Mixed — multiple tensions with Jesus's own words in the passage being preached
Five flagged items. The preaching text (Matt 24:27–31, read aloud in the service) sequences the elect's gathering AFTER the tribulation — the opposite of the sermon's pretribulational thesis. Matt 24:36 ("no one knows") and Matt 25:31–46 (Jesus's own description of his return) are absent.
Identifiable Biases / Harmful Rhetoric
Moderate — specific-group rhetorical use + civil religion adjacency
Hamas invoked as rhetorical foil ("better than the members of Hamas who behead children"); service celebrates VP Pence, a sitting US senator, and prominent Christian Zionist Mike Evans as platformed figures; overall framework aligns end-times fulfillment with modern-state Israel.
Factual Claims & Evidence Check
Poor evidence hygiene on specific date claims; unverified ministry statistics
Of 4 fact-checked claims, 0 are fully supported. Hoehner's 445 BC / AD 32 chronology is one contested scholarly reconstruction presented as settled. Hamas beheading claim is partially supported but overstated as a general characterization. TBN ranking and podcast stats are asserted without public sourcing.
Whole-Bible Engagement
Selective — one 19th-century eschatological system presented as "the" biblical view
Dispensational premillennialism is preached as if it were the canonical consensus. Matt 25 (Jesus's own criterion), the historic/reformed/amillennial/annihilationist canonical voices, and the preaching text's own sequence are all omitted. On each of the four framings analyzed, Jesus's Gospel words and the wider canon diverge from the pastor's selection.
Summary
Jeffress lays out a classical dispensational pre-tribulation rapture timeline — Church Age → Rapture → 7-year Tribulation → Armageddon/Second Coming → Millennium → Great White Throne → Eternity — and anchors it in Paul's mystery-of-the-church framework (Rom 11; 1 Thess 4) and Harold Hoehner's date-specific reading of Daniel 9:24–27 (a 445 BC decree and a April 2, AD 32 Palm Sunday). He explicitly acknowledges that Jesus did not teach the Rapture and that it must be read through Paul. The sermon's rhetorical anchor is prophetic certainty: exact dates, named events, a 1,000-year Millennium, and eternal conscious torment described as unending. It is preached from a text (Matt 24:27–31) that was read aloud at the start of the service and whose plain sequence — gathering of the elect *after* the tribulation — runs against the sermon's pretribulational thesis. Matthew 25:31–46 — Jesus's own most extended description of what he will do when he returns — is never cited in a sermon titled \"the major events of the end times.\" The sermon includes a rhetorical comparison using \"members of Hamas who behead children\" and embeds the service within a civil-religion adjacent frame (Mike Pence and Sen. Langford celebrated as distinguished guests; \"Freedom Sunday\"; Christian Zionist Mike Evans publicly blessed from the stage).
Timeline
Each marker = a flagged finding. Click to jump to the finding; hover for the title. Color indicates severity.
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Findings (6)
severeAxis 1(absent from a 78-minute sermon on what Jesus does when he returns)Headline
Matthew 25:31–46 is absent from a sermon on "the major events of the end times"
Why flagged: Jesus's own answer to the sermon's stated question — what happens when he returns — is Matt 25:31–46. The criterion he names for that judgment is concrete care for the hungry, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. Preaching a 78-minute sermon on "the major events of the end times" without engaging this passage is omitting Jesus's most direct answer to the sermon's own title question.
Pastor
[absent] — In a sermon explicitly titled 'What Are The Major Events Of The End Times?', Jesus's own most extended description of the Son of Man's return and what he does at it — Matt 25:31–46 — is never referenced. The sermon walks through Rapture, Tribulation, Armageddon, Second Coming, Millennium, Great White Throne, Eternity — without citing the passage in which Jesus himself describes the judgment at his coming.
Jesus
Matt 25:31–33
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Matt 25:34–36
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'
Matt 25:40
Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
Isa 58:6–7 — the prophetic text Jesus draws on in Matt 25 and which he cites directly in Luke 4:18
Is not this the fast that I choose… to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
The preaching text (Matt 24:27–31) sequences the gathering AFTER the tribulation — the opposite of the sermon's thesis
Why flagged: The text read aloud at the start of the service states — in Jesus's own voice — that the gathering of the elect by angels with a trumpet happens *immediately after* the tribulation. The sermon argues instead that this gathering (the Rapture) happens *before* the tribulation. The sequencing problem is not external to the sermon; it is internal to the very verses the congregation heard read aloud minutes earlier. Historic premillennialists, amillennialists, postmillennialists, and post-tribulation dispensationalists all read Matt 24 this way. The pastor does not engage the disagreement.
Pastor
[Scripture reading at the start of the service, Matt 24:27–31, NASB] … 'But immediately after the tribulation of these days the sun will be darkened… and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky… and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the Four Winds…' [Jeffress then argues, 00:46:30] 'The Rapture of the church is the snatching away to heaven of all Christians from the time of Pentecost before the tribulation.'
Matt 24:29–31 (Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse — the very passage read aloud in the service)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken… and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matt 24:30–31
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man… and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Dan 7:13–14 — cited by Jesus throughout the Olivet Discourse and at his trial (Matt 26:64, Mark 14:62) as the template for his return
Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man… and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.
Pastor concedes Jesus did not teach the Rapture, then makes it the sermon's structural event
Why flagged: The pastor openly acknowledges that Jesus, asked directly on the Mount of Olives what the sign of his coming would be, did not answer with the event the sermon builds around. The resolution offered — that Jesus did not teach it because it was a mystery reserved for Paul — places a Pauline mystery-revelation above Jesus's direct answer to the exact question being preached. This is a methodological inversion of the project of following Jesus's red letters.
Pastor
People say the Rapture — that's not found in the Bible… the Old Testament never talked about it, true. Jesus never talked about it, maybe true, with the exception of John 14. Why didn't these people talk about it? When the disciples asked the Lord on the Mount of Olives, 'Lord, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age,' did Jesus answer, 'the Rapture will be the next thing'? No. Jesus never talked about it… why? Because the Rapture is for the church alone. Paul was the one who was given the job of revealing the mystery of the church.
Matt 24:3–31 (Jesus, answering the exact question the pastor names)
'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?' [Jesus's entire answer follows — one coming, gathering after tribulation, no two-stage return described.]
John 14:3 (the one Jesus text the pastor concedes)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Mark 13:26–27 (Jesus's parallel Olivet teaching)
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Sign-reading rhetoric contradicts Jesus's explicit teaching in the passage being preached
Why flagged: Jesus himself — in the Olivet Discourse, the preaching text — says neither he nor the angels know the day or hour; he rebukes sign-seekers as 'an evil and adulterous generation'; and his last recorded words before ascending are that knowing 'times or seasons' is not the disciples' task. A sermon whose central rhetorical hook is a date-exact prophetic stopwatch ('exactly 483 years,' 'April 2, AD 32') sits against Jesus's explicit teaching in the same discourse.
Pastor
We know the date this stopwatch started counting down the final 490 years… from the time the decree goes out 445 BC until AD 32 was exactly 483 years… My old Seminary Professor Harold Hoehner has done a chronology of this to show exactly to the date how these prophecies were fulfilled.
Matt 24:36 (Jesus, in the very Olivet Discourse passage being preached)
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Matt 16:1–4
The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them… 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.'
Acts 1:7 (Jesus, immediately before the ascension)
It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
Dan 12:9 — cited by Jesus in Matt 24:15 without offering a date-calculation for its fulfillment
Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
Service frames political figures as honored guests; Christian Zionism normalized on stage
Why flagged: The service's highlight reel celebrates a Republican former Vice President and a sitting Republican US senator as 'distinguished guests' under a 'Freedom Sunday' branding that fuses 'faith and freedom' as a unit. The sermon itself publicly blesses Mike Evans — a prominent Christian-Zionist political operator with direct ties to Israeli right-wing coalitions and Trump-era Middle East policy — as doing Christ's work via his Israel advocacy. This is not a partisan sermon-line, but it is the civil-religion / political-network scaffolding around the sermon, and it shapes how the sermon's pro-Israel eschatology lands. Jesus systematically declined alignment with the political options (royal, Zealot, collaborationist) offered to him.
Pastor
[Mission 18 video report] '…we welcomed distinguished guests like vice president Mike Pence, Ken Ham, and Shannon Bream… Freedom Sunday with guests US senator James Langford and Guy Penrod — we celebrated our faith and freedom in Christ.' [Then 00:44:30, during the sermon] 'Our friend Mike Evans here today is on the way back to Israel. He's working — he's shining the witness of Christ.'
