, he wants to make us holy. He wants us to live as we are positionally. We are holy in Christ Jesus, now he wants us to live it out, and it's not in ourselves, it's only brought by his power. So, we see then the will of God demands absolute holiness, and that it demands sexual purity in our lives. Abstain, it says, that he abstains from fornication. Our lives should be holy in that aspect as well. I then notice in verse 4 that every one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. This is the right way to control ourselves, to speak about self-control. It's to possess your vessel, to keep your body under, and to have it in control under him in sanctification and honor. All vessel is a vessel that should be beat for the master's use. These bodies of ours are not for fornication, they're for the Lord. That's the purpose of it. And then, the wrong way is mentioned in verse 5, not in the lust of sensuality even as the Gentiles who know not God. We know the Lord now, we've been called unto cleanness and to holiness, and that's the word of God standard for the believers. Now, we need to teach this to our young people. There's a day, you know, when there's no standard anymore. Young people can't even blush anymore. They live together in the colleges, co-ed, and their dormitories, and all that, and they don't think there's a thing wrong with it. How we need to sound out God's standards. Let's remember, God has not changed. His word has not changed. His standards have not changed. It's still the same. He doesn't have one standard for the people of our age, and then he has a different standard for young people of this new generation. It's still the same, and how we need to emphasize that. And then, it speaks about wrong committed against our brothers in verse 6, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother. Now, you know what the penalty was under law if a man took another man's wife, the two of them would be stoned. God hasn't changed any. Though this is the day of grace, and he doesn't come right out in judgment like that on an individual and kill him right there, God says there's still judgment. Listen, what is that they ever say? Because the Lord is the avenger of all such. He's the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified. Sin will never go unpunished unless we confess our sin and forsake it. Then, in a future day, it's going to be dealt with. It's the sin of the believer unless it's dealt with, will be dealt with by the Lord. He's the avenger of all those that commit uncleanness. He warns us against his vengeance. In first Corinthians 6, we might just turn to that, 9 and 10, he says, "...know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Ye not deceive, neither fornicate, nor idolatrous, nor adulterous, nor effeminate, nor abuser of themselves with mankind, nor please, nor covetous, nor trusteth, nor revileth, nor extortionist, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are one." And that's the thing with the believers. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and that verse 7 here in first Thessalonians, he ends at 4, he says, "...but God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." This chapter, the first part of it, is full of the believer's holy walk. He says, "...by way of which you look at verse 6, the last part, remember then the apostle word, because the Lord is the avenger of all such." In verse 7, realize the purposes of God. God hath called us to holiness, not to uncleanness, but to holiness. That's God's purpose. Then, realize the tale of unbelief in verse 8, "...he therefore to despise." To despise is not man, but God. If we do not heed the word of God on this point, or any other point, we despise God and his word. Not man, but God. Oh, we're going to get this home to our young generation today. And then, remember, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That brings it up in the last part of verse 8, "...who had also given unto us of his Holy Spirit." Coincidence? He says, no, you're not. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have of God, and you're not your own, and therefore you're to glorify God in your body which you're His. We're completely somebody else's possession. That's why we can't use our bodies as the flesh would desire. We're to keep these things under, and turn our bodies over to the use of the Holy Spirit. Then, he asks the way for Christian love in verse 9 and 10, "...for as touching brotherly love." Now, why does he write so often about brotherly love in his epistles? Because it's tedious. We forget by nature we're so selfish, and he has to keep reminding us of brotherly love. "...for as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves have taught of God to love one another." The very nature of God is love. God is love. As he refers back to the Holy Spirit in verse 8, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love. Your body to the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of God dwells in you, gives you this love." Now, he wants you to exhibit this love one to the other. How can we show that the love of God dwelleth in us only as we express it one to the other? Love is something that's more than talk. It has to be expressed in action. So, you have this obvious reminder we're to love one another. We're taught of God to love one another. Then, in verse 10, "...and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia." He says you're doing a good job, but he's not satisfied. As much