have been manifesting his presence and his blessing. I'm doing well this morning. I had to sleep fast last night. It was a short night, but this morning I'm looking over a four-leaf clover. My name is Jay Eddie Schwartz. You might be thinking, now that's That's German, isn't it? It means black in German. You might be thinking it's Jewish. In my case, that is correct also. My background is Jewish. I wasn't reared in Judaism. My grandfather was in an Orthodox home. He married into a Christian family, though they were Jewish also, but evidently having turned Christian. Whether they were truly born again, I don't know, but I am told, my grandfather died long before I was born, and I am told that when he married into the Marx family, married Rebecca Marx, R-E-B-E-K-A-H, the Hebrew way of spelling it, when he married to this Christian, he was completely disowned. My mother tells me that he was buried in effigy. So my dad knew nothing whatsoever about Judaism. I knew nothing whatsoever about Judaism. And as they say down south, using double negatives, I didn't know nothing about nothing. I didn't know nothing. That's three negatives, isn't it? Well, I didn't. I was completely ignorant. But I can say to the glory of God, and because of His grace, I'm a Christian. I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've been saved since the latter part of nineteen fifty-four. I remember telling Bailey Smith, the Baptist preacher from Oklahoma, on one occasion, the situation was such that we were together. He asked me, he said, Brother Schwartz, how long have you been saved? At that time it was thirty-two years, and I said, with tongue in cheek, I said, oh, I've been saved off and on for thirty-two years. Didn't crack a smile, I just wanted to see what he'd had to say. He looked at some other folk, he looked back at me, and he said, Brother, when you die, I hope you're on. Which I thought was a good comeback. Well, I am on. Praise God. Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Ephesians chapter one. I want to use a few verses as a springboard text into my message concerning the Holy Spirit of God. and the believer. Ephesians chapter one. And let's come down to verse thirteen, please. In whom, that is in Christ, ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed, with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is or who is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. You're familiar perhaps with the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke's Gospel, chapter ten. In verse thirty-five you will read that when the good Samaritan was about to leave the inn, having led the man who had been beaten up and robbed to that place, he gave to the host, the innkeeper, two pins. And he said to the host concerning the man who had been beaten up, take care of him. And he told the host that if more were needed, he would deal with that when he returned. But he entrusted that man to the innkeeper along with two pence and said, Take care of him. Now I have heard a message or two where people have likened the innkeeper to the Holy Spirit of God and the two pence to prayer and the Word of God. Now, I thought that was very good. I thought it was a good message or messages when I heard them. I know this, that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within us who know Christ as Lord and Savior. I know that the Holy Spirit of God prayer and the Word of God are vital to the Christian experience. There would be no Christian experience apart from the Holy Spirit of God, prayer and the Word of God. So in the three of the five messages I will be bringing, God willing, I want to speak about the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, prayer in the life of the believer, and the word of God in the life of the believer. Now you're thinking ahead of me perhaps in thinking that all we can do is just touch upon these subjects, but I trust enough will be said to provoke you to your own personal study, further personal study and meditation to the result that we all will allow the Holy Spirit of God to have his way in our life. We talk about it, we sing about it, but I trust it will be a reality. I believe in the Holy Trinity, and you would say amen to that. I have been challenged from such portions as Deuteronomy chapter six and verse four concerning what I believe I have been challenged by those who have said to me, Oh, you believe in the Holy Trinity. Yes, I do. Well, can you show me where that is found in Scripture? And usually my response is, now, in challenging me as you're doing, you know as well as I do that that term is not used in the Word of God. But the teaching is there. Maybe I told some of you back another time when I dealt with a woman, a so-called Jehovah's Witness, who challenged me on that. I did not have time. I did not want to take time to talk with her. She insisted. I said, okay, let's talk. I said, I do not believe what you believe. I do not hold to what you teach. I want nothing to do with it whatsoever. And so really we have nothing to talk about. Oh, you don't believe what we teach? You're familiar with what we teach? I said somewhat familiar. I know you teach that Jesus Christ is not God. And I'm well aware of the fact that your translation in John's Gospel speaks of him as a God. I said, now, if you're wrong at your foundation, you're going to be wrong elsewhere in your structure. And when you deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want nothing whatsoever to do with