Hamas used as rhetorical comparison from the pulpit
Why flagged: Preached in December 2023, eight weeks after the October 7 attacks, this is a specific named group being deployed as rhetorical foil for a theological point (that works-righteousness fails). The sermon's use — naming 'Hamas' and the specific act of 'beheading children' in a casual comparative — heightens dehumanization of a living opponent rather than grieving the actual atrocity or praying for enemies in Jesus's explicit mode. Moderate, not severe, because it is a passing comparison rather than a sustained argument, but it names a living collective violently in the middle of theological prose, which Jesus's speech ethics (Matt 5:22; 12:36) flag.
Pastor
He may be better than the members of Hamas who behead children, but that doesn't make him worthy of Heaven, because there's only one standard of comparison and that is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matt 12:36
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.
Luke 6:27–28
But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Luke 23:34 (from the cross, for actual killers)
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Whole-Bible Engagement (4)
For each major framing in the sermon, the pastor's claim is placed side-by-side with what Jesus said in the Gospels and what the wider Bible says (OT + NT non-Gospel). Surfaces cherry-picking, omitted counter-voices, and places where the canon itself contains tension the pastor did not acknowledge.
Dispensational pre-tribulation premillennialism preached as "the" biblical timeline
Topic: How the Bible as a whole speaks about Christ's return
Why flagged: A 19th-century theological system is presented without acknowledgment as the biblical timeline. Jesus's own words in the preaching text (Matt 24:29–31), Paul's own words in 2 Thess 2:1–3, and the dominant reading of 1 Cor 15 and Rev 20 all align against the two-stage framework. Alternative eschatologies held by the bulk of historic Christianity are not mentioned.
Canonical analysis
The specific seven-step timeline the pastor preaches (Church Age → Rapture → 7-year Tribulation → Armageddon → Millennium → Great White Throne → Eternity) is the Scofield / Darby dispensational system, constructed between 1830 and 1909. Before Darby, no major branch of Christianity — Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Lutheran, Wesleyan, Anabaptist — taught a two-stage return of Christ separated by a seven-year tribulation. Historic premillennialism (early church, John Piper, Ladd), amillennialism (Augustine, Calvin, most Reformed and Orthodox), postmillennialism (Edwards, many Puritans), and post-tribulation dispensationalism all read Matt 24:29–31, 1 Cor 15, and Rev 20 as describing ONE return with the gathering of the elect AFTER tribulation. Jesus's own language in the preaching text aligns with that majority reading. Paul's own language in 2 Thess 2:1–3 explicitly sequences 'our gathering' AFTER the man of lawlessness is revealed. The sermon does not acknowledge that this is a contested system — it is preached as if dispensationalism simply IS what the Bible says. That is a significant canonical overclaim.
Pastor
We've said so far in our series that technically we're not in the end times yet — we're in the time that precedes the end times called the Last Days… The end times begins after the Rapture until the second coming of Christ… The Rapture of the church is the snatching away to heaven of all Christians from the time of Pentecost before the tribulation… It is a seven-year period of time when… that final world dictator signs a peace Covenant with Israel.
Matt 24:29–31 (Jesus, in the very passage being preached)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days… he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds.
Matt 24:36
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Matt 13:24–30, 36–43 (Jesus's wheat-and-tares parable)
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. [i.e., wicked and righteous grow together until ONE judgment.]
John 5:28–29 (one resurrection, two outcomes)
An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Dan 7:13–14 — cited by Jesus at Matt 26:64 as the template of his coming
Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man… and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.
Wider Bible (OT & NT non-Gospel)
1 Cor 15:23, 52 (Paul, on ONE resurrection 'at the last trumpet')
Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ… in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.
2 Thess 2:1–3 (Paul — 'our being gathered to him' follows the man of lawlessness, not precedes him)
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him… that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
Rev 20:4–5 (John — resurrection of martyrs AFTER tribulation, not before)
Then I saw thrones… Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus… They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
2 Pet 3:10 (Peter)
The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.
Matthew 25 absent: Jesus's own criterion for final judgment is omitted from a sermon on the Great White Throne
Topic: On what basis Christ judges at the end
Why flagged: A sermon on the final judgment that quotes Rev 20:12 ('judged according to their deeds') and then never references Matt 25 — Jesus's own picture of that judgment — has omitted the Red-Letter center of the topic. The rhetorical flattening of 'works' (reduced to 'Hamas comparison') sidesteps Jesus, James, Paul, and Revelation all at once.
Canonical analysis
The pastor preaches the Great White Throne scene — which Rev 20:12 explicitly says judges 'according to what they had done' — and then reframes 'according to their deeds' as self-defeating: the deeds are only evidence that works-righteousness fails. This is a valid Protestant point (sola fide; Rom 3:23 is cited), but it is delivered at the cost of the canonical witness, including Jesus's own explicit description of the judgment in Matt 25. In Jesus's own scene, the criterion is concrete care for the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner, the sick. Paul (Rom 2, 2 Cor 5), James (Jas 2), and Revelation itself (Rev 20:12) all speak of works as germane to final judgment — not as contra-gospel but as the fruit of true faith. The sermon's compressed framing, in which 'works' just means 'comparing yourself to terrorists,' rhetorically forecloses the canonical texts that treat works as integral to faith's authenticity. A fair whole-Bible treatment would hold Rom 3:23 together with Matt 25, Jas 2, and Rev 20:12 — not set them against each other.
Pastor
The sea gave up the dead which were in it and Hades was empty, death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds… The only problem is, no matter how good he is, he's not good enough. He may be better than the members of Hamas who behead children, but that doesn't make him worthy of Heaven — because there's only one standard of comparison and that is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Matt 25:31–40 (Jesus's own description of judgment at his return)
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food… as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
Matt 25:41–46
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed… For I was hungry and you gave me no food…' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matt 7:21–23
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Isa 58:6–10 — the prophetic tradition Jesus draws on at Matt 25 and reads aloud at Luke 4:18
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness… to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?
Wider Bible (OT & NT non-Gospel)
James 2:14–17
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Rev 20:12 (the actual Great White Throne text the pastor is preaching)
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
2 Cor 5:10 (Paul)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Rom 2:6–8 (Paul)
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Modern-state Israel treated as the prophetic Israel; canonical reframing of "Israel" in Christ omitted
Topic: What "Israel" means after the coming of Christ
Why flagged: Rom 11 is cited to anchor a framework in which Paul's own broader rewriting of 'Israel' (Rom 9:6; Gal 3:28–29; Gal 6:16; Eph 2; 1 Pet 2) is silent. Jesus's systematic decoupling of ethnic-national identity from kingdom participation is not engaged. The theological framework is then politically operationalized via the on-stage blessing of a prominent Christian Zionist figure.
Canonical analysis
Rom 11 is canonically real — Paul does say God has not finally rejected ethnic Israel, and the pastor cites it correctly. But Rom 11 sits inside a canonical conversation in which Paul himself (Rom 9:6; Gal 3:28–29; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:14–16) radically reframes who counts as 'Israel,' and in which Jesus (Matt 8:10–12; Matt 21:43; John 4:21–23; Luke 4:24–27) consistently decouples national-ethnic identity from participation in God's kingdom. Peter takes the Exodus 'chosen nation' language and applies it to the church (1 Pet 2:9). The pastor's framework — that God's prophetic clock pauses until modern ethnic-state Israel is the stage for a seven-year tribulation — depends on treating Rom 11 as the controlling text and Gal 3 / Eph 2 / 1 Pet 2 / Matt 8 / Matt 21 as subordinate (or silent). Historic Christianity, both pre-Darby Catholic-Orthodox tradition and the Reformers, read the canon the other direction. The fusion with modern-state Israel is a further step: the pastor's framework treats the 1948 state as prophetic necessity, with all the political downstream implications of that (including the blessing of Mike Evans's Israel work from the pulpit). This is not antisemitism — dispensationalism explicitly refuses supersessionism — but it IS a theological posture that reliably routes American evangelical political energy toward a specific national project.
Pastor
The nation as a whole has hardened their heart, but it won't always be that way — it's a temporary hardening of the heart while the fullness of the Gentiles comes in… When every Gentile is finally saved whom God has ordained to be saved, God will resume his plan with Israel in a final seven-week period… That final world dictator signs a peace Covenant with Israel… [00:44:30] Our friend Mike Evans here today is on the way back to Israel. He's working — he's shining the witness of Christ.
Luke 4:24–27 (Jesus's first recorded sermon — directly citing 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5)
Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown… there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah… and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon… And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
Matt 8:10–12 (after the Roman centurion's faith)
Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.