as they seem to be loving these brethren, he says we beseech you brethren that you increase it again more and more. You need to grow in grace more and more. You need to love more and more. Park of the Palms, you know, is a wonderful place. You can feel the love here, feel the warm fellowship, but I'm sure as Paul was writing to you here at Park of the Palms, he said that I can see how you love one another, but I want you to increase more and more. You can still add some more to what you're already doing. Don't get so smug with yourself and say, why we really love each other up here, you know, we're a wonderful group of people. Don't get taken up like that. He says you have room to love each other some more and more. There's some practical ways you can still show your love. You know, there's people respond to love. Love is the greatest thing, you know. My, when you sit down with people sometimes and start sharing and showing a little love to them in certain ways, you know, how they respond to that. It's the least little thing sometimes, you know, they respond to it. And then there's another practical verse in 1 Corinthians. Verse 11, after the working to meet our daily needs, he says that you study to be quiet. In other words, don't be restless. Don't be a restless individual. You know, some people, they can't sit down for a moment and visit their fellowship. They're always restless. They're a bundle of myrrh. Don't be restless. Secondly, do your own business. In other words, mind your own business. He doesn't let people that know the other man's business much better than his own. Much sooner talk about the other man's business than his own. When he has come to talk about his business, he gets suddenly very quiet. But oh, he can talk about the other man's business. He knows that so well, you know. He says now, mind your own business. Don't be a busybody. And then work with your own hands. Now, most of everybody here has always worked with their own hands, but in other words, don't be a sponger. I know certain people, the only time they come to a house is when they get hungry. This is true. Certain ones only come when he's hungry. All comes at mealtime. That's when they come. So, there's a sponger, you know. All the sponging. Lovely Christian, but all sponging. He says now, don't be a sponger. Work with your own hands. And then there's a worthy ambition in verse 12, that you may walk honestly toward them that are without. Well, those on the outside. That's a godly example to all those that are outside, in an honorable, independent need of nothing. You have need of nothing. Isn't that nice? And now we come on to the last section of this epistle, and how beautiful it is. Notice the box. When you get a box, you always get a great change. Here, he introduces a new and a grand subject. Here, he makes known a revelation that was a mystery. Remember, in 1st 1915, 51, he said, hold on, I'll show you a mystery. Now, he's going to unfold it, because these Christians, they needed to be instructed. They knew that Christ would return as King, but what about those that had died? How were they going to reign with him? Had they been relegated to an inferior place now that they had already died? Would they miss out on Christ coming for the church? Would their resurrection be deferred to the end of the tribulation? These are things that had to be explained. Now, after Paul's coming, they believe in a general resurrection and a general judgment. So, Paul now proceeds in these verses to give an orderly outline of just what will take place when the Lord comes again. In verse 13, we see the reassurance for those showing as a result of ignorance, but I would not have you to be ignorant rather. Now, it's understandable that they were ignorant about this revelation, but there's no excuse for us to be ignorant. He says, I don't want you to be ignorant rather than concerning those that are asleep. Now, he speaks about when he says, I don't want you to be ignorant, that means he's going to go on and inform them. It was his desire to inform them at what God's word was. He did that in other cases. You know, he told in Romans 11-5, he didn't want them to be ignorant concerning Israel's future, why they were partially blind. He didn't want them to be instilled with spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. He wants God's people to be instructed. Now, the word sleep is used in two ways. First, it means a physical rest. In Matthew 28 and verse 13, it reads like this, saying, Say ye, his disciple came by night, and stole him away while we slept. Referring to a physical rest. In John 11-12, it reads, Then said his disciple, If he sleep, he shall do well. This is speaking of a physical sleep, but it's most often used of the believer's body laid to rest. In Matthew 27 and verse 52, you read this, And the graves were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose. In Acts 7-60, when Stephen laid down his life for the Lord Jesus, he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Meaning, his body fell asleep. Not just at night's rest, but he died physically. 