what you teach. Oh, you must believe in the Holy Trinity. I said, I surely do. Oh, she said... Well, now, maybe you're familiar with what Deuteronomy chapter six and verse four says, and she tried quoting it, and she didn't quote it correctly. It's always good when you can correct them. So I said to her, you did not quote that correctly. She said, I didn't. I said, no, you didn't. Let me quote it for you. Hear, or Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord. Actually... It's here or Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Yes, okay, well, how do you get three out of one? I said, the same way I get two out of one when I marry a couple, and I say to them, you're no more twain or two, but you're one flesh. The same way. Oh, she said, you're a preacher. I said, well, after a sort, as we'd say down south, I said, Lady, do you know Hebrew? And she went on to something else. I said, Now, wait a minute, I'm not going to let you get away with that. Do you know Hebrew? And she tried once again to get away from it. I said, Come on, I'll answer my question. Now, you are taking my time. I told you I didn't have time. Do you know Hebrew? She said, Well, no, I don't. Well, I don't either, but sometimes you just forge ahead. and speak confidently, you know, like you do. I said, well, you should know the Hebrew language. If you did, you would know that it differs with the English in this regard. In English, one is singular, plural would be two or more. That's not the case in the Hebrew. In Hebrew, one is singular, two is dual. To be plural, you must have three or more. And out of the approximately twenty-seven hundred times in the Bible, where the name God appears, about twenty-five hundred of those times, it's in the plural form, Elohim, indicating three or more. And I said, so far as Deuteronomy six is four, six and four is concerned, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. I said, there you have a compound unity. I speak to one individual, singular, but I'm speaking to one audience now. That's a compound unity, and that's exactly what you have in Deuteronomy six and four. I believe in the Holy Trinity. I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Some would have us to believe that the Holy Spirit is not a person. Here again, the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses would tell us, well, that word spirit simply means air or wind. And that's true. It's the word pneuma, P-M-E-U-M-A, pneuma, like pneumatic tires or pneumonia. You know it has to do with air or wind. The Lord Jesus said, the wind blow it where it lifts it, there hear us the sound thereof, but can't not tell whence it come is a wither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the pneuma, the spirit. And it is true that that word is neuter in gender. It's neither masculine nor feminine. And that's the reason our translators have translated that word pneuma to it in some instances. But the Lord Jesus Christ used the masculine pronoun when he said, when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and so on. I believe in the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit of God is a person. And let's not forget that. Let us not underestimate the person and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. I realize that these messages are being taped on audio cassette as well as video. And it's real frustrating to me at times when I'm listening to a tape and some statements are made. Scriptures are referred to, but the references are not given. It saves a lot of time, and you can give some references. But the person of the Holy Spirit of God possesses intellect. Romans eight, twenty-seven. First Corinthians chapter two, verses ten through twelve. He possesses emotions. Romans five and five. Romans fifteen and thirty. Ephesians four and thirty. He possesses will. Romans eight, fourteen. First Corinthians twelve, eleven. Galatians five, eighteen. The Holy Spirit of God is a person. He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. Now, we sometimes speak of the Holy Spirit of God, and we sometimes hear him spoken of as the third person of the Trinity. We must be very careful. I refer to him at times as the third person of the Trinity, and I've heard some good Bible teachers do so, referring to God as the first person of the Trinity, referring to God the Son as the second person of the Trinity, and God the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. We must be careful that we don't give any impression by using such terminology that we think that God the Son in some way is inferior to God the Father. or that the Holy Spirit of God in some way is inferior to God the Son. If you were to take the numbers one, two, three, you could use letters, numbers, whatever you choose. But if you were to take the numbers one, two, and three and combine those numbers, rearrange them in every way possible, How many different arrangements would you come up with? I'll save you the time. You'll come up with six possible combinations. And we have at least six references in Scripture to the Holy Spirit of God being referred to, spoken of, in that different order. Sometimes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God the Father. Six possible combinations. Let me throw at those scriptures to you. First Peter chapter one, verse two, Matthew twenty-eight, nineteen, Hebrews nine, fourteen, Second Corinthians thirteen, fourteen, John's Gospel fifteen, twenty-six, I Corinthians twelve verses three