John 4:21–23 (to the Samaritan woman)
The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
Matt 21:43 (Jesus to the temple authorities)
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Wider Bible (OT & NT non-Gospel)
Rom 9:6–8 (Paul — the same epistle the pastor cites)
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring… it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Gal 3:28–29 (Paul)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Gal 6:16 (Paul)
And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Eph 2:14–16 (Paul)
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.
1 Pet 2:9–10 (Peter, applying Exod 19:6 language to the church)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession… Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.
Eternal conscious torment preached as the only canonical view
Topic: The nature of final judgment for the lost
Why flagged: The pastor asserts ECT with quantitative vividness ('ten billion trillion years') as though it were the only faithful reading. Jesus's own 'destroy both soul and body' (Matt 10:28), Paul's 'eternal destruction' (2 Thess 1:9), Malachi's 'neither root nor branch' (cited by Jesus at Matt 11:14), and John 3:16's 'should not perish' have sustained a parallel conditionalist reading within conservative evangelicalism for decades. None is engaged.
Canonical analysis
Eternal conscious torment (ECT) is a mainstream historical Christian view and has real biblical warrant (Matt 25:46; Rev 14:11). But two other canonical readings exist and are held by serious evangelical scholars: (1) Conditional immortality / annihilationism (John Stott, John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Preston Sprinkle) reads Matt 10:28 'destroy both soul and body,' Mal 4:1–3 'neither root nor branch / they will be ashes,' John 3:16 'should not perish,' and 2 Thess 1:9 'eternal destruction' as pointing to final cessation rather than unending conscious torment; 'eternal punishment' (aiōnios kolasis) is read as punishment of the age to come whose effects are eternal, not as endless duration of conscious suffering. (2) Christian universalism / ultimate reconciliation has a minority but ancient pedigree (Gregory of Nyssa) and reads 1 Cor 15:28 'God all in all' and passages like Col 1:20 as teaching eventual reconciliation. The pastor's 'ten billion trillion years and the time is not lessened' framing is ECT at its most rhetorically extreme, preached as if it were the obvious biblical meaning. Conditionalist readings of the very verses he cites (Rev 20:14 'the second death') are not engaged. A fair whole-Bible treatment would at least acknowledge the canonical ambiguity.
Pastor
The horrible truth about hell is: when we have spent ten billion trillion years there, we will not have lessened by one second the time we have left to spend there.
Matt 10:28 (Jesus — cited by both ECT and conditionalist traditions)
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt 25:46 (Jesus — the classic ECT proof-text)
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
John 3:16 (Jesus)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Mark 9:48 — Jesus citing Isa 66:24
Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
Isa 66:24 — cited by Jesus at Mark 9:48
And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
Wider Bible (OT & NT non-Gospel)
Mal 4:1–3 (closes the Hebrew Bible; cited by Jesus at Matt 11:14, 17:12–13 regarding Elijah)
Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch… you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet.
2 Thess 1:9 (Paul)
They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
Rev 20:14 (the text the pastor is preaching)
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
1 Cor 15:28 (Paul)
When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Factual Claims & Evidence Check (4)
Empirical claims the pastor made during the sermon, with a verdict on whether independent evidence supports them. Verdict scale: Supported · Partially supported · Contested · Misleading · Unsupported · False. “Evidence the pastor cited” records whether any source was named in the sermon itself.
“The decree to rebuild Jerusalem went out on March 14, 445 BC, from Artaxerxes Longimanus, and exactly 483 years later…”
Pastor's claim (full)
The decree to rebuild Jerusalem went out on March 14, 445 BC, from Artaxerxes Longimanus, and exactly 483 years later on Palm Sunday, April 2, AD 32, the Messiah was presented — fulfilling Daniel 9:25 to the day.
Evidence the pastor cited
Harold Hoehner's chronology is named ("my old Seminary Professor Harold Hoehner has done a chronology of this"). Hoehner taught at Dallas Theological Seminary; the work referenced is Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (1977).
What the evidence shows
Hoehner's chronology exists and is real scholarship (updated from Sir Robert Anderson's 1894 The Coming Prince), but it is one contested reconstruction within conservative evangelical dispensationalism — not a settled historical fact. Key problems the sermon does not flag: (1) The starting decree is disputed. Three candidates exist: Cyrus's decree (538 BC), Artaxerxes' decree to Ezra (458 BC, which Reformed scholars and many conservative OT scholars favor), and Artaxerxes' 20th-year commission to Nehemiah (445/444 BC). Daniel 9:25 says 'restore and build Jerusalem' — whether that best fits Ezra 7's broad authorization or Nehemiah 2's wall-building commission is debated. (2) The Palm Sunday date of April 2, AD 32 requires Hoehner's specific reckoning using 360-day 'prophetic years' rather than solar years, and his identification of the crucifixion year as AD 33 (not the more common AD 30 or AD 33). Most NT scholarship places Jesus's crucifixion in AD 30 or AD 33; AD 32 Palm Sunday sits inside Hoehner's specific AD 33 crucifixion reconstruction. (3) Mainstream OT scholarship (John Collins, James Montgomery, Dale Allison) reads Daniel 9's '70 weeks' as referring primarily to the Antiochus IV Epiphanes crisis (c. 167 BC) with symbolic rather than date-exact chronology. The pastor's framing — 'we know the date this stopwatch started counting down' — presents one dispensationalist reconstruction as though it were historical bedrock.
Sources consulted
Harold W. Hoehner — Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Zondervan, 1977)
John J. Collins — Daniel (Hermeneia commentary, Fortress, 1993)
Dale C. Allison — review literature on 70-weeks prophecy interpretations
None. Delivered as a given fact in the course of a theological comparison (see Finding 2.1).
What the evidence shows
Preached December 3, 2023 — eight weeks after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel in which roughly 1,200 Israelis were killed, including children. Hamas-led militants did kill children on October 7, including in Kibbutz Be'eri, Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and the Nova music festival — that core fact is well-documented. However, the specific 'beheading of babies' framing has a complicated evidentiary status: the widely-circulated early report of '40 beheaded babies' was traced to an unverified claim by an Israeli soldier reported by i24 and amplified by Prime Minister Netanyahu's office. Forensic work by ZAKA and the Israeli authorities later documented decapitation injuries on some victims (including both adults and at least one infant per subsequent reporting), but the 'Hamas beheads children' formulation as a general characterization overstates what the forensic record specifically establishes and imports a claim whose popularization included a significant unverified-report chain. A fair framing would distinguish 'Hamas killed children on October 7' (well-supported) from 'beheading children' as a general Hamas practice (partially supported at best, and bearing the history of a partially-debunked early claim). Preached from the pulpit without qualifier, as a stipulated fact in a theological comparison, the claim overstates the verified record.
Sources consulted
AP News — 'Israel says Hamas raped, mutilated women on Oct. 7. Now, a key UN report has confirmed sexual violence' (March 2024)
CNN — 'Unverified reports of beheaded babies spread widely after October 7 attacks' coverage
Haaretz and Times of Israel reporting on ZAKA forensic identification work, October–December 2023
“Pathway to Victory has been the most-watched television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network — the largest Chr…”
Pastor's claim (full)
Pathway to Victory has been the most-watched television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network — the largest Christian television network in the world — for more than 40 consecutive months.
Evidence the pastor cited
None. Delivered as a ministry-report statistic.
What the evidence shows
TBN is indeed the largest Christian television network globally (by carriage and satellite footprint), which is uncontested. The specific ranking of Pathway to Victory as 'most watched' on TBN for 40+ consecutive months is a claim that would need to be verified against TBN's internal audience-measurement data, which is not routinely published. Nielsen-level Christian-network ratings are not a public dataset. The claim is plausible — Jeffress's broadcast is widely distributed and the PTV / TBN partnership is real — but the specific 'most-watched for 40+ consecutive months' assertion is a ministry self-report without a citable independent source. Marking 'needs verification' rather than true/false.
“Cyrus the Great issued a decree in 536 BC to rebuild the Temple — but not to rebuild the city of Jerusalem; the decre…”
Pastor's claim (full)
Cyrus the Great issued a decree in 536 BC to rebuild the Temple — but not to rebuild the city of Jerusalem; the decree to rebuild Jerusalem came from Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 BC.
Evidence the pastor cited
None cited directly; the framework relies on Hoehner's reading (see fc-1).