2 Peter 3-4 says this, and saying, With the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued so on. For sleep is never referred to as soul sleep. Let's make that very, very clear. It's a reaction from the body that wanted to be present with the Lord, and it's in religion which is far better. Sleep is never referring to the soul, it's to the body, and sleep means to lie down. Resurrection means to stand up, and I think if we keep that in mind, it helps us. Now, notice there, sleep was caused by ignorance. He said, Now I don't want you to be ignorant, but I am concerning them with your sleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. Sorrow is not ruled out, but it's not to be sorrow as others which have no hope. We sorrow when somebody goes to be with the Lord in that sense, because we're missed the one that's gone, and we feel sorry for ourselves. Here I am left alone, and she's going to be with the Lord, and so much better, and I'm left behind, and we miss them. We miss their companionship, their places empty, and so on. We do sorrow, but not as others, because we wouldn't want them back. They're with the Lord, which is far better. He said, I don't want you to sorrow as others who have no hope. Then he gives us the return of the departed Christian, made possible by the death and resurrection. Notice verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and we do that with all our hearts, even so them, just as you as Jesus died and rose again, even so them will sleep, and Jesus will God bring with him. You see, these dear ones are with the Lord Jesus, and when the Lord Jesus comes again, he's going to bring them with him to be reunited to their resurrected body. And I think that's what you have in chapter three, verse 13, even our Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with his saints. The whole setting there is Jesus coming back for the church, but he's taking those that's gone on to be with him. He's taking them back with him to be reunited to that body as it raised again. And he says here, just as you as Jesus died and rose again, even so them also will sleep, and Jesus, God is going to bring with him. He's going to bring them with him. They're not going to miss out on anything. What a great comfort to these believers who didn't know what had happened to those that had gone on before. They'd missed out on that first resurrection. They'd missed out on reigning with Christ. They didn't know what they'd missed out on. My friend, they're not missing out on a thing. And then, in verse 15, you have a revelation from God. Gandhi's departed Christians do not have an inferior place, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. And the thought behind this is just like God spoke to the prophets of old, gave them a divine revelation in the word from the Lord. So, this is the very same thing. I'm speaking to you by divine revelation. It's the word from God that says it. This is not something of my own concoctions, is it, Paul? I have at their death a revelation from the Lord, a word from God. We say unto you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord. Now, notice he puts himself among those that be alive and remain on the Lord's come. In other words, Paul anticipated the coming again of Lord Jesus. This is most remarkable, isn't it? Now, in verse 15 and verse 51, behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, he says, each including himself. But then I want you to notice a balance. If you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 14, and I think we get from Paul the balance we should have as believers. He says, verse 14, nor that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. Here he presents the other side. Again in chapter 5, verse 1, for if we know our earthly house of this tabernacle where there is salt, we, he said, have a building of God and house made, not made with hands, eternal in the heaven. So, he gives you that balance. The first two he gave you, he was expecting to be among those that be taken up. We who are alive. These two scriptures he speaks about his body. It's not going to be left, but it's going to be, we have a body and a house eternal in the heavens, and I think that's the view of the Christian. We should live as we may expect the Lord any moment, and yet live as though he may not come, but we still will pass through the valley as a shadow of death. We need to hold that balance. I think that was the thing that kept Paul so well balanced, so even in his whole outlook. Now, this revelation by the word of the Lord, and he adds a new thing that was unknown in the old testament. The church, of course, was not known then, and this is the resurrection of these saints to be with the Lord. From Genesis to Malachi, there'd be no hint of a rapture or separate church resurrection. This is what he unfolds here, and then he says, the living saints will not precede them who are asleep. Now, in the old version, of course, it's present, but not present. You have the same thought in Psalm 119 verse 147 that he presented the morning. What it really means, he preceded the morning. He was up early in the morning to meet with the Lord, and so we who are alive, we are not going to precede them. These that have gone on, they're not going to miss out this fall. We who are alive, we're not going to precede them. But, he says, if there's any order at all, and of course it all happens instantaneously in verse 16, you notice here that the resurrection bodies of the departed creatures who are the first to be mentioned, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Now, he says we're not going to precede them. Now, he says the Lord himself. I like that. Jesus said, I will come again. He's going to keep his promise. I'm going to be the one that's going to come from up high. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. This is a great shout of authority, just like the shipmaster used to shout to the rowers, the commander to the soldiers in the midst of great excitement, the shout, the voice of the Lord himself. And then, the voice of the archangel, possibly Michael. It doesn't say. We know that he says one archangel, that is, name by name. Then, with the trumpet of God in the Old Testament, if you care to read in Exodus 19, you'll find out the different trumpet sounds that call God's people together. What a time that's going to be. And then, notice that the dead in Christ shall rise first. They're not going to be left behind. All those bodies are going to come out, and the spirit and the soul will be reunited to that body, that glorified body. And, at the same moment, we're going to be changed, as we read in Corinthians. In a moment, the 20 will not. We're going to be changed. What a change that'll be. We who will remain shall, we who alive remain, shall be caught up. And, I understand that caught up there means with a great pull, a mighty thrust. You see, we'll be going through the enemy's territory, and he's going to take us right through. At that moment, it will be a lie. All speed records will be broken. It will make these fellows that go up in rockets, like they look, let them reverse. That moment will be able to be taken up. Grateful for righteousness. Remember, the same word Paul used about himself in 2nd Galatians 12, where he said that he was caught up into the third heaven. In Revelation 12 too, where the man-child, after he was born, he was caught up to heaven. So, that's the same caught up. We get our word, the rapture from that, and it's together. I tell you, if God's people are not together down there, down here, they're going to be together then. This is it. It'll be like life, won't it? All the divisions dividing them now will be all disappeared. We'll be caught up together. We'll be right together in that nest. It's nice to enjoy that now, isn't it? We're going to be caught up together. And, notice the clouds. We're going to be snatched away and caught up together with them, the clouds. Always with the Lord's coming, you have the clouds, especially connected with his revelation. And, we're going to meet the Lord in the air, face to face with Christ with Asia. I've told you before, this morning will be a morning that'll you've never seen another morning like it. This will be the morning of morning, face to face with the Lord Jesus. And, that moment in being like him, it'll all happen just in a split second. We'll meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is a tremendous thing, isn't it? No more partying now. When the Lord was here on earth, he was just with him at different periods of time. After his resurrection, he left him a little while, and then he left. He came back, and he left. He appeared on many different occasions, and he's gone again. But, then my friend, it's going to be unbroken with the Lord forever. It'll be within the presence of somebody you love forever and ever. When you marry a beautiful girl, you know, and you take her into your arms when you're first married, you say, you're mine. Take a sip. You're mine the rest of our lives till death do us part. But, the years, they soon run by. That young fellow, she marries such a big, strong, sturdy fellow. He becomes feeble and old. That beautiful young girl, she becomes old and wrinkled too, and bent. And, we can't always stay together down here. But, oh my friend, this will be all done away. We'll be forever with the Lord. No more, no more breaking of fellowship, or communion, or company. Isn't that going to be wonderful? And, in that place, we're going to be like him. Our bodies will no longer get old. There'll be no pain. In fact, there'll be no nightmare, no tears, no sorrow. Our love was not getting old. We're not getting old, but he turned his with eternal faith. No wonder he's that comfortable another with Jesus. Oh, this glorious, this great. Well, I see my time is gone. I was going to give you a lot of reasons why the rapture is very near, but we might just mention a few of these. You know, it's very significant, I might say, in many of these other things I've taken, but it's a very significant thing to be living in this day. I think President Nixon's trip to Russia and China was very significant, getting them to the far east, you know. Things are getting set. Each of these confederacies, the northern, the eastern, the Japan and Chinese are going to be getting together. The chain of the south is all set up. Isn't it significant? It's coming It's very, very near. You know, I saw a beautiful hymn here. It's 398. Will you sing about that one? Brother Hunter, can we sing one or two verses of that? What did I say, Brother Hunter? Oh, he's right down there. It may be at morn when the day is awaking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, that Jesus will come in the fullness of glory to receive from the world his own. Isn't that great? We'll just sing the first and last sentence. Hmm? I think we have to stand to sing that. Well, you have to sing it. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, how we thank thee and praise thee for this blessed hope, the hope of thy soon returning, with thy saint and for thy saint. We glorify thy name this day, our Father, and make the joy of this hour stay with us in the days to come. Glorify thy name, we pray thee, in all that is said and done, our Father, and we'll give thee praise in Jesus' worthy and precious name. Amen.