through six. I had a little difficulty on I Corinthians twelve three through six, but I believe it's there. The Holy Spirit of God is co-equal with the Father, co-equal with the Son. He is God. And let us not underestimate the person and the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. Does he possess the attributes of deity? He surely does. Now, an attribute is an essential characteristic or feature or quality of a thing that makes it what it is, and that's something else. As we would say, the attribute of a ball, not a football now, don't put me on the spot, but I'm talking about a sphere. The attribute of a ball is it's roundness. If you take away that roundness, it's no longer a ball. It's something else. And God the Holy Spirit possesses the attributes of deity. He is eternal. Hebrews nine, fourteen. He is omniscient. That is, He's all-knowing. Isaiah eleven, verses one and two. First Corinthians two, verses ten through thirteen. He's omnipresent. Psalm one, thirty-nine, verses seven and eight. He is omnipotent. He works in creation. Genesis one, one and two. In inspiration, second Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen. In salvation, John chapter three, verse five. In glorification, Romans chapter eight and verse eleven. In revelation, Ephesians one, seventeen. Ephesians three, sixteen through nineteen. In sanctification, first Corinthians chapter six and verse eleven. In resurrection, I Peter chapter three, verse eighteen. I believe in the Holy Trinity. I believe in the Holy Spirit of God that he is a person. And let us not underestimate the Holy Spirit of God who dwells with him. Paul tells us that we Christians, we who have made that personal identification with Christ, having received him as Savior, we are the purchased possession of God. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. We belong to God. We're God's property. We're God's peculiar treasure, if you please. Oh, some people think we're peculiar people, all right. Well, we are his purchased possession. And God paid an infinite price for us to become his purchased possession. And when a person is saved, when a person takes God at his word, believing the testimony of God and on the basis of the testimony of God, calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ to be Savior, then such one is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The titles of the Holy Spirit are interesting, aren't they? The Spirit of Truth. Hear the Spirit of Promise. When we take God at His Word, God pledges Himself to us that He's going to do all that He promises. He's going to bring us to glory. It's wonderful to have a living hope, isn't it? He's going to bring us to glory. Paul said, In whom in Christ ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Do you use the expression over this way, earnest money? You use that term. I might be interested in buying a piece of land that you have for sale, and I might come and inspect the property, and I would say to you, let's take the sign up, you consider this land sold. I need to go away for a little bit. I'm going to return, and we'll finalize the transaction in every way, but you consider this a finished deal. And you might say to me, well, Mr. Schwartz, I know you're in earnest about this. I know you're man of your word, but I want you to give a pledge to me that you are in earnest about this, that you're going to do exactly what you say. Put up some earnest money. Well, God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of our redemption. For how long are we sealed? Ephesians four and thirty, grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby you're sealed until the day of redemption. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. That is an indication that he is a person as well. He can be vexed or grieved. He can be resisted. He hears. He speaks. He can be quenched. He can be lied to. And when we become the purchased possession, the purchased property of God, He puts within us the Holy Spirit of God to look after His interest below. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room, I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you as orphans. He spoke of God the Father sending another comforter, but he also said, I will send the comforter, the paracletal. One called alongside the health. But now in this case, the Lord Jesus said, He will not only be with you, He shall be in you. And we Christians are to walk in the realization that our bodies are the temple of God. We're God's property. And we would save ourselves a lot of heartache and heartbreak. We would save ourselves from sin and consequences in this life if we would walk in the knowledge of that every day. We're God's property. I'm not my own, I'm bought with a price. And I'm to equate all that I do, all that I am to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we were reminded last night, we're here for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to Almighty God. I believe in the Holy Trinity. I believe in the Holy Spirit of God. And though the Holy Trinity works harmoniously together, no one works independently of the others. What one does, they all do working harmoniously together. But we see from the study of Scripture that the care of believers has been committed to the Holy Spirit of God. Now, I believe it is scripturally correct to say that The Holy Trinity dwells within us, we being the temple of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said in that high priestly