What the evidence shows
The broad contours are correct in mainstream conservative scholarship: Cyrus's decree (traditionally dated 538 BC, not 536 BC — the date the pastor gives is two years off) per Ezra 1 authorized rebuilding the Temple; Artaxerxes' commission to Nehemiah in his 20th year (Nehemiah 2, commonly dated 445 or 444 BC) authorized rebuilding the city walls. However, there is a THIRD decree the pastor omits that many scholars (including conservative ones like E.J. Young, Gleason Archer on alternative datings) take as the referent of Daniel 9:25: Artaxerxes' decree to Ezra in 458 BC (Ezra 7:11–26), which explicitly authorized restoration of Jewish civil authority in Jerusalem. Dating Cyrus at '536 BC' rather than 538 BC is a two-year error. Treating the Nehemiah 445 BC commission as the only viable referent for Daniel 9:25 ignores a significant scholarly alternative that places the starting point at Ezra's 458 BC commission. The claim is substantially accurate in its broad outlines but precision-flawed and omits canonical alternatives.
Sources consulted
The Book of Ezra, chapters 1 and 7 (primary source)
The Book of Nehemiah, chapter 2 (primary source)
E.J. Young — The Prophecy of Daniel (Eerdmans, 1949) — defends 458 BC as starting point
Tenets affirmed
The bodily return of Jesus Christ is affirmed plainly ("Jesus Christ and his army of Believers will return… to establish his long awaited Kingdom on Earth").
The gospel invitation is framed on grace not merit — explicit rejection of works-righteousness: "not in my good works but in what Jesus did for me to save me from my sins."
God's covenant faithfulness is affirmed — Rom 11:1 cited correctly that "God has not rejected his people."
The reality of bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:50–52) is preached plainly and textually, not spiritualized away.
The sermon closes with a public invitation to trust Christ and makes the gospel content explicit rather than assumed.
Counter-signals
No named partisan endorsement from the pulpit during the sermon itself.
No anti-LGBTQ content in this sermon.
No anti-Muslim content as such — Islam is not named or framed as an eschatological enemy (a notable restraint relative to other dispensational preachers on the same topic).
Welcomes an explicitly multi-ethnic global "iCampus" audience and highlights new Spanish-language ministry.
Reports $0 debt and highlights international mission work (Brazil, Ukraine, Israel, Philippines, Guatemala).
Gospel call is grace-based and invitational, not coercive or fear-driven despite the end-times topic.
Pastor acknowledges his own theological novelty on one point ("I've never done a sermon on this before") — signaling some intellectual humility about the contested nature of the distinctions he is drawing.
Christian Nationalism marker rubric (Whitehead/Perry, Du Mez, Alberta)
Marker
Status
Notes
A. Conflation of national & Christian identity
Low–Moderate
Dispensational framework treats modern-state Israel as the prophetically required end-times actor; this is a form of national-spiritual conflation (of a different nation) even if not applied to America. (Ethno-national Israel is theologically central to the sermon's prophetic framework; American identity is not fused with Christian identity in this sermon as such.)
B. Militaristic / warrior framing
Low
Opening worship: 'Crown the Victorious King of Kings.' Rev 19 warrior-Christ imagery ('Jesus Christ and his army of Believers will return') is rendered descriptively within biblical text, not applied to real-world combatants. (See worship-set language)
C. Political opponents as spiritual enemies
None detected in this sermon
D. Dominionist rhetoric
None detected
E. Civil religion (flag, pledge, "America as Christian nation")
Present (service-level, not sermon-level)
'Freedom Sunday' with sitting US senator; VP Pence platformed as distinguished guest. Not present in the sermon text itself. (See Finding 2.2)
VP Pence platformed in the mission report; Mike Evans, whose ministry is directly tied to Netanyahu-coalition political figures and Trump-era policy, publicly blessed from the pulpit. Not endorsement of authoritarianism as such, but alignment with a specific political-religious network.
Other Axis-2 sub-rubrics
Anti-Muslim framing: Not present in this sermon — Notable given dispensational preachers' frequent drift in this direction; Islam is not named in the sermon's eschatology.
Anti-LGBTQ framing: Not present in this sermon
Misogynistic framing: Not present in this sermon
Anti-Jewish framing: Not present — Jewish people and Israel are centered positively in the eschatological frame (dispensationalism explicitly refuses supersessionism). Rom 11 cited correctly that God has not rejected Israel. The 'hardening' language used is Paul's own.
Full transcript
Highlighted paragraphs contain flagged content (color = severity). Click any timestamp to jump to that moment on YouTube.
[00:00:00]live and love in a world that's lost its way hi I'm Robert Jeffers your Bible teacher on Pathway to Victory and in my new book the 10 I share what the Ten Commandments mean and how they apply to our lives and most importantly why they are God's proven method for freeing us to experience blessings we could never imagine discover God's - tested blueprint for a joyful and flourishing life the new book is called the 10 pick up a copy today by going to ptv.org
[00:00:30]again that's ptv.org hi I'm Robert Jeffers pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the I campus today for a time of inspiring worship and Biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our First Baptist Church
[00:01:00]family and we hope you feel a part of what God is doing in and through First Baptist Dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with God and others as we worship Our Savior together Welcome To [Music] Worship
[00:02:30]well good morning everyone welcome to worship at First Baptist Dallas today Welcome to our guest and high campus viewers Church let's stand together let's sing this great hym of the faith Crown Him With Many Crowns with many CRS the lamb upon his throne how the heav DRS all music
[00:03:00]is home oh wake my soul and sing of him who died for thee and hail him as thy matchless be through all eternity crown him the Lord of Life who triumphed over the grave who glorious in the for those he
[00:03:30]came to S his glor now we see who died and Rose on high who died etal life to and Liv
[00:04:30]victorious the Lord of heav one with the father one with the spirit him from y glorious to the the end Us Praise for th for us di th Lord through endless days ad and [Music]
[00:05:30]let's put our hands together this [Music] morning Awake My Soul and sing of him who die for the hail him hail him hail him
[00:06:00]the matchless king of Peace oh wake my soul and seeing of him who died for me him him him the of him grounding the Lord of Lord crown
[00:06:30]Crown the Victorious King of Kings Crown the Victorious King of [Music]
[00:07:00]Kings we worship the Lord today amen Freedom's calling Chains Are Falling hope is daing bright and true day is breaking night is waking God is making all things new [Music]
[00:07:30]hear the heart of Heaven he The Heart Of Heaven Jesus saves Jesus saves and the of Mery breathing Jesus saes Jesus saes theost of Angels Sing Glory To The newn
[00:08:00]King and sounding Joy [Music] Jesus see the hearts jesuses jesuses and the Wiest bow before him Jesus
[00:08:30]saes Jesus saes see the sky light with praise melting darkness in his place there is Forever More [Music] Jesus he will live a sh
[00:09:00]Jesus Jesus he will die and jesuses Redemption while the EMP declaring
[00:09:30]Jesus Falling CH are falling hope is ding bright and true is breaking night is breaking [Music] ising
[00:10:00]oh Bri and [Music] true is God is Jesus Jesus Jus [Music] Jesus great
[00:10:30]Jesus yes Jesus on the to shout together Jesus [Music] Jesus [Applause] lifting s the r will seek forever
[00:11:30]Jesus he sa to Jesus he say you Jesus [Music] Jes Jesus saves amen you may be
[00:12:00]seated well it is so good to Worship the Lord together this morning here at First Baptist Dallas and we do welcome each of you to worship and we welcome our guest joining us in the room as well as on our eye campus and guest we do have a very special gift just for you today it's our pastor's brand new book are we living in the end times biblical answers to seven questions about the
[00:12:30]future guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you're going to find enclosed this welcome card please take the time to fill this out you can also scan the QR code and at the conclusion of the service guests take your completed card with you right outside these main Worship Center doors you're going to find our Welcome Center our staff is waiting there for you you'll exchange your completed card for your gift today and we'll be happy to answer any
[00:13:00]questions you have about our church we look forward to meeting you now guest if you can't make it to the Welcome Center we also have some boxes on your way out you can place your card in one of those and we'll mail you a copy of your gift and then for those joining us on I campus just follow that link provided on the bottom of your screen you can access your welcome gift that way well again welcome to each of you this morning so many exciting upcoming
[00:13:30]events next week just one week away is our Dallas Christmas Spectacular tickets are going fast just a few remaining you won't want to miss it beginning next Saturday and Sunday today is your last chance for buy one get one free don't miss it we look forward to seeing you there along with all of the other upcoming special events this Christmas season here at First Baptist Dallas so let's
[00:14:00]take a moment now and look together at the [Music] screen good morning here are a few upcoming events for you and your family this Christmas season the first Dallas choir and Orchestra presents the Dallas Christmas Spectacular next weekend December 9th and 10th you and your family will enjoy Christmas classics with special performances by Jordan Feliz and ballet Magnificat children
[00:14:30]join us for back to the stable to experience a live nativity in Sunday school on December 17th there will be a special gift and chocolate milk for all ladies join Julia Jeff Sadler on Sunday December 17th for our mother daughter Christmas tea enjoy sweet time with family as well as a special Nutcracker performance ornament crafts and family photos Church join us Christmas Eve morning for a special message by Dr jeffris Crispy Cream Donuts Family Photos by the Christmas tree and receive
[00:15:00]your first Dallas ornament then come back that evening at 5:00 pm for our annual candle light and Lord supper worship service members celebrate our dedication to Mission 18 win Now by committing or recommitting your pledge and bringing your best gift to worship for light of the world Sunday on December 17th for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org [Music] events today's scripture reading is from