prayer in John chapter seventeen, here is deity speaking to deity, and he said, Thou in me and I in them. Paul said in Colossians chapter one, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we see too from... First Corinthians chapter six from other scriptures that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within us who are believers. We who know Christ in that personal way. The Holy Spirit of God came to complete the scriptures. He came to communicate the Savior. He came to convict sinners. But he came to comfort saints and controlled servants. To the Holy Spirit, the charge has been given concerning Christians. Take care of them. Just as the Good Samaritan said to the innkeeper concerning that man who was held. Take care of him. We are the purchased possession of God, and God has put within us the Holy Spirit, who is the seal. And he's dwelling within us to look after God's interest below. We have one who lives at God's right hand. He is our advocate, the same word as comforter. And he's there in the presence of God looking after our interests until we get home. Now you couldn't ask for security any better than that, could you? We are kept by the power of God. But now let's think about this Christian life. Here we've come from different backgrounds, different walks of life perhaps, different financial levels, different educational levels. We've come from different backgrounds. But here we are, brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know what you're facing in your Christian experience out in that cold and callous, hard, indifferent, sinful world as you seek to live for the glory of God. You know what you're facing. I know what I have faced and still face in my own Christian experience. It's not easy, is it? God didn't say it would be. He did not say it would be easy. It isn't easy. I was telling someone the other day, I am convinced that the Christian life is an obstacle course. That's easy to say. We can rattle these things off, but I say it because I believe it. The Christian experience is not a hundred-yard dash, it's not the two-twenty, it's not the four-forty. The Christian race, the Christian experience is an obstacle course, and I do believe that God is going to direct and allow whatever obstacles as are necessary to conform us to the image of Christ, which I believe is the high calling or the upward calling. God is so pleased with His Son, He wants all who trust Him to be just like Him. And God has put us within the care, the direction, the training of the Holy Spirit of God, and the charge has been given to the Holy Spirit, particularly take care of Him. But we ask the question, how can we live the Christian life? I mean, other people just don't know my situation. Paul asks in Romans chapter seven, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. He said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? How can you live the Christian life? We hear all of these messages, we read these books, these messages given to us, on the Christian life, living for Christ, standing out there in that cold world and standing true and faithfully for the Lord Jesus Christ. How can we do it? We can do it because we have dwelling within us God Himself who is our helper. The writer of Hebrews chapter thirteen, verses five and six, I believe, said, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. It's good to have the Lord as your helper, isn't it? Are you awake? Back home every once in a while we hear an amen. I guess maybe I'm just used to that. And listen, if you get excited in anything that's said from the Word of God and you want to say, Amen. I won't tell. The Lord is our helper. We have access to the throne of grace where we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Lord, I need help in this sad, sin-sick world where I'm told to stand, where I'm commanded to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I can't do it. And the Lord tells us we can't do it. Sometimes when talking to children, I'll use illustrations like... Now here again, I don't know what terminology you use over in this part of the country. Back home we call them croaker sacks. You might call them guana bags or... What do you call them out this way? Gunny sack. Gunny sack. There you go. That was the other one I was trying to think of. Gunny sack. You know what we're talking about. Gunny sack. Back home it's a croaker sack. Down in Memphis it's a toe sack. But it is a guana sack. But sometimes I'll ask the children, now how can we make this thing stand? And all you should hear are the kids. But usually some sharp kid will give the answer somewhere along the line. Well, let's fill it. Now if we fill it, we can make it stand. Or I might use a glove. Then here's a glove. Now that glove is used in, well, to keep your hands warm, or it might be used in hard work. How can that glove do anything? There it is, an inanimate object, lifeless. How can it do anything? That's the way we are before we are saved. But when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, well, it's just like God putting his hand into the glove. God comes into our life. Now we say the glove can do something. Oh, you say, well, it's not really the glove, it's your hand in the glove. Exactly. For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And we are entrusted to the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. Take care of him. When we go back to Genesis chapter fifteen, we read about Abram and his steward, the steward of his household. The steward's name is Eleazar. Eleazar. That name, that name means God is help or the help of God. God is help. Eliaser was charged to get a bride for Isaac. And oh, how many sermons have been preached on that steward? Now he is not named in Genesis chapter twenty-four, but there is no reason to doubt that it was the same steward of Abram's household who is named in Genesis chapter fifteen. But he was commissioned to go to get a bride for Isaac. And how many sermons have been preached on that steward, on that servant? And truths concerning the Holy Spirit of God have been revealed. That He is the one who does convict sinners. He takes the Word of God and brings conviction upon us so that we will trust Christ as Savior. And upon receiving Christ in that personal way, we are sealed with this one to whom God has said, Take care of him. And how we have delighted in those sermons concerning this servant, leading Rebecca back to her husband to be. No doubt telling her all about Isaac. And the Lord Jesus said, the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God was to take the things of mine and show them unto you. And if that story of Eleazar tells us anything, it tells us this, that God is our helper in life. God is our helper in life. I think of that wither woman in Second Kings chapter four. She was in desperation. There was death in the family. Her husband had died. He was a prophet. And as a prophet, he had been used of God to anoint individuals, things. But there was death in the family. But there was death in the family as well. That woman had come to that point where she thought she was going to lose her two sons. to seven years or up to seven years of servitude. How can I pay the debt? And the man of God focused her attention to that pot of oil. And don't think of a big pot, but a flask of oil. That woman had gotten rid of just about everything she had. But this belonged to her husband and it was used in the work of God for anointing. She was not going to get rid of this oil flask. Well, you know the story, don't you? She was told to gather some vessels, not a few. Take that oil flask and start pouring. And those vessels were filled so that all of her needs were met in and through that oil. Now we understand the picture, don't we? Because if we know anything at all about our Bibles and the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God, we know that that oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God. And God would draw our attention to this one who dwells within us, as we are reminded of the charge given to him, take care of him, whatever he needs. You see that his needs are met. so that that believer can be Christ-like. My, we are in debt. We are bound to give thanks always. We read a second Thessalonians chapter one and verse three. We ought to lay down our life for the brethren. Verse John three sixteen. We ought to love one another. We ought to wash one another's feet. And all of these words indicate a debt. Paul said, I am debtor. Same word. I am debtor. How can we Christians pay the debt as we live in this world? We owe God all our love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and so on. Mark twelve and thirty. We owe God all our love. We owe Christ all our life. Second Corinthians five, fourteen and fifteen. If one died for all, then we're all dead, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. We owe Christ all our life. We owe the world our life. Philippians two fifteen. We're to shine as lights in a dark world. How can we pay this debt in life? We're debtors. Lord, how can I live the Christian life? How can I stand for you wherever I am? How can I move about in this life, this crazy mixed up world, being excited about the Lord Jesus Christ and being a true witness for your honor and glory? We can do it because God is our helper in life. God is our helper in life. Let us not underestimate the person and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. When we come to the New Testament scriptures, I am thinking of Luke's Gospel, chapter sixteen. We read about Lazarus that sat at the gate of the rich man. He desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. But he died, and he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. Angels was Paul bearers. That's really something, isn't it? Carried by the angels. Lazarus is the Greek equivalent to Eleazar. That is, his name means the help of God. And if he tells us anything at all, he tells us that God is our help in death. God is our help in death. I have been with a number of Christians who have taken their last breath. I've seen them go. I remember, well, in the last five, six years, we've lost a number of family members. Brother Kim was speaking about loved ones going on ahead of us last night. In the last six years, two sisters have gone to heaven. My dad, I buried one of the sisters. I buried my dad and a brother last February, two years ago. David, a couple of years older than I, I'm right at sixty. I said to Louise, I said, Louise, I need to go to Richmond. Did I tell you Richmond is my hometown? Richmond, Virginia. I said, Louise, I need to go to Richmond and say goodbye to David. We knew he was dying. We knew his time was short. So I said, I'm going to go up and spend the day with him and say goodbye to him. So for a couple hours we sat on his porch. We talked about his funeral. He said, can you take my funeral? I said, I think so. It'll be hard, but I think I can do it. Well, he said, I want you to take it. So we talked about the funeral. And we went up and had a little bit of lunch. He could have just a little soup. That was all he could have. So we rode over to the old neighborhood on Church Hill. Richmond is built on a number of hills like Rome. We grew up on Churchill. So I went over to Churchill and where we used to live is an area that you don't go into at night now. And you should be very, very careful how you go into it in the daytime. It's a tough area. But we went to the place where we used to live. I had in the car a picture. eight by ten picture of the two of us. I was about five. As I said, he was about three years older than me. And here we were standing at a power pole. And it seemed to be the same power pole. I mean, it was in the same place. I'm sure they've changed it a number of times over the years. But here we were. And so we were reminiscing about how we were as boys and how we used to play hooky. Back in those days they had truan officers. You remember having them out here? Mrs. Rosalie Harper was that truan officer. She would come over near East End, Judea High School, Patchy Woods, where we used to play in. She'd stop her car and she would call, David, Eddie, I know you're down there. You should be in school. Get on up here. Well, here we'd come out of the woods. Well, we talked about that. We talked about what we'd do with boys. I said, David, it would be nice if we could take a picture. Well, I mean, here we are as children, and here's the same place right here. Of course, the area had changed quite a bit. That was a housing project. And there was a black man sitting on the porch, a couple of women there, and he was looking at us with great suspicion. So I took a picture of David. He took a picture of me. And I said, Now, David, it would be nice if we were both in the picture like when we were kids. So I looked back and I called to the man. I said, Sir, could I ask a favor? My brother said, The doctor has told me my time is very short. I'm going to die soon. So I said to the man, I said, I was saved, latter part of nineteen fifty four. I trusted Christ as my Savior. When I was baptized, I said, my brother David here was saved at my baptism. And I said, now he's getting ready to go home to heaven. And we're saying goodbye. Well, he said, I'll be glad to take you pictures. I'm so thankful I have it. Well, you might ask, others might ask, well, how can you talk about death like that? How can you talk about going to heaven and because it's real? We have an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled that fatheth not away reserved for us. And we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until we're taken home to heaven. And we're as good as there because the anchor of our soul is there. and the Holy Spirit of God to whom the charge has been given, take care of Him. God Himself is our helper in life. He's our helper in death. He's our helper in death. But wait a minute, there's another Lazarus in the New Testament, isn't it? The two sisters sent word to the Lord Jesus in John chapter eleven. Lord, our brother whom thou art fond of is sick. No, Jesus really loved them. Lazarus and Martha married. The Apostle Paul was used of God to reveal a mystery, the mystery of the church. Now part of that mystery would be the resurrection of all believers. in the rapture. I presume up until this mystery was revealed, they believed only in one resurrection. Paul was used to reveal this mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that was a verse they used to have on the nursery door at the Gospel Center in Durham. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Paul goes on to say, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. I believe the first revelation concerning the rapture, that word is not found in the New Testament either. It's found in the Latin translation, Raffia Moore, but not in our English translation. Caught up, the words caught up are there. But I believe the first direct reference to this would be in John chapter fourteen, where the Lord Jesus said, I will come again and receive you unto myself. But I believe before that we have a reference to it, but not in that direct way. When the Lord Jesus came to Bethany, the sister said, Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died. The Lord Jesus said to Martha, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Well, what was she going to say? Some are going to be raised, and some will never die. Lord, I don't know what you're talking about, but I believe you're the Christ, the Son of God. Now, if you don't understand something, that's a good position to take. Lord, I don't understand this, but I'm not going to let what I don't know shake my confidence in what I do know. My confidence is in you. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. But to show what he meant, he raised Lazarus from the dead, which I believe is a preview of the rapture. Lazarus, come forth! And if he tells us anything at all, he tells us that God is our helper in resurrection. My brother, my sister in Christ, let us not underestimate the person and the power of the Holy Spirit of God, this one who dwells within us, this one to whom God has said, Take care of him. Because he is our helper in life. He is our helper in death. He is our helper in resurrection. The Lord is our helper. And we shall not fear what man... shall do unto us. It's wonderful to know the Lord, isn't it? And I'm glad that the Lord is our helper.