[00:15:30]Matthew chap 24 we're going to be reading verses 27-31 as the pastor gets back to his end time series and we'll read from The New American Standard Bible in the Worship Center we have the words on the screens here I campus you have the words as well from that translation so that we can all read God's word together please stand with me now to honor the reading of God's word Matthew CH 24 beginning with verse 26 7 ending with verse→ The preaching text (Matt 24:27–31) sequences the gathering AFTER the tribulation — the opposite of the sermon's thesis
[00:16:30]heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his afflect from the Four Winds from one end of the sky to the other may God richly
[00:17:00]bless the reading of his word keep standing now as Tyler comes back and we continue to praise our King Jesus Isaiah 53 verse 4 and 5 surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering yet we considered him punished by God strict by him and
[00:17:30]Afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed oh the perfect Son of God in all his innocence you're walking in the dirt with you and [Music]
[00:18:00]me he knows what living is he's acquainted with our grief a man of sorrow Son suffering oh Blood and Tears how can it be there's a God who we there's a God who
[00:18:30]BS oh praise the one who would reach for me Hallelujah to the son [Music] of imag you are dist and remove but you chase us down in merciful
[00:19:00]pursuit to the S you were Grace and the BR you Embrace in the end the roof is in your in the end the proof is in your WS oh and how can it
[00:19:30]be there's a God Who Weeps there's a God who B oh praise the one who would reach for me hallelu to the son [Music]
[00:20:00]hallelujah thank you [Music] Jesus your cross my freedom your stries my healing all praise King Jesus glory to God in heaven your blood still speaking your love still reaching all pra PR King
[00:20:30]Jesus glory to God forever your cross my freom your stes my healing all praise in Jesus glory to God in heaven your blood still speaking your love still reaching all praise King Jes Jesus glory to God
[00:21:00]forever your CR my freedom your St my he all PR
[00:21:30]Jesus glory to God your still speaking your love still reaching all praise in Jesus glory to [Music] God my he all praise Jesus glory to
[00:22:00]God your glory still speaking love still reaching all praise in Jesus glory to God for Glory Glory to God we bless your glory to
[00:22:30]God we give glory to God Amen you may be seated we have a very special Mission 18 win now report this morning turn your attention to the screen First Baptist Dallas a Beacon of Hope and transformation stands as a testament to the boundless power of a
[00:23:00]single life change everything we do from planning events to streaming broadcasts and stewarding every dollar is driven by our mission to transform our world with God's word one life at a time in 2023 we set out to win as many people as possible for Jesus Christ like never before church you showed up and God delivered more than we could have asked
[00:23:30]for this year we've witnessed the Monumental scale of our Ministries reach and its profound impact we celebrated 932 decisions for Christ in person and 784 online through the eye campus we witnessed 128 followers participate in Believers baptism and we welcome 754 new members in into the first Dallas family the Milestones we've marked are→ Service frames political figures as honored guests; Christian Zionism normalized on stage
[00:24:00]nothing short of extraordinary along with the 10th anniversary of our recreated campus we celebrated being debt-free we welcome distinguished guests like vice president Mike Pence Ken Ham and Shannon bream on Sundays like Palm Sunday with Anne Wilson we took the good news of the Resurrection down to Clyde Warren Park Freedom Sunday with guests US senator→ Service frames political figures as honored guests; Christian Zionism normalized on stage
[00:24:30]James Langford and Guy Penrod we celebrated our faith and freedom in Christ invited guest Sunday featuring Lee Strobel the news boys and Benjamin William Hastings resulted in one of our highest attended Sunday since 2020 as you our members wholeheartedly embrace the one life initiative our Ministries have grown bridging generational gaps in meeting diverse needs we even introduced a brand new ministry in espanol Crossing
[00:25:00]language barriers to reach more lives an incredible number of our church members have stepped up to serve and volunteer in amazing ways and we have equipped our members with more content than ever before including spring training 2.0 discipleship courses on the eye campus and numerous devotional Series this year our members have served as the hands and feet of Jes Jesus throughout our local community and
[00:25:30]travel to Kentucky Hawaii the Bahamas and Guatemala we remain focused on International Ministry efforts strategically ministering to gospel hungry regions like Brazil Ukraine Israel the Philippines and Beyond Pathway to Victory has become a mighty vessel carrying the truth of God's word to Millions across the world it has now been the most watch television program on the Trinity
[00:26:00]Broadcasting Network the largest Christian television network in the world for more than 40 consecutive months Julia Jeff Sandler's Unapologetic podcast with over 20,000 monthly downloads has empowered the Next Generation to have bold faith in a broken world we are a church made up of transformed lives we know the immeasurable impact just one life change has on the kingdom of God with each story We Tell we bear
[00:26:30]witness to the incredible work the Lord is doing in and through us to transform our world with God's word one life at a time will we praise God for all that he is doing in our church all that he's done through you through this first year of Mission 18 win now and what you've
[00:27:00]just seen is really just an overview of the work that God has been doing we've prepared to you for you at the end of the year a Ministry impact report it's the second time we've done this we call this our on life First Baptist Dallas impact report and you'll be receiving a copy of this in the mail this week there are also copies around the campus that you can pick up church I really want to encourage you to read through this you will see so many stories of life change
[00:27:30]testimonies from our church members and even uh new members of our ministry staff and trust me you will be encouraged as you read about all that God is doing through our church there is so much happening that we even have staff members often say I had no idea that we were doing something like that and so I think that you'll be encouraged as you learn more about the Ministries of our church remember that we are
[00:28:00]looking ahead toward light of the world Sunday on Sunday December 17th and on that day we're really asking you to do two things we're asking you in one hand to bring your new commitment card and there are copies of this in the worship guide today you'll also receive a copy of this in the mail and on that commitment card we're asking you either to confirm a previous commitment increase a previous commitment or make a brand new commit commitment to Mission 1 a win now so bring that commitment card
[00:28:30]in one hand in the other hand bring your best gift toward that mission 18 commitment and you'll have the opportunity to give that gift on Sunday December 17th and that will help us as we launch into this new year thank you church for your commitment thank you for your giving thank you for your prayers as we serve the Lord together we continue our time of worship through giving this morning and you can leave your ties and offerings in the boxes as
[00:29:00]you exit you can also give those online but right now during this time of commitment I'll invite you to kneel as we go to the Lord in prayer together gracious Heavenly Father we do praise you for the the amazing things that you've done for the lives that are being changed for all eternity we praise you for the work that you are doing in our church and Lord I pray that we would
[00:29:30]have the mind the heart the attitude of Our Savior Jesus Christ who said that it is our responsibility to do your work knowing that the time is coming that we won't be able to work any longer and Lord we know that is true even as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation of our savior his first coming we are looking ahead to the day that he returned earns as the Victorious
[00:30:00]King of Kings the day that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord in the meantime father we pray that you would make us more like our savior we pray that you would draw us closer to you and we thank you Lord for choosing us and saving us and making us your children and we pray this in the
[00:30:30]saving name of Jesus Christ [Music] amen Let the church be the
[00:31:00]church let the people for we all the we made our choice let the ends [Music] of for the
[00:31:30]church this old ship has been through battles before storms and Tempest and rocks on the
[00:32:00]shore though the hall may be battered deep inside it safe and dry it will carry it to the p in
[00:32:30]the God has always had a people many a foolish conqueror has made the mistake of thinking that because he had forced the Church of Jesus Christ out of sight he had stilled its voice and snuffed out its life but God has always had a people the powerful current of a Rushing River is not diminished because it's forced to flow underground no the purest water is the stream that bursts Crystal Clear into the sunlight after it's been forced its way through the Rocks there have been charlatans who like Simon the
[00:33:00]Magician sought to barter on the open market that power which cannot be bought or sold but God has always had a people men who could not be bought women who were Beyond purchase God has always had his people there have been times of affluence and prosperity when the church's message has been nearly deluded into Oblivion by those who sought to make it socially attractive or neatly organized and financially profitable but
[00:33:30]God has always had a people yes it's been goldplated draped in purple en crusted with jewels it's been misrepresented ridiculed mocked and scorned but God has always had a people these followers of Jesus Christ have been according to the whim of the times elevated as sacred leaders or martyred as Heretics yet through it all their marches on the powerful Army of the meek God's chosen people who cannot be bought flattered murdered or still on Through
[00:34:00]the Ages they marked the church God triumphant Church alive and [Music] the we made us [Music]
[00:34:30]oh listen child of God the church is alive discouraged Pastor it's his church and it's still alive lonely missionary sew that seed with confidence the church is still alive Old Saint you're not
[00:35:00]alone and forgotten the church is alive busy mother keep trusting in Jesus the church is alive and you're not alone out there serving the lord young student just keep looking to Jesus the church is alive and faithful fathers there's rest in the Lord God's church is still alive so family of God lift your hands lift your praise to the Lord the church God's church is triumphant his church is alive
[00:35:30]and it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] well [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
[00:36:00]thank you so much first Dallas choir and Orchestra for that powerful reminder about the power of God's Church we're so glad to welcome you to our services here at First Baptist Dallas especially the millions of you watching online or watching on Pathway to Victory you know we are in a series are we living in the end times and the book uh from this
[00:36:30]Series has been available to our church members in Pathway to Victory church members for the last several weeks but this coming Tuesday it's going to be released nationally and I want you to pray with me that God will use the message of this book about the return of Jesus Christ in a powerful way uh we found out the book's going to be in all kind of retail outlets including uh our friends that Hobby Lobby have ordered copies for every one of their stores and
[00:37:00]they're not only going to put it in the book section they're putting it at the checkout counter as well so let's pray God uses the book uh in a great way you'll see uh the book being advertised starting Wednesday night on Fox prime time uh lineup all the big shows there will be carrying a word about the book as well and of course the proceeds go to support our Pathway to Victory Ministry but the message of this book is
[00:37:30]something our nation needs to hear right now so thank you for praying for that book and series as it's released this coming Tuesday I discovered a long time ago that Maps can be very very helpful they can become a necessity especially when you're traveling in a foreign country I learned that the hard way uh some years ago a friend of mine invited me to come to Canada to preach at his
[00:38:00]church and I gladly accepted the invitation because I had been there before and uh so one Friday afternoon I flew to Minneapolis changed planes there and landed in Winnipeg Manitoba about 4:30 in the afternoon uh just uh several hours before the church service was to begin I retrieved my luggage stood at the curb waiting for the pastor to pick me up and I waited and I waited and I
[00:38:30]waited so something obviously was wrong so I pulled out the letter that he had sent to me to call him to see what the problem was and uh when I looked at that letter I noticed the return address didn't correspond to where I was and so I thought maybe I had come to the wrong place so I went into the ticket counter I showed them the letter I said I really don't know anything about Canada but it says I'm supposed to be in Vancouver
[00:39:00]British Columbia is there a bus I can take there I need to be there in about 30 minutes and they laughed they said a bus you're 1,500 miles away from Vancouver I said 1500 miles they said yes it's a 3-hour plane ride to Vancouver but you're in luck there's a plane leaving and just the next few minutes and with the 2hour time difference going that direction you can
[00:39:30]make it in time if you hurry so I ran like OJ Simpson remember him running through the airport I ran down to the ticket counter apparently word had already traveled down to the ticket counter because as I gave the ticket person my ticket he handed me a map of Canada in return He said read this it may help you the next time you're here Maps can be very important when
[00:40:00]you're in a foreign territory and for many people the study of the end times is a foreign territory they're not familiar with it they get confused by it and so today as we continue to answer the question are we living in the end times we're going to talk about the major events that will be a part of the end times if you have your Bibles turn to Romans 11 Romans 11 we've said so far
[00:40:30]in our series that technically we're not in the end times yet we're in the time that precedes the end times called The Last Days actually we've been in the last days for 2,000 years uh the last days started When Jesus ascended into heaven the first time and it will end at the Rapture of the church that we'll talk about in just a moment the end times begins after the Rapture until the second coming of Christ but to help you→ Dispensational pre-tribulation premillennialism preached as "the" biblical timeline
[00:41:00]understand this better I want us to look first of all at the age that we're living in right now that roughly corresponds to the last days we call it the church age and I want you to write down this definition of the church age it is that period of time from Pentecost until the Rapture during which Gentiles are invited to participate faith in the blessings of the abrahamic Covenant now→ Dispensational pre-tribulation premillennialism preached as "the" biblical timeline
[00:41:30]that's a mouthful right there we talked about the church triumphant the choir did the church was born on the day of Pentecost after the Ascension of Christ into heaven and we are in that church age right now now the best way for me to illustrate the church age to you is to have you imagine this scenario just imagine you're trying to throw a lavish birthday party for your 10-year-old child and so you rent the bounce house
[00:42:00]and you hire a clown and you get order the ice cream desserts and you send out the invitations to your son's birthday party the day before the party you get the flood of RSVPs declining uh people's attendance you had invited your closest friends and relatives but they come up with lame excuses for why they can't come so what do you do do you cancel the party you don't want to hurt your son's feelings
[00:42:30]what do you do you expand the invitation list you suddenly call relatives you can't stand neighbors you've never met you want to get a crowd there for that party celebration now that sounds like a ridiculous illustration that's exactly the illustration Jesus used in Matthew 22 to describe the phenomenon of what we call the church age Jesus said Imagine a King who was going to throw a banquet for his son he sends
[00:43:00]out the invitation list but people declined so what does he do he doesn't want to disappoint his son so he tells his servants to go out into the highways and the byways and compel others to come in to the banquet celebration now that's exactly what the church age is we talked about the abrahamic Covenant a few weeks ago God made an uncond IAL promise to Abraham and his descendants but to take
[00:43:30]advantage of it they had to believe they had to attend the banquet so to speak unfortunately uh the Jewish people rejected that invitation at least temporarily so what has God done he's expanded the invitation list he's invited Gentiles people like you and me he's invited us to be a part of the banquet celebration now does that mean God has turned his back on Israel not at all in fact that's
[00:44:00]the question Paul answers in Romans 111 I say then God has not rejected his people has he may it never be for I to him an Israelite a descendant of Abraham of The Tribe of Benjamin for I do not want you Brethren to be uninformed of this mystery lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening a partial a temporary hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of→ Modern-state Israel treated as the prophetic Israel; canonical reframing of "Israel" in Christ omitted
[00:44:30]the Gentiles has come in there are a few Israelites being saved our friend Mike Evans here today is on the way back to Israel he's working he's shining the witness of Christ some are being saved but right now the nation as a whole has hardened their heart but it won't always be that way it's a temporary hardening of the heart while the fullness of the Gentiles comes in as we'll see in a moment when every Gentile is finally→ Modern-state Israel treated as the prophetic Israel; canonical reframing of "Israel" in Christ omitted
[00:45:00]saved whom God has ordained to be saved God will resume his plan with Israel in a final 7-week period we are living in that time of the Gentiles the church age right now what is the end of the church age when do the last days come to an end it comes with the next event on God's prophetic timeline and that is the rapture of the church now people say the
[00:46:30]one who had the assignment of revealing the mystery of the church age it would be Paul who reveal the end of the church age which is the rapture of the church and he does that in 1 Thessalonians 4 let me give you this definition again of the Rapture the Rapture of the church is the snatching away the heaven of all Christians from the time of Pentecost before the tribulation everyone who was saved from
[00:47:00]the time of Pentecost until the beginning of the tribulation will be raptured what does that word mean look at verses 16 and 17 of 1 Thessalonians 4 for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we who are alive and remain will be now underline this caught up
[00:47:30]together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord where in the air so that we will always be with the Lord now I'm going to give you a sneak preview of next Sunday I've never done a sermon on this before but I'm going to preach a sermon on what the differences between the Rapture and the second coming of Christ we're going to talk about that in depth next week it's critical to understand those two very different events but right now we're talking about
[00:48:00]the Rapture and notice the four components of the Rapture first of all at the Rapture God will descend from heaven Christ will descend from heaven the Lord will descend from heaven he comes not to Earth he comes from Heaven into the clouds that's a major difference between the Rapture and the second coming in verse 15 Paul describes the Rapture as the
[00:48:30]coming of the Lord the word coming of the Lord Pera paraca is also used in Matthew 2427 to describe the second coming of Jesus both the Rapture and the second coming involve the coming the pera the presence of the Lord but just because two things are similar doesn't mean they're the same event I'll talk about
[00:49:00]that more next week but the Lord comes at the Rapture in the air at the second coming he comes to Earth Zechariah Chapter 14 but it starts with The Descent of the Lord the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God the next component secondly is that the dead in Christ shall be resurrected who are the dead in Christ
[00:49:30]some people think well it involves everybody who's ever been saved Moses David Abraham Ruth I don't think so I think this is referring to the Church of Jesus Christ Now understand this when we die we don't go to sleep when we die our spirit immediately goes into the presence of Jesus Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 5:8 says to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord
[00:50:00]but our bodies don't go to heaven do they they get put in a cemetery almost said Seminary they go to a cemetery you can die in a seminary too you can die in a church service but that's another sermon they go to the cemetery and the body's decompos today some people have their bodies cremated doesn't matter that just speeds up a natural process your bodies are going to eventually become dust a little
[00:50:30]heat just you know speeds up the process but our bodies are left behind but at the Rapture of the church the dead in Christ the bodies of those who have died are going to be raised the dead in Christ will rise first they are going to rise and I believe this is a reference to the church the the bodies of Christians will be raised at the Rapture thirdly all living Christians
[00:51:00]will also be removed he says and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet in the Lord there is a group of Christians in some future generation who will not experience death like Enoch in the Old Testament like Elijah one day they'll be walking with God on Earth and they'll be suddenly transported without an interruption to meet God and to continue that relationship it could be this generation
[00:51:30]we don't know as we're going to see the most important thing about the Rapture is it's imminence it could happen at any moment there are no signs that need to be uh fulfilled for the Rapture to take place and so the Lord descends the dead in Christ their bodies are raised we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together and there's that word caught up up our potso people say the word rapture is not in the Bible no it's right here
[00:52:00]Rapture it means literally to snatch away we who are alive and remain at the Rapture shall be snatched away to meet the Lord in the air and the fourth component is all our bodies every Christian's body will be transformed at the Rapture while the bodies from the cemetery are being raised while you and I are being raised on our way to heaven our bodies are changed in a moment in the twinkling of
[00:52:30]an eye by the way that's not the blinking of an eye it's the twinkling of an eye the twinkling of an eye is much faster than a blink it's the time it takes light to travel from the lens of your eye to the retina that's the moment of a twinkling of an eye it's instantaneous why do we have to have our bodies transformed well well that's real easy you don't want to Lug this body you're carrying with you right now into heaven do you it wasn't made to last for
[00:53:00]eternity it may not make it till next year or next month we need a new body our bodies are well suited for this world they're wholly unsuitable for the next World and that's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:50 now I say this then that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable put on the in perable and then he says in verse 51 behold I tell you a mystery we will not all sleep that is not every
[00:53:30]Christian will die there's a generation of Christians who will not experience death but we all do have to be changed in a moment 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 why for this perishable must put on the imperishable and the mortal must put on immortality that's the next event we're awaiting the Rapture of the church now
[00:54:00]there's one event that I didn't put on your outline but we think I think it occurs at this moment and that is the BMA the Judgment seat of Christ for all Christians when are Christians finally rewarded evaluated and rewarded for what they've done I think it could very well be at the moment of the Rapture 2 Corinthians 5:9 and10 says we must all appear before the Judgment seat of
[00:54:30]Christ that each of us may be rewarded for what we've done whether it be good or worthless this isn't the Judgment of unbelievers the great white Throne judgment we'll look at in a moment but this is the Judgment for the church now the next event after the Rapture that is a part of the end times is a period of time we call the tribulation write this down the tribulation is the 7year period of time
[00:55:00]that begins when the Antichrist signs a peace Covenant with Israel and ends with Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus Christ now stay with me for the next five minutes don't become a part of the Dead in Christ and fall asleep because this is really critical to understand Bible prophecy and I think you'll find this encouraging too the key in that definition is it's a seven-year period of time when do the end times officially
[00:55:30]begin when the tribulation begins and the tribulation will officially begin the seven year period of time will will begin when that final world dictator signs a peace Covenant with Israel that's when we start the 7-year countdown that will be filled with trouble pains of childbirth but will ultimately end at the end of the seven years with the birth of Christ
[00:56:00]Millennial Kingdom Christ coming to Earth to establish his kingdom now notice I said it is a 7-year period why is that important remember 600 years before uh Christ was born the Israelites were in Babylon and captivity and remember how Daniel um asked was part of the captives in Babylon and he prayed to God God when
[00:56:30]are you going to finish your plan fulfill your Covenant with Israel and God gave Daniel more than he bargained for he was just think about when will these 70 years come to an end and we go back to the land but Gabriel came and gave him a panoramic view of the future of Israel and remember Gabriel said to Daniel in Daniel 9:24-27
[00:57:00]70 weeks now I won't get into this but he was talking about 70 weeks of years Daniel had been talking about years earlier 70 weeks of years have been decreed for your people for God to finish the plan with your people now what is 70 weeks a year well every week represents 7 years so 70 time 7 would be 490 years in other words Daniel God has 490 years left to finish his plan with Israel but that period of time is going
[00:57:30]to be divided into two parts there'll be the 69 weeks of years or 483 years and then there'll be an interval a gap and there'll be a final 7ye period of time one week of years that's all in Daniel 9:24-27 well Daniel could ask the question well when does the clock start ticking on those 490 years and Gabriel told him he said this
[00:58:00]490e period starts when the decree goes out to rebuild the city of Jerusalem so when did that happen now many Bible scholars get mixed up on this they think it was Cyrus the Great who issued that decree in 536 BC no he issued a decree not to rebuild Jerusalem but to rebuild the Temple the decree to
[00:58:30]actually go build the city of Jerusalem didn't happen we know this in history until March 14th 445 BC and it wasn't Cyrus it was arzer long Manis who gave that decree it's interesting we know the date this stopwatch started counting down the final 490 years Gabriel said from the the time the decree goes out until the time Messiah is presented will
[00:59:00]be 69 weeks of years or 483 years now what's interesting is when was Messiah presented well when he came in on the donkey that final week of his life remember the people shouted out hosan hosan there was a temporary very temporary acceptance of him a recognition of Messiah we know when that happened April the 2nd 32 a what we call
[00:59:30]Palm Sunday my old Seminary Professor Harold honer has done a chronology of this to show exactly to the date how these prophecies were fulfilled from the time the decree goes out 4:45 BC until ad32 was exactly 483 years but then Daniel was shown that there would be a gap between that event which
[01:00:00]would Encompass thousands of years of Prophecy and Earth history that Daniel didn't understand the crucifixion the Resurrection The Church age all of that there is still seven years left on that stopwatch 483 years have passed God has one week of years 7 years to finish his work with Israel and that is what the tribulation is it is a time for God to finish his plan for Israel and to
[01:00:30]fulfill his promise to Abraham and that's exactly what happens notice there's a two-fold purpose in the tribulation one is the Salvation of Israel many people don't realize that during the Great Tribulation there will be a great Revival in which many Jews are saved what Israel needs more than anything else right now is what the world needs right now and that's salvation through Jesus Christ and there
[01:01:00]is coming a time when a great number of Israelites will turn to Faith in Jesus Christ they will do so through the 144,000 Jewish Witnesses who will be sa saved and secured at the beginning of the tribulation there will be Gentiles who will be saved they'll pay a great price to be saved they'll be martyred but they will be saved so there's a purpose purpose of salvation but the second purpose of the tribulation is the condemnation of unbelievers living on
[01:01:30]Earth and we'll talk about that more next week now the tribulation will climax at the end of the seven years with the next event on God's prophetic timeline and that is Armageddon and the second coming of Christ what is the war of Armageddon It's the final world war that will be fought in Israel and will result in the visible return of Jesus Christ the nation's Powers the powers of the
[01:02:00]world will a symbol on that plane of megiddo to do battle with the Antichrist when suddenly they'll look up into heaven the clouds will part and Jesus Christ and his army of Believers will return Jesus uh is pictured in Revelation 19 beginning with verse 11 I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he who sat upon it is called faithful and true and with righteousness he judges and wages War he comes to
[01:02:30]Earth for what purpose to establish his long awaited Kingdom on Earth uh an event we call the Millennium and here's the definition of the Millennium the Millennium is the Thousand-Year reign of Christ on Earth that will occur after the second coming Revelation 20 John says I saw an angel coming down he had a great chain and he laid hold of the Dragon Satan bound him for a thousand years five
[01:03:00]times in this short passage the phrase a thousand years is found how long will Christ reign in the millennial Kingdom a thousand years it is a time that Satan is bound it's a time that Israel will occupy all the land God had promised her it is a time that Messiah Jesus Will Rule from the Throne of David in Jerusalem all of these things God promised will happen during the
[01:03:30]Millennium now it's important to know because Satan has been bound for a thousand years there is a renovation of this present Earth a partial lifting of the curse it's not a recreation of the earth it's not the new Heaven and Earth it is a renovated earth Isaiah talked about it in Isaiah 65 during that time there'll be no infant death no infants will die anybody who
[01:04:00]doesn't live at least to 100 will be thought to be a cursed now that raises a natural question well who would be being born in the Millennium and who would die I thought in God's kingdom there's no death I thought in God's kingdom you live forever is it possible we die once we enter the Millennium remember this in the Millennium there'll be two kind of Believers there will be Believers in their natural bodies that will be people
[01:04:30]who were saved during the tribulation and they survive the tribulation they enter into the Millennium in their natural bodies in which they do procreate other people like us who will already have our new bodies will be like the angels and that we do not procreate but there will be people born of believers who are in their natural bodies in the Millennium and these people don't automatically become a part of God's kingdom because they're living in the Kingdom they have
[01:05:00]to make a choice at that point whether they want to follow Christ or not and that's why Revelation 20:3 says that after the Thousand Years Satan must be released for a short time he's going to be be released at the end of the Millennium for his one final attempt to persuade people to follow him and some who are born during the him even though they've experienced the blessings of being under Christ's rule they will choose to follow Satan himself just like
[01:05:30]the Angels chose in heaven to do such a thing and that is when God puts an end to history as we know it and what does he do Revelation 20:10 the devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire where the Beast and false prophit are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever and that leads to the next event the great white Throne judgment the great white Throne judgment here's the definition is God's final judgment against all unbelievers
[01:06:00]who have ever lived where does an unbeliever go when he dies right now Luke 16 says he is in Hades the temporary Dwelling Place of the unsaved the unsaved don't go to sleep either when they die they begin immediately experiencing torment but it's not the final Lake of Fire there's a great judgment awaiting unbelievers at the end of time at the end of the Millennium it's called the Great White→ Matthew 25 absent: Jesus's own criterion for final judgment is omitted from a sermon on the Great White Throne
[01:06:30]Throne judgment and the Bible says in Revelation 20:3 the sea gave up the dead which were in it and Hades was empty death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds every unbeliever who has ever lived will be judged how by his deed needs you say well I didn't think people God cared about our works remember an unbeliever is in Hades today because he says he→ Matthew 25 absent: Jesus's own criterion for final judgment is omitted from a sermon on the Great White Throne
[01:07:00]doesn't need the grace of Jesus Christ he thinks he's good enough to enter Heaven on his own and so God says you don't want my grace you want to be judged by works fine we will judge you by your works and at the great white Throne judgment the books of everyone's life is opened up and he is judged according to the things that are written in the books the account of his life the only problem is no matter how good he is
[01:07:30]he's not good enough he may be better than the members of Hamas who behead children but that doesn't make him worthy of Heaven because there's only one standard of comparison and that is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and by that standard everybody will be seen lacking Romans 3:23 there's not one right righteous Among Us not one for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and what happens to→ Hamas used as rhetorical comparison from the pulpit
[01:08:30]is when we have spent 10 billion trillion years there we will not have lessened by one second the time we have left to spend there this great white Throne judgment is climaxed with the destruction of the present Heaven and Earth look at 2 Peter 3: 7 and 10 by God's word the present heavens and Earth are being reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men but the day→ Eternal conscious torment preached as the only canonical view
[01:09:00]of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar the elements will be destroyed with intense Heat and the Earth at its Works shall be burned up and that leads us to the final event on God's prophetic timeline and that is eternity future eternity future is the permanent state of both Believers and inhabiting the new Heaven and of unbelievers inhabiting the Lake of Fire the key phrase is it's the
[01:09:30]permanent State once you reach this point it is too late for any change in your life your Eternal Destiny is fixed forever and what did John see he saw Revelation 21 after this present Heaven and Earth are destroyed I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first heaven and the first Earth passed away and there is no longer any sea and I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming
[01:10:00]down out of Heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband and there's the great description in the final two chapters of the body of the Bible of the new Heaven and the new Earth God has planned for us we've talked a lot about heaven heaven is not floating on some Cloud plucking a heart for all eternity John gives us a very Vivid description of the new heaven it's not going to be up there someplace far away it is the earth not renovated it's
[01:10:30]this present Earth recreated and restored to the condition God had planned for Adam and Eve in the garden it will be literally heaven on Earth that New Jerusalem that City will come down to earth we don't go up to the New Jerusalem it comes down to us what are we going to do for all eternity if it's not play a harp what are we going to do we're going to worship God like we've never worshiped before but we're going to do more than worship we're going to
[01:11:00]work we're going to have assignments thing God gives us to do some people says that sounds more like hell to me than Heaven an eternity of working no we were created to be workers and all the things that make our work so unpleasant right now will be removed no more tired bodies no more bad relationships no more oppressive bosses all of that will be gone and we'll enjoy work like never before but that's not all we'll have new bodies bodies that are free from cancer
[01:11:30]that word won't exist anymore no cancer no heart attacks no dementia but it doesn't stop there no more broken relationships no more alienation from family members no more standing over the grave of a loved one and saying goodbye all of that will be gone John says in Revel Revelation 21:4 for on that day God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and there shall no longer be any
[01:12:00]death or Mourning or crying or pain for the first things will have passed away that's the forever future God has planned for those who know Jesus Christ let's bow together are you ready for that forever future future God's plan is for that future to be in heaven but if your name is not
[01:12:30]written in the book of life you have a much different a terrifying future ahead of you right now you can make sure your name is written in that Eternal Book of Life by placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be your savior the only people who will be allowed into heaven are forgiven people and if you've come to the place in your life where you realize you need God's forgiveness I want to encourage you
[01:13:00]wherever you are to accept his forgiveness by praying this simple prayer dear God thank you for loving me I know I have failed you in many ways and I'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but I believe what I've heard today that you loveed me so much you sent your son Jesus Jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment I deserve to take for my
[01:13:30]sins and right now I'm trusting in what Jesus did for me not in my good works but in what Jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in Jesus name amen for those of you watching online if you prayed that prayer with me and you meant it please go to the top of the screen click on the
[01:14:00]link that says I prayed the prayer and I'll be notified to day of your decision I have some free material to send you about what it means to live your life as a Christian don't wait a moment longer click on that link right now for those of you in day one or those of you here in our worship center please take out the card and you'll notice a box the second box for you to check if you prayed that prayer and we'll be in touch with you sending you that same material about living as a Christian we're
[01:14:30]sending our online friends today if you're a guest please let us know if you'd like to join First Baptist Dallas is so many have done in recent days check that box as well we'll have somebody call you to process your membership information this week but if you check the guest box we have a gift for you we want you to to take your card drop it off at the Welcome Center and we'll give you a copy of the new book are we living in the end times and it's
[01:15:00]uh our gift to you for coming and visiting First Baptist Church Dallas so be sure and CH Step By The Welcome Center to pick up a copy of that book thank you so much for doing it we want to remember do we have tickets left for our we have very few tickets left for the Christmas Spectacular so don't wait any longer if you haven't gotten several of the performances are already sold out so if you don't have a
[01:15:30]ticket stop by the booth on the way out and get your ticket well we've got some great news you've probably heard it our first Baptist Saints from First Baptist Academy won the state championship in Waco Texas last night Jason lavorn is the Headmaster and the coach Jason stand up and we want to say thank you for a great job in leading our First Baptist Academy to Victory thank you for being here hope
[01:16:00]you have a wonderful day in the Lord and we'll look forward to seeing you next Sunday let's stand together as Tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you Pastor what a wonderful morning of worship let's sing God's praise together singing this is my story this is my [Music] story this is my praising My Savior call
[01:16:30]the this is my [Music] story this is my song praising My Savior all the day Lord
[01:17:00]have a blessed day Church hello I'm Emanuel pendula but you can call me Manny your I campus Pastor thanks for joining us for worship I hope you feel uplifted and encouraged after today's service continue to spread the Joy by inviting your loved ones to join us every week and stay connected on our social media platforms and I campus Global Facebook group where you'll find inspiring content updates and connect with Believers worldwide also join our I Campus
[01:17:30]Community for a Sunday school lesson taught by Ryland whorn our executive pastor of Ministries at 8:30 9:15 and 11:00 a.m. Central Time I look forward to personally getting to know you so be sure to leave a message in the chat about how I can pray and minister to you remember we're here to serve you every Sunday morning and throughout the week in your spiritual walk stay